An empowering and satisfying romance.
When a hard-of-hearing college senior has trouble understanding a professor in a required class, she meets a deaf graduate student who introduces her to a whole new world. When she begins to fall in love with him, though, secrets from her past threaten their happiness.
Carli is hard of hearing, but her father’s disdain for what he sees as her imperfection and her family’s unofficial motto of Handle it on your own have made her feel shamed by her hearing loss. At the beginning of her senior year of college, though, she has difficulty understanding a professor with a big mustache using only her hearing aids; Reed, a deaf graduate student in the class, encourages her to look at options the school offers for hard-of-hearing students and helps her audit an ASL class, since she’s never learned to sign. Soon Carli and Reed are an item, and Carli is quickly enfolded into Reed’s circle of friends. For the first time in her life, she feels at home and appreciated for exactly who she is. But a lifetime of judgment and insecurity makes it hard for her to believe in love and acceptance—and then a visit to her family leads to a horrifying encounter with her father, and Carli learns a devastating secret that alters her hope for a brighter future. Meanwhile, Reed knows Carli’s strength and determination could get her through anything, but her slide into despair leaves him frustrated and unsure how to help. Brown offers a powerful look into the world of hearing loss in this emotional debut, though Carli’s constant internal conflict and refrain of “I’m not good enough” get a little excessive. Nonetheless, this is a notable and groundbreaking debut by an author to watch.
An empowering and satisfying romance.Pub Date: June 14, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-0624955-7-0
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
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