Maya is deaf and she is happy with herself just as she is. When her family moves she has to go to a hearing school for the first time since becoming deaf – she is forced to deal with situations that are definitely challenging. As she starts to let “hearing” people into her life she finds that the world is a little bit different than she originally thought.

What I LOVED about this story was the character growth – not just with Maya – but with all the characters. There are so many deep and complex relationships throughout this story that really draws you in. Maya is such a strong character, she is opinionated, smart and not afraid of challenges and she is not afraid to admit when she is wrong. Beau is kind and flawed and the fact that he wants to learn sign language to communicate with her is such a beautiful part of this story.

I would suggest this books for ages 14 up. It is clean and definitely hits on some issues that I believe anyone can benefit from reading.

You know those stories where you fall in love with everything after just a few pages?
That, for me, was this book.
The Silence Between Us was, in a nutshell, some of the best disability representation I’ve *ever* read. I am not deaf, but, as someone with hydrocephalus, right-sided cerebral palsy, and partial blindness, I am always looking for good representation, and this book was It. The Silence Between Us celebrates disability instead of shying away from it.
The characters in this book were amazing — I don’t think there was a single character that I didn’t like. Maya was a fantastic MC, Beau was adorable, Nina was an awesome friend (I LOVE that Nina and Maya ended up becoming friends because I was anticipating the dreaded “popular girl hates the new girl” cliché). Even the side characters — Connor, Maya’s mother, Maya’s interpreter, and Melissa — were wonderfully written. They all enhanced the plot so well, and I adored every single one of them.
This book even managed to teach me a little bit about sign language. Not necessarily how to actually sign, but just little tidbits about the language and about deaf culture, and about little things here and there that deaf people might appreciate or be annoyed by. Even though this book doesn’t really use verbal dialogue (other than signing, Maya can only read lips — but she *can* Speak), I think the interaction between characters ran very smoothly and, while I don’t know if this is the common way to express sign language in books, I appreciate the way the author wrote out the sign language in ALL CAPS. That made things really easy to follow, and definitely made up for the lack of verbal dialogue.
Did I mention that Maya and Beau are absolutely adorable? I adore their chemistry, and Beau is an absolute darling. A lot of “love interests” in YA (and in general tbh) come off as totally douchey, so words cannot describe how much I love the fact that Beau is sweet and genuine. He is such a good character, I love him a lot, and it’s so nice to see able-bodied people accepting people with disabilities, disabilities and all.
Overall, I ADORED this book. I’m so glad I was approved on NetGalley to review it, and I think it definitely became one of my favorite YA contemporaries. I highly encourage everyone to check this book out, but especially if you love contemporary romances and/or disability rep!

I’ve been waiting so long for a book like this. Like our protagonist Maya, I was born hearing and have slowly lost bits of my hearing over the years in addition to dealing with Auditory Processing Disorder, both of which require me to wear hearing aids. While Maya is immersed in the Deaf community, I’ve remained a part of the hearing community into which I was born, but I can relate to so many of the experiences Maya has all throughout the novel.

I’ve seen some people say in their reviews that Maya is unlikable and her strong negative stance on CIs being something that was difficult for them to grasp, but it’s curious to note that these are hearing people who are leaving these comments. In my opinion, Maya is an exemplary figure of a late-deafened girl making her way first through the Deaf community and then the hearing world once she and her family move. She’s remarkably realistic, and knowing that the author is hard of hearing and coming from a similar place, it’s somewhat disheartening to see hearing reviewers seemingly miss the point in some places.

Overall, this is a great novel and one I’ve been waiting for for so, so long. Highly recommend. And if you’re hearing, please go into it with extra kindness and openness toward Maya and where she’s coming from!

The plot of this book just seems unrealistic. What parents would uproot a kid with a chronic illness and bring him to a high-altitude location that's almost guaranteed to worsen his health? For that matter, what parents would toss their deaf daughter into the deep end of a hearing school when she's only been in mostly deaf communities so far? Honestly, none of this makes sense and it really detracted from my ability to enjoy this book.

*Book received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

I wanted to love this.
I really REALLY wanted to love this.
And it had so much promise. Honestly, the writing is engaging. The storyline is beyond interesting. I completely loved the little glimpse into what it's like to be a deaf person in a hearing world, and the authenticity of how ASL is portrayed. As someone who is hard of hearing, I have just the tiniest of understandings related to how frustrating communication can feel and how alone these issues make you feel sometimes. I was fascinated by the premise of this story - and I think I really would have loved it.

But.

But Maya was completely unlikable to me. She came off almost aggressive and incredibly judgmental in a way that was surprising to me given that she wasn't born deaf. She was a hearing person too at one time, so her inability to understand the awkwardness that the hearing students had while interacting with her grated on me. And her harsh treatment of those who went out of their way to learn her language and communicate with her that way was ultimately what made this a DNF for me.

I get that it's difficult. More difficult even than my own difficulties. I actually was fascinated and so interested to learn more about those difficulties, but I would have liked a little less hostility. A little less condescension. A bit of willingness to meet her new classmates halfway, particularly when they went out of their way to make an effort.

In any case, I wasn't able to connect with her (clearly) and found myself repeatedly frustrated with her as a character and so, ultimately, it was a DNF for me at 25%.

The Silence Between US by Alison Gervais
I loved this book but there could have so much more story to it! I'm hoping the author comes up with more books for this one!!!

What a great little book! I teach a sign language class at my library and I plan on making this available to my students as a great glimpse into the similarities and differences between Deaf and hearing culture. Maya is a strong and capable young Deaf woman who starts attending a hearing high school. Throughout her story, we learn about managing interpretation services, navigating friendships, the debate about cochlear implants, and how great it is to be accepted for who you are. I especially loved the transliteration of ASL order into English, which is a perfect window into how different the grammar is between the two languages. That's honestly why I'm hoping my students will pick this up--it's a better explanation than any I could give in five short weeks!

The Quick Cut: A deaf girl has to adjust when her family moves to Colorado her senior year of high school and ends up in a hearing school. Drama ensues when she struggles to trust hearing people attempt friendships with her.

A Real Review:
Thank you to Blink for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Life is complex enough when you have control of all five senses, but how do you cope without one? Is change impossible or just that much more complex? The story of Maya runs through those feelings as she moves to a new school.

Maya lost her hearing due to meningitis and has been a proud member of the deaf community ever since. She's spent so much time in her deaf school that it has become the comfy, happy safe place she depended on. Unfortunately, life and its changing plans moves her to a new state without a deaf school - forcing her to adjust to a hearing school and her constant companion of an interpreter. However, when a popular boy at school named Beau shows an interest and even learns ASL - she is immediately suspicious. Will she learn to trust others and love ger new environment or buck the trend forever.

Spoiler alert: Maya is very unlikable. While I can attempt to sympathize and understand her perspective, she spends most of her time judgemental as all he'll while refusing to meet others in the middle. She thinks that anyone who doesn't know of the deaf community is ignorant fools and quickly discounts them. This type of approach leaves her looking like the bad guy (appropriately so). She's made it nearly impossible to know her unless you are exactly like her.

That being said, the book is still a fun read. You see the struggles of a deaf person's life and how they attempt to adjust to a world that largely ignores them. It certainly opens your eyes when the required disability devices are unavailable and no alternative is given... Leaving a person stranded. Seeing each complexity and write off made me feel for the struggle of every day life.

Beau is the romantic interest here and truthfully, I spent a large percentage of the book wondering why. He's sweet, sensitive, and smart while Maya is flat out rude and abbrasive to him. He ends up looking like a hero each time he attempts to reach out to Maya and she slaps him down with no questions.

I don't mean to be horrendous about Maya, especially since life can't be easy. The issue is that she's abbrasive and never explains herself or attempts emotional honesty. Start to finish, her walls are up and the mystery of her pessimism stays that way. There's no progress here and that ruins it here because this ends up sounding like an infomercial on deaf struggles.

An interesting tale weighed down by an unlikable and one dimensional heroine.

My rating: 3 out of 5

Dnf 22 percent

I think a lot of people will like this book. But I don't think I'm a contemporary person.


I'm not sure if I can finish this because the main character is pretty hypocritical and mean. First I would get that going to a regular school for the first time in a few years would be hard but im pretty sure she said she wasn't always deaf so she should realize that it would be difficult for hearing people to get used to it seeing as she is a few years deaf.
And beau is trying so hard and she's being a bch to him

A big shout of thanks to Blink Publishing and Netgalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Synopsis:

17-year-old Maya Harris is uprooted to Colorado during senior year. Not only did she have to move halfway across the country—she’s also had to leave behind Pratt School for the Deaf, a school she had been attending for years. Not her idea of fun. She’s never considered being Deaf a disability, but that seems to change as she adjusts to the drastic differences that attending a hearing school seem to hold. Maya wants more than anything to get into the medical field, more particularly, a position as a respiratory therapist to help people like her brother, who suffer from cystic fibrosis. But her teachers and classmates don’t share her optimism. And there’s one boy in particular that has Maya on edge, Beau Watson, the poster boy of Engelmann High and overachiever. She starts to wonder if he has ulterior motives when he starts learning ALS to converse with her, but she can’t deny the fact that it’s nice to interact by signing with someone instead of just reading lips like she has to do with everyone else. And he may just genuinely care about her. Maya has always been told that the Deaf world and hearing world are two separate worlds, and that a relationship could never form between them. But what if that is wrong? What if the Deaf and hearing world can be one and the same?
But just when Maya and Beau start forming feelings for each other, there are unmistakable differences that start driving a wedge between them. Can they put aside those differences, or will they drive them apart permanently? Will Maya undergo a procedure to get a cochlear implant, or will she stay true to herself?


My opinion:

I was very pleased with this book. It had me immersed into Maya’s world from the very first chapter. It opened my eyes up, and made me more aware of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community, and the difficulties that they face. Alison Gervais is an excellent writer. She’s created a story that shows us the beauty and diversity of YA fiction, and the fact that they’re aren’t many books out there with Deaf main characters, but there should be. Just because someone’s world may look a little different, that doesn’t mean that it is a bad thing. Just because someone may be “disabled” it doesn’t mean that they need to be pitied. And Gervais’s protagonist in The Silence Between Us, shows us just that.
There’s a gap between the Deaf and hearing worlds, but there doesn’t have to be.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions stated are my own. I was not required to write a positive review.

This YA story focuses on Maya, a deaf high school senior who just moved to a new school. It follows her struggles navigating a hearing school with the use of an interpreter and forming relationships with students who have little experience with deaf people. It was really interesting how the author wrote what was said in ASL as it would be said, and explained how it is "spoken". I enjoyed learning more about the deaf community and some of the struggles Maya deals with.
The plot was pretty good, I would say pretty typical for a YA high school story. I did feel like the synopsis made a lot more of one of the conflicts than it was in the story itself.
Overall it's a good story that opened my eyes to a different point of view that I was unfamiliar with.
It will be published in August, if you want to add it to your TBR pile!
#TheSilenceBetweenUs #NetGalley

The Silence Between Us is a great story that is told beautifully by Alison Gervais. Maya is a strong character who will touch the hearts of everyone who reads this story. I loved how she didn't think her being deaf was a disability and changed the opinions of everyone around her. This book had some really good messages and everyone should read it.

The deaf people are rarely talked about. Maybe you passed one today and didn't know it. Some are born deaf, others become deaf overtime.Doesn't mean they aren't like us. Maya has just moved to a new school, where everyone ISN'T deaf. Cue the clueless cute guy. Why don't they just leave us alone when we have our ideas? The guy doesn't understand Maya at all, especially when she has the chance to hear. Isn't NOT hearing sometimes better? Less worrying about all the gossip and rumors.

I thought that this book was super cute and a good read, and please don't let what I'm about to say discourage you. I do have one real complaint about the book, and it's that the book kind of just seemed to end with some things left unresolved. There was a lot of buildup around Beau's mom and the scar on his leg, but when the backstory behind it was revealed, it was kind of pushed aside in favor of other things. Since there was so much buildup that I was kind of anticipating more than a page being spent on it, and it left me feeling a little unresolved. A good portion of the book also focused on Maya searching for a job because it seemed like her mom was struggling to pay her brother's healthcare bills. However this storyline was kind of dropped in the midst of the CI debate with Beau? There was some resolution to the storyline, but it still felt like it could have been elaborated on a bit more. I was also a little confused because the CI storyline with Beau appeared to be a major part of the story based off of the book description. However, it doesn't appear until near the end of the book, and not a lot of time is really spent on that plot thread compared to other aspects of the story. There's nothing wrong with that storyline kind of taking a backseat for most of the book, but it doesn't make sense considering how much weight this storyline was given in the book description.

Definitely don't get me wrong--I really liked this book. The reason that the things mentioned above disappointed me so much is because I liked everything else about the book. I really love the main character Maya and how unafraid she is to be herself and call other people out on their missteps. I really love how this book looks at the difference between Maya's relationships with other Deaf people and her relationships with hearing people, and it really goes deep into Maya's feelings as she navigates a hearing school and prepares herself to go to a hearing college.

I really liked her love interest Beau, and I only wish that we got to know him more. We did get to know him well, but as I mentioned earlier, I felt like there were some questions about him that were left unanswered or the answers we got felt like they could've gone deeper. Overall though, I thought Beau was a good love interest, and it was great to see him grow along with Maya throughout the book. He definitely made many mistakes, but the important thing is that he always apologized for those mistakes and took the initiative for himself to learn more about the Deaf community.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and it's characters. It's always great to get to read books that are from different perspectives than you usually see in YA, and I would definitely read it again.

My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Maya Harris is 17 years old and was rendered deaf when a bout of meningitis left her profoundly deaf at the age of 13. Her mother's job relocation forces Maya to leave her special hearing impaired school and move to Colorado, to a regular high school. Maya's young brother is also afflicted with cystic fibrosis and her mother is a single parent, having to cope with two children with chronic health situations on her own.

This is a very well-written book, dealing with serious subject matters: the rights of the hearing impaired and the difficulties they face in a hearing world. I learned so much from this story and was very glad to have been given the opportunity to read it. For the most part, it was a very engrossing and enjoyable read. However, one weakness was characterization:. Maya often came across to me as an angry and hostile teen - she was so mean to poor Beau - a handsome young student at her new school. She raked him over the coals time and again, and he was nothing but kind to her. I have always believed that if you want others to "tolerate" you and your issues or idiosyncrasies, then you need to tolerate others as well. People make mistakes, especially when dealing with unfamiliar situations. I get that Maya was tired of being discriminated against, yelled at (in a well-meaning way) or coddled because of her disability, but she was in a new school, and I think she could have been a bit more forgiving of other's mistakes. When one of her misguided teachers spoke in an extremely loud voice to her on her first day, she should have gently told him something like: "my hearing aids only pick up large crashing or thudding noises. You can yell all you like but I still won't be able to hear you." (Even I have been misled into believe that a hearing impaired person who is wearing a hearing aid might be able to hear my voice. I thought she was being a bit harsh on her unsuspecting teacher in that instance. But I do get it: that type of thing gets old, fast.)

Maya is understandably upset and nervous in her new environment, and she often felt lonely and ignored, but perhaps her prickly attitude might have been a bit to blame for that? (Just saying!) Poor Beau learned ASL (sign language) in order to communicate with her. At first, she greeted his attempts with disdain and tended to point out all of his mistakes. I have no idea why Beau persevered and eventually won both Maya's friendship and her affections. That was a hard sell for me, but once the romance between Maya and Beau gets off the ground, I started to like Maya a bit more. (Don't get me wrong: I don't mind a fierce or spunky heroine: in fact, I prefer them. What I don't like is someone being unnecessarily mean.) The story did occasionally get bogged down in unnecessary details about homework assignments, etc, but for the most part, this was a very interesting story about a young girl who is forced by circumstance to leave her sheltered hearing-impaired learning environment. She does learn to cope, and even comes to prefer the challenges of her new school..

The author discloses in the end that she too is hearing impaired, so I am relieved to know that I was getting an authentic (although fictionalized) account of one person's personal experiences. Despite the minor characterization and plotting issues, I would still highly recommend this novel.

The Silence Between Us focuses on Maya's transition into a hearing school since her family moves and she is unable to attend a school for people with hearing impairments anymore. While at the hearing school, Maya builds relationships with friends and a boy named Beau, who takes up sign language in order to communicate with her. I have to say, I was really looking forward to reading this book but I had a hard time getting through it. The story itself did not match up with the summary that was given for it. I was reading this as an e-book on my kindle and if it wasn't for the page count on the copy, I'm not sure I would've even known when I hit the middle of the story. There wasn't really a climax, nothing big ever happened, she was worried about college and maybe a relationship with a hearing boy but even then there was little to no conflict. The conflict promised in the summary was only delivered at the very end of the novel and it was wrapped up and resolved far too quickly, it was as if it never happened. Throughout the novel, I kept waiting for something more to happen and it just didn't. I also struggled with the characters because, besides Maya, it felt as if every other character was incredibly underdeveloped.

I personally know very little about ASL and hearing impairments so since the author has experience with, it is incredibly interesting to read how sign language would be read and represented during Maya's conversations with her mother, her interpreter, and her friends. It brought some clarity to what it would be like to have a hearing impairment. I have read other YA's with similar topics but ASL was never introduced in the way this book has and I think it made it feel more authentic. Maya also handles explaining ASL and still being vocal very well, I really liked those moments in the book where she explained things to the people around her since it served as an explanation for the readers as well. The informational aspects of the book worked very well but the overall plot was not executed fully.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange of an homest, unbiased review.

I loved this book! I loved Maya and even though we have different challenges, I found her character to be authentic . The friendships she developed made for a great story: showing that people from different worlds can coexist. I love that the characters have outlets such as art, reading, etc. I feel like that's a good lesson in the story to mirror healthy coping mechanisms.

There are parts that made me sad, too. Definitely having a brother who struggled with his health and witnessing the overwhelming burden life put on their mom was hard to accept, but just one more area where the author wrote an honest portrayal of life. There were many good lessons hidden within an entertaining story.

I enjoyed this book because I've never read anything like it before! I loved that this story is from the perspective of a female high school student who is deaf and confident with who she is as a person. The discussions characters had regarding cochlear implants were necessary and a delight to read. I loved that the conversations in sign remained in ASL syntax on the page! This novel only dipped its toe into the culture of the Deaf community; there's so much left to explore, and I can't wait for more representative literature. Also, when Beau compared Maya to Jane Eyre - *swoon*.

How does a teenager cope with moving to a new school senior year in high school? Now imagine that same teenager is deaf. Maya has gone totally deaf due to an illness. She has been going to a school for the deaf and is forced to move to Colorado with her mom and brother, Connor, because of his cystic fibrosis. Now Maya must go to Engelmann High School which is a hearing school.

Even though Maya has an interpreter for her classes, the principal decides she needs a mentor. Nina is involved in lots of school activities and becomes a friend to Maya even through her lackluster desire not to be involved in the hearing world. Then she meets Beau. Beau starts to learn sign language, and Maya is not sure what his angle is.

Gervais weaves an honest look at how Maya has to overcome prejudices from her classmates and her community. This is an eye-opening book about the hearing and deaf interact with each other. Maya has to change her way of thinking to become friends with Nina and Beau, and they evolve in the way they treat Maya to help her have a successful senior year.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

Maya is a senior in highschool when she moves from New Jersey to Colorado. This is also her first time at a "hearing school", as she lost her hearing after a battle with meningitis. At her new school, she'll need an interpreter, and be the only deaf person there.

When Beau, a cute, popular classmate starts to learn sign language to communicate with her, she is apprehensive, unsure if he is genuine or taking pity in her.

With support from her mother, and younger brother with Cystic Fibrosis, her new friends Beau and Nina, Maya comes out of her shell and navigates the world of the hearing, and being open to new experiences.

This is my first book focused on a deaf main character, and the use of ASL and lip reading. I think this a very important YA novel, and could help people be more inclusive and accepting after reading,