Elisa Freilich

Couldn't finish. Didn't start out too badly, pretty interesting, until the lyrics, poetry and insta love started. I'm not a lyrical poetry fan and the poetry was annoying. The main character started getting on my nerves. My knowledge of greek myths is limited, so I googled Sirens and did a little research. While I'm all for creative licensing - I hated the siren story in this. While I love to see characters using modern devices, iphones, etc the over use of Apple products was ridiculous.

I gave up at 36% can't read anymore.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC, but this one was not for me.… (altro)

God’s that text? Mythological beings getting played by autocorrect? Dionysus with a MacBook?

Does all that get your nerdy blood flowing?

Then you’ve come to the right place.

I, for one, love Greek Mythology. It’s something that is completely interesting to me and I’ve always wished was real. (And it may be. Who am I to doubt Zeus?)

The fables have kept my dreams alive since I was a little girl, and is something that has followed me into adulthood. (If an adult is considered a 21 year old that chooses Adventure Time over CSI, then yes, I am an adult.)

There have been many variations all over the literary world, but this book is one that includes my favorites. Dionysus. (Recently, I saw a rendition of “The Frogs” at my local college and completely fell in love with him. And Pluto, but he’s another story.) There is a touch of all the greats in Silent Echo, and that is probably what makes this book great.

Portia, Felix, Charlotte, Max, and even dear Jacqueline are all well rounded characters. For a while, I thought this was just another contemporary, but then the supernatural undertones sprouted and took me on a grand adventure. (Although, this could have just been about a weird love triangle story, and I would have still loved it. There’s something about the writing that is…intoxicating. Mrs. Freilich, are you a Siren!?)
The writing is truly beautiful and I LOVED the songs and poems thrown throughout. Very clever indeed.

I’m assuming (hoping. praying) there will be another. That ending was like a shock to my system and I MUST know what will happen. (With Felix!)

Filled with constant surprises and uncanny revelations, Silent Echo: A Siren's Tale is a great read for anyone looking to get away from life. And delve into the mythological.… (altro)

My Rating – 2 3/4 Stars

I received a free digital copy of this novel from Netgalley on behalf of Diversion Books in exchange for a fair review.

Portia Griffin can’t speak. She has never been able to speak though doctors can’t figure out why. She has been able to lead a pretty normal life, despite her disability; she has loving parents and an amazing best friend, Felix (Actually, she’s pretty perfect in every way except the no voice thing). She is completely obsessed with music and Apple (Apple as in Steve Jobs) and Harry Potter.

The start of her sophomore year things start to change. There is a strange and painful tightening in her throat, an ache in her back, and sudden mood swings.

She also meets Max Hunter, a gorgeous musical prodigy new to her school and of course immediately interested in Portia. He writes her (bad, very bad) songs and they have a bit of an insta-love story (even though she occasionally dreams about murdering him). Poor Felix is friendzoned (in the very sense of the word. He’s a bit of a dick). It’s very clear from their first interaction that he is totally head over heels in love with Portia and her complete blindness to it is downright annoying.

Every time she starts to feel one of these attacks coming on, she visits the school nurse Ms. Leucosia, who gives her cryptic messages about how she’ll always be there for Portia whenever she needs her.

One day during the bus ride home, Portia is hit with one of these attacks and she is so terrified she hops off the bus and runs to her neighbor and former friend Charlotte’s house. She hears yelling and barges in to find Charlotte’s stepfather beating Charlotte’s mom. Portia suddenly understands why Charlotte became so distant and she is so overcome with emotion she begins to sing.

Her voice is the most beautiful sound in the world and also hypnotic, she convinces the step-dad to jump down a well (He survives unfortunately). Portia is so confused by her new voice and the incident at Charlotte’s house that for weeks she hides the fact that she can finally speak.

Finally one night at a club where Max is performing, a fight breaks out between Max and Felix and Portia is convinced that the only way to stop the fight is to sing. Everyone is transfixed, except Felix, because he can’t hear her.

Ms. Leucosia comes to the rescue and reveals that Portia is a Siren. A mythical being with a beautiful voice and special powers. Leucosia is one of the Sirens from the Odyssey and that her two sisters are evil and are plotting to pull Portia to the dark side. The dark side includes killing men for fun and eating them (which explains the dreams about Max). Portia must decide if she is going to use her powers for good or evil.

I wanted to like this book, it has to do with Mythology after all, but it fell flat. Really flat. Mostly because of the poetry and song lyrics. They were terrible. And cheesy. Portia even raps at one point. The overall writing was too…flowery. Portia describes Max’s voice as chocolate wrapped in sandpaper (what?!).

I didn’t like Felix, like at all. He was getting mad at Portia for not realizing he loved her, for dating another guy even though he was dating another girl, and for not loving him. He was a douche.

Also the insta-live and the triangle bothered me. The random pop culture references seemed strange and forced. What kind of teenage girl uses “stevejobs” as her password? Portia compares herself to Bella. She uses the term “RPatz”. Also Leucosia is supposed to be her mentor and guide her through this transition and she does nothing to actually help Portia. She comes off as useless to me.

And authors, can we stop with this – “If we don’t stop now, I won’t be able to stop later.” That translates to “If we don’t stop fooling around before I get too horny, I’m going to rape you later.” It’s not hot, it’s creepy.

This book just didn’t do it for me.

Read this review and more at Punk's House of Books and FicCentral… (altro)