Music is Robin’s entire world. She plays guitar, penny whistle, and harmonica just to name a few. She and her fellow coworkers have come up with a list of items that will make up Robin’s perfect guy. A must on that list is an appreciation for music. When she meets Carter, she thinks she’s finally found someone that meets almost all of the criteria on her list–just one problem…he’s deaf.
First off, I love the cover. It definitely has a summer feel to it. Right away we’re introduced to Robin who isn’t popular at school and has a super beautiful best friend. Then she meets Carter who is deaf but meets the criteria of her perfect guy list in every other way. It’s a little bit of instalove going on, but in a sweet way. Not all lusty and physical. Which I definitely thought was a good thing. It seemed like Carter and Robin just felt really comfortable with each other right away and formed something of a friendship first before they really started dating. I liked the pace at which their relationship moved at first.
Secondary characters were pretty good. The ladies who worked at the diner were nothing special, but funny and what you’d expect. Jenni was fine too. She seemed like a good friend–again, basically what you’d expect. I was bugged at how often Robin mentioned that Jenni was prettier than she was. YOU SOUND LIKE A SELF-CONSCIOUS SISSY WHEN YOU SAY THAT. I just didn’t see what repeatedly saying that was supposed to accomplish. Trent was a delightfully hateable guy. Maybe we’re not supposed to hate him all the way, but I just rolled my eyes at him whenever he was “on-screen”. He just seemed like such a jerk! Robin was a fine main character–nothing special. Carter, on the other hand, I thought was really interesting. I’ve never actually read a book featuring a deaf main character. I thought his voice was great, but at times inconsistent. I’d be going along and then all of the sudden Carter would say or think something that yanked me out of the moment. It was as if the author wanted to throw something in there as a reminder that Carter’s still a teenage boy or something? It just didn’t really flow as seamlessly as she may have intended.
You could see the conflict brewing basically the whole story since we’re jumping between both Carter and Robin as narrators. But it almost took too long for the confrontation to happen in my opinion. Everything was going fine, and then there was a ton of drama all at once near the end, and then there was a resolution, but not really. The ending was…interesting. Definitely not typical of the usual “happily ever after even though we’re just teenagers” kind of ending. I both liked it and didn’t (who doesn’t like the “happily ever after even though we’re just teenagers” unrealistic ending?)
Overall, I did find myself caring about the characters and what would happen with them. In the end, though, the book was just okay. While I liked the characters, there wasn’t actually too much depth to them. The story was, for the most part, predictable. I wish at least a few of the characters had been deeper or that the plot had more substance.
Overall Rating: 3
Language: Mild
Violence: None
Sexual Content: Moderate
Smoking/Drinking: Mild. One adult character smokes.
Note: I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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