Season of Secrets by Sally Nicholls

4 Stars

In Season of Secrets, Molly Brooke and her older sister, Hannah, live with their grandparents. Their mother has passed away and their father needs time to find a good job and get things straight.

Not far from her grandma’s house, Molly has found a man who was hurt badly by a hunt. She learns that he thrives in summer because he is the god of summer. And the man that hunted him was the Holly King, the supernatural being that thrives in winter. Winter is, in fact, drawing near and Molly’s man is growing weaker by the minute. She visits him often in an old abandoned barn until winter arrives and he disappears.

Meanwhile, Molly and Hannah’s father visits them and Hannah is having a hard time coping with all that has happened lately. She disobeys her grandparents and father a lot. At school, Molly and Hannah meet new friends. In the spring, Molly is invited to Emily’s birthday party. Emily was such a shy girl but she turns out to be a very fun person. Also, spring is when Molly’s man comes back.

It is the man’s turn to hunt and defeat the Holly King so that summer may come. He takes Molly along and they soon are victorious. Summer comes and brings Molly’s birthday. She has her family there (including her dad) along with Emily and another friend from school named Alexander. They play a game of tag. During the game, Molly meets with her man one last time. He is in the woods and she, the god, and all the trees sway and dance. Molly returns to the game.
So, in the end, Molly’s father finds a job and will soon be taking them back to their home with him. The girls are happy to be with their dad, but I think they will also miss their grandparents because they stayed there for so long.