Tuesday 29 April 2014

Review: The Sound by Sarah Alderson

When aspiring music journalist Ren Kingston takes a job nannying for a wealthy family on the exclusive island of Nantucket, playground for Boston's elite, she's hoping for a low-key summer reading books and blogging about bands. Boys are firmly off the agenda.

What she doesn't count on is falling in with a bunch of party-loving private school kids who are hiding some dark secrets, falling (possibly) in love with the local bad boy, and falling out with a dangerous serial killer...



Kindle Edition, 320 pages
Expected publication: May 13th 2014 by Simon Pulse 
Genre: Young Adult

Kristine's Thoughts:

I received an advanced readers copy of this book from Simon Pulse via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. The expected publication date is May 13, 2014. Thank you!

When looking up this book it appears that there are a wide range of opinions when it comes to this book so I was anxious to see for myself what it was all about.

Basically this is a story of a teenage girl who goes to the US to nanny for the summer and finds herself mixed with a bunch of privileged rich kids. Then enters Jesse, the local "bad" boy, who is enemies with this bunch of kids. There is an ongoing feud that Ren cannot get details about but for some reason she is drawn to him. Admittedly, as the reader, I had the mystery behind the feud figured out from the on-set but Ren spends quite a bit of time trying to figure it out. Add to all this teenage drama a serial nanny killer and you have The Sound.

Here is what I think...

There is a huge focus on the girl/boy dynamic and the characters are preoccupied with the opposite sex and hooking up and bashing each other to make themselves feel better. Did I take offence to this? No. Will younger readers take offence to this? Possibly. As a reader who is beyond the age of the characters in this book I see a lot of truth in the way the players in this book act. Teenagers (not all so don't hate) can be preoccupied and obsessed with the opposite sex and many young people say nasty things about others in order to make themselves feel better. Having teenagers myself and having been one myself, I see first hand how mean young people can be to each other. The way the characters act and the things they say may be a little over the top but it is not uncommon within the teenage population. It is by no means appropriate or acceptable behaviour but it is unfortunately how some teens act. Having said that, I truly hope that the terrible competition between the boys in this story is not common!

Ultimately this story is a love story between Ren and Jesse with the nanny killer as a secondary story. I enjoyed how the relationship progressed and I adored Jesse. I was in his corner from the start. The actual murder story was a little weak but an entertaining piece to the puzzle nonetheless.

In the end it is what it is...a story. It entertained me for a few hours and I am glad that I had the opportunity to read it.

 





About the Author

Having spent most of her life in London, Sarah quit her job in the non profit sector in 2009 and took off on a round the world trip with her husband and princess-obsessed daughter on a mission to find a new place to call home. After several months in India, Singapore, Australia and the US, they settled in Bali where Sarah now spends her days writing by the pool and trying to machete open coconuts without severing a limb.

She finished her first novel, Hunting Lila, just before they left the UK, wrote the sequel on the beach in India and had signed a two book deal with Simon & Schuster by the time they had reached Bali.

A third book, Fated, about a teenage demon slayer, was published in January 2012.

The Sound, a thriller romance set in Nantucket, was originally published in August 2013. She has a further three thrillers due for release in the next few years.
Twitter-sarahalderson 

3 comments:

  1. I really love the cover of this one! Great review :)

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  2. I agree! When I was doing my post I discovered 2 different covers and wasn't sure which one would be on the final published copy so I picked the cover that I liked the best.

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  3. Ugh, I was looking forward to it, but seeing as the relationship status', romance/hook-ups, bitchiness/slut shaming seems to be the focus rather than the murder mystery (which I love murder mysteries), I probably won't read it. :( Shame, it sounded really good too.

    Kirsty @ StudioReads

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