What I Didn't Say - Review

What I Didn’t Say

By: Keary Taylor

Published: April 30th 2012 by CreateSpace

326 pages

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

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Goodreads description—Getting drunk homecoming night your senior year is never a good idea, but Jake Hayes never expected it all to end with a car crash and a t-post embedded in his throat.

His biggest regret about it all? What he never said to Samantha Shay. He’s been in love with her for years and never had the guts to tell her. Now it’s too late. Because after that night, Jake will never be able to talk again.

When Jake returns to his small island home, population 5,000, he’ll have to learn how to deal with being mute. He also finds that his family isn’t limited to his six brothers and sisters, that sometimes an entire island is watching out for you. And when he gets the chance to spend more time with Samantha, she’ll help him learn that not being able to talk isn’t the worst thing that could ever happen to you. Maybe if she’ll let him, Jake will finally tell her what he didn’t say before, even if he can’t actually say it.

What I Didn't Say was a good read. It was one of those books that I was expecting to be nothing more than what it sounded like. But it was. I was expecting things to go exaclty like the blurb was leading...Jake has accident. Results are he can no longer speak. The girl spends time with him. They fall in love. Happily ever after. And while I won't say that's a wrong depiction, the story was just a good bit more than that. Now, it wasn't earth shattering either, but it was more than I expected.

Sam ended up adding more to the story than I was expecting. Jake wasn't so much of a surprise, but together they were more.

I don't know, I'm having a hard time coming up with more to say about it. I enjoyed the actual presence of Jake's parents and siblings. A lot of times in YA lit, the stories focus so much on the main character, usually female, and the love interest, that they exclude the main character's family. So not only was it refreshing to have the main character's family, and parents specifically, be so present in the story, it was also refreshing to have the main character be male.

Again, What I Didn't Say was much more than I expected, and it wasn't a book I really had any thoughts about putting down once I got started. This is one of those times when I feel my rating system is inadequate. I don't feel like this is on the same level as some of the other 3 Star books that I've read and enjoyed much less, but I don't find that it's really up to 4 Star level either. So I'm feeling along the lines of 3.7 Stars.

Updated: July 8, 2018