Hey guys! 

I hope that you have had a wonderful day! I have! I’ve gotten some writing done, I made pasta salad *licks lips* and I’ve just been able to hang out and just be happy, lol. It sounds simple, but sometimes the simple brings joy. 

Anyway back to the reason I’m writing this post; I come bearing a book review! 

I recently read a wonderful book entitled The Voices We Find by Nicole Deese. The books was technically the third in a collection but it could easily be read as a stand alone. 

Here’s a basic overview of what it was about. 

A broke actress named Sophie has to come home to work in her family winery, but her family isn’t very welcoming and she’s always been the outcast. Then her friend tells her about an opportunity; actors and actresses reading audiobooks. And so she sends a demo, and is hired. But she never expected to get tied up with her moody sound director and recorder. He’s the sole guardian of his teen sister. And he has a lot of regrets. But when Sophie hits it off with his sister he’s forced to admit things he didn’t want to think about.  

I enjoyed the story as a whole, I really liked the friendship between Sphie and the little sister. I also thought that the fact the sister was deaf, was wonderful way to give Sophie a character arc. She learns ASL (a language that is the 4th most used language in the US. I’m also attempting to learn ASL so reading a book with the language in it was really cool) Sophie also is given an opportunity to teach and mentor to a few of the deaf teens at her church who want to act.

The brother and male main character, August, had a bit of a prodigal son vibe, he came back after his parents died on a mission trip in an accident which left his teen sister deaf. He’s a good brother, protective, (I agree that your sister was too young to date that guy) and he doesn’t want to give up on the idea that his sister might be healed of her deafness. He has a deep grudge against the church, he was very hurt by it after his parents died, (and I agree that he had a right to be angry after what they did) but he takes it out on all of Christianity. Which I think is a very real thing nowadays. I did find his character loveable and pretty great. 

Overall the plot was well developed it flowed well I didn’t want to put the book down, but there were a few areas that I found a bit unsettling, and no book is perfect so I get that, but I also found a few things I didn’t like.   

Things I didn’t like.

 For starters I get that August was supposed to be the prodigal son and all that, but I think that he never had the “come back to Jesus” moment. I mean, there might have been one, but it doesn’t stand out in my mind. With Sophie, there was a significant moment that you could tell something changed, (I also didn’t really love the fact that she was with August after she was saved and he wasn’t, he does get saved before the end.) And I also didn’t love that the teen sister was dating, like I get that it’s the norm, but it felt a bit off for the vibe of the story. And i didn’t really like that Sophie was all super supportive of the teen’s dating when August didn’t like it at all. (and yes, the reason he didn’t like it was just classic older brother attitude and protectiveness, the guy she was with was a good guy) 

There was a plot twist at the end involving a crime ring thing, that made sense (ish) but it almost seemed off given the rest of the book. There weren’t any plot holes and it did answer some of the questions about a few characters, but it did seem a bit odd. Now as I mentioned it did resolve some of the stuff that needed resolving. 

There was a scene involving a vision that was a little strange. Now I’m not saying that visions don’t happen, but I tend to be uncomfy with that sort of thing, so the scene being strange might just be me.

There was a bit of content that you might want to be wary of: there was kissing (it is a romance), there was mentions of a husband abusing his wife, and there was alcohol consumption but it was all done by adults (I think) and if it was a teen it was involved in the crime thing, do it wasn’t praised at all, there is some medical stuff, grief, and I think that’s it.

Now with all that not-so-good/odd stuff you might be thinking, “Allison, should I even read this book?” 

And my answer would be yes (if you like romances). It was a wonderful book, the themes were great, it flows well, the characters were wonderful, and I really did love it. If you want to read a comedic, romance involving a audiobook reader and a fiercely protective big brother, with cutesy happy vibes this would be a good read for you! 

 I hope you enjoyed this book review! And please let me know if you read/have read this book and what your thoughts were! 

In Christ Always, 

Allison.

“And for the record Sophie, I don’t think that you are in the Tates’ lives by accident.” 

~Portia from The Voice We Find