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345 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 25, 2014
When Bree Prescott arrives in the sleepy, lakeside town of Pelion, Maine, she hopes against hope that this is the place where she will finally find the peace she so desperately seeks. On her first day there, her life collides with Archer Hale, an isolated man who holds a secret agony of his own. A man no one else sees.
Archer's Voice is the story of a woman chained to the memory of one horrifying night and the man whose love is the key to her freedom. It is the story of a silent man who lives with an excruciating wound and the woman who helps him find his voice. It is the story of suffering, fate, and the transformative power of love.
"He... broke his lips from mine to look down questioningly into my face, to see if I was okay with what he was doing. His gentleness and his concern with what I desired made my heart squeeze tightly, and I smiled a small smile. "Yes," I breathed out. "Yes."
"His eyes told me everything… We communicated a thousand words, without a single one being spoken."
"I want to be able to love you more than I fear losing you, and I don't know how. Teach me, Bree. Please teach me. Don't let me destroy this." He looked at me beseechingly, pain etched into every feature of his face.
Oh God, Archer, I thought, my heart squeezing tightly in my chest. How do you teach a man who has lost everything, not to fear it happening again?
"He smiled back and put his lips against mine, mouthing, "I love you, too," against my mouth, as if he was breathing love into my body."
Two days later I drove past Archer's house on my way back from lying on the small lake beach and his gate was slightly open. A thrill shot down my spine as I got off my bike.
Maybe there was no right or wrong, no black or white, only a thousand shades of grey when it came to pain and what we each held ourselves responsible for.
He had a crease in each cheek, not dimples exactly, just the way his cheek muscles moved when he smiled. I stared at those creases as if they were twin unicorns that he'd been hiding from me under his beard. Magical.
I was a freak. I was out here alone and isolated for a reason- I was to blame for so much tragedy, so much pain. I was worthless.He comes to town every once in a while to buy necessities, and most just ignore him. That is until Bree Prescott shows up. Bree leaves her hometown of Cincinnati Ohio (which just happens to be MY hometown ;)) to head to the small lakeside town of Pelion Maine. Tragedy has struck her as well, and she needs to get away for a while. Start fresh. There are things she’s leaving behind. Things that haunt her, but she’s working on it.
“You are going to be okay, Bree. You are strong and you are going to be happy again. Do you hear me? There’s something good about this place. Do you feel it?”The first time Bree runs into Archer, she can tell there is something about him. Something she wants to know more about. She asks around about the mysterious Archer Hale and finds out that he can’t speak. Bree doesn’t let that stop her. After living her life with a hearing impaired father, she knows how to sign. She wants to talk to Archer.
If they only knew.
If who only knew what?
Everyone in town. Some of them think you’re not right in the head, you know. It’s laughable really. Why do you let them think that?
Just easier that way.
I don’t like it.
It’s been this way for a long time, Bree, it’s fine. It works for everyone involved.
Did you... want me to kiss you yesterday? Did you want me to touch you?
Yes
I wanted to kiss you, to touch you. I just didn’t know... if you wanted that too.
You are a real person, you can live a life like other people do.
“What are your dreams, Archer?”
‘I didn’t know enough to dream you, Bree, but somehow you came true anyway.’
‘This is that burden I was talking about, Bree. This is what the burden of loving me looks like.’When both of their pasts come rearing to the future, will they be able to handle it? Be able to stand together and be there for one another?
“Loving you isn’t a burden. Loving you is an honor and a joy, Archer.”
I was finally home. Not the place, but his arms. Archer’s arms were my home- the only place i wanted to be, the place where I felt safe. The place where I felt loved.
“It suddenly occurred to me that Archer Hale had taught himself an entire language, but hadn't had a single person to talk to. Until me.”
‘and sometimes, thats all it takes – one person whos willing to listen to your heart, to the sound no one else has ever tried to hear.’
‘sometimes an understanding silence was better than a bunch of meaningless words.’
‘the loudest words are the ones we live.’
↳ so this book is about Bree (h) running away from home after experiencing a traumatic event and ended up bonding with a small town's "loner mute", Archer (H). they become friends to friends with sexual tension to teaching inexperienced Archer how to kiss and... ya know to are they dating or are they not?? to lovers. it's very cute.
"I want to be able to love you more than I fear losing you."
"Sometimes an understanding silence was better than a bunch of meaningless words"
"Someday … when we're old and gray, I'm going to look at you lying in bed beside me, just like this, and I'm going to look into your eyes and know that it's only ever been you. And that is going to be the great joy of my life."
"Each night before I fall asleep, I make it a point to turn to my wife and silently say "Only you, only ever you". And her love slips quietly around me, holding me, anchoring me, reminding me that the loudest words are the ones we live."
1) Travis: should take his toxic masculinity out ot the club and sit the f down and should learn how to take a rejection because god forbid no one wants his entitled ass.
2) Bree: girl, why would you even make your new man hang out with a guy you went on a date with and kissed literally just a few days before you started a relationship with Archer? damn.
3) Archer: b, i know you're inexperienced and naive, and drunk during this time but COMMON SENSE BRO. why the f would you trust a man who you've never trusted before in your entire life? come on, dude.
“Her breasts popped out and she grabbed my hands herself and planted them on her. My dick throbbed in my jeans. I rubbed her nipples the way Bree liked and Amber tossed her head back, moaning. I squeezed her lightly. Her breasts were bigger than Bree’s, but they felt different—not soft, but almost overly firm, and the skin stretched and shiny.”
Maybe there was no right or wrong, no black or white, only a thousand shades of gray when it came to pain and what we each held ourselves responsible for.
I supposed we all coped in our different ways—pain and healing as individual as the people who experienced them.
Then I would have come for you. I would have fought for you. But don’t you see, I had to fight for myself first. I had to feel like I was someone worthy of winning you.
And her love slips quietly around me, holding me, anchoring me, reminding me that the loudest words are the ones we live.
She carried the guilt of not fighting when she thought she should have, and I carried the scar of what happened when you did.
There’s nothing to find out. What I know, is that you walked through my gate that day, and I lost my heart. But not because it could have been any girl—because it was you. I lost my heart to you. And, Bree, in case you’re wondering, I don’t ever want it back.
I had learned recently that often, love was all about learning to speak a person’s language.
“My wounded healer, my beautiful Archer.”
“I lost my heart to you. And, Bree, in case you're wondering, I don't ever want it back.”
“And in that moment, I knew. I was falling in love with the beautiful, silent man staring down at me. If I hadn't already fallen.”
“What are you doing here? I asked.
You don't like thunderstorms, he answered.
I tilted my head, confused. You walked a mile in the rain because I don't like thunderstorms?
He hesitated for a second, looking away, frowning slightly. Then he looked back at me and said simply, yes. He paused, his expression pained. I know I'm probably the last person you want to see right now, but I just thought if I sat on your porch, you wouldn't be scared. You wouldn't be alone.”
“Someday … when we're old and gray, I'm going to look at you lying in bed beside me, just like this, and I'm going to look into your eyes and know that it's only ever been you. And that is going to be the great joy of my life.”