YMMV / Secrets Not Meant to be Kept

• Anvilicious: As one would expect from an Author Tract about sex abuse, this novel drops quite a few anvils about the topic.
• The Catchphrase Catches On: The phrase "I'll let you feed the rabbits if..." has become a stock phrase used by child molesters, particularly in educational materials used to warn children.
• Complete Monster: Martha Plunkett is the head of Treehouse, a reputable preschool which is, in fact, a toddler sex ring. For nearly twenty years, Plunkett has molested and exploited preschoolers for child pornography, both directly and by having her staff do the same. To terrorize the children into silence, she assigns the children live rabbits to care for, then kills the rabbits right in front of them.
• Nightmare Fuel: Adri's flashbacks, as well as the restrained descriptions of child molestation in the story.
• Realism-Induced Horror: Although the daycare sex abuse hysteria was just that — hysteria, child sex abuse, and the possibility that one’s own child could be molested by a trusted caregiver, is all too real.
• Squick:
  • Although the author has the taste to avoid lurid details, describing only enough to give the reader a good idea of what's going on, the depictions of the child molestation and pornography are disturbing enough.
  • Three-year-old Becky's French-kissing Ryan, a high school senior.
• Unintentional Period Piece: This novel's treating at least some of the day-care sex abuse hysteria as fact, as well as references to the Soviet Union, place it squarely in The '80s.
• Values Dissonance: Some brief homophobia. When Adri discloses her intimacy issues to Bev, the latter reacts with horror at the possibility that Adri might be a lesbian. When Adri realizes the reason for Bev's reaction, she reassures Bev that this is not the case, and it is implied that she regards lesbianism as shameful. This would have been a realistic reaction for teenagers in The '80s.
• What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: The Library of Congress designation for this book is Juvenile Fiction.
• The Woobie: Adri, who is dealing with the after-effects of past sexual abuse at Treehouse, and three-year-old Becky, who is currently being molested at the preschool.

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