Cover Image: Whisper

Whisper

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Member Reviews

Lynette Noni is one of my favorite authors!
and I was super excited to read this book.
However it would not load to my Kindle, so I have yet to read it.
But I plan to this month. I will re-write my review once I do and upload it to Goodreads and Amazon <3

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As a note, an e-galley of this novel was sent to me via NetGalley by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not effect my opinions in any way.

To be honest, I did a Very Bad Literature Lover Thing when I requested Whisper. I, wait for it, didn't read the synopsis and only was intrigued by the cover. I know, I know, bad. Should I ground myself, now or later? Don't worry, I'll ground myself after the review. Double honest moment: I'm glad I judged the book by its cover because I found Whisper to be intriguing and read it in one sitting.

I love (love, love, love!) Sci-Fi as a genre but I do struggle with it when it comes to the YA exploration of it. Most of the time, books in the genre just fall flat and don't reach my expectations. Lynette Noni's writing is just fun and purely so--it has that can't-put-down quality to it that we all crave when it comes to literature. What I liked most about her writing was the unexpectedness. After I lit a fire under myself and did read the synopsis, I was skeptical of Whisper--it sounded like so many other YA science fiction releases and I was like, "Oh. Great." And then Noni hit me upside the head with some sort of magic and I was like, okay, fair.




In short--I was pleasantly surprised in the most genuine way. Whisper totally surprised me.

And who doesn't like to be surprised in YA?

There was so much groundwork laid in Whisper. I'll be real--I don't know if there is a sequel planned or already floating around out there but if there isn't, there's a good chance I'll riot because you can just tell that Noni is only just getting started with her brilliance and I'm ready for it.

Which leads me to: WHAT I HOPE A SEQUEL WILL CONTAIN.

-More worldbuilding. Sing to the tune of ABBA: Gimme, gimme, gimme! Noni put a great deal of effort into Whisper and as I've already said, you can tell she is only just getting started.
-The characters continuing down the path of being well developed. Seriously, a lot of YA books don't always do the greatest job in developing and portraying characters but Noni is in a league of her own. I wanted more, which is selfish and a dumb reason for knocking down the rating that half-of-a-star but here we are.

That's not a very long list, I know. Really, I want to see where the story leads us and what comes next for Jane and this world. I am very excited by the possibilities of it all! So excited, in fact, that I'm not going to get into the obvious flaws of Whisper because frankly they are pretty minor and common for a book that could potentially be the first installment of a series--and that is how I am going to treat it.

If you're looking for something quick and captivating in the YA genre, Whisper is definitely for you.

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When a mute test subject called Jane Doe suddenly finds her routine disrupted by a kind boy called Ward, her whole world changes. Unlike the confinement in a cell and the torturous laboratory tests she’s been undergoing, he actually talks to her and treats her with kindness. What does he want from her? Is this just a trick? Whisper opens up with the core mystery: Who is Jane Doe and what do they want with her?

After reading and loving the Medoran Chronicles, I had high hopes for Whisper, but unfortunately I found it to be a fairly standard supernatural sci-fi story. If you’ve read or seen anything involving test subjects with people with special abilities and an evil corporation, it pretty much isn’t anything you haven’t seen or heard of before. There’s lots of twists and turns in the story, as we slowly find out more about Jane, where she came from and what happened in her past, along with the motivations of the people surrounding her. It takes a while to get off the ground, peaks in the middle when we find out about the heroine’s abilities, and then wanes again after this happens.

I tend to lose interest when a character has an all powerful special ability that she just naturally knows how to use, and when everyone is in awe of how incredibly special she is. That narrative runs strongly in this book which is part of the reason why I wasn’t particularly invested in Jane. I did like the concept of Speak and garnering the power of words, and how Jane could achieve anything that she wanted with her ability, as long as she learnt how to use it. My favourite scene was when she summoned a full room of animals as part of the training, which was a lot of fun! I wish we saw more of the other character’s abilities though, many of them felt like throwaway characters who didn’t have much of a personality.

I’m kind of glad that a romance didn’t evolve between the many guys who Jane encountered her, although that’s not to say that it won’t happen in a sequel. I found the love interests to be kind of irritating – first there’s Ward, who is really kind to her but obviously has an ulterior motive for doing it and was a jerk after a while. Then there’s Kael, who knows more about her than she knows herself and can’t stop calling her princess despite her pushing back. I really didn’t care enough for any of these characters unfortunately.

While I liked the concept of Whisper and the supernatural ability of speaking, there wasn’t anything unique that kept me reading. I didn’t care enough for any of the characters or for Lengard and the secret research facility. Although the book wasn’t for me, I can definitely see others enjoying it especially if you like supernatural sci-fi reads! As for me, I’ll stick to the Medoran Chronicles (which I love).

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I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I can’t believe how good this book is! Recently I couldn’t finish many books for some reason.... but this one.... I was captivated from the first page and couldn’t stop reading. I also liked the subtle romance.

4,5 stars. I highly recommend it.

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Whisper is a breath of fresh air in the young adult genre. The characters, relationships, primary theme, and setting all make Whisper a compelling start to a new series. I look forward to following Jane Doe's story in Lynette Noni's follow-up books.

Please see my website for the full review.

https://reviewbee.errorfree.me/review/review-whisper-by-lynette-noni/

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I really want to read this book but I cannot open the epub file on either my computer or my kindle. I've contacted Netgalley but they weren't able to help. Is there any way I could get a MOBI file please?

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*I received this ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Lengard is a secret government facility for extraordinary people,” they told me.
I believed them. That was my mistake.
There isn’t anyone else in the world like me.
I’m different. I’m an anomaly. I’m a monster.
For two years, six months, fourteen days, eleven hours and sixteen minutes, Subject Six-Eight-Four — ‘Jane Doe’ — has been locked away and experimented on, without uttering a single word.
As Jane’s resolve begins to crack under the influence of her new — and unexpectedly kind — evaluator, she uncovers the truth about Lengard’s mysterious ‘program’, discovering that her own secret is at the heart of a sinister plot … and one wrong move, one wrong word, could change the world.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Yaaaaaaas I am never NOT here for Australian YA and the fact that this is a #LoveOzYA FANTASY novel could not excite me more. I bloody loved that this was set in Sydney and just overall I bloody loved reading this.

Did this story seem incredibly familiar? Sure. Did it seem like a mash-up of Shatter Me/X-Men/The Darkest Minds/basically a huge number of fantasy YA novels featuring teens with supernatural powers and corrupt governments etc that I’ve read a number of over the past few years? You would absolutely be correct.

But does that matter? Not a darn bit, because I eat these books up and spend until the wee hours of the morning reading obsessively and therefore devouring these books over the course of a day.

I looooved Jane/all her other names as a main character. Super here for her. What a badass. And her relationships with Cami and Enzo are such a point of light in the story where you can’t trust anyone. Ward is so morally ambiguous for me, I ship it but also the betrayal runs deep so I don’t even know what the next novel will entail but I 100% want to be reading it. I am very hopeful we can avoid the potential love-triangle brewing (again, we got enough of that in Shatter Me to last a lifetime) but I can predict the next novel will be a feelsy mess and I for one am KEEN.

So excited to see what happens next, and how the different factions will coincide and yes good more of this please.

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I'm new to Miss Noni's books so I didn't know what to expect but this exceeded my expectations. The beginning was a little slow in that we weren't told why Jane thinks she's a monster and why she was being treated the way she was and it drove me crazy until the middle when we start getting answers and things got really good. Miss Noni's writing is fantastic and as far as I can recall she didn't use a lot of profanity and the romance wasn't obnoxious which of course earned bonus points.
The speaking powers were really cool and the whole system was really interesting, the twists and revelations upped the entertainment value as well. I hope there'll be a book 2 because I need more!
rating: 5 Stars!
FTC DISCLAIMER: I received this book in exchange for an honest review

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3,5 stars

This series is off to a good start! It was a bit hard to get into but the characters charmed their way into my heart eventually. The mystery got me hooked, too.
I'm eagerly looking forward to the next installment!

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I loved this book so much that I honestly can't speak higher of it. An original idea that followed the twists and turns that keep you hooked and needing to know more. The worst thing about it is having to wait for book 2.

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I received an advance copy from the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I could not get enough of this book. I don’t want to spoil anything because that’s half the fun. There’s no preamble, you’re just thrust into this Jane Doe’s hellish existence and her story is slowly but surely pieced together. Everything and everyone are definitely not what they seem. The cast of characters is fantastic and I just couldn’t stop reading. I love the dynamics between Landon and Chip. It kept me on edge the entire time.
If you like government cover ups, conspiracy, special abilities, intrigue and a dash of romance, this book is for you. I need the next instalment to this series right now. Seriously. This book has stayed with me and while I’m trying to dig into another book, my mind keeps wandering back to this one. One of my absolute favs of 2018 so far.

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Alright. After trying a myriad of ways to get the file to download, I finally (somehow?) got it.

My favorite thing of this book was the title and blurb as they promised action and a voice within the silence and through other means. And they delivered.

There was action, tension (because the main character couldn't say what she really wanted to) and the facility was so secretive, and there was a cute romance (*shipped*).

Honestly I really enjoyed this and am curious if there will be any books from this world for sure characters as well.

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I was not able to give a review on this book as by the time I went to get it, it was removed from net galley sadly, maybe will read it if I can buy it one day.

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Cover Art:
I do enjoy the cover of this book. It is simple and represents the start of the book extremely well. It gives it that asylum like feel which is what we kinda get at the beginning.

Writing:
I love Lynette Noni’s writing and I adore everything I have read by her so far. This one wasn’t as engaging as The Medoran Chronicles but I still really enjoyed it. The first half was a little slow, but I also understand why it was needed to show how the MC was being treated and then when she joined the program, how she was training to control her gift. This also allowed us to get to know her, and the other major characters.

I’m not 100% sure how I feel about the romance yet. It didn’t specifically amount to much in this book but it is also feeling kinda typical. I’m not a romance reader and one of the reasons for that is that I usually think the romances are the same old boring thing I have seen 10 times before in YA books. This one was about the same. As I said nothing amounted just yet but I can already guess how the romance will pan out.

One of my favourite parts of Lynette Noni’s writing is her friendships! Alex, DC, Jordan & Bear from The Medoran Chronicles were one of THE BEST friendship group I have read! This one didn’t disappoint either! The MC develops an awesome friendship with Cami & I think a developing friendship with a couple others but we will have to see in book 2.

Plot:
As I already said the first half of the book was pretty slow, but the second part was entertaining, full of interesting plot points and very engaging. Once I got to page 200ish I was hooked and could barely put the book down. There wasn’t a tonne of actual plot twists, it was more just learning more. I always kinda knew we were only getting half the story and then when a certain event happened and we got some more info it wasn’t shocking, just interesting. So it wasn’t exactly a twist as I expected it coming in some way, not necessarily the exact details, but I knew some info like this was coming.

Characters:
I did enjoy or MC and the reason I’m not saying her name is that she goes through a fair few throughout the book. She gets called Jane Doe, to begin with, & also JD, as a shortened version. So I’m just going to go with JD as it is easiest and doesn’t spoil anything. JD was an interesting character. She had a lot of history that she was struggling to get through. Because of that she was guarded and wary. She never betrayed who she was even if her own life was at risk. She was hell-bent on not risking the people around her, even if that meant she was at risk herself. I loved that about her. She was just a determined, badass and awesome character.

Ward, I simply don’t know how I feel and I can’t give details as it would be complete spoilers! Hopefully, I will be able to gauge the real him a bit more in book 2!

As for the other characters, I love Cami she is so sweet and amazing but also extremely determined to do what she thinks is right. Even if that involves arguing with her brother over someone else’s treatment. She was a strong and powerful character and I really enjoyed her! I can’t wait to see her a bit more in Book 2.
Enzo was a funny, sarcastic but also kinda older brother/uncle feeling. He always had everyone’s best interests at heart but liked to have some fun too. He also wasn’t afraid of butting heads with his friends when he didn’t agree with them.
Keeda I was a bit wary of at the beginning. She just kinda felt a little like one of those ‘don’t give a shit’ type characters that don’t let themselves close to others. She came through in the end and I’m keen to see her grow and maybe get a bit closer to some of the other characters in the next book.
Sneak we really don’t see a tonne of, he is always in the background, hiding and not talking much. So I feel like I couldn’t really connect with him. I do like him though and want to see more.
Crew I’m really not sure about. He is simply a brutal person and no matter what is going on, that is how he comes across. So I just don’t know how I feel about him. He hasn’t done anything that makes me think that he is an enjoyable character or not.

Overall:
Overall, I didn’t love this one as much as The Medoran Chronicles but I still really enjoyed it. I didn’t love how slow it was at the beginning and it didn’t full on snag my interest until after halfway. After that, I was hooked. The romance also isn’t ideal. One of the big reasons I love The Medora Chronicles is because of the basically no romance until book 4. We got to learn about the characters and then see them slowly open up to each other. Whereas in this one, Ward is literally the only new person around her age that she has met in 2 and a half years, so when it started happening pretty early, I wouldn’t say insta love but still, but maybe instant lust. Or something, I really don’t know how to explain it as shit was all over the place here.
Besides those 2 things I didn’t love, I really enjoyed the characters, the world-building, the friendship and heaps more. Hopefully, Book 2 is a little more action-packed and doesn’t turn into a love story and it might just hit that 5-star mark!

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Whisper is Lynette Noni’s latest release and is an enchanting story of mystery, government secrets and teens special abilities with the power to change the world.

Jane Doe has been locked up in Lengard, a secret government facility for extraordinary people for more than two years. Known as subject Six-Eight-Four, Jane has remained silent throughout the number of invasive and often painful experiments they have performed on her, refusing to utter a word. Yet her resolve is threatened when her latest evaluator turns out to be a young man only a few years older than Jane whose unexpected kindness and care begins to break through the carefully placed shields Jane has built around herself. Trusting a Lengard employee is the last thing Jane wants to do, but as she begins to discover startling secrets about the facility, Jane is about to discover more about the power of words, and herself, than she ever could have expected.

Lynette Noni first captured my attention with her debut novel Akarnae and has held my heart ever since with her intelligent writing style, bold characters and grand sense of adventure. While Whisper is a different kind of Noni novel than what I have read in the past, I can still find echoes of these characteristics I love and am really hopeful and looking forward to seeing more of this series.

Introducing readers to an intriguing character shrouded in mystery in the form of Jane Doe, Whisper begins with our protagonist a prisoner—for the lack of a better word—of an underground organisation that has been experimenting on her and treating her as less that human. Lynette Noni keeps the mystery surrounding Jane a secret for as long as possible; only allowing small snippets of her past and her abilities to be touched on so to build the suspense.

I found the idea of Speakers and the concept as a whole to be very creative. I have to be honest though; as much as I love Lynette Noni and enjoyed this novel, there were times when I found myself somewhat disconnected from the story. I’m not sure what it was exactly as Whisper was fast paced and enjoyable. I think Jane, along with Ward and many of the other characters, have a lot of promise, although I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that Noni avoids the dreaded love triangle.

I loved that the novel set in Sydney. I actually wasn’t anticipating the story to be based on home soil, so I was both surprised and appreciative when the revelation was made as Jane was discovering more about her location. Considering the way in which Whisper ends, I’m looking forward to an Australian based setting and seeing things progress.

An enjoyable read with hints of romance, danger and excitement, Whisper easily left me ready for more and keen to see what will happen to the characters next!

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e-arc received from Net Galley, all opinions are of my own.
#3.75 stars
Lynette Noni does it again!
Starting from Akarnae, I always loved how her portrayal of her characters had me attached to to them both main and side…and it’s it not often for me. Quite often I like the story while Im not really that invested in the characters.
<i>Likes & Dislikes</i>
This book revolves around a group of people who have a special ability, Speaking, but with different ways of executing it. Pretty neat, although I felt we haven’t been introduced all that thoroughly to the range of those abilities in this installment so I hope the sequel would cover for it.
<p>Our MC’s ability is quite unique, however I felt it wasn’t that well explained, (half of me wondered if this going to be a god-sort-mythology based) we see her practice her abilities but I still haven’t gotten the full grasp of her full ability.
Its a pretty quick and hooking reading, but some aspects of the story seemed half explained and unclear.
Im looking forward to the sequel to get to know more of her abilities and also of her friends and adults in that society.
Its Dystopian-ish with supernatural elements
The story telling is sounds like its for YA and younger.

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I never received my copy of this book and now it appears to be unavailable on netgalley. I have not read this book. I'm sorry I can't leave a better review at this time.

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ubject Six-Eight-Four, also goes by the name of “Jane Doe” has been locked in a government secret facility for two years, six months, fourteen days, eleven hours and sixteen minutes. She has been experimented on. She hasn’t said a single word.
I loved it! It has been too long since I’ve read any sort of YA sci-fi/fantasy filled to the brim with some cheesy lines, bad boys, love/hate relationships and just interesting concepts. Only after reading «Whisper» I realized how much I actually missed it.
Very fast paced and engaging, this took me less than 5 hours to fly through while enjoying the fantastic elements and the interactions between the characters. WARNING: Be prepared for a lot of “not so subtle” flirting!

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This book has an amazing plot and character development. Everything about it was incredible. I fell in love with the book as soon as I started reading. I'll be adding the link to my review later today when I post it.

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Wow, is all I can say about this novel.
Jane Doe finds herself immersed in a world, very different from the one that she was promised. Held captive and tortured, frightened by the very sound of her own voice. Then something changes and she is shown kindness and care, her world implodes and nothing is as it seems.

Noni has created a book that I have been waiting for, the book set in Australia, with Aussie characters. It makes their voices and opinions and ways of life so much more appealing to me, as I live it everyday. What I also love is the honesty and rawness to this novel. It feels gritty and like it is history, only it very well could be our future...

The characters are incredible, even the side characters have massive parts to play. The characters growth and progression feels normal and not rushed. Along with the plot twists and revelations surrounding them.

One negative thing, I can see the love triangle forming already, and although I am all for a good 'ship', I don't think this novel needs it.

Can't wait to read more in this amazing series!

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