Amazing representative depiction of an autistic experience
Reviewed in Canada on January 25, 2023
I loved Paige, I loved her fully fleshed out dynamic character and that the author showed how she was sure non speaking but more importantly, an amazing friend, perceptive, caring and communicative. She was sexual and bubbly. These are autistic lives whole people with amazing attributes rather than a list of deficits that we usually see listed. She was capable and I loved seeing her growth and the unfortunately accurate depiction of the abuse many disababled humans face.

I went into Raina Ash's Nonverbal with plenty of excitement. The premise is wonderful. But, damn, something judt didn't work for me. I finally stopped reading when Brody's friend came to live with them. Omg, just no!
I appreciate the way Paige is written, but that also hit too close to home for me, which left me just thinking I wasn't the right audience for this book.

Nonverbal: A Best Friend's Brother Romance is such a unique New Adult romance. I honestly can't even think of other books that have nonverbal main characters. I love the main character Paige. She is nonverbal autistic. I also really like Brody. I love the forbidden romance and instant attraction. This is also a very spicy book. I love the representation of a nonverbal autistic character and that character being the main character.
Thank you NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I did not enjoy this book. While I finished it, I had a weird feeling of fetishizing the main character the entire time. It seemed as if they were treating her as an infant, but she was also given a high sex drive. All-in-all, this book was not for me. I can see how this would appeal to people, especially the taboo and dark romance lovers, but it gave me an odd feeling.

Nonverbal was definitely a book that had a description that really interested me and led me to pick it up, but ultimately just did not work for me. This novel is an own voices story and has content notes around strong language, abuse, ableism and drug addiction that should be considered before reading this story. I think overall I felt a major disconnect from how the heroine I thought would be from the blurb to who the heroine was coming across in the story. I also struggled with the tone and balance of the situations, and how the characters were coming across. I am glad I gave this author and novel a try, I am sure this will work for some people, but unfortunately it just did not work for me.

This is a good book. The two main characters are Paige and Brody.. Paige moved in with Brody and his sister who is Paige’s best friend. There is chemistry between them. They each have issues but together they work them out and fall in love.

As an autistic I really do want to support autistic authors where possible. Unfortunately, that just wasn't possible with this book.

Brody, the love interest, was just a horrible human being - sorry but his actions and the way he thinks of and speaks to women early on is just not redeemable then to make him a love interest. And I won't even get in to all his ableist and fatphobic comments.

Frankly, there was a tonne of ableism in this book, and it's clear the author has a lot of internalised ableism (and I won't even get into the ableism in a lot of the reviews of this book). I'm also just not into all the overly dramatic toxic storylines, it just feels like trauma porn (absolutely not saying it's not possible that this is all happening to one person, but the way it was written just felt off to me).

On top of all this, I didn't vibe with the writing style and if I'm being completely honest, just felt it was poorly written.

I genuinely can't recommend this one to anyone. Also very confused by the comparisons to Talia Hibbert and Helen Hoang - the only similarity is an ND/autistic mc, there are no similarities in the writing style, storylines, the way the rep is written, etc. Definitely don't go into this thinking you're getting anything like Talia Hibbert or Helen Hoang's writing (both of which are authors I highly recommend!).

All characters written have something they are dealing with, felt very inclusive while reading. Was not expecting so much sex positive but it was written with intention.

The heroine has been in an abusive environment before going to stay with her friend and the hero. The hero didn't know that he would share his home with the heroine but lets her stay. The two shared a connection that is unexpected, and it deepened as time passed by. Both have issues of their own that they must overcome before they could have their own happy ending.

This is my first Raina Ash romance book. It features a heroine that has a vocal disability and a protective hero. The couple are distinctive characters that makes them memorable in some ways. I did enjoy reading a heroine that grew in the story. Though there is also the hero's growth, I wasn't enamored of his character that much. There were also some characters that were essential to the book, but I wasn't engrossed with them at all. Overall, this is a romance book with a good premise.


** Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions and thoughts in the review are my own. **

This was a great romance. I loved that the main character Paige was non-verbal and had autism. You don't see that in very many books, especially not romance books. I loved that Brody takes care of her and in turn she takes care of him as well. They worked so well together as a couple and I'm glad they got their happy ending after the legal battle Paige had to go through. I would highly recommend this book. Thank you to NetGalley and the the publisher for the advanced copy.

Book: Nonverbal by Raine Ash
Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Publication: 25th May 2022

Alexa, Play Sleep well by d4vd
Wow,this book was so very complex and hooked me in from the very beginning.
The characters made me cry, got me frustrated and sent me in a happy place.

Every single character was going through something and it felt so real and heartfelt.
Brody and Paige were so beautifully portrayed, the back stories, their struggles , understanding each other and in the end creating something so beautiful in this journey was confounding.

Thank you NetGalley and pink fox publishing for the ARC copy.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book!

To put it briefly, I hated this book. It read like a teenager trying to write like an adult. As other reviewers have pointed out, Brody or whatever his name was is misogynistic and overall gross while the FMC (honestly don’t remember her name) seemed so immature and one dimensional as she was so obsessed with having sex and using that to ignore all her other problems. Also, who has serious injuries to your ribs/torso and wants to have any physical stress to those areas? Additionally, both leads have really negative attitudes towards women with Brody viewing them as objects and IDK her name was calling her friend names and describing the outfit her friend put together for her “slutting it up” or something to that effect. With how immature the girl was, I honestly felt like the conservatorship was a good idea—just not with her parents in charge. This whole thing was just really messy and frustrating.

Additionally, being nonverbal does not mean she has an intellectual disability or is any less capable of functioning than anyone else, and yet she is portrayed as incapable of doing virtually anything. Her friend has to “translate” with the guy she likes so she can proposition him at work? (What a weird sentence.) Again, it felt like the FMC was emotionally and mentally 12 or 14 which does not fit with what we’re supposed to believe about her character.

Ms Ash is quickly becoming one of my favorite contemporary romance authors. She does an amazing job of creating emotionally charged, sweet, and heartwarming romances that really pull at your heartstrings. I couldn't help but become invested in Paige and Brody's story. Ms Ash does a great job of making the characters and story come to life. Both characters were endearing with realistic qualities that drew me to them and made them more relatable. Autism is not a stranger to me, so I could appreciate the care and sensitivity that was put into depicting Paige's character. I thought her character was well portrayed. Her struggles with her feelings and her legal situation felt all too real, and I really felt for her character. I felt a roller coaster of emotions reading this, not all sad mind you, there are some fun, quirky, and laughable moments as well. The relationship between Brody and Paige was beautiful and heart melting and I enjoyed seeing their feelings for each other blossom and grow. Their story is full of emotion and heart and pulled me in from the very start and left me with a warm, fuzzy feeling afterwards and I had a really nice time reading it. This was a very sweet and delightful beginning to what looks to be a charming series. I can't wait to read more!
I received a complimentary copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

I think this was really easy and quick to read, and I read this book in just a few hours. This was a great story with several different subjects that I normally wouldn’t read about in a book, but I really enjoyed it as being something different.

I really liked that all of the main characters had a deeper background story, and was really curious to find out more about everyone throughout the book.

Check trigger warnings before reading this!

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC of this book!

Truly unique reading experience for me with representation of non-verbal autism. I found the FMC, Paige truly magnetic. She uses text-to-voice apps to communicate which really highlights her unfiltered, extremely witty personality. This book also brings to light how those who are non-verbal can be the subject of abuse.

Please check trigger warnings. While this is a beautifully written story there are some themes that might be triggering to some like - loss of a parent, use/abuse of drugs and alcohol, parental control and abuse, and SA.

Overall - really enjoyed the read; however, at times I found the pace of the book slow and my mind wandering and had to force myself to refocus.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC copy iof this book in exchange for my voluntary, honest review.

Really fascinating, engaging story. I really enjoyed how Raina Ash created a well rounded character who experiences intense emotions. Raina wasn't afraid to really dive into the character and the effect autism had on her life. This included her abusive home life that she was stuck in because she wasn't considered an adult by court and her struggles with intimacy and touch. I found the premise really interesting and enjoyed watching it unfold. When it came to the romance, I wish Brody was a little less insta love. It felt like he just wanted sex with her and then suddenly was in love the first time they did. That aspect could have used a little more fleshing out but overall it was a really interesting book.

This story follows Paige a nonverbal, 25, autistic female who’s runaway with the help of her best friend Amber.

Amber rescues her from an unsafe environment and lets her stay at her place, only catch is.. Amber has a tall handsome older brother, Brody and Paige has to promise not to sleep with him. 😏
(Personally I absolutely love the best friends brother trope)

I have to admit at the start when we’re first introduced to Brody I didn’t like him. Buff gym guy with a massive porn collection.. Ehh not my thing, but that’s what makes this situation perfect for Paige because she has an obsession with sex and having never “had the big O” this is time for her to “study” sex.

Diving deeper into the story there’s more going on than you realise. There’s Brody and Paige are bonding in ways Amber would disapprove of (If she knew), Amber’s bad habits, learning it’s not always about sex and orgasming and the finding out what is Paige running from. — Also myself learning not to judge a character too quickly, Brody turns out to be a protective, caring, teddy bear 🧸💗

This story was a rollercoaster, I’d be laughing, crying and hanging on the edge on my seat reading in suspense for was going to happen next. I read this in one sitting and was enthralled with the story. It was emotional but an enjoyable read. I also loved how the books mentions how asking for help is okay and that it supported therapy.

Being neurodiverse myself, I definitely appreciated the diversity of the main character and all of the situations/issues that Paige has. I personally have been in a lot of the situations that Paige has been in and while lot of neurodiverse people aren’t represented well when written about and I feel as though Raina Ash (Author) did an excellent job writing Paige.

Overall I loved this book and think it’s definitely worth the read!


Trigger Warning! I’d like to advise people interested in reading this book that there are some sensitive topics talked about in this book. Please at any time during this book you feel uncomfortable or triggered, please take a break, stop reading, talk to a friend or seek help.
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Some of the TW’s include:
Physical abuse
Family/domestic violence
Sexually explicit scenes
Drug & Alcohol abuse
Mentions of attempted unaliving.

Many thanks to NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was really nervous about reading this book because I’ve read so many books with autistic characters that are cringey and make me angry. This one was done really well and I ended up really loving it. It was really emotional and had a lot of hard topics in it but so worth the ride. I loved how Brody met her where she was at and listened/respected her when she advocated for herself and her needs without infantilizing her or looking down at her. I really loved how she wasn’t “cured” of being non-speaking because she fell in love and he never tried to change that.

Stars: 5
POV: dual
HEA?: yes
OW/OM Drama: no
Cheating: no
TW: ableism, Infantilization of a disabled adult, domestic abuse, emotional/physical abuse, drug abuse, addiction
Tropes: autistic heroine, non-speaking heroine, best friend’s brother

I do think the author covers autism extremely well. I particularly found that the way the author handled the way abuse can happen and how the courts can be used to disadvantage and hurt people who are different. Paige is well able to look after herself but her mother and stepfather use the system for their own gain.

My issue was with the romance. It just felt off. There was a lack of a spark and it felt like the obsession with orgasm that Paige has was put in purely because sex is supposed to sell. It really felt forced and if cut completely then I think the book would read better.

I received an arc of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was intrigued by the blurb and story line of this book and was happy to receive an ARC copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I thought the concept was good and have never read any book like it. The author did a nice job of showing Paige's thoughts and fears. There were some points in the middle where it dragged a little but I found it picked up more towards the last half of the book.
Overall I enjoyed the characters and the relationship between Paige and Brody. I love how he respected her boundaries and tried to understand her. He was a very compassionate character.