This Secret Thing by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen

The tension simmers in the town, and you know a powder keg will explode somewhere. From many of these women, you get a slightly fully sense of those who died, their good points and their foibles, and their real effect on others in Worthy. When We Were Worthy follows four women in the midst of the tragedyLeah, who should have been in that car with her friends that night, but the reason why she wasn't may be worse than the accident Marglyn, a grieving mother trying to make sense of it all Darcy, once one of the town's cheerleaders, but now the mother of the boy responsible for the accident and Ava, a substitute teacher who moved to Worthy with her husband, who grew up there, and has a secret that, if exposed, could cause many ripples through the town. The town and its residents are thrown for a complete loopthe cheerleaders become the stuff of legend, angels chosen to descend to heaven, and Worthy's citizens are mired in grief, anger, and suspicion. The boy who appears to have caused the accident is also from town, and survives, which, in the eyes of many in town, is unfortunate. One night, after a successful game, the victory spirit of Worthy is cut short, when an accident claims the lives of MC, Brynne, and Keary. When they bestow their friendship on two sophomore cheerleaders, Keary and Leah, and encourage them to join the varsity squad, it elevates their social standing, but it also makes the two girls beholden to the seniors and their friends.

'Once football season started, we were more the team than the town.' Two beautiful cheerleaders, Brynne and Mary Claire ('MC'), rule the school, making or breaking lives by the amount of attention they pay to others. Worthy, Georgia is a small town ruled by football, as many small Southern towns are.

'In Worthy, truth lived right next door to perception, but they weren't exactly friendly neighbors.' Marybeth Mayhew Whalen once again shows off her knack for getting inside the scandals and secrets of small-town America in her new novel, When We Were Worthy, and she does so in great soapy fashion.

This Secret Thing by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen