Hard to get into this book, seems she is so involved with her past and nothing much comes of it. Also annoying that some of the book is written in one spot then the next sentence you are somewhere else.
Not something it would recommend to others.



Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an early release of this book.

First of all, thanks to NetGalley and Flux/North Star Editions for approving my request and sending me an eARC in exchange for a honest review.
You have to know English isn’t my first language, so feel free to correct me if I make some mistakes while writing this review.


4,5 stars.

The moment I read the plot I knew it would have been heartbreaking.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: sexual abuse, incest, pedophilia, domestic violence, self-harm, attempted suicide, eating disorders.

The plot should give you away was wrong with the Parkers, but if you need help you can read the warnings - some of those things are mentioned later, others are more graphic and detailed.

The story begins with Victoria locked out of her house at 3 AM, while a deputy takes her father's statement and a woman with CPS tells her to grab a few of her things and follow her because Victoria can't stay there anymore - her father and her stepmother told the police she's dangerous.
Victoria is shocked, confused and lost - surely there was a misunderstanding, it can't be possible that her father declared she's disturbed and that she needs help because she made sexual advances on him.

Victoria sleeps on a couch and the next morning she's assigned to another social worker, one that makes her leave Reno to move to Silver Valley because no one else wants her based on what it's told about her behavior.

Victoria finds herself in a life she doesn't recognize, away from everything that's familiar with her and without her freedom and the chance to say goodbye to her stepsister Sarah. She's now forced to live with Connie - a woman who searches her bag for drugs everytime Victoria comes and goes from her house and Victoria has to ask permission to even go to the bathroom - Connie's daughter and two other foster girls.

Victoria's pleas to her social worker Mindy - so busy with work she always checks her phone while speaking - to talk with Sarah go unheard: according to Mindy, her stepmother Tiffany believes her dad and Sarah said she doesn't know what to think.
But if Victoria decides to talk, to give her side of the story... but Victoria can't.

Now Victoria wants to go back to Reno and not give up on college, even if she doesn't to how or if she can pay for it.
Now she has endure Connie's many rules, aided by her foster sisters Jamie e Lizzie.
Now she has to graduate without getting in trouble and keep everyone at arm's lenght - but she's new in town and everyone is curious, so it's hard to resist Christina and Kale's friendly attempts to know her.


This book is raw and it hurts.

We learn Victoria's story along the chapters - we read about her relationship with her mother and the one between her parents and their fights, we read about the promise Victoria has to made to her mother's deathbed to always take care of her father.

Due to that promise, Victoria forces herself to not think about that night - but her thoughts always go there. She loses herself inside her own head, her memories, her nightmares, always stating it's her fault.
Hers is a long journey to awareness: how her father wasn't the only one at fault, how her mother and Tiffany were victims too, how what happened to her could be happening now to Sarah.


This book is like a kick to the stomach.

"The Quiet You Carry" is about foster kids and everything related: a few families only foster because of the check, sometimes only the little ones get adopted because teens are labeled as difficult or found at fault because of their parents and there aren't enough social workers to care about them all properly.

"The Quiet You Carry" is about what a family shouldn't be, silence, lies and manipulation, the way the victim feels guilty, responsabilities, domestic violence and abuse and the fear that follows - because some things are unforgivable.

"The Quiet You Carry" is Victoria's story, a girl who wants normalcy and a future where she can look back and say it's over - it was only temporary.
It's Victoria's story, where she realizes the mother she loved made a terrible mistake and how much wrong is what her father did to her - and now, if she wants to save Sarah, she has to admit to herself and the ones around her what she went through.

I liked Christina and Kale.
I was a bit skeptical at his "I think you're great" when he barely knew her since Victoria was doing her best to avoid everyone. It didn't feel exactly... rushed, per se - just a touch too soon. I had a small problem with all his future college dreams involving the both of them together since Victoria clearly wasn't ready for that commitment, but in the end I'm glad he understood.

I even re-evalute Connie: no matter the flaws, given what I perceived between the lines maybe she's a better mother than Victoria's was.

"The Quiet You Carry" is a book that made me angry, almost made me cry on more than one occasion and I'll end up buying a physical copy of it anyway.

It's rare that you see a YA story centered around the protagonist being placed in foster care especially at the age of seventeen. Victoria's story is heartbreaking but I was encouraged by the positive people she met in her journey to finish high school and come to terms with the people that let her down.

I think this is an important topic. The characters were not very well developed, and the plot was a little dragged out, but I think this book would be beneficial to people living this situation.

Although this book was about a difficult topic, it was interesting to read. I felt like the characters were realistic and likable. I often wondered what it would be like to be a foster parent and so I am glad they shared Connie's story as well.

For someone who doesn't really care for series books, I kind of want to know how the rest of Victoria's story evolves!

Thank you to North Star Editions and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.

A heartbreaking story that grips you from page 1. I don’t think “enjoy” is the right word, but it was a beautiful journey.

I don't know if I would have read this if I had known it was about sexual abuse. I know it's heavily hinted at in the synopsis, but for some reason I didn't realize it. I'm glad I did read it though.

The Quiet You Carry is a very real story that unfortunately happens to thousands around the world everyday. Luckily for Victoria, she was able to get out. Many do not.

I liked Victoria a lot. At the rare moments we see her true personality she seems like a beautifully sarcastic girl who is also very kind and very smart. Sadly, these moments are pretty few and far between because of the trauma she has been through.

It was nice seeing her realization throughout the story that what her father did to her was wrong and that she was essentially conditioned by her mother to quietly withstand it.

Connie is someone I both detest and love. I do believe she honestly cares about her foster children, but I feel like she could have been a lot nicer. I know she has to have the rules she enforces, but I don't see why she had to be so nasty about it.

I loved Christina, Jamie, and Kale a lot. I'm glad they were all there to support Victoria, though I hate everything Jamie went through.

I liked how subtle the romance in this was, though I think the story would have worked better without it at all. I don't know if a teenager who is just getting away from sexual trauma should be in a relationship, but it did flow well and felt natural.

Victoria's inability to tell the truth annoyed me in the beginning, though I can't really blame her for hiding everything. Part of why she did it was because she was scared, the other out of embarrassment.

Overall it is an enjoyable, but sad, book. It does deal with some heavy topics so I suggest everyone use caution when reading it. Stay safe!

Firstly, how amazing is the cover?
Secondly. how amazing was the first chapter? So heart-wrenching and honest.
Howwever, for me, that is where the amazing feelings ended. I found the protagonist to be annoying, yes she has to go through some dark things, but it was incredibly difficult to create a bond with a character, that I can't stand.

I love the bravery of Barthelmess, writing about such a contreversial subject. It isn't done enough.

*This book should come with a trigger warning for sexual abuse.


The blurb drew me in as usual. We come into the book not knowing much besides Victoria is being taken away by CPS. We have no idea what happened; just that Victoria is saying that nothing happened and it was all a misunderstanding.

Victoria ends up in a foster home with two other girls, a preteen and a younger girl. The foster mother seems a bit harsh, but never having been in foster care I can't judge.

We slowly over time learn the truth about what happened on the night Victoria was removed from her home. It comes in pieces, but after the first couple of chapters, you pretty much understand what happened.

Victoria tries hard not to make any friends at her new school, but Christina and Kale won't let up on her and eventually, they become her biggest allies in the book.

I have to say that this was a tough one to get through, I understood where the main character was coming from, and how the stepmother could be blind to it all. But in the end everything worked out; and that I am glad for.

A tough, gut-wrenching read, but absolutely fantastic. This is a must-buy for libraries who serve teens.

Initially I was drawn to this book by its cover and title, more importantly I found it to hold more important messages than most contemporary YA fiction tends to. Of course there's the subject of foster care first and foremost but there are more nuanced themes as well such as none of can truly know what's going on inside other people's houses/minds/lives or as the narrator so affectingly puts it, "No one can really see the quiet you carry, unless you let them." Another theme I appreciate is that children aren't meant to parent parents, I thought it was heartbreakingly telling how many times main character Victoria fixated on having let somebody down.

I liked the way Barthelmess stuck in reference to books, like Cheryl Strayed's Wild, and that her main characters are good students who work hard, do well in school, and have good values. And while I wasn't really a fan of some of the dialogue (like a 17-year old saying "I didn't doll you up so you can wimp out on me!" or a 12-year old saying "But now they all know, and you'll be a pariah."), the book itself is so sincere somehow, it's really hard to fault it. I agree with the author that there aren't enough main characters who are wards of the state; in fact the person I could think of was Tonya from MTV's The Real World. Which led me online where I discovered there are actually lots of fascinating celebrity figures (Babe Ruth! Marilyn Monroe! Willie Nelson!) who spent some of their time growing up in foster care.

Okay first of all I have to say I absolutely loved this book from page one.
I loved our main chapter so much and really connected with her story and the struggles she was going through.
I would recommend this book to anyone who loves books that suck you in because this is an intense page turner!
Overall one of my favourite reads so far this year. I really enjoyed this book it’s a really raw and amazing story that hit home with me on a very personal level and I’m so thankful to Netgalley for sending me a copy.

This book had me near tears at some points. It's a solid 4 star if not 5 I can't quite decide yet.

Victoria was an abused girl. I felt so bad for her because her situation wasn't made any better by the broken foster system.

I honestly cannot believe what her father was trying to do to her. Her and her stepsister. And the stupid stepmother and I guess even Victoria's mother let it happen.

I do have a tiny grain of sympathy for the stepmom. She was also being abused by the father. I sincerely hope he is in jail and there wasn't some kind of wishy washy issue about 'evidence'.

I am also sincerely grateful that Victoria finally opened up about her issues to save her sister. It probably saved Sarah from that last violation.

I am also very grateful for Victoria's friends. Kale and Christina are good friends/boyfriend.

The Quiet You Carry is a story about a girl who was put in the foster care system because her father stated she made advances at him and he needed her out of his house.

What this young girl goes through is heartbreaking but at the same time her strength is amazing.
I loved this story because it touches on so many issues kids go through today within their own families as well as in the foster care system. Thank you for writing about the "Elephant in the room" Ms. Barthelmess. I believe with this story you will be helping a lot of young women and men get through tough times in their lives.

The quiet you carry by author Nikki Barthelmess is a great literary fiction with a huge plot. The characters are relatable in some ways and the story doesn’t leave you hanging. A great read!
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an arc copy of The Quiet you Carry in exchange for an honest review.

This book provides a fascinating look at the foster system in fictional form. Victoria ends up in the foster system because her father kicks her out. The foster home she's in is very strict, but she ends up making friends and growing to like the new neighborhood. However, she can't forget her home, the reason she was kicked out, and her fears for her stepsister who is still there.

I learned so much about the foster system and how hard it is to get out of it, how difficult it is to be believed when you're a child, and what happens to you when you age out of the system.

Plus, Victoria as a character was very intriguing. Her relationship with Kale and her friendship with Christina are great and her experiences in the foster home with Connie and Jamie, as well the issues she had with her father and her stepmother are so mesmerizing. I read this book in less than a day.

This book tugged at my heartstrings and not in a good way. It brings to light an abuse of power, trust and protection and you have a seventeen year old, Victoria, who is kicked out of her home by her Father and thrust into a foster care system in a blink of an eye.

In reading the book, I felt Victoria's rage, mistrust, angst and most of all, the need to simply move on, to somehow live her life without focusing on what she struggles to forget, but this trickles down to her step-sister Sarah, and suddenly the feeling of anger, wanting to break someone into pieces comes to light.

The author brought to light abuse, challenges of foster care, the burnout of social workers and more than that, in her redemptive arc, she made reading this bearable.

Aside from the very appealing cover, the title is also representative of the story within. I received a complimentary eARC of this book courtesy of Netgalley.

That was a really powerful story. Some parts definitely made me cry, but I also loved seeing Victoria grow and learn to stand up for herself and to let people in. The premise was frighteningly plausible and handed so well. Every character was multidimensional and fit well in the story.

It's not often you see foster kids portrayed in YA literature, and especially not in such a true to real life way. I really liked this book, even though parts of it were upsetting because you know there are kids who go through that, and worse, every day.

This novel has a gentleness to it that will pull at your heart. The voice of the main character, Victoria, is ever-present and strong. The author does a wonderful job in creating such a sympathetic view of Victoria that it engrosses you into the story and the reader is psychically on this uphill journey of rehabilitation of her heart and her soul. Beautiful and wonderful read!

What a beautiful, haunting story! I loved everything about this book. The premise was frighteningly plausible and handed so well. Every character was multidimensional and fit well in the story. I cried, I laughed, I cheered. No one will regret reading this book, and will find that the story stays with you long after the final page is read.