24 April 2014

Review - The Sound By: Sarah Alderson

Title: The Sound
Author: Sarah Alderson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK, 320 pages, (August 1st 2013)
From: bought from Amazon.co.uk
Format: e-book
Add to: Goodreads
Order a copy: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

Synopsis: 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...

Review: 4 stars -**Contains spoilers**

17 year old Ren Kingston travels to the US, looking forward to a relaxed working summer. Looking after the Tripp’s two children Brodie and Braiden, blogging and reading, seems perfect. But you know things never go that well in real life……

Ren arrives in Nantucket, Boston and is quickly thrown into her role as nanny, despite the fact that she has never even changed a nappy or held a baby before.

Invited out to lunch with the Tripps and their friends; Ren meets the Thorn triplets, Jeremy, Eliza and Matt. These are the privileged kids she’s heard all about. They are stereo-typical rich kids, not wanting for anything and who spend their entire summer on the beach. Initially Ren feels out of place, she’s not as perfectly polished as these teens, but Jeremy soon makes her feel relaxed and a friendship blossoms.

The quiet summer Ren had planned soon turns into a season of events, beach and pool parties and mingling with the rich teens and their influential parents.

After deciding a great way to explore Nantucket is by renting a bike. The last thing she expects is to meet moody and handsome Jesse, in the cycle rental shop. A guy who would get no marks for customer service, but full marks for his good looks. The whole town hates him because he had a fight with Tyler, a friend of Jeremy’s. Despite warnings from town’s other residents; and her initial reservations Ren can’t help but befriend him.

While enjoying the 4th July celebrations, Ren and Jeremy’s relationship nearly takes a step further. That is until Jesse steps in to defend her honour.

After confronting Jesse about what happened; Ren discovers a dark secret. It unravels the mystery of why the townspeople hate Jesse so much. Even though he was only defending someone he loves.
Jesse really opens up to Ren, and I hoped their friendship would develop into something more. Sadly, Jesse won’t put her through any possible trouble that could occur because of something that happened last year.

After a foreign nanny is attacked, rumours start flying around that it’s a serial killer/attacker; another nanny was attacked earlier in the summer and a girl killed the year before. Ren doesn’t want to leave Nantucket, she’s still enjoying her summer and with her new attraction Jesse, she really doesn’t want to leave. Ren is advised by the Tripps to take extra precautions when she’s out if she does stay. However when her Mum finds out she demands Ren returns home to the UK.

While saying goodbye, Ren discovers from an unlikely source that her relationship with Jeremy might not have been all it seemed. There is a way Ren can help a friend in their time of need and uncover the truth, but as with everything there seems to be more than one obstacle in the way to stop her.

The End. What can I say about this? I was completely not expecting who the bad guy was, I don’t know if anyone else will suspect this person either. I will admit to having read the book twice in the process of writing this review, a few months between both reads. I’d forgotten who the attacker was in those few months, so was shocked again when I read it the second time.

The only reason The Sound didn’t get 5 stars from me, was because of the epilogue. I felt it was a little too perfect.

On the whole I liked the characters. At times I did shout at Ren- she didn’t seem sure of herself. I understand living in a different place with new people would be intimidating but she needed a bit more confidence in what she could do. And sometimes needs to be sensible and not be the Bella Swan-esque girl she doesn’t want to be.

Jesse is high up there on my book boyfriend list. He’s gorgeous and a musician, what’s not to love. Although he has had bad experiences, he just wants to protect those he loves. Alderson has a way of writing attractive young men that make you swoon. Please keep this up Sarah!

I love Sarah Alderson’s style of writing. Her pop culture references may not be everyone’s cup of tea but they made me laugh.

The Sound is an easy read, with all the twists and turns of a brilliant thriller, romance and a few life lessons thrown in to wet your appetite. I have already enjoyed reading Alderson’s other book series and I look forward to reading more from her in the future.

Read if you enjoyed Alderson’s Hunting Lila and Losing Lila.


Find the Author

Follow me on Twitter     /     Be friends with me on Goodreads
Subscribe to my RSS Feed

1 comment:

  1. I didn't read too much since I didn't want to pick up on the spoilers but I love the look of this.On the one hand this looks like a fab contemporary romance and on the other it looks like we have a good thriller on our hands!

    Thanks for sharing! :)

    Alex @ The Shelf Diaries

    ReplyDelete

Comment and let me know your thoughts on this post.

Twitter Goodreads Email

Recently Read


Blog Archive

Search the Blog!

Learn more about RAK

Book Soulmates
Xpresso Book Tours

Total Pageviews

Copyright

FTC Disclaimer:

In accordance with FTC Guidelines, I have not received any monetary gain for any information posted within the pages of this website/blog. Any and all information has been provided by the publisher, author and or publicist for free. Content is also based on purchases made by myself or of my guest reviewer(s). Any and all opinions expressed within the pages of this website/blog are solely my own or those of the authors of any and all guest reviewers(s) or guest bloggers.



Related Posts with Thumbnails

About Me

Hi, I’m Lisa and I'm a proud bibliophile.

I enjoy reading and reviewing a variety of different books within the Young Adult, "New Adult" & Adult genres/categories. If you have any questions or if you are an author or publisher and would be interested in promoting a book, please feel free email. You can find my email under the "mail" button or under the contact link at the top of the page.

I look forward to hearing from you!


Authors, Publishers & Publicists

Have a book you'd like me to review or Promote? How about doing an Author Interview? Or maybe a Guest Post? Great! I'd love to! For more information about having your book reviewed here, please follow this link for more information:

Reviews, Interviews, Guest Posts and Contest.

Guest Reviewer Jenny

Guest Reviewer Jenny
Click for info & links to her reviews!

My Ratings

When I review I rate from 1 to 5 stars, 5 being the highest rating. I review based on many different things from the writing, to the story - to the characters and how I can relate to them or how they are developed. I also review based on if an author has worked their magic and was able to draw me into a story so deeply that I don't want to put the book down. If you would like me to review a book, please contact me or view my Contact Information and Review Policy for further details.

5 Stars - I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!
4 Stars - I Really liked/Loved it.
3 Stars - I liked it/Was pretty good.
2 Stars - It was, eh okay.
1 Star - It just wasn't for me.

Followers

Follow the Blog

Follow on Bloglovin

Follow By Email

Enter your email address:

Grab Me!

Blogs I Love