I love thé characters especially the dynamic between Maya and Beau. I love how healthy and sweet their relationship is, and it’s just so ahhhh. Her relationship with her brother is also so cute and wholesome. I read this book so quickly. I couldn’t stop reading. I also love the representation and how the author writes what they are signing in proper ASL grammar. It added realism and was a great touch. Overall such a sweet book and beautifully written characters as well.

I love the idea of this book, and think it’s great to see more underrepresented groups in YA getting more representation, but honestly from an enjoyment perspective this book was okay. I think the conflict and idea of the separation of the deaf and hearing worlds is great, but the actual writing and plot was boring, with no real stakes or tension. Anytime something went wrong, instead of having the characters reflect and grow more from that challenge, it seemed to me like it was just a bunch of scenarios that gave the opportunity for the author to talk about the deaf community without any growth for the actual characters of the story. While that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as I did learn a lot about ASL and the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, it wasn’t very engaging as a plot, especially since none of the characters changed or grew much from beginning to end. Overall, not a bad book, certainly an important topic, but basic nevertheless.