April 30, 2016 – My Tiny Obsessions

tonedeaf

Ali Collins was a child prodigy destined to become one of the greatest musicians of the twenty-first century — until she was diagnosed with a life-changing brain tumor. Now, at seventeen, Ali lives in a soundless world where she gets by with American Sign Language and lip-reading. She’s a constant disappointment to her father, a retired cop fighting his own demons, and the bruises are getting harder to hide.

When Ali accidentally wins a backstage tour with the chart-topping band Tone Deaf, she’s swept back into the world of music. Jace Beckett, the nineteen-year-old lead singer of the band, has a reputation. He’s a jerk and a player, and Ali wants nothing to do with him. But there’s more to Jace than the tabloids let on. When Jace notices Ali’s bruises and offers to help her escape to New York, Ali can’t turn down the chance at freedom and a fresh start. Soon she’s traveling cross-country, hidden away in Jace’s RV as the band finishes their nationwide tour. With the help of Jace, Ali sets out to reboot her life and rediscover the music she once loved.

Going into this book I was fairly certain that I would enjoy it, because Kat @Life and Other DIsasters did, and I trust her opinion. You can check her take on this book here.

I LOVED IT! In my head this book is kind of like a mix between The Mortal Instruments and Everything Everything, but the plot has nothing to do with either one of those stories, lol, it’s just the vibe… is it weird?!

The writing is wonderful. I never read a book about a deaf MC, and I was curious to see how that would be incorporated to the story and I was pleasantly surprised by the result. Not only was ASL well explained and included, but each reference to vibrations and what Ali felt when someone was talking, walking, moving, felt real.

I loved all the main characters of this book. Ali was an amazing protagonist, she was so damn strong! I really liked how she hadn’t lost hope at a better life, even after everything she endured. I also liked Jace a lot, yes, he’s a much darker character, because there’s so much in his past, and he thinks he’ll stay like that forever, but still, even being down, pessimistic, he still cares and hopes, and he’s just great. The rest of the band is bonkers and amazing! I loved Killer most of all – bonus points for him for liking Doctor Who and David Tennant – , and I loved that all the band supported Jace, even when they didn’t agree with him completely.

Also, Jace, Arrow and Killer reminded me so much of TMI! Jace because of the name and attitude, Arrow just reminded me of Alec, always making sure his family is ok, fiercely protective, and Killer read like a mix of Magnus, Isabelle and Simon!

The romance was so sweet. I really liked how it evolved, how they became close, and shared parts of themselves with each other, understood each other, before anything else happened. And Jace with Ali was the sweetest thing. The way he touched her, and cared for her, was a huge contrast to the persona he showed the world, and that was amazing.

This book also highlights a huge problem in our system: how easy it is to hide that a child is victim of abuse at home. It will definitly make you think about it.

To sum it up, I LOVED THIS BOOK. If you like YA contemporary romance, with a touch of dark subjects, give this book a shot. You won’t regret it. 😀