I saw this book while I browsing on Oyster and the summary caught my attention :

For eleven years, Oakley Farrell has been silent. At the age of five, she topped talking, and no one seems to know why. Refusing to communicate beyond a few physical actions, Oakley remains in her own little world... (Taken from Oyster)

Perhaps its from having a speech disorder myself, but the idea of being mute (or any other speech impediment) instantly sparks my interest; but, while I knew that this book wasn't exactly my norm when it comes to books (drama/romance), I thought I would give it try as I could I was falling into a reading slump and thought that something new would keep me out of one.

And, it did.

This book, I don't know what it was about it, but I was hooked. I started it while I was on lunch at work and I seriously thought about calling in for the rest of my shift just so I could continue reading it. (I, of course, like the responsible adult I am didn't call in). I found myself within the first 50 pages clutching the edges of my tablet, wanting Oakley to speak again, wanting for Oakley to gain the courage to speak up about what happened to her.

During the novel, while Oakley is the main character, you also get very familiar with her best friend, Cole, and every now and then (especially towards the end of the novel) pop into his head. As a writer, I love with authors talk about the idea that love isn't about saying the words all the time; but, the actions behind the two people and Preston did it well. She had the platform to showcase this thought with Oakley being mute and it even comes up straight out in a portion of the book when Cole's friend, Ben, asks outright "Wouldn't you want to hear her say it [I love you]" And he responses with "Yeah, but I already know that she does and that is more than enough for me" which I promptly responded with an "Aww." and then continued reading.

Overall, I give this novel a 9 out of 10. This was a well-written novel and it honestly felt like I was in two teenager's head and not reading something that an adult written hoping that it sounded like a teenager's mind.

Well, I'm off to read the sequel!

Until the next page turn,

Tiffany

I will start out this review by saying that this book isn't for everyone and a simple glance at it's Goodreads' page will tell you that.

Right off the bat, you will find out that this book includes an incestuous relationship between a brother and a sister. And I will tell you that when I read that I was very, very hesitant to read it. I was honestly about to move on and choose a different book to read as I didn't know that this book had that kind of relationship when I put the book into my TBR jar. But then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the reviews and ratings this book had gotten.

Most of them....highly praised this book.

So, I was curious. What about this book made it wonderful, so wonderful that a lot of people were able to look past the taboo relationship? So, curiosity won. I bought the book.

And I'm so happy I did.

While this book does have an incestuous relationship between a brother -- Lochan -- and a sister -- Maya -- this book is mainly about those two teenagers having to raise three younger siblings because of an alcoholic mother and an absent father. Quite truthfully, the relationship isn't a thing until at least halfway through the book.

The first half of the book is simply learning Lochan's and Maya's story, Lochan is on the cusp of graduating from secondary/high school and Maya is his younger (by 13 months) sister. When they were young, their father left their mother and moved to Australia with a new woman and hasn't really contacted them since Lochan was a pre-teen. Their mother turned to alcohol and partying to cope and you come to find out that she never wanted any kids; but, her ex-husband did hence why she had five children. You learn about Kit, a 13 year old who resents Lochan because Lochan was never a brother but was always a father. And you meet Tiffin and Willa, their much younger siblings who are cute as can be and have no cares in the world.

And you continue reading, about one-fourth of the way through, you start to see hints of Lochan's and Maya's relationship starting to form. Talk about feelings that shouldn't be there and other things like that; but, I was able to over look their relationship (even as it on cemented and deeper) and focus on them just struggling to live and making sure that their three younger siblings got everything that they needed and wanted. Hell, by the end of the book, I was rooting for them. I didn't see that coming. But this book is so well-written. I honestly can't even say how it was so well-written but Suzuma didn't just tell a story : she painted it. You could picture everything. You could feel Lochan's stress and struggles as he worries about university, his social anxiety/phobia, his feelings for his sister, his little siblings, getting money from his mom to pay the bills and get food on the table, etc, etc ,etc.

I do have one complaint about this story; but, it could be that Suzuma was aiming for this. The story is told with two alternating point-of-views : Lochan's and Maya's. But by the end of the story, I felt that Maya was a secondary character and Lochan was the main. Perhaps that was the point as Lochan was the eldest and had most of the responsibilities of raising the children and most of the struggles were on his shoulders.

Overall, I give this book a 8.5 out of 10. A very good read. Wonderfully written and I definitely recommend anyone to read it regardless of genre tastes.

Until the next page turn,

Tiffany

After I finished Silence, I had to pick up the sequel. Broken Silence takes place four years after Silence and you are reunited with the main characters as they get ready to embark on the adventure of putting away Oakley's abusers. I won't speak too much about the plot as this is a sequel and anything largely about the plot will instantly ruin Silence and I rather not do that so I will write what I think about this book.

This book is a tad bit...Okay, lie, it's a lot more romantic than Silence as both Cole and Oakley are older adults and thus are ready to start a more serious relationship than they had as teenagers. There are two plots kind of interwoven together within this novel. The main one is the one that continues from the previous story as the abusers are finally brought in front of a judge, and the second one is the dance that Oakley has in choosing between staying with Cole or not.

Overall, I enjoyed this series. It was interesting and kept my attention. The romance was cute but yet believable. Oakley's reactions were also believable which is a big thing with this kind of plot. There are two short stories that take place after Silence but I'm not one-hundred percent sure if I'm going to read them as I found another book that I want to read.

I give this, and Silence an 8.5 out of 10. There were times when I wanted to throw the romance out of the window because I wanted to focus on what was going on with the abusers but beyond that I don't have any other serious complaints about this novel.

Short review this time, sorry Page Turners!

Until the next page turn,

Tiffany