Reading Group: Sensitive Material
Personal Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
Synopses: 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?
Cover: This cover shows Oakley facing away from the reader. I think this is symbolic of how she is really only allowing the world to know half of who she is since she decided to stop talking.
My Review: I got this book free from iBooks, and I really enjoyed it because I thought it was an interesting and important theme about a possible side effect of abuse as a young child. Oakley was abused by her father's friend and then told that no one would believe her if she said anything, so she stopped talking altogether. During the book, she's growing up, and she and her best friend Cole start dating, but towards the end, she comes face to face with her abuser again and finally speaks up for herself. The thing I really didn't like about this book was that you never actually saw her come face to face with Frank. I liked that Oakley talking came from Cole's point of view because I thought his reaction to his phone ringing and hearing the ringtone was important, but I thought there should have been a chapter before that showing Oakley with her dad and how Frank showed up and how she ran away from them. I think that would have been an essential scene in the story because it was what finally drove Oakley to call Cole and talk to him after eleven years of not speaking. To me, it just felt that the whole book was leading up to that moment and then it never really came. I wanted to know what was going through Oakley's head and what it felt like to speak again. But other than that I enjoyed the story. Not talking was how Oakley coped with what happened to her and even though she could never forget the events she was still able to have a normal relationship with Cole and her brother at least. It made me sad that she didn't think anyone would believe her if she told the truth, but I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who can relate to not speaking out because someone with more authority told them it was a waste of time. And especially for Oakley, that person was her father, who was supposed to be someone she could depend on to protect her.
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