Silence

Silence #1

by Natasha Preston

Librarian's Note: Alternate cover for this ASIN can be found here.

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

Bullied at school, she has just one friend, Cole Benson. Cole stands by her, refusing to believe that she is not perfect the way she is. Over the years, they have developed their own version of a normal friendship. However, will it still work as they start to grow even closer?

When Oakley is forced to face someone from her past, can she hold her secret in any longer?

Genres: Romance, Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction, Abuse, Ebooks, Mystery

206 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 17, 2012

About the author

#1 New York Times Bestselling Author of The Cellar and The Cabin. Romance and YA Thriller writer, boy mum, Tom Hardy enthusiast. Always buried in a book and a glass of wine.

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Reviews

[Yvette Hunt · Rating 2 out of 5]

It really did feel that this book was written by a teenager. There is an unacceptable amount of spelling, grammatical and punctuation mistakes throughout that somehow made it into the final copy. The story itself is too fast-paced; any event that occurs that is explored in any real detail is usually one about hugging or something. Details that are vital to setting a scene, like exploring Italy or school, everything is shrugged off in favor of dissecting feelings associated with hormones and an entire daytrip is literally over in half a page. It gets quite boring, and the author uses the exact description of closeness "it was like my blood boiled in my veins" no less than three times. There are also strong links which suggest the author was inspired by Twilight before she wrote this. I blindly read this book without looking for reviews or anything because it was free, but I probably wouldn't have if I'd bothered to research it. Not my thing. I don't mean to piss on a book that somebody else considers a favourite but I probably would pass this up.

[HayHay Brann · Rating 5 out of 5]

BEST BOOK EVER!!!!! (not exaggerating) *No Spoilers*

I started this book thinking it would me like other romances just without her talking. I was completely wrong. There was so much emotion, mystery, and even a bit of suspense I couldn't believe how much I liked this book! I've read plenty of teen romance books and none of them will ever compare to this book. I read some of the reviews before reading this book a lot said "not even worth it for free" they were dead wrong. I have never felt so strongly about a book ever and this book was amazing and just perfect. The characters were well explained and weren't hard to keep track of. Over all I couldn't find anything bad about this book, besides the british terms and that's it! This book is a 10 out of 5 stars for me! I can't believe I actually found a great book like this one!! All time best book!!!!!

[Reka Beezy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a really hard time NOT throwing my Kindle across the room after reading this book; matter of fact, I took a day off from writing this review. Ultimately, I'm still confused on how I would actually rate this read, like, really, WTF! First, I found the whole romance between Cole and Oakley to be sweet, most known-you-all-my-life romances are. Jasper was funny was hell, too; now, that's enough of the novel's good points. Let's get to the heart of the matter: Beef #1: What the hell was with changing the POV at the very end of the novel? For about 10 to 12 chapters we're in Oakley's head listening to her fears, trying to figure out what her damage is. Next thing you know we have ONE chapter of Cole, then it's back to Oakley. Finally, when it's time to get the heart of the matter and get some real details on why Oakley doesn't speak, we're thrown back to Cole. WHAT THE FLYING F*&K?! I really wanted to know how Oakley felt when Frank was there at the camping spot...but noooo, we get some half-ass details told from the perspective of the doting boyfriend. Which brings me to Beef #2: It was like the author didn't want to give us the horrible dirty details of this awful thing that happen, but honestly, teens need that realism, especially if you're going to write on a topic this difficult. Throwing the pressure to the left by using the boyfriend to tell the rest of the story just sickened me. I mean, (Beef #3) why tell the struggle of a young woman through the eyes of man?! Is that just my feminism coming into play? Maybe I'm taking it too seriously, but come on--this is Oakley's story about finally having the strength to speak up, not her boyfriend's reaction to her struggle and his (and her family's) obliviousness! Beef #4: If I read this book correctly, Oakley stopped talking when she was 5, but Frank didn't actually rape her until she was 10. What the hell was he doing to her between the ages of 5 and 10, just touching her? And how the hell did all this nonsense start? Did the Dad just owe the guy, or was he enjoying the show? I need some motives, every crime does. Now maybe some of the things that I'm still unsure about are answered in the companion novel, but I'll be damned if I actually pick it up to read it. That was a waste of a day of my life. Again, unsure about the rating I gave, but at least the author made me feel something--even it was utter disgust.

[SueBee★bring me an alpha!★]

FREE on Amazon US today (4/30/2016)

Book 1 in sereis, Series complete.

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

Bullied at school, she has just one friend, Cole Benson. Cole stands by her, refusing to believe that she is not perfect the way she is. Over the years, they have developed their own version of a normal friendship. However, will it still work as they start to grow even closer?

When Oakley is forced to face someone from her past, can she hold her secret in any longer?

http://www.amazon.com/Silence-Natasha...


FREEBIES are often good for MORE than one day, I have gathered all my FREEBIES on a special shelf: Kindle-freebies (currently over 500 books)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

[Kelly Mccurdy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in an entire day. I also read the review that went with the book. Not only are the people that wrote most of the 1 and 2 star reviews not very bright, but they also lack the knowledge that this author is from England, so the way that the spell words such as color and favorite different than we spell them. That being said, on to my review:

I gave this book four stars because it took a while for Ms. Preston to fill us in on what was going on and why Oakley was silent for 11 years. I had a feeling of the issue that was keeping her silent, but I had no idea to what extent it was. The only people that she really had to lean on in her life that she trusted was her best friend Cole, and her brother Jasper. They were the ones that looked out for her. She constantly got ridiculed at school for not talking, and her parents took her to doctors and specialists to try and figure out why she wasn't talking.

Cole and Oakley had grown up together, and Cole became familiar with the facial expressions that Oakley portrayed during conversations. Cole loves Oakley, and Oakley loves Cole. You can see the dialogue that she has with herself, and you can either be pissed off that she won't tell Cole anything, or you can sympathize with her and trust that she knows what she is doing.

Yes there is a cliffhanger at the end, yes there are 20 1 star reviews, but I feel that this book is a good book for Young Adults/teenagers. The topic in the book is one that out there, and not many people are brave enough to stand up and be heard. I praise Natasha Preston for writing about a very tough subject.

[Carrie - Not Scary · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's been somewhere around 7 years since I read this book, and this was definitely the meanest review I've ever left. So I'm deleting the original review and going to tell you that:

1. This is a poorly written book. It's grammatically a hack-job (it needed an editor badly), it has a wonky story/non-storyline in that you really don't know what the storyline is actually supposed to be about 50% of the way through. And I genuinely believe it does a real disservice to victims of sexual abuse.

2. As far as I know, this is the authors first work and maybe this book is just "first time jitters" and from what I've been told her other works are actually pretty good. I haven't read any of them but maybe skip this one and check out her other books.

3. If you are picking up this book because it was Amazon's free book of the day or free book on itunes, I would kindly ask you to read something else by her. From what I can tell she has a good publisher, which means she's got an editor, and hopefully her other works are more "complete" in feeling and don't feel long, drawn out just to make a sequel, and severely disjointed. Hopefully they also all have a solid storyline and not a storyline that stops and then a completely separate one starts up with 80% left in the book, such is the case with this one.

If this book is how you want to spend your time then I do sincerely hope you have a better reading experience than I had. Maybe I'm just not this books target audience. Maybe you are.

[P.A. Warren · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I saw this Free on Amazon and I really feel bad that it was free because it is worth paying for.I mean Im sure the Author is doing a promo or something but let me tell you this book is a very well written and very moving book.I absolutely loved it. I cannot wait to read the next book in the series.

Silence is the story of Oakley (how awesome is that name?) who hasnt spoken a word in 11 years. You already pretty much know something traumatic happened to her. She is bullied at school for not talking but she has an amazing friend in Cole.Cole has been her friend for years and suddenly she's seeing Cole in a brand new light.He helps her quite a bit and loves her.

This is such a well written book.Sure there were a few typo's but no one is perfect.I will admit I had to get used to the different terminology people use when they are overseas however it took nothing away from the story.This is a great read.

Definitely a must read.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in two sittings. it definitely drew me in.

I will be reading the rest of the series.

Four stars.

At the time of posting this series is available on Kindle Unlimited.

[Tina Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had the potential to be very good given the subject matter. The book was very short and I felt it took way too long to get to the heart of the matter. It was very slow moving in the wrong areas and then rushed through in the parts I felt deserved more attention. And I'm still confused about Julian. I felt he was just thrown into the story as a fill in. And the ending!? I have no experience first or second hand with this topic but it seems to me it would have been a lot harder to be where she was before everything came out and with her dad still in the house. Now with him out, I would have thought it wouldn't be quite as bad, but like I said, no experience. I'm still undecided about moving on to book 2. I really, really loved Cole and I'm dying to see if he stays in the picture so I'm leaning towards reading it just to find this out.

[s · Rating 1 out of 5]

wow garbage!!!!!!!

[Jessica C · Rating 3 out of 5]

this story broke me. the last few pages were so difficult to read, and I cried a lot. I felt connected to the characters, and I really fell in love with them and their relationship. TW: there are a lot of sexual abuse descriptions in it.

There were a lot of grammar mistakes, which is why i had to give it a 3 unfortunately. The author would change tenses or even switch POVs in the middle of chapters accidentally which would make it a bit confusing.

[Paula Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

As readers of The Phantom Paragrapher, you will know that I have a tendency to read series out of order. It is not something that I mean to happen, but it just seems to be that way. The only way it doesn't occur is if I force myself to read them in order but where's the fun in forced reading. Luckily, for me often the series don't necessarily have to be read in order like the Silence series by Natasha Preston. If you don't read them in order, you can still catch the drift. A few weeks ago, I read Book #3 in this series and enjoyed it. During the weekend, I decided since I had this series on my mind to go back and start at the beginning by reading Book #1. Book #1 is the lead-up to the trial. Book #1 takes us back to the beginning where we first meet best friends Cole and Oakley. Oakley has been silent since she was five, one day she woke up and decided it would be best for everyone if she stayed silent. She did stay silent for eleven years. Now at sixteen, Oakley is starting to develop romantic feelings for her best friend Cole and vice versa. Except, she isn't sure how to go about it as she doesn't want to come across the wrong way. For the past eleven years, Oakley has been hiding a dark secret, and if it came to light then a lot of people will be hurt, and those closest to her will have to live with the consequences forever. What will happen when it looks like old patterns are starting up again? Will Oakley be able to finally find her voice again and ask for help this time around? Will her friends and family support her or will they call her a liar?
Find out in Book #1 - Silence by Natasha Preston.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG!!! if I was a super emotional person I would have been bawling at the end!!!!! The cliffhanger TORE ME UP!!! DYING to know what happens in the sequel.

[Sabrina Bay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some people have side chicks, well, I have side reads and Silence was one of them.

You know, the kind of book you read on a tablet (mostly because it's free) and you "open" it once in a while when you're bored. Yep, that kind of book.

So yeah, I saw this book on ibook and it was free. My first thought was "YAY a free book with a nice cover" and my second thought was "there is a catch". So I read the summary and WTF a main character who doesn't speak! Awesome, unique and opens up for so much alternatives.

Basically "Silence" is the story of a girl- Oakley- who has live something (that we don't know for most of the novel) and because of that event, she hasn't spoken in 11 years. She doesn't even text or write what she thinks, she just go through the days as an uncommunicative person who frowns/smiles/cries well, who has emotions. So, Oakley is a sad girl who gets bullied at school. She has a crush on Cole, a long-time friend who happens to be the son of a family's friends couple. Throughout the whole book, we follow the journey of this mute girl and this open-book young man.

I thought the character of Oakley would have deepness and dark secrets. Well, I was right on the dark secret thing, but the only deepness to her is when she thinks about Cole. Oh! Shivers on my body. Oh! Butterflies in my stomach. WE GET IT OAKLEY. The author didn't have to put so much repetitions and emphasis on that point: we would've still get that she is REALLY into the guy.

Heartless bitch you say? Yep, maybe, who knows? Maybe i'm not that much of a romantic myself, but c'mon? You can't tell me it did not bother you to have so much unwanted/useless details.

As I turned the pages, I only had one hope: that she would frecken say a word. And I turned the pages, turned the pages and turned the pages. What did I read? Ohhhhh Cole is so perfect... Ugh.



Plus, I am not a fan of books which switch characters from a chapter to another. It really bugged me in "Allegiant" or in "We'll always have summer"- but the "Will Grayson, Will Grayson" kind of way is good for me. Why? Because they began to switch characters POV from the beginning. Here, in "Silence", the author decided to randomly switch characters thoughts at like the 2/3 of the novel. Biche why? Okay, this really got on my nerves.

Sorry to sound so upset, haha! Well, I won't talk about spelling mistakes and weird sentences structures because it comes a lot in like every other review so yeah, I noticed .

And oh Gosh what a whiner. Like she could fill glasses of teardrops and drink them and still cry more. What is the point in making a character cry so much. I get that her life is not what she thought it would be. But what with that one time when she wanted to send a text and did not do it and started crying instead? What-the-heck like the day had been perfect, she received a good text, and then BAM she cried.



There are lots of things that just don't make sens in that book. I mean, let's take the part where Mia told Cole she was pregnant. He was all OMG i'm an uncle. Aww, Mia, your baby (conceived with a cheater and the person I probably hate the most on Earth) will always have me! WTF seriously!? His sister is so young (19 y/o I think), she still lives with her parents, she will have no father for the child and all he had to say was "I will be an uncle" *tight hug* hihi haha hoho. Wtf is wrong with him seriously?

For the positive points of the novel, JASPER is the only character I like. He brings a bit of humour and colour to the book. He is caring with his sister and he is bringing up jokes which gives a better atmosphere to the book which is a bit gloomy and hopeless, in my opinion (maybe it was because of the fact that we are stuck in someone's head for so long- I know we're stuck in characters head in every book, but having her not talk felt like I was trapped- that made it so awful).

I also did enjoy some parts of the book like the sixteenth birthday party's incident. Parts where it wasn't all about Cole obsession or Oakley's depression. There weren't many of those, though.

THE END THOUGH
From page 582/630 (ibook version), the book is reeeeaaally good! That's where those two stars come from. Made me want to read the second, ironically. I might give it a shot someday. Having Oakley actually speak was like the most satisfying thing i've encountered lately.

[Angigames · Rating 2 out of 5]

Delusione STRATOSFERICA.
Primi 10 capitoli fantastici, c’era TUTTO! Dolore, Silenzio, Segreti, Amore, Attrazione… poi tutto si è perso a causa di:
- Stupidi stereotipi sull’Italia (terra di super modelle e dove tutto profuma di olio… )
- Il rapporto tra Cole e Oakely
Ora, lasciamo perdere il primo punto, perché veramente dopo questo libro ne ho lette di tutti i colori sul Mio Paese, ma ok… lasciamo stare!
Parliamo di Oakley e Cole. Oakley non parla da ben 11 anni (ora ne ha 16) a causa di un segreto che l’ha distrutta a che custodisce gelosamente perché la verità potrebbe distruggere la sua famiglia.
Il segreto in questione è intuibilissimo dopo pochi capitoli ma non è questo il problema.
Il problema è che Oakley è odiosa, ODIOSA come non mai! Ok, è una vittima, il bello è che declama di non voler essere una vittima e poi si comporta esattamente come tale! Anzi, peggio! Lei sfrutta, ferisce e piange, senza neanche accorgersene!
Cole è peggio di lei. Personaggio quasi inverosimile, troppo buono, troppo paziente, troppo perfetto, insomma inesistente e ingenuo all’inverosimile, tanto da darmi i nervi. E si, sono arrabbiata, sono una furia, perché le potenzialità di questa lettura erano molto alte e l’idea di fondo è bellissima… solo che la caratterizzazione dei personaggi è fantascientifica e mi ha inacidito il sangue!
#ACIDAIO

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Silence is a book that I am going back and forth with… I'm on the fence about how to really rate it. Silence is written in dual Pov changing between both Oakley and Cole. Oakley wasn’t my favorite character. I didn’t hate her but I definitely didn’t love her. She was strong in some ways but overall pretty weak. When she does go into why she isn’t talking I did overall like the reasoning behind it. As far as a character that doesn’t speak goes, she was pretty interesting. I did think that for how mature she was about her personal issue she was far too immature about others. As far as Cole’s character went I was head over heels for him. I thought he was funny, charming, and definitely swoon worthy. I liked that he was more than just a love interest and that he was a great friend. Even though we got a lot less chapters from his point of view I found myself loving his side and the way he spoke way more. It was his sweetness though that really won me over. Their relationship was the biggest plus of this book. I enjoyed that we got so much backstory and build up of their relationship. It wasn’t just a “hey they’ve been friends forever so that why they should be together.” It was how relationships should be: starts off as a friendship, explores that for a while, then builds to something more. So I appreciated that it wasn’t insta love. As far as sub characters the only few that I want to touch base on. Julian (the bully), her cousin with the stupid name, and her parents. I wish we would have gotten more interaction with her mother and father and gotten more out of them. The other two I really hate, Julian and her cousin. Julian was set up to be this horrible mean bully, but all he did was be creepy then convenient. I hate random thrown in characters and he was the epitome of one. Her cousin was equally pointless and dumb. Overall I felt no real connection to any character except Cole.

The thing that has me torn though was the flow of the story. In the
The beginning of the story is slow, and this isn’t my problem… In Silence case I can respect the slow start. It really made me connect more with the story and characters (aka Cole). But I still found myself wanting more out of it. I felt like the first part of the book is a two star rating. The meaty middle of this story is what I fell hard for. I liked when the families went on vacation, I liked the sweet little dates, and the late night hang outs. I enjoyed getting to see our leading couple fall for each other. It'll give you a toothache. It was just so sweet. This had me thinking the middle section of this book would be rated a solid 4 stars. It was the ending of this book that annoyed me. How everything plays out makes me so mad. It’s clearly not a spoiler that ya girl Oakley eventually talks, and from then on out it had my blood boiling!!!! I can’t even tell you why I’m so mad either, because it would be giving out spoilers. All I can say is that the last few chapters took this book from a 4 star read to a 1. The ending could have been what it was but the way it was laid out and presented was a huge no in my book. It felt like the ending given was just so there could be a follow up book. I personally wanted this to be a standalone and play out the complete opposite of what it did... But like I said even if the ending is what it is the way it went down…. No. I’m not ok with it. It was rushed and slammed. Silenceisn't a long book and could have handled 30 more pages to make it something more. I wish the romance in this book would make up for the ending but sadly it didn't. I felt this book was just the sweeter version of Speak and it could have been similar and yet had something that made it standout.

2.5

[Ari Reavis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jumped from 3 to 4 stars at the end because it made me cry. This was an interesting read, in the sense that we knew what the main character, Oakley, was feeling and thinking and others didn't. But Cole won me over from the start by telling her it was fine if she never talked again, as far as he was concerned. He loved her regardless. The reason why she stopped talking wasn't explained until the end (although you had some idea of what happened) and it was very sad, and made even more heartbreaking by the circumstances, but I'm glad she finally talked about what happened. The ending though... Geesh, talk about abrupt and confusing.

[Nino · Rating 1 out of 5]

okay,what the fuck was that ?xD

[kornik · Rating 2 out of 5]

nigdy nie sądziłam, że książkę ulubionej autorki ocenię tak nisko💔💔
piszę to z bólem serca, ale to było po prostu nijakie. nudne, rozciągnięte na ponad 350 stron, naciągana fabuła, wszystko powtarza się w kółko.
nawet wątek, który miał być, nie wiem, tajemnicą(?) nie zainteresował mnie, bo spodziewałam się tego
praktycznie od samego początku.
Oakley i Cole też mnie nie kupili, słodcy aż do porzygu, a ich relacja od początku do końca wyglądała prawie tak samo.
czy wzruszyło mnie tu cokolwiek? nie, a było sporo wątków, których rozwinięcie mogłoby sprawić, że tak by się stało.
plusy? nie wiem, może Julian? był chujem i nagle, z dupy, jakąś przemianę chciał przejść, nie wiem o co chodzi i nie pasuje mi to, ale debil robiący z siebie debila to coś, co lubię.
chciałam przeczytać tę książkę od jakiś 6-7 lat, odkąd zobaczyłam ją po raz pierwszy, a skończyło się tak, że musiałam się zmusić do skończenia jej.

przeczytam drugi tom tylko dlatego, że mam go na półce i jest to książka Natashy.

[Ellen-Arwen Tristram · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, it was free so that should have been warning enough. Some how I didn't quite realise how... bad this would be. There were an amazing number of typos, spellings, punctuation errors that drove me mad - how can you not edit something properly even if you are self publishing? But the story itself was lacking: the characters were unrealistic and inconsistent. Oakley not speaking for eleven years basically didn't seem like a big enough deal to her family and friends, and then when she did finally speak, it wasn't heralded with enough importance. The end was very rushed - perhaps a self imposed deadline was looming?

Basically, not good. Even the budding love between the teenagers didn't feel true... Having said that I will read he sequel - mostly because I already downloaded it and it will offend me if it sits unread in my Kindle shelf! But, if you haven't read it, please don't bother.

[Antonella · Rating 2 out of 5]

I get it..the subjects in this book are serious child abuse and rape but the delivery of the story is lacking. The writing was not working for me.

[Sydney Guerrera · Rating 2 out of 5]

*first review*

Huh. I had to wait a bit before writing a review for Silence because I still needed time to think about what the hell happened.



Alright, basically Oakley is a teenager in high school that refuses to speak to anyone because of a dark secret. She doesn't even communicate through texting or writing out her thoughts. You have the oblivious parents except for the father, Max, who holds a big part in why she stopped speaking , as well as the "boy-next-door" kinda guy, Cole, who has been Oakley's best friend and neighbor since she was five. When she realizes her feelings for Cole, a relationship begins to blossom.
When her secret starts to come alive, she doesn't know if she can be silent forever.

The synopsis seems interesting enough, right? Worth reading?



There were good things about this book, but there were also some things about this book that made no sense at all and were completely unnecessary.

For example, Julian's character. I understand his relevance somewhat (exposing Cole and Oakley's relationship in front of everyone), but he just seemed useless. I feel like he was just thrown into the book for some conflict in Oakley and Cole's relationship. Then, by the end of the book, he became friends with Oakley and she forgave him, despite the endless torment he inflicted on her the majority of her high school life. And then not only did he bully her countless times, but tried to kiss her drunk at her party and then proceed to tell her entire family that Cole and her were sleeping together. But, by the end, he is forgiven.



I also had questions with the POVs...what was that about? We were seeing the world from Oakley's eyes and then suddenly the reader was pushed into Cole's world around chapter 15. The author was pretty inconsistent with the POVs. I was most disappointed with this when Oakley exposed her secret. I wasn't able to read her feelings or her emotions when she finally told her family, except her father because the stupid shithead deserved to be locked away for life. , yet we read them in Cole's POV. Eh. We were definitely able to see the emotion from another's eye, but I would of really wanted to be able to see Oakley's POV during this intense time.

And the romance was way to fast-paced. Pages upon pages were spent on simple hugs ("blood-boiling-fire-on-skin-butterflies-in-stomach-no-feeling-like-this-before hugs) and kisses. And you were definitely smothered with the deep, intense, i-can't-live-without-you phrases. The writing of the romance was solid and well, but I felt that the overwriting of the smallest moments was taken too far.



OKAY. NOW ONTO THE GOOD THINGS.

Jasper was the only character in the book I was able to handle. He brought humor into the story and didn't make me want to complete hate the book. Good character, but I definitely would of wanted to see more of him.
JASPER WAS PROBABLY THE ONLY THING THAT I LIKED. SORRY.

The writing was not terrible though, and I could tell that there was effort put into the story. I really liked the overall idea, but I hoped for something a bit better. I won't be reading the sequel, but I didn't hate the book.

[Kayla Wedel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I typically won't write reviews on books; however, I feel it is warranted in this case. I'm one of those readers who gets sucked in by the "recommendations for you" campaign and have been fairly happy with the results. I'm not picky in what I read and I'll pretty much give any book a shot, but this book... it was hard for me to even finish. I was misled by the amazingly high rating this book has and I am still trying to figure out how it has achieved almost an average of 4 stars. This book was very poorly written with grammatical errors being so obvious that it is clear the author didn't even care enough to proofread her own material. When I see something this bad it makes me think, "if you don't care enough about YOUR OWN BOOK why would I care about it." I think the author should think about REREADING her material and making sure to correct the numerous errors and then release an edited version of this book. I think the story line is interesting in some aspects but it definitely needs to be more developed. I believe there is some potential for this book but the author needs to invest much more of her time before I would rate this as anything other than a "colossal disappointment."

[Maddie D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oakley Farrell stopped talking at the age of 5, and no one seems to know why. She's been friends with Cole Benson since before she could even talk,(which is before she stopped). She's has always been so lucky to have him in her life, and she wants him to be in it, in a different way, but she knows it will never work out.

Cole Benson has been friends with Oakley since birth, and always loved her. He knows that someone like her will turn him down. He doesn't care if she doesn't talk, ever, he always knows what she means. He's always there for her, when she gets bullied, teased, made fun of, and everything.

Cole and Oakley have a stronger connection, and realize they are perfect for eachother, but still decide to keep it a secret from their families. When things, and people, from Oakley's past come back to haunt her, she takes control. (By the Way I did it from both points of view because in the book, it switches off every few chapters). I love Silence because it has such emotion in it, and i cant BELIEVE how it turns out! You will be shocked, and so emotional at the end. I think i got teary-eyed at some points. This book is a 5-star worthy book! Also read Broken Silence for another book in the series.

[F.R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember once watching a documentary about teenagers who have chosen not to speak. There are some who are affected by such intense social anxiety that they find it best not to say a word to anyone rather than say the wrong thing. It was a heart-breaking programme where I just hoped that these young people could get over their issues, or at least find a way to enjoy life.

This book focuses on such a person. Our protagonist is Oakley, a teenage girl who hasn’t said a word in eleven years. In many ways Oakley is a normal teen, she is an exemplary student, has hobbies, an irritating brother and a new boyfriend who adores her. But she also has a secret from her past. One that she has buried so far inside herself she can no longer communicate verbally.

Some might complain that the story moves in a very straight line, that its conclusion – and how it’s going to play out – is clear from early on. But I felt that the richness of its characters, the seeming realness of its teenage world, gave this world proper depth and feeling and made for a compelling if somewhat sad read.

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Silence is a bittersweet story depicting how a young girl tries hard to conceal a life-changing secret in order to keep her family together, while giving up something everyone wants so badly to hear again: her voice.

I went into this story completely open minded. From the title, you could tell that something terrible happened to Oakley and she'd stopped speaking because of it. I had no idea she was "ordered" not to speak by someone in her life, someone she trusted. But when that started to come out as I read, I wanted to rip the guy apart for her. I was so sad for her and really wanted her to tell someone, especially Cole.

Honestly, I think Oakley was really strong. I mean, she went through bullying and constantly having her mother try to fix her instead of just coming out and say what happened. It takes a lot of strength for someone to hang on as long as she did. But I think that was partly due to the love and support of the charming Cole.

Cole was so sweet and protective. When he heard Oakley's voice for the first time, I believed his emotions in that moment. And even more when she confessed to him about what had happened to her. Like, the way he reacted, it was utterly real. The words, the description, everything felt real.

I guess by now you've realized that I liked the story. It's not the average sweet and fluffy YA read, it conveys a heavy topic. And I think more people should read this book because this stuff happens in society, more often than we'd like to hear. It's very much a realistic fiction. I think the author did a good job writing it. The only reason that kept it from getting five stars is the ending. I felt like the entire story was written well and on a nice, steady pace, but when it got to the ending, it was so abrupt. That's my only issue with Silence. Otherwise, it's a good story depicting a sweet young love in spite of the pain. And that goes to show that no matter what you're going through, love will always prevail.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Silence is a bittersweet story depicting how a young girl tries hard to conceal a life-changing secret in order to keep her family together, while giving up something everyone wants so badly to hear again: her voice.

Oakley hasn't spoken a word since the age of five (for reasons you won't find out until the end of the book). She is harboring a HUGE secret that would ruin her family's morale if the truth came out. Now at the age of 15, she still has yet to utter a single word. Her best friend from childhood, Cole, has been the only person she is able to communicate with easily. He understands Oakley better than Oakley understands herself. They are inseparable - from school to each other's houses and their parents are best friends as well.

Oakley and Cole attend the same school and Cole being 2 years ahead of Oakley is about to graduate but he wants to include Oakley in anything and everything that he can to "include" Oakley...parties, eating lunch together, even sometimes cutting school during mid day. As time passes, the two of them develop a relationship of something beyond friendship. Luckily we get both sides of the story in Silence. It's a dual first person (Cole's and Oakley's perspectives). We get to experience first hand how their relationship blossoms and develops from friends to boyfriend and girlfriend.

This story is NOT a standalone. You will have to read "Broken Silence" to get the continuation of Oakley's story that takes place 4 years after Silence.

[Pam Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a unique story, I read this book many years ago and loved it. My heart hurt so much for this girl who gave so much to make everyone happy. Oakley’s story is a sad and hard one to read/listen to but the story is one that sticks with you, not because of the nature of it but because sadly this isn’t always fiction for some this is their real life.

The way this story plays out makes you see how strong Oakley is and what she is tortured with every single day of her life. I love that she has this connection with Cole and how she can feel so safe with him. He makes her feel she is 100% fine just the way she is.

The narrators for this book are fantastic and do such a wonderful job bringing this story to life.

[Kristi · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG!!! This book is a must read!!!! Its heart-wrenching.

[Jola · Rating 4 out of 5]

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