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

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.

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.

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,

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.