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emmasbookishself's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
A suburban drama at its finest!
What’s said and done behind closed doors isn’t just your secret when you live in a closely housed community.
It all starts with a fabulous party hosted by Whitney Loverly and her husband Jacob! The guest list includes a few neighbours like Blair and Aiden, Ben and Rebecca, Mara, other moms and many acquaintances.
The party becomes a standstill when Whitney is overheard screaming atrocities at her son, Xavier. Her non so perfect life is revealed in a startling way.
Nine month later and Xavier is found outside her bedroom window, as if he’d fallen out.
Was it an accident? Could Whitney’s rage have gotten the better of her this time?
It’s natural with any trauma that the family and those close to the family will be asked questions to ensure it was an accident. In a small closely housed community things will have been seen and heard, outside of the outburst that happened at the party… will anyone share what they’ve seen or heard?
Blair is having difficulties of her own, her marriage isn’t great, her daughter Chloe is devastated about Xavier and she’s convincing herself that her husband is cheating on her with none other than Whitney.
Rebecca and Ben have been trying desperately for a baby, and has suffered many miscarriages. Rebecca works at the hospital that Xavier was taken to and has kept a close eye on his case. She also knows about that night at the party… should she bring it up?
She’s keeping a secret of her own right now, after Ben stating he was done trying for a baby. Around that time Ben started visiting Xavier, playing softball but keeping it from Rebecca.
Mara lives right next door to the Loverly family and Xavier reminds her so much of her own son, with all his peculiar behaviours. They spend time together that’s peaceful and understanding. She gifts him with an old airplane that was once her sons, which Xavier treasures.
Blair, Whitney, Rebecca and Mara are all neighbours but for the most part that’s the main tie to their relationships. Whitney and Blair are closer but Blair tends to keep her secrets close.
With heavy character narrative the events surrounding Xavier’s accident are told in a week long timeline with some chapters from the past describing bits of the women’s lives that help the reader understand why they’ve become the way they are.
Intense. Distressing. Character Driven.
What’s said and done behind closed doors isn’t just your secret when you live in a closely housed community.
It all starts with a fabulous party hosted by Whitney Loverly and her husband Jacob! The guest list includes a few neighbours like Blair and Aiden, Ben and Rebecca, Mara, other moms and many acquaintances.
The party becomes a standstill when Whitney is overheard screaming atrocities at her son, Xavier. Her non so perfect life is revealed in a startling way.
Nine month later and Xavier is found outside her bedroom window, as if he’d fallen out.
Was it an accident? Could Whitney’s rage have gotten the better of her this time?
It’s natural with any trauma that the family and those close to the family will be asked questions to ensure it was an accident. In a small closely housed community things will have been seen and heard, outside of the outburst that happened at the party… will anyone share what they’ve seen or heard?
Blair is having difficulties of her own, her marriage isn’t great, her daughter Chloe is devastated about Xavier and she’s convincing herself that her husband is cheating on her with none other than Whitney.
Rebecca and Ben have been trying desperately for a baby, and has suffered many miscarriages. Rebecca works at the hospital that Xavier was taken to and has kept a close eye on his case. She also knows about that night at the party… should she bring it up?
She’s keeping a secret of her own right now, after Ben stating he was done trying for a baby. Around that time Ben started visiting Xavier, playing softball but keeping it from Rebecca.
Mara lives right next door to the Loverly family and Xavier reminds her so much of her own son, with all his peculiar behaviours. They spend time together that’s peaceful and understanding. She gifts him with an old airplane that was once her sons, which Xavier treasures.
Blair, Whitney, Rebecca and Mara are all neighbours but for the most part that’s the main tie to their relationships. Whitney and Blair are closer but Blair tends to keep her secrets close.
With heavy character narrative the events surrounding Xavier’s accident are told in a week long timeline with some chapters from the past describing bits of the women’s lives that help the reader understand why they’ve become the way they are.
Intense. Distressing. Character Driven.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Medical content, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Self harm
booksbytheglass's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
oooooo boy! this neighborhood has endless secrets, betrayals, and mysteries - and I was here for EVERY single second of it!
following four different ladies of the neighborhood after one of their sons falls out a window, everyone is on edge with their own opinions 😅 and it’s exactly the messy drama I signed up for!!!
I have to preface by saying that there are a TON of trigger warnings for this one (which I’ll post at the end of this review), and while I’m all about petty drama, this one was definitely heavy. if you’re looking for a happy ending, you’ve come to the wrong place.
while it took me a minute to get everyone’s names down, I did appreciate how they all felt different from each other with similar demographics and lifestyles. I would have liked to see more BIPOC characters instead of the standard white rich neighborhood always featured in these type of novels - I feel like, in addition to the welcome diversity, it would have added more layers to the plot itself.
ashley’s writing style is so beautiful, and I feel so enthralled every time I pick up one of her novels. the dialogue is at a minimal, which normally isn’t my cup of tea, but it was written so similar to prose that it flowed so well!!!!
thank you to penguin random house and ashley audrain for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!
rating: 4 stars
wine pairing: stags leap cabernet sauvignon
following four different ladies of the neighborhood after one of their sons falls out a window, everyone is on edge with their own opinions 😅 and it’s exactly the messy drama I signed up for!!!
I have to preface by saying that there are a TON of trigger warnings for this one (which I’ll post at the end of this review), and while I’m all about petty drama, this one was definitely heavy. if you’re looking for a happy ending, you’ve come to the wrong place.
while it took me a minute to get everyone’s names down, I did appreciate how they all felt different from each other with similar demographics and lifestyles. I would have liked to see more BIPOC characters instead of the standard white rich neighborhood always featured in these type of novels - I feel like, in addition to the welcome diversity, it would have added more layers to the plot itself.
ashley’s writing style is so beautiful, and I feel so enthralled every time I pick up one of her novels. the dialogue is at a minimal, which normally isn’t my cup of tea, but it was written so similar to prose that it flowed so well!!!!
thank you to penguin random house and ashley audrain for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!
rating: 4 stars
wine pairing: stags leap cabernet sauvignon
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Infertility, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Infidelity and Injury/Injury detail
pomoevareads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Ashley Audrain is quickly becoming the expert of great endings! The Whispers, like The Push, had one of these and I wanted to speed through my reading to see how it all ended. Very satisfying!
After pre-teen Xavier falls from his bedroom window late at night, his mother Whitney sits by his bedside steadily as he is in a coma. Whitney and her husband Jacob are close with the other neighbours and in this story we meet each set of neighbours and discover they each have their own issues. Questions are raised about how a young boy falls out a third storey window in the middle of the night when he should be sleeping.
I loved the older neighbour Mara who came from Portugal with her husband years ago and had a son with some developmental disabilities that her husband didn’t manage well. She was a quiet character with a heartbreaking story.
Audrain has written a good mix of likeable but mostly unlikeable characters. Hints at the individual storylines were dropped effortlessly into the bigger story and created tension.
I did find it a little bit tricky to keep the three women’s husbands separate in my mind and often referred to my notes. The men weren’t of importance in this story and I think that is why the author didn’t build their characters.
Overall, I really enjoyed this one and look forward to whatever Ashley Audrain writes next.
Thank you to @netgalley and @penguinrandomca for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinions. The Whispers comes out June 6, 2023.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage and Infidelity
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, and Medical trauma
Minor: Bullying
loribeth1961's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I am not sure what possessed me to request an advance reader copy (ARC) of "The Whispers" by Ashley Audrain from NetGalley when an email offer popped into my inbox. I have, but have not read, her first novel, "The Push," which made a huge splash when it was published a year or two ago (and the author is Canadian). I do like a good thriller now & then, but this one promised (in the words of one reviewer) "A beautifully written hymn to the pain, love and fury of motherhood." Hmmm... As a non-mother (not by choice), I was wary... but I decided I'd try to keep an open mind.
Nevertheless, there was a LOT in this book that hit just a little too uncomfortably close to home.
The story focuses on four very different women, neighbours on the same rapidly gentrifying street, their relationships to motherhood, and to each other -- all of them with their own particular flaws and carefully guarded secrets. There's affluent professional couple Whitney and Jacob and their three children. There's uber-stay-at-home mom of one, Blair, who is obsessed (creepily so, at times) with Whitney and her life, so different from her own -- and obsessed with the suspicion that her husband Aiden is having an affair.
There's a childless couple: kid-magnet Ben and Rebecca, who is a trauma physician in a hospital emergency room. Needless to say, she's the character I identified with the most -- even as I cringed over the sometimes stereotypical way she was portrayed. (Although undoubtedly some moms reading this book will cringe over Blair & Whitney in much the same way...!) Audrain must have personal experience with infertility and pregnancy loss (or is very close to someone who has), because she hits every note here. (Graphic descriptions of pregnancy loss are included.)
Finally, there's elderly Mara, a longtime resident of the street, who knows and understands more than most people think -- and who has been keeping a few secrets of her own.
The plot shifts back & forth in time. It begins with a backyard birthday party, where Whitney loses her temper in a confrontation with her 10-year-old son, Xavier -- and not for the first time. Months later, the boy is in the hospital, fighting for his life. Little by little, as the tension builds, and there's one revelation after another, we learn the truth of what happened...
This is a very readable book -- but also very disturbing -- nasty in parts. Lots of secrets and lies. There are triggers galore, depending on your own personal situation and tolerance level -- including (but not limited to) infertility, pregnancy loss, children in peril, child loss, abuse, jealousy, sex, infidelity, betrayal, death, mothers vs non-mothers,. Consider yourselves forewarned!
I had a hard time figuring out how to rate this one. I settled on 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 on Goodreads. I had problems with the plot and disliked many (most?) of the very flawed characters. There were still a few plot points left ambiguously hanging at the end.
But it sure kept me turning the pages.
Publication date: June 6th.
Thank you to NetGalley (and the publisher) for my free copy in exchange for a review. This was my first experience with NetGalley and ARCs. Once I got some technical kinks worked out and was able to access and start reading the book, I enjoyed the experience, even if I had some reservations about this particular book.
Nevertheless, there was a LOT in this book that hit just a little too uncomfortably close to home.
The story focuses on four very different women, neighbours on the same rapidly gentrifying street, their relationships to motherhood, and to each other -- all of them with their own particular flaws and carefully guarded secrets. There's affluent professional couple Whitney and Jacob and their three children. There's uber-stay-at-home mom of one, Blair, who is obsessed (creepily so, at times) with Whitney and her life, so different from her own -- and obsessed with the suspicion that her husband Aiden is having an affair.
There's a childless couple: kid-magnet Ben and Rebecca, who is a trauma physician in a hospital emergency room. Needless to say, she's the character I identified with the most -- even as I cringed over the sometimes stereotypical way she was portrayed. (Although undoubtedly some moms reading this book will cringe over Blair & Whitney in much the same way...!) Audrain must have personal experience with infertility and pregnancy loss (or is very close to someone who has), because she hits every note here. (Graphic descriptions of pregnancy loss are included.)
Finally, there's elderly Mara, a longtime resident of the street, who knows and understands more than most people think -- and who has been keeping a few secrets of her own.
The plot shifts back & forth in time. It begins with a backyard birthday party, where Whitney loses her temper in a confrontation with her 10-year-old son, Xavier -- and not for the first time. Months later, the boy is in the hospital, fighting for his life. Little by little, as the tension builds, and there's one revelation after another, we learn the truth of what happened...
This is a very readable book -- but also very disturbing -- nasty in parts. Lots of secrets and lies. There are triggers galore, depending on your own personal situation and tolerance level -- including (but not limited to) infertility, pregnancy loss, children in peril, child loss, abuse, jealousy, sex, infidelity, betrayal, death, mothers vs non-mothers,. Consider yourselves forewarned!
I had a hard time figuring out how to rate this one. I settled on 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 on Goodreads. I had problems with the plot and disliked many (most?) of the very flawed characters. There were still a few plot points left ambiguously hanging at the end.
But it sure kept me turning the pages.
Publication date: June 6th.
Thank you to NetGalley (and the publisher) for my free copy in exchange for a review. This was my first experience with NetGalley and ARCs. Once I got some technical kinks worked out and was able to access and start reading the book, I enjoyed the experience, even if I had some reservations about this particular book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Sexual content, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death and Death
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