Every Word You Never Said (3) (A Noahverse Story)

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The whole book left me feeling like the author had great ideas, outlined them, and then never really filled it out. All the good parts of the story happen off screen and there is a lot of pointless meandering filler bits that we get instead. Skylar makes friends at school, but honestly there’s barely any development there. They’re just nice enough to sit with Skylar at lunch, and then they’re somehow super close. They were sweet and supportive, but honestly I didn’t care about either of them, and I also didn’t care when they got together at the end (was there even foreshadowing??? Afffff, whatever). Jacob’s friends were even less developed than Skylar’s, so, once again, I didn’t care at all. Both boys are so unsure of how the other feels. Both unsure of love and both poor with communication within a relationship. There was perhaps a touch too much dramatics with ALL the self doubt but also these are 16 year olds lol The collection is about not only learning to love yourself and the things you cannot change but also to forgive yourself. The latter being far more difficult in some circumstances. It's about reaching for kindness and trying to see the world through the eyes of others. Every Word You Never Saidis a romantic dream come true for YA bookstagrammers. There’s Jacob, a broody drummer from an evangelical family who has recently come out. And there’s Skylar­—who’s used to being an outcast because he’s gay, disabled, adopted, and gender non-conforming (GNC). When Jacob invites the new kid to his favorite local bookstore (one of the few safe places away from his homophobic family), Skylar wonders if he should harbor some hope for their friendship as they’re “browsing the books, seeing what Jacob’s hand gravitated toward.” This novel is full of quiet noticing as the two teens navigate their first queer relationship in a conservative small town, but also because Skylar is nonverbal.

Then there’s Jacob. Outwardly confident, great friends and family, but looks can be deceiving. He has struggles of his own, a hidden fight to be loved and accepted for the person he is. Skylar also finds friends with Imani and Seth - and these two, especially Imani, are just awesome. She seriously is the smartest of the whole bunch lol and stole the show for me. Found family! Found family is one of the big themes of this story that really stood out to me. Family certainly does not have to mean blood-relations, and to see how Skylar especially found his sense of belonging with his friends and his adoptive parents warmed my heart so much. This is honestly such a great theme to see play out in stories! To me, i feel that poetry and proses can only be reviewed to a certain extent. Instead i'll share my favourite pieces in the next few slides.Seeing old friends! I really loved seeing certain characters play a role or make an appearance in this story. I really hope this is a continuous thing! That is all I will say on that :) What I didn’t like that much was their use of langue in their conversations sometimes. It felt like an adult writing teenagers if you get what I mean. (Or do teenagers these days really call each other bitch every two sentences? I don’t know.)

This book touched on so many important issues - clothing and gender, ableism and disability, sexuality, religion, homophobia, friendship, first love and not feeling good enough. Through the project, he was also able to have skateboards delivered to The Uganda Skateboard Union on behalf of Stacy Peralta, director of Dogtown And Z-Boys and Riding Giants and he’s previously acted as a creative consultant to Brian Wayne Transeau or “BT” (whose previous collaborators include Peter Gabriel, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and David Bowie, amongst others) on his last album, If The Stars Are Eternal, So Are You And I. This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2022, and I’m so sad it ended up being disappointing… 😭💔 Please don’t let my review deter you from reading this book, though. I definitely still think it can be enjoyable to someone else!!! Nonverbal teen Skyler has recently been adopted and is starting a new school, where he meets Jacob, who has recently come out and is dealing with a homophobic father who is running for Congress. Skyler also likes to wear skirts sometimes, but while his parents are supportive, he runs into trouble with the school administration and bullies, plus Jacob's father sees his 'challenge' to the school dress code as a controversial cause to boost his campaign. Meanwhile, Jacob and Skyler are becoming more than friends, but for someone with such an unhappy past as Skyler, and with Jacob's struggles fully accepting himself, is there a happy ending in sight?What's beautiful is the meanings I attributed might be different with another pair of eyes. But as it is said in Every Word You Cannot Say, we are all Here and we all matter. There universe has a song for all of us and I look forward to reading more by Iain S. Thomas. Anyway, please do not let my review put you off reading this book! Every Word You Never Said has all kinds of great representation. Throughout the story, there were a lot of important topics discussed and i think these conversations were all handled very well. If you’re looking for a super sweet, queer romance with boys wearing skirts, then this could be a book for you! Firstly, the amount of pop culture references. It’s realistic that teens bring these things up in conversation, but honestly they served no purpose and just seemed cringy. HEARTSTOPPER meets FOOTLOOSE in this cute young adult romance about first love, embracing what makes you different, and standing up for what you believe. Indeed, Skylar’s tendency to wear skirts gets him detention, and gets Jacob’s father involved: a school board member wants to institute a gender-restrictive dress code. The friends and family who rally around Skylar help him to see that he is valued, even in a society that largely devalues the worth of disabled people. This realization is the story’s turning point, helping to bring the narrative to a satisfying conclusion.