Every Word You Never Said (3) (A Noahverse Story)

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Sometimes I read a book that brings a constant smile to my face because it’s incredibly heartwarming and uplifting. So much so that I don’t even care about the minor details I liked less or frowned upon. Every Word You Never Said is such a book. Jacob’s character development focuses on his overcoming his biases and becoming an advocate (sometimes awkwardly). In the beginning, Jacob sees a separation between Skylar and the British-accented voice on his phone: “I find myself wishing I could hear his voice, like his actual voice, not his phone. As cute as he is, I bet it would be amazing.” We see the change slowly in Jacob as he realizes that Skylar’s AAC isn’t a burden or separate from him, the same way many abled people will say “I’m sorry” when someone uses a wheelchair, but other disabled people will see it as the freedom to move around painlessly. Most importantly, when Jacob and Skylar’s relationship experiences some turbulence, Jacob never stops advocating for Skylar’s causes and continues working with the local Pride Center to challenge the dress code that prevents Skylar from wearing skirts and dresses when he feels like it. Even Jacob’s friends at first are surprised to find out that he’s still making calls and participating when the issue doesn’t affect him directly, but then join him when they see it’s a cause he cares about. Representation of religion! I really enjoyed how religion was not entirely portrayed as an evil cult because not all religions are. Yes, Jacob's dad's church certainly was the evil cult in this story, but there was also Skylar's adoptive parents' church that embraced all cultures and sexual orientations. I am not really one of faith, but I think it was great for Jordon to write in a way that showed not all places of worship are malicious and anti-LGBTQ+. I have struggled my whole life. From abuse from my peers, to emotional neglect, to mental health issues, to trauma inflicted on my person. I am someone who's been keeping themself together with a frayed rope, praying every day that it'll hold out a little longer. And I bury it. I bury it deep. I live in what you could call a self-imposed silence. When the world hurts me, when I am wounded, I say nothing at all. So I compartmentalize. I put it away. I deal when I am ready to deal. Sometimes, that day comes. Most of the time it doesn't. Firstly, the amount of pop culture references. It’s realistic that teens bring these things up in conversation, but honestly they served no purpose and just seemed cringy.

Seeing old friends! I really loved seeing certain characters play a role or make an appearance in this story. I really hope this is a continuous thing! That is all I will say on that :) What I didn’t like that much was their use of langue in their conversations sometimes. It felt like an adult writing teenagers if you get what I mean. (Or do teenagers these days really call each other bitch every two sentences? I don’t know.) Every Word You Never Saidis a romantic dream come true for YA bookstagrammers. There’s Jacob, a broody drummer from an evangelical family who has recently come out. And there’s Skylar­—who’s used to being an outcast because he’s gay, disabled, adopted, and gender non-conforming (GNC). When Jacob invites the new kid to his favorite local bookstore (one of the few safe places away from his homophobic family), Skylar wonders if he should harbor some hope for their friendship as they’re “browsing the books, seeing what Jacob’s hand gravitated toward.” This novel is full of quiet noticing as the two teens navigate their first queer relationship in a conservative small town, but also because Skylar is nonverbal.P.S. - If you have read Jordon Greene's previous book A Mark on My Soul be ready for a cameo that will straight up PUNCH you in the heart 😭

I am so thankful that Jordon was able to give me an eARC of this book! I loved this book. I knew I would love it, but i did not think it would be to this scale. Jordon crafts two more characters that fit into his world perfectly. I can't wait for you all to experience Jacob and Skylar's story. It's something a little different than the two previous books in the Noahverse. Don't worry, it's still a contemporary young adult story filled with humor, awkwardness, and some of life's hard realities, but this one takes on issues like ableism and sexism head on. It's a story that I hope will make you laugh, warm your heart, but still see how far we have to go. This one incident had kind of a snowball effect, bringing a whole campaign for a new dress code into being. Feel free to invite some friends to join our Round Table community!http://www.goodreads.com/group/invite_members/26989-goodreads-authors-readersThere were numerous examples of sentences that felt like they should be dialogue but were actually just narration, like: “You didn’t take me as a reader? All right now. Just because I’m in a band doesn’t mean I don’t read.”. This example wasn’t something the character said out loud, or even a thought in italics or anything. It was just regular narration. And there were so many examples of this. Perhaps it doesn’t make sense without reading it in context, but I definitely noticed this weird thing happening a lot. When I was 16, I went to Kuala Lumpur for the second time in my entire life and I bought a poetry book called I Wrote This For You: Just the Words Jacob and Skylar were loveable characters, both dealing with feeling like outcasts for different reasons. Watching their relationship slowly develop with lots of sweet and awkward moments was a joy. Towards the end I was a little frustrated with their separation but, it did make sense because of the characters' individual insecurities. Their happy ending was super cheesy, fun and satisfying.

And my mind is going full speed again. It's Skylar. It needs to stop, but it's all Skylar. His little short self, big hazel eyes that I think are more green than brown, and little hands. He's just cute. Like, too cute." I also really love that Skylar likes to wear skirts and makeup. Once again, it’s something we don’t see a lot of, even in more progressive and diverse books/movies/shows, so it was really nice to have a gender non-conforming MC. When I opened my laptop to write this review, I didn't have one definitive thing to say. There is no single way to read and interpret poetry, just like there's not one way to review it. So as I type, I figured the best way to review it was to talk about how it made me feel.Every Word You Never Said" is a gay YA contemporary romance following the dual POV of Skylar and Jacob. Skylar is a gay adopted nonverbal 16 year old who just started a new school. Jacob takes up the task to show Skylar around the school on his first day.

I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review! Read on for only potential MINOR spoilers!* Basically every character called each other a “bitch” too, and like… I also call my friends “bitch” sometimes, but, once again, they used the word a lot, and I didn’t really feel like they were *that close* yet, so it felt weird every single time lol. The Author Resource Round Table on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_folder/116489?group_id=26989 There was a lot of great representation in this book so that was a highlight of the story. The nonverbal main character was really interesting to read about. It should be illegal how cute, amazing, and downright emotional this book is! Skylar and Jacob make my heart go wild!"

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I was really surprised when I loved the first half! I liked a lot of poems, especially some sentences. After that the poems started to feel repetitive and boring. Some concepts were also a bit weird? I can’t believe I rolled my eyes at a poetry collection!