Book Review: Secrets (The Hero Chronicles #1) by Tim Mettey

Nicholas Keller and his aunt Cora, I mean mom, move to a new town every year on the same day.  To Nicholas she is his aunt, but to the rest of the world, Cora is known as his mother.  She wants it this way to help keep his identity a secret.  That is also why they move every year.  She does not want anyone finding out the truth about her nephew.

What is his secret?  Nicholas doesn't know all of it nor that there is more than what he does know.  Five years ago he rescued some people during the 10-10 earthquakes that killed his parents.  The media has been after him since then.  Nicholas believes that is the whole secret, but there's more.

The new town the two usually move to is small and away from where they originally lived, but not the one Cora has picked this time.  The town of Winsor, located only an hour away from Nicholas's original hometown, has a sprawling high school with a very publicized football team.  At the request of his guidance counselor to get involved in something, Nicholas joins the football team.  Trying out, he's not sure he'll even make it, but suddenly finds himself on the varsity team and the bane of the captain.

This story is about Nicholas's time at the high school.  He's supposed to keep quiet and not draw attention to himself, but everything he does goes against his aunt's wishes.  He tries to do what she wants but it always backfires on him.

It is a decent story.  It is one of those fantasy hero stories with a secret world humans are to know nothing about.  I think it's best suited for an older middle grades reader.  Everything about the book screams cliche.  There's the cliche captain of the football team, the new kid, the girlfriend, everything.  It is corny, but it doesn't feel out of place.  I don't know if that's saying what I want it to say.  What I'm saying, I guess, is that it fits.  The story would not be the story without the cliche.

What's Nicholas's real secret?  Read the book to find out!

I read this as a review request using the Kindle app on my laptop.  All opinions are my own.  I was not compensated for this review in any way.