Louder Than Words by Laurie Plissner

Title: Louder than Words
Author: Laurie Plissner
Publisher: Merit Press
Publication Date: December 18, 2012

The debut novel of an American original, Laurie Plissner's is both medical thriller and lyric love story in the tradition of magical realism.

Since the snowy night when her family's car slammed into a tree, killing her parents and little sister, Sasha has been unable to speak except through a computer with a robotic voice. Nothing is wrong with her body; that's healed. But, after four years, Sasha's memory, and her spirit, are still broken. Then one day, she's silently cussing out the heavy book she dropped at the library when a gorgeous, dark-haired boy, the kind of boy who considers Sasha a freak or at least invisible, "answers" Sasha's hidden thoughts -- out loud.

Yes, Ben can read minds; it's no big deal. He's part of a family with a host of unusual, almost-but-not-quite-supernatural talents. Through Ben's love, Sasha makes greater progress than she has with a host of therapists and a prominent psychiatrist. With him to defend her, bullies keep the world from ever understanding Sasha, he pulls away. Determined to win him and prove her courage by facing her past, Sasha confronts her past -- only to learn that her family's death was no accident and that a similar fate may wait for her, in the unlikeliest of disguises.

Louder than Words was really freaking great--and so not what I expected when I started this book. For one, I kind of expected it to be a really sweet romance--it wasn't. Not that it wasn't kind of sorta cute--it totally was, but it gives off a more mature vibe than that. This is not a fluffy read at all. I wouldn't recommend this one for anyone under fifteen--sexual content is pretty high in this one.

But in the story's defense, we did need to hear about it, because it makes a lot of things make sense.

The plot was fairly well done, but there were a couple of things that I saw coming--which at the risk of being spoilerish, I can't reveal them to you. But I would if I could! Speaking of which--how do you even write a novel like this? It seems like it would be pretty hard--and I don't think that it's been done before, so I've got nothing to compare this book too.

I thought that Sasha was a pretty good character, but it seemed like she could have been better--more development, more character, more something. I don't know what it was that she was missing, but she was without. Just a enough to bring the rating down, because the characters weren't fleshy enough--but they weren't so bad. It was a bit weird, to tell you the truth.

Ben kind of seemed like a shadow for some reason--maybe it was because of the time frame this book was done in? I liked the book, but I wish I could've got more development on all the characters and the plotline--maybe it's because the book is so short? If it had been longer, I probably would've felt more loving towards it. On another note, I couldn't put this book down--it was so good when I was reading it. This never happens to me, but 3.5 stars for this one!

*This book was provided by the publisher for review.