I received a copy of THE SILENCE BETWEEN US on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the publisher and author for the opportunity.

FIVE STARS! And here’s why:

This book should be required reading in school. Alison Gervais captivated my interest from the get-go. It has all the elements of a great YA story: family and friends drama, regrets, second chances, and a story shrouded in frustration and forgiveness. My father-in-law is hearing impaired, and each day Is filled with so many battles that the rest of us just take for granted. Alison wrote a fantastic story with compassion and understanding for the hearing impaired. If you love sassy romances with witty banter and realistic characters, then this book is for you. Well written and engaging. And the title is great, too! Highly recommend.

Disclaimer: I received an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Maya became deaf when she was 13 years old. For the past four years, she’s immersed herself into Deaf culture including going to the Pratt School for the Deaf. However, after her mom’s job transfers her to Colorado, Maya is faced with going to a public school–a hearing school.

For the first time since becoming deaf, Maya finds herself heavily immersed in a predominantly hearing culture. As a result of this, she faces conflict over the removal of being heavily immersed into a thriving Deaf culture scene. On a first day of school, the school assigns Nina to show Maya around the school, and while Maya initially resists this, Nina and Maya become quick friends. As a result of this, Maya meets Beau, and suddenly, her rule about not dating hearing boys is questioned.

While there’s a potential romance involved, this heavily deals with the cultural clash between hearing and Deaf because hearing people cannot truly understand the difficulties that those who are deaf (or Deaf) go through. Maya deals with this at school and at hospitals. The biggest conflict she has with this is the number of people who think she should have a cochlear implant–more on that shortly.

This story very frequently renders ASL signs into text. Because the author is Hard of Hearing and works actively within the Deaf community, this is done with understanding that I do not have. From a hearing reader perspective, for what it’s worth, it was done very well, and I could easily keep track of when a conversation was being signed versus being spoken versus being lip-read.

As a final note, as this book picks up steam (because I think this is going to be a very successful book), if you are a hearing reader, it’s extremely important to understand your place in the cochlear implant debate that happens within this story. Quite simply, it’s not your place to pick a side. Some hearing readers definitely won’t understand why there’s a debate, and for that, Alison Gervais does include information in the back of the book while there’s countless articles online about it as well. But as a reminder, Maya’s beliefs on this are her beliefs, and they’re valid beliefs.

With that off my chest, I strongly encourage you to read this book.

The Silence Between Us by Alison Gervais releases August 13, 2019.

Maya hasn't been deaf her entire life, but she still has her struggles. So when her mother moves the family across the country, she starts her life over, in a hearing school. We follow Maya as she adjusts to her new life with her small family, learning to make friends and navigate her new world.

This wasn't a bad read, but I did have a few issues with the book. I understand the mom had to move her kids for her job, but her son suffers from Cystic Fibrosis, and the climate in Colorado is awful for that. Her son does nothing but suffer from the moment they get there. I can't imagine having to make the decision of supporting the family or supporting my son. As far as Maya's friendship with Beau and Nina, they were a bit one-sided, with her friends endlessly supporting and doing things for Maya, but her not reciprocating. I was also baffled by Jackson because Beau seems like a good guy, and he's friends with Jackson. Maya hated him and kept wondering why Beau would be friends with him. But Beau defended him without a reason as to why.

I think Gervais did a great job portraying how hard it is to have a disability in the states, what happens when public places that are supposed to be accommodating aren't, and she portrayed Maya's struggle in that well. Maya had great confidence in herself and was happy to be deaf, and that shined through in the book.

Netgalley gave me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
As someone who isn’t deaf, this book was very informative about various technologies and ASL. Maya and Beau’s relationship felt genuine.
Maya’s isolation from her hearing classmates was prevalent. One excellent detail of her loneliness is the number of named students. I counted five. None of the other students speak to her, let alone befriend her. I liked following Maya’s experiences.
While Maya is an enjoyable protagonist, several of the major characters were underdeveloped. Despite their important roles, little information is given about Nina and Marissa. They have no personality beyond being Maya’s supportive and caring best friends.
The cochlear implant conflict mentioned in the description occurs near the end of the book for about fifteen pages. The argument between Beau and Maya happens with no warning and ends with little explanation. The summary of the novel is misleading.
The writing style is mediocre. The author tells instead of shows many emotions. With little description, settings feel vague. Additionally, filter words are abundant. My only favorite line is the final line of the novel.
Despite the bland writing style, this novel was unique and enjoyable.

RATING: 4/5 STARS

Maya is a Deaf teenager who moves to Colorado before her senior year of high school. It's a big adjustment for her, as she's leaving behind her school for the Deaf to attend a hearing school. Gradually, Maya befriends classmates Nina and Beau who demonstrate interest in learning ASL to better communicate with her. With encouragement and support from her friends, her interpreter Kathleen, her single-parent mother, and her younger brother Connor who has cystic fibrosis, Maya navigates the world of the hearing and opens herself up to new experiences. Along the way, she untangles her growing feelings for Beau and battles staying true to herself even as she fears her community wants her to be someone different.

The biggest strength of THE SILENCE BETWEEN US is its integration of ASL into the writing. I have read contemporary fiction that featured deaf MC's, but this is the first book I've read that I feel truly captures the essence of the language. ASL has its own rules of grammar and syntax that are different from that of English prose. It might take a chapter or two to get accustomed to reading ASL interwoven with fragments of conversation that Maya is able to lipread, but it's worth it for its uniqueness and the authenticity it lends to the novel.

Another positive aspect of this book is that it was written by an #OwnVoices author. I'm glad that the book included an interview section at the end because I like to know the background behind the voice I'm reading in a story. The author is Hard of Hearing and works with the Deaf community, and this shows in the writing. It's hard to truly get inside the head of and create a character unless you've experienced his or her struggle in some form. I was glad to see the issues that face the Deaf community brought up by someone who is familiar with this subject.

The characters in this book were fairly well-developed. I enjoyed Maya's friendship with Melissa (who is also Deaf), and I'm glad that Maya finally accepted Nina and Beau's wholehearted attempts to get to know her. Beau was a very sweet character and I thought his struggle with his college decisions and future was relatable for the YA demographic. I loved that he continued to learn ASL, despite making mistakes and being pushed away by Maya. However, without revealing too much, I thought how he incited a confrontation with Maya about cochlear implants was a bit out of character though this conflict is eventually resolved.

A character that I slightly struggled with was Maya herself. I wasn't happy with how she treated Beau in the beginning, though I acknowledge that her change of heart and shedding of skepticism towards his intentions are part of her growth throughout the story. I liked that she had aspirations to become a respiratory therapist to help patients with CF like her brother. (Side note: Maya mentions once that she plans to go to medical school to become a respiratory therapist, but this is inaccurate. There are specific training programs for this career, including a bachelor's degree track that she talks about wanting to be accepted for. This is just a small detail that I noticed since I'm studying in the medical field.)

The appeal of this novel is that is brings up topics of debate in the Deaf community, which makes it more than "just another YA contemporary." For the record, I believe that most acclaimed YA contemporaries have important insights into adolescence, a fragile period full of uncertainties and firsts that gives the genre its credibility and significance. But this book sheds light on subtle discrimination and the perception of deafness in the context of disability, which I think is important.

I'm glad I read this novel. Although it's unlike anything I've read before, it's lacking a bit of that fluttery, jumping-off-a-cliff feeling (difficult put a finger on) that I've gotten from previous stand-out YA novels. But it's definitely worth a try for those who enjoy coming-of-age narratives and want to learn more about the Deaf community.

A sincere thanks to NetGalley and Blink YA Books for providing an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Social: Instagram post on @_shelf.awareness to come.

As a person who is hearing impaired this hits very close to home. Maya moves to Colorado which forces her to leave her deaf school Pratt. She starts at a new hearing school Engelmann. Transitioning as a new school is hard enough imagine being the only deaf girl who has an interpreter following her around. Beau is the student body president. After he accidentally insults Maya when he learns she can speak he begins to learn sign language to apologize to her. Her relationship begins to grow with Beau and with her other new friends. Maya has always thought that hearing/deaf relationships will never work, but Beau may just prove her wrong. This is a beautiful book about deaf awareness that everyone can learn from. I love the character development, and the format of this book including sign language descriptions into the dialogue. Alison is known for being able to write great young adult novels and this one definitely can be added to the list.

The Silence Between Us is a story of Maya who is moving from her home town of Jersey and moved into Colorado and not only it being her senior year; she also has to go to a hearing school. Being Deaf for Maya is just apart of her, and she never considers it a disability and now having to juggle the trials of getting ready for college and being the only deaf student at Engelmann High. Through many trials and struggles, Maya finds new friends and teaches the hearing world that Deaf/ and hard of hearing people are just as capable as anyone else.
This was such a moving story, and I hope that gets the attention and appreciation that it deserves. I learn a lot of facts about the deaf community that I didn't know previously. I enjoyed the dynamic between Maya and Beau's as they both learn from each other and grow in friendship and companionship. This is a great story that everyone should consider reading.

I'm almost done with my second semester of ASL, and I love and appreciate the language. So I was very excited to read this book, from the perspective of a deaf high schooler, and I perked up when I realized that the ASL would actually be written as ASL instead of just translated into English like in most the other books I've read with a deaf character.

But the book left me wanting, in so many ways.

Without even getting into my problems with how certain aspects of Deaf culture were displayed, the characters were incredibly boring. I really don't know what the author was trying to do with the main character's personality. She was inconsistent. Maybe a stupid example, but Maya said at least 4 times, to the reader, "Why would I ever turn down food?" but we only ever saw her appreciate it one time, and it was cookies and her appreciation was simply her eating a lot of cookies. She was aghast when students were surprised that she could speak, and she made a HUGE deal about how deaf people are perfectly capable of speaking, but the author never once brought up that some deaf people CANNOT speak, or that they only choose to speak around certain people, or that deaf people who lost their hearing young, or were born deaf, have to go through intensive speech therapy to be able to speak well. It was such an illogical way for her to go about the situation, and, while I don't ask for characters to always make logical choices, I ask that, when it comes to representation of something so few people understand, they do.

Look at that. I already failed at not getting into my issues with the deaf aspect.

Sometimes I can get over characters' bland personalities if the romance is good and it brings out different aspects in the characters, but I have to say, this was quite possibly the most poorly written romance I have ever read. There was zero chemistry. ZERO chemistry. I honestly didn't pick up on the fact that the guy was the love interest until a few chapters in, and I was still skeptical. If you've read any number of romances, you know how obvious it usually is (and not in a bad way: if you can't tell, it means there's NO CHEMISTRY) (even platonic relationships have chemistry) but I thought that he was just going to be the nice friend who wanted to learn sign language because who reads past the first paragraph in a book summary. Not me, apparently.

Way too much of the plot was focused specifically on Maya's struggles being deaf in a mainstream school, and maybe this would have been more interesting or dynamic to me if I had less knowledge on the subject, but I think just the way it was presented seemed whiny and melodramatic rather than helping the reader understand where deaf people are coming from. Again, I could not get on board with Maya's character.

We also had two very common tropes: the kid whose dad wants them to go to medical school but the kid loves something else, and the kid who has a passion for a certain career, but they don't think they'll be able to get it. These are both still usable tropes, if done correctly, but these were tired situations.

Also. We never learned how Beau was learning sign language?

So. Before I get into the rest of my problems with the deaf representation, I am just an ASL 2 student. I am well aware that I don't fully understand Deaf culture or any other aspect of being deaf. But our main character didn't understand what it meant, either, and I just couldn't get past the bad depiction.

It was weird to see Maya saying that she was part of the Deaf community (capital 'D' Deaf) when she had no connection to the community other than her one deaf friend she spoke to of FaceTime. She had just moved to a new town, but there was zero reference to deaf adults or other kids in her life. We also only saw 2 characters who liked being deaf, Maya and her friend.

Partway through the book, Maya tries to go out and meet deaf kids, but they were actually a group of kids with Cochlear Implants, and none of them used sign. Not a single person at the event had any respect for ASL or deaf people, and it made every person with a CI seem like the bad guy. And it wasn't like it was just the main character's opinions--it was the way the other characters acted.

When Maya had lost her hearing, her mother learned ASL along with her, and her younger brother learned a little. So when she went to the aforementioned CI group, she was surprised to find that the mother of one of the deaf kids didn't understand ASL. I understand that this book should not represent every deaf person, but this was coming directly from Maya's head. She was genuinely surprised--surprised--that the mom didn't know sign even though that type of situation (the family of a deaf kid not learning sign) is more common than it should be. If she was really part of the Deaf community, she would know this.

So. In the end, I did appreciate the way the ASL was portrayed. But that was pretty much my only positive.

Thank you to Net Galley for providing a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Finally. FINALLY. This is the first book I’ve read with a Deaf character that accurately portrays the experience of a Deaf student in a hearing high school. As a CODA and former teacher of the Deaf, I have worked with many students in both the residential and mainstream settings. Although there were times I wished Maya weren’t quite so angry, I quickly realized that her feelings were entirely honest and valid. Gervais covers so many important topics related to deafness, like the use and availability of interpreters, interacting with hearing peers and adults, ASL, the use (and often malfunctioning) VRI, the differences between a Deaf school and public school, accessibility in college, getting jobs, and just general relationships. Maya is fortunate to have a supportive mother who learned how to sign to communicate with her, but that is not always the case. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to get an idea what it is like for a Deaf student in a public school.

***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of THE SILENCE BETWEEN US by Alison Gervais in exchange for my honest review.***

Maya is less than thrilled to beginning senior year at a hearing school half way across the country. Deaf for four years, leaving her secure previous school, where everyone signed to one where she’ll be the only Deaf student and need an interpreter scares her.

When Beau, a cute popular guy starts learning sign language, Maya is certain he’s either pitying or pranking her, unwilling to consider he may actually like her.

Maya was a difficult character for me to like. While she had positive qualities like caring about her family and little brother with Cystic Fibrosis, she was mostly self centered and often unkind.

THE SILENCE BETWEEN US is well written, distinguishing dialogue signed vs spoken. Aside from Maya, most of the other characters were likable.

I had a hard time buying into a lot of the scenarios in the book. For example, I didn’t believe a mother would move her sick son from New Jersey to the high altitude of Colorado and be surprised his condition worsened. Surely his NJ doctor would have warned the mother to consider her son’s life and death situation, no matter how good the job offer. I also didn’t believe this mother would take a week long business trip and leave her Deaf seventeen-year-old daughter to care for her struggling seven-year-old son with no backup contingency plan. She was a great mother except when in regards to her son’s life threatening illness!?!?!?

I also didn’t understand Maya’s insistence on not considering a cochlear implant. If she has been deaf all her life, I’d have understood more. She has a passion for becoming a pediatric respiratory therapist. Hearing would only seem to enhance the relationship with patients. After the scare with her brother, where he could have died, I’d think hearing would be a safety issue. Accommodations are great, important and necessary, but they also involve relying on others (in the case of the book) to provide those well-deserved services. I have a disability and sometimes have to rely on others to make my life. When my body won’t do what it’s supposed to do, I’m frustrated and would do anything to change the situation. I understand the Deaf community is rich and full. CIs are controversial and many have strong opinions against them. Maya had only been deaf for 4 years and so the majority of her experiences were hearing. I was glad she was proud to be Deaf and confident, but didn’t understand the safety and accommodations aspects of her choice.

THE SILENCE BETWEEN US was enjoyable, though sometimes slow, disjointed and repetitive.