Blog Tour, Review, & Giveaway: Louder Than Words by Iris St. Clair

Title: Louder Than Words
Author: Iris St. Clair
Release date: September 16th, 2014
Publisher: Swoon Romance


Book Description via Goodreads:

Disappointment has been on speed dial in Ellen Grayson's life lately. Her dad died, her mom numbs the grief with drugs and alcohol, and her so-called friends have slowly abandoned her.

Trusting a popular teacher with her troubles should have been safe and should NOT have led to an unwelcome seduction attempt that made her desperate to escape the final moments of Junior year. Lesson learned. Best to keep all the sordid details to herself and trust no one.

Enter Rex Jacobi, a cocky boy, recently transplanted from New York City and fellow summer camp employee. Though his quick wit and confidence draws her in, she can't let him get too close. And summer is just long enough and hot enough to keep a boy like that at arm's length.

But by the time Rex's charm wears down her resistance, it's too late. He's put Ellen on the "just friends" shelf and has shifted his romantic attentions to the impossibly annoying and perky anti-Ellen. Even worse, the teacher who tried to get her to sleep with him is still at it, preying on other girls while Ellen struggles to come to terms with what happened.

With her ability to trust as shaky as a chastity vow on prom night, Ellen must decide if she has enough remaining courage to speak up about the well-liked teacher and risk retribution, tell Rex how she really feels about him and risk heartbreak, or hold all her secrets inside. After all, it's the only safe place she knows when the only thing louder than words is the fear of being rejected.

About the Author:
Iris St. Clair is the pen name for a long-suffering cubicle worker by day, a Walter Mitty-like dreamer by night. (Her alter ego Tatiana Ivanadance also choreographs gravity-defying routines in those fantasies, but that's another bio.)
No matter what genre she writes, she prefers witty, insecure heroines and kind, persistent heroes able to break through to the gooey heart inside.
In high school she was voted most likely to win at Monopoly and Clue, but least likely to throw a ball anywhere near a target. Thank goodness writing requires less hand-eye coordination, punctuation errors notwithstanding.

Iris believes in the two-year "fish or cut bait" dating rule and has a 20+ year marriage and two teenaged sons as proof of concept. She lives, writes, dreams and dances in the rainy Portland, OR area.
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Review

★★★★

Four stars.

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This was a book that I was hoping would break the bad streak I've had lately when it comes to contemporary young adult books. While it didn't blow me out of the water, I was pleased overall with this story.

A large part of why I enjoyed this book was admittedly the lead character. Ellen has a lot of growing up and "coming into herself", so to speak, to do at the beginning of the book. She has horrid self-esteem and second guesses a lot of things. She's a relatable kind of awkward, and she goes through some plot events that are incredibly uncomfortable. It was really interesting to watch her develop as the story went on. This was strengthened once Rex came into the picture. Their dynamic wasn't really unique, but it was still engaging to read about.

The story is one that addresses some tough stuff, but I think it does it in a good way. The story flows pretty well, but there's some parts that seemed a bit out of place. It wasn't enough to hinder me from reading more, but it did make me cock my head a bit at times and think about what was going on in the book with a little more effort than in the parts where it was a smoother read.

I also must say, I really like the cover of this book. It's simple but it gets the point of the book across, and represents how Ellen has to stand up and speak up for herself, even when it feels like it is impossible to do.

While this book won't become one of my die hard favorites, I 100% think that this is a book that a lot of young adult contemporary fans will enjoy. It's a solid read. If I'm correct (and please correct me if I'm wrong), this is Iris St. Clair's debut young adult novel. If she keeps writing stories like this one, I'd definitely pick up more books written by her in the future. Be aware that this book does contain serious themes.

Thank you to the author and YA Bound Book Tours for my copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Come check out the rest of the blog tour here.

Giveaway:

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Blog Tour Organized by:
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