They say that tragedy can make us realize what truly matters to us. In the case of Mia Clementine, protagonist of Deborah Crossland’s The Quiet Part Out Loud, it is her ex-boyfriend Alfie Thanasis. Yes, Mia will walk across a San Francisco in shambles after a monstrous earthquake to reunite with her one true love. But we will get to that.

Mia is in San Francisco crashing in her best friend’s dorm after things went south for her back home. She is also actively avoiding her former high school sweetheart Alfie, who is attending university in the same town, Mia broke Alfie’s heart right before they set off for college, and she just can’t face him now that she is sure he has moved on.

But when an earthquake shakes San Francisco, Mia has to make sure that Alfie is okay and tell him how much she truly loves him. So she sets off for the University of San Francisco, hoping to find Alfie safe and willing to forgive her for all of her transgressions. As she makes her journey across a debris-strewn city, she reflects on how her life fell apart and the actions that brought her to this point of despair. Mia knows that she has made a terrible mistake in hurting Alfie, but will he be able to find it in his heart to forgive her if he is okay?

The Quiet Part Out Loud is narrated from a dual POV showing both Mia and Alfie’s perspectives reflecting back on time as they fall in love and fall apart. The all-or-nothing, passion-driven relationship between the two will resonate with teenagers wrapped up in the headiness of young love, and speak to their own feelings and emotions.

However, it must be said that the main character Mia is simply awful. How sweet and gentle Alfie could ever fall in love with someone as opinionated and obstinate as Mia is beyond me. Mia simply did not make for enjoyable reading. She made the trek across San Francisco feel like drudgery, and I honestly hoped that Alfie would slam a door in her snotty face.

Mia blames her religious upbringing for shaping her into the way that she is, but as is the trend, Mia of course grew up in a Christian household, and this book just reads as Christianity is the root of all evil. I am over this worn-out storyline and am waiting for the day that we see other religions getting a bad rap in YA fiction. I feel like I might be waiting forever.

Furthermore, I thought that this book would have more of a survival element, being that the teens are thrust into the midst of a major earthquake, but really it is more a reflective story with tragic The Fault In Our Stars kind of vibes.

Such an interesting read as it’s not like many other books I have read. It was a quick read but I felt I needed more details in places. Definitely a solid YA read!

All the feels on this one. I felt every emotion. I related to so much coming from a strict religious upbringing with a lot of the same experiences as Mia. Especially in her relationship with her mother.
Honestly, it took me some time to get into the book and to connect with the characters, but I am so glad that I held on because before I knew it I was literally laughing out loud, sighing, huffing and puffing, and bawling my eyes out. It was an emotional roller coaster for sure, but definitely a must read. I love the lessons Mia learned and how it shaped and molded her future. Without spoiling anything... I'm a happy ending type person, so I wasn't thrilled towards the end, but it came around by finish enough to redeem some of it. I would definitely recommend this book. It was a great teenage range read.

Alfie was an interesting character to me who has more growth to me, which feels rare for a boy in a YA novel. Greek culture, particularly pertaining to Christianity, was explored well in the story. Mia did not have much growth but she worked through her experiences.

I inhaled The Quiet Part Out Loud in one night and when I finished around 2am, I sat and stared at the wall for a good long while. This novel about a college kid facing the fallout of her choices and trying to put her life back together in the wake of a devastating earthquake is heartbreaking and absolutely gorgeous. A must-read.

So you're gonna need tissues for this one. Loved the writing style and how different the premise of this book was but was totally not expecting the ending. Not what I really needed right at this moment. If you love books like "5 feet apart" and "When you were mine" then this is the book for you.

While a bit of a slow start, The Quiet Part Out Loud, pulls you in towards the end and has you rooting for its teenage/young adult protaganists by the end. Probably most akin to a coming of age novel, you see complicated parental relationships, the blooming of young love, the destruction of a family in so many different ways, and the way you learn to keep moving forward, every day, even when you don't think you can.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC.

This was a quick, light read. I definitely enjoyed it. I wish there had been more details or more things had been fleshed out. I liked it but I don't think I would read it again.

This is a placeholder review. I need the kindle download to be able to read this book, and will change my review accordingly once that's made available.