Title: What I Didn’t Say
Author: Keary Taylor
Published: April 30th 2012 by CreateSpace
Getting drunk homecoming night your senior year is never a good idea, but Jake Hayes never expected it all to end with a car crash and a t-post embedded in his throat.
His biggest regret about it all? What he never said to Samantha Shay. He's been in love with her for years and never had the guts to tell her. Now it's too late. Because after that night, Jake will never be able to talk again.
When Jake returns to his small island home, population 5,000, he'll have to learn how to deal with being mute. He also finds that his family isn't limited to his six brothers and sisters, that sometimes an entire island is watching out for you. And when he gets the chance to spend more time with Samantha, she'll help him learn that not being able to talk isn’t the worst thing that could ever happen to you. Maybe, if she'll let him, Jake will finally tell her what he didn't say before, even if he can't actually say it.
MY THOUGHTS:
“My biggest regret is what I didn’t say… Guess that should teach me a lesson about procrastination or something, right? About not putting the really important things in life off? Life can be pretty cruel sometimes.”
I must say I really adore this book. When Dani made me choose what to read this June this one already caught my attention just after reading the summary. I actually read this during my visit in the salon and when in class and I can’t seem to put my Iphone down. I love each and every character Keary Taylor has shown in the book and it actually made me want to live in their little island or maybe go on vacation there.
And I must put out that I’m such a fan girl of Jake Hayes, the main protagonist of the story. Despite what happened to him and the disability that just suddenly came crashing in his almost planned out future, I believe that he handled everything perfectly. Though there are times when he would fall into depression and frustration he always come through out of it with the support of his family and the people he loves. Also, his love for Sam is really commendable, which makes you believe that there might be men like him who would love you and only you (sorry for the hopeless romantic comment here). Basically, I really love Jake and I feel like you’re going to be lucky once you met him and his family.
Jake’s family for me are such a wonderful bunch that you want them in your neighborhood. They are so close knit that you don’t sense a bad blood between them. They handled the accident very well and they are Jake’s perfect support group. I like the way his mother is so understanding yet strict enough for everyone to follow her and his dad whom does not talk much but gives a very soft and commanding presence. I love each and every siblings of Jake but I’m leaning more to Jordan. Maybe because she’s always there, like Jake’s very own bestfriend inside their house. To sum it up, I want to go visit their little family and actually sit down and bond with each and everyone of them.
Samantha Shay, Jake’s love interest, at first doesn’t really have a clear picture except Jake’s madly in love with her. I actually thought that she’s just there and the author might throw her in the loop and make her fall in love because of pity on what happened to Jake. But she actually surprised me because she have her own story and own problems that you didn’t realize would happen to the class most intelligent student. Her character develops gradually and it’s like peeling her little by little to know more about her. If Jake were real, I would totally give him up to Shay because they bring out the best from both of them.
The people in the island because they deserve a spot in my review because I like all of them. Each and everyone of them, be it those who you can read on one chapter or so still represents a community. I like how the author presents each and everyone of them as their own like your one of them. While reading, it made me feel like I’m also sitting in the classroom observing what is happening around me. And as if, I was there at the accident witnessing what had happened leading to Jake’s disability.
My only problem is Jake’s friends. Well, they are there it’s just that I was expecting for them to be shown more especially because they are involve in the accident. I’m not sure what to say when they suddenly just come and go. I just expected that they would be more visible.
The title What I didn’t Say, gives a message that we should have the courage to say what we needed to say. We really don’t know what will happen in our life that’s why it’s better to live by the moment and do what you have to do and never regret. It’s only natural that we might fail but at least we can say that we tried and did our best.
Overall, I would say this novel is very light despite the heavy theme within it. I think the author presented the problem in a way you can see that despite what is happening in your life be it being mute or all those teenage angst you can always see something good and there are people who would always support you no matter what. I also want to quote this from the novel, “So we fell this year, we rose, and now here we are triumphant and ready to take on the rest of our lives. Let us never forget the lessons we learned this year. Let us never forget how to grow, how to live, how to love. Let us never forget each other.”
I give this 4 flying whales.
Author: Keary Taylor
Published: April 30th 2012 by CreateSpace
Getting drunk homecoming night your senior year is never a good idea, but Jake Hayes never expected it all to end with a car crash and a t-post embedded in his throat.
His biggest regret about it all? What he never said to Samantha Shay. He's been in love with her for years and never had the guts to tell her. Now it's too late. Because after that night, Jake will never be able to talk again.
When Jake returns to his small island home, population 5,000, he'll have to learn how to deal with being mute. He also finds that his family isn't limited to his six brothers and sisters, that sometimes an entire island is watching out for you. And when he gets the chance to spend more time with Samantha, she'll help him learn that not being able to talk isn’t the worst thing that could ever happen to you. Maybe, if she'll let him, Jake will finally tell her what he didn't say before, even if he can't actually say it.
MY THOUGHTS:
“My biggest regret is what I didn’t say… Guess that should teach me a lesson about procrastination or something, right? About not putting the really important things in life off? Life can be pretty cruel sometimes.”
I must say I really adore this book. When Dani made me choose what to read this June this one already caught my attention just after reading the summary. I actually read this during my visit in the salon and when in class and I can’t seem to put my Iphone down. I love each and every character Keary Taylor has shown in the book and it actually made me want to live in their little island or maybe go on vacation there.
And I must put out that I’m such a fan girl of Jake Hayes, the main protagonist of the story. Despite what happened to him and the disability that just suddenly came crashing in his almost planned out future, I believe that he handled everything perfectly. Though there are times when he would fall into depression and frustration he always come through out of it with the support of his family and the people he loves. Also, his love for Sam is really commendable, which makes you believe that there might be men like him who would love you and only you (sorry for the hopeless romantic comment here). Basically, I really love Jake and I feel like you’re going to be lucky once you met him and his family.
Jake’s family for me are such a wonderful bunch that you want them in your neighborhood. They are so close knit that you don’t sense a bad blood between them. They handled the accident very well and they are Jake’s perfect support group. I like the way his mother is so understanding yet strict enough for everyone to follow her and his dad whom does not talk much but gives a very soft and commanding presence. I love each and every siblings of Jake but I’m leaning more to Jordan. Maybe because she’s always there, like Jake’s very own bestfriend inside their house. To sum it up, I want to go visit their little family and actually sit down and bond with each and everyone of them.
Samantha Shay, Jake’s love interest, at first doesn’t really have a clear picture except Jake’s madly in love with her. I actually thought that she’s just there and the author might throw her in the loop and make her fall in love because of pity on what happened to Jake. But she actually surprised me because she have her own story and own problems that you didn’t realize would happen to the class most intelligent student. Her character develops gradually and it’s like peeling her little by little to know more about her. If Jake were real, I would totally give him up to Shay because they bring out the best from both of them.
The people in the island because they deserve a spot in my review because I like all of them. Each and everyone of them, be it those who you can read on one chapter or so still represents a community. I like how the author presents each and everyone of them as their own like your one of them. While reading, it made me feel like I’m also sitting in the classroom observing what is happening around me. And as if, I was there at the accident witnessing what had happened leading to Jake’s disability.
My only problem is Jake’s friends. Well, they are there it’s just that I was expecting for them to be shown more especially because they are involve in the accident. I’m not sure what to say when they suddenly just come and go. I just expected that they would be more visible.
The title What I didn’t Say, gives a message that we should have the courage to say what we needed to say. We really don’t know what will happen in our life that’s why it’s better to live by the moment and do what you have to do and never regret. It’s only natural that we might fail but at least we can say that we tried and did our best.
Overall, I would say this novel is very light despite the heavy theme within it. I think the author presented the problem in a way you can see that despite what is happening in your life be it being mute or all those teenage angst you can always see something good and there are people who would always support you no matter what. I also want to quote this from the novel, “So we fell this year, we rose, and now here we are triumphant and ready to take on the rest of our lives. Let us never forget the lessons we learned this year. Let us never forget how to grow, how to live, how to love. Let us never forget each other.”
I give this 4 flying whales.
This sounds great--it's a tough task to balance heavy themes with levity, but it sounds like Taylor's done a good job of it. Thanks for the review!
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