Silence reminds her of the accident that killed her parents and left her trapped in a mangled car. On that isolated stretch of road with the weight of all that silence pressing against her mind and body, something sinister had kept them company. Since that night a voice haunts her nightmares and snakes out to torment when she is alone and vulnerable.
Still recovering physically and mentally from the loss of her parents, high school senior Olivia finds herself living with an aunt she hardly knows in a small town in the middle of nowhere. Spring Valley, Colorado should hold the connection to her father she longs for, but that longed for connection turns out to be more than Olivia ever imaged. Behind closed doors things in this sleepy community are far from ordinary.
One by one fundamental truths are stripped aside as everything she ever believed about her family is called into question.
Still recovering physically and mentally from the loss of her parents, high school senior Olivia finds herself living with an aunt she hardly knows in a small town in the middle of nowhere. Spring Valley, Colorado should hold the connection to her father she longs for, but that longed for connection turns out to be more than Olivia ever imaged. Behind closed doors things in this sleepy community are far from ordinary.
One by one fundamental truths are stripped aside as everything she ever believed about her family is called into question.
*I’d like to thank Jan Harman who gave me this copy in exchange for an honest review.*
First of all, the book needs some serious editing. The language is choppy and inconsistent, fluent transitions lack almost completely. The text jumps from paragraph to paragraph, and from event to event without explaining or elaborating on the details. This left me very confused most of the time. In addition, there are countless spelling and grammar mistakes.
Now, I’d like to say that, once you get through the first pages, it does get better and you will be rewarded with an original, fascinating and suspense-packed story.
Now, I’d like to say that, once you get through the first pages, it does get better and you will be rewarded with an original, fascinating and suspense-packed story.
Olivia is a traumatized teenager who has gone through unimaginable horrors and just tries to get a grip on her life again. I can sympathize with her and I understand that, after that car accident killed her parents and left her badly injured, she just doesn’t have the strength to fight any more. She is extremely insecure and self-conscious.
Of course, it doesn’t help her constitution that she gets whisked away by her aunt to a town full of dangerous secrets.
Unfortunately, though, I have a problem with weak and whining heroines that allow others to treat them like babies - especially the hero! Because that’s what Shade does. Like everyone else in the book, he has a habit of sending her to bed whenever she becomes too ‘emotional’.
Don’t get me wrong. I do like Shade. It’s clear that he cares deeply for her. But I desperately hoped for Olivia to emancipate herself from those locals who decide every minute of her life. That includes Shade, her one-dimensional aunt, and her less than sympathetic boyfriend. She doesn’t. She willingly accepts, obeys and excuses which is, to me, just another sign of her weakness. Olivia doesn’t manage to detach herself from her ‘guards’. She doesn’t manage to overcome her full-blown inferiority complex (sooner or later, even she has to understand that what happens around her is real and that she’s not crazy). She doesn’t manage to resolve the mysteries surrounding her. In fact, she seems to be content NOT to resolve them. If it were me, I would have strangled that close-lipped aunt of hers a long time ago.
Nobody in the Valley says clearly what he thinks or means, everyone has a secret that – for some reason beyond me – needs to be kept from the heroine. This is not only nerve-racking but also confusing. I still haven’t really understood what a Whisperer is, probably due to the above-mentioned lack of explaining. Every time I got immersed in the story, there is another mystery / conspiracy that’s not or only partially explained and leaves me hanging in the air. I like mysteries, but there are just so many of them that I lost track.
Unfortunately, though, I have a problem with weak and whining heroines that allow others to treat them like babies - especially the hero! Because that’s what Shade does. Like everyone else in the book, he has a habit of sending her to bed whenever she becomes too ‘emotional’.
Don’t get me wrong. I do like Shade. It’s clear that he cares deeply for her. But I desperately hoped for Olivia to emancipate herself from those locals who decide every minute of her life. That includes Shade, her one-dimensional aunt, and her less than sympathetic boyfriend. She doesn’t. She willingly accepts, obeys and excuses which is, to me, just another sign of her weakness. Olivia doesn’t manage to detach herself from her ‘guards’. She doesn’t manage to overcome her full-blown inferiority complex (sooner or later, even she has to understand that what happens around her is real and that she’s not crazy). She doesn’t manage to resolve the mysteries surrounding her. In fact, she seems to be content NOT to resolve them. If it were me, I would have strangled that close-lipped aunt of hers a long time ago.
Nobody in the Valley says clearly what he thinks or means, everyone has a secret that – for some reason beyond me – needs to be kept from the heroine. This is not only nerve-racking but also confusing. I still haven’t really understood what a Whisperer is, probably due to the above-mentioned lack of explaining. Every time I got immersed in the story, there is another mystery / conspiracy that’s not or only partially explained and leaves me hanging in the air. I like mysteries, but there are just so many of them that I lost track.
In the end, though, I enjoyed the story, and when the second installment gets a good editor and a stronger heroine, I’m up for it.
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