PUBLISHER: Simon and Schuster
FORMAT: Paperback
BUY IT: Waterstones
RATING: 4 Stars
SUMMARY
When aspiring music journalist Ren Kingston takes a job nannying for a wealthy family on the exclusive island of Nantucket, playground for Boston's elite, she's hoping for a low-key summer reading books and blogging about bands. Boys are firmly off the agenda. What she doesn't count on is falling in with a bunch of party-loving private school kids who are hiding some dark secrets; falling (possibly) in love with the local bad boy; and falling out with a dangerous serial killer...
REVIEW
I’m still, ultimately, wondering what I actually think of this book. I started to enjoy it straight away, and then slowly, there were many elements I loved and many I began to hate. It’s taken me at least an hour to mull all my thoughts over and actually come to a decision as to what to rate it.
The Sound follows Ren, who moves to the States to babysit for a family. She plans to read and blog, a casual summer, but it doesn’t quite go to plan; she meets a group of friends who have a problem with a certain boy; Jesse Miller.
I loved the romance in this book; I loved the action scenes; I loved how the final 100 pages gripped me. I adored the beginning, learning about Ren, her background, who and what she was interested in.
But then, in the middle of the book, from about 60 pages in to the 100 pages before it finished, I just wanted it to end. It made me cringe, it made me raise my eyebrows; and I wondered when the clichés would end. Things like the stereotypical representation of America, girls being “scared” to eat carbs; almost making out like every girl has an eating disorder.
And at first, the love triangle of Ren-Jeremy-Jesse worked really well, but then it became tedious, and predictable as to what would happen. This book had a beautiful, gorgeous romance by the end; but through the trials of the love triangle… Honestly? It just really annoyed me.
There were also things like how Ren tackled Brodie being bullied; telling her theories and things to do. The fact that this bully told her about things like “skanks” and so forth made me feel… slightly vulnerable, almost, and shocked, to see what four-year-olds are actually exposed to in this day and age. I wasn’t naive, but I certainly didn’t know things like that at that age.
But for these faults, I really enjoyed this, reading it in the space of two hours. It has romance; it has mystery; it has action; and it tackles serious issues like sexual assault. Once you get past all the predictability and clichés of this book, it’s a really pleasing, gripping yet beautiful read.
- Charli
You can follow me on Twitter @charli_taw and see my blog at charliotherworld.blogspot.com
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