Dirty Little Secrets by C.J. Omololu

When her unstable mother dies unexpectedly, sixteen-year-old Lucy must take control and find a way to keep the long-held secret of her mother's compulsive hoarding from being revealed to friends, neighbors, and especially the media.

I think it would have been better to just tell the truth & take the consequences.

I really enjoyed this! This was a book I missed in 2010 that showed up on many top ten lists, and now I know why. Lucy is a great character and the situation is unlike anything I have ever read before. What's Eating Gilbert Grape is one of my favorite novels (and movies) and there are some comparison's here between DLS and WEGG. My heart really went out to Lucy, and I don't think I would have handled the situation any differently than she did (at 16). My only concern with the novel was the end, which involves an illegal activity.
I wonder if there will be a sequel as I would like to know what happened next. This is an example of great, modern contemporary YA fiction.