This is the third installment in this author's Shady Park series. This tale centers on Nicole, a minor character in the second installment, who finds herself in the center of a sexting scandal at the school where she is a teacher. Complicating matters are the religious zealots who are not all they seem to be as they try to eradicate this behavior among the teens of the town. Intertwined in this tale are issues involving corrupt politicians and religious figures, immigration and criminal justice. I also really enjoyed the literary quotes used at the start of each chapter, reflecting the author's obvious literary knowledge. ( )

Delightful weekend read. While artfully dealing with the realistic struggles of a small town public school teacher against today’s very current issues on morality and sexuality and the hypocrisy of many people in power, the book retains a certain lightness and romanticism. Nicole, the main character, is very down to earth and relatable. ( )

I received a copy of this book as an Early Reviewer. Although this is the 3rd book in a series, it was easy to read as a stand alone book too. It had likable characters that are facing real issues that our youth have to deal with these days, such as sexting. Great book and looking forward to ordering the first two books in this series so that I can see how the characters were developed and had grown throughout the series. ( )

I discovered after I won Shady Park Secrets that it's part of a series; however, fortunately. it's a novel that can easily be read as a stand-alone book.

Amazingly author Rea Keech is able to weave numerous contemporary issues--gender identity, sexting, privacy, reporting illegal events, the power of money and immigrants to name a few--into a novel where they are presented in realistic contexts and beg the reader to engage and examine his/her attitudes on the topics.

As a retired educator, I was fascinated by the heroine who is deeply committed to teaching and her students. Nicole uncovers a sexting/child pornography ring via a student's sharing an unsolicited cellphone phone photo, but this challenges Nicole's values when the student seeks Nicole's trust and assistance in dealing with the photo given the school system is crusading to uncover and re-educate students involved in sexting. Nicole's commitment to her students comes at a high cost that she willingly pays.

I did find parts of the end of the novel to be rather trite as the author wraps up all the issues into "happy ever after" solutions, but generally the novel is satisfying as it addresses tough contemporary issues. ( )

I received this book as part of LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.

Shady Park Secrets, 3rd book of the Shady Park Chronicles, tells the story of a high-school teacher loses her job for standing up for what she believes is right.

It has a believable plot, characters I could identify with, and seems like a story we may see on the evening news.

I would recommend this book, and I will add the 2 previous books to my TBR pile...(but I did not feel like the story was lessened by not having read them first.) ( )