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readingwithmeredith's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief
Moderate: Medical content, Cursing, Death of parent, and Death
darknesslighttt's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
5.0
π ππππππ π
π§πΏπΌπ½π²π: small town, friends to lovers, disabled hero (muted), grumpy x sunshine
π§πΏπΆπ΄π΄π²πΏπ: death of parent, car accident, domestic abuse, s*xual assault, panick attacks, vomit, grief
I loved this book and now that I've read it I understand why everyone loves Archer!!
Archer is very innocent, kind, brave and struggling with a childhood trauma. He is judged by everyone in the town, they considers him as a violent person or a bad guy. If you expect that by a miracle he will speak at a given moment in the book, this is not the case. You will find out the reason at some point and I'm sure it will break your heart.
Bree is very understanding, caring and who also suffers. She never judged Archer, on the contrary, she was close to him and tried to show the world through her eyes, and helped him develop his self-confidence.
Archer and Bree make such a beautiful couple who have healed each other from their own traumas.
This story is an emotional one that makes you not let it down. It didn't make me cry, but certain scenes definitely broke a small piece of my heart.
π§πΏπΌπ½π²π: small town, friends to lovers, disabled hero (muted), grumpy x sunshine
π§πΏπΆπ΄π΄π²πΏπ: death of parent, car accident, domestic abuse, s*xual assault, panick attacks, vomit, grief
I loved this book and now that I've read it I understand why everyone loves Archer!!
Archer is very innocent, kind, brave and struggling with a childhood trauma. He is judged by everyone in the town, they considers him as a violent person or a bad guy. If you expect that by a miracle he will speak at a given moment in the book, this is not the case. You will find out the reason at some point and I'm sure it will break your heart.
Bree is very understanding, caring and who also suffers. She never judged Archer, on the contrary, she was close to him and tried to show the world through her eyes, and helped him develop his self-confidence.
Archer and Bree make such a beautiful couple who have healed each other from their own traumas.
This story is an emotional one that makes you not let it down. It didn't make me cry, but certain scenes definitely broke a small piece of my heart.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Car accident
alisonclaire13's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Death of parent, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Grief, and Murder
rosalie5's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Car accident, and Death of parent
Minor: Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, and Blood
inkdrinkers's review against another edition
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Don't read this review if you love this book, you will hate my guts.
I just want to preface this review by saying I completely gave this up and DNF'd at 50%, the rest of the book I skimmed and got the general plot and just said screw it to finishing this. I cannot believe people think this is one of the best love stories ever written. Maybe I'm just in the minority here, the reviews would seem to agree with that statement - but this book is bad.
Archer's Voice follows Bree, which after a traumatic experience moves to a small town in Maine that she used to visit in the summers with her parents. It's when she moves to the town that she has a chance meeting with Archer Hale, a local man who seems to be self-isolating and has no friends, though his family owns the town. As Bree and Archer get closer, the mystery of what happened to Archer's parents finally comes to light, exposing the town's murky past.
This book was written in 2014 so I automatically cut it enough slack from the get-go. I'm no stranger to reading books from decades ago, so I (wrongfully) assumed this one wouldn't startle me too much with the content, but when I say it went in with the ableism, it went in. I cannot even begin to describe how freaking uncomfortable I was with Bree's narration surrounding Archer and his inability to speak. Multiple times she refers to him as her "strong silent man" or "mute boy" and every single time he was infantilized I wanted to rip my hair out at the roots and throw my iPad against a wall. Archer was raised by his uncle (who suffered from severe PTSD after being a soldier) in a remote house, was homeschooled, and subsequently we, as the reader, are made to expect he's innocent and doesn't know anything about the world. Each time he was discussed or his POVs came up, I felt nauseous at the way the author chose to make his thoughts so child-like, not understanding sex or these blatantly traumatic situations he was being put in. He also came off as extremely autistic coded, and though it's never mentioned on page (that I saw) this only made me hate the infantilization of his character even more.
The writing in this book is so, unbearably bad, I've read better fan-published works than this from the early 2000s. There were frequent mistakes (in a book nearly a decade old!! Fix the manuscript!) and the kind of flat, bland writing I'd expect from an article about paint drying. Some of the sentences completely pulled me out of this book, in a way that jarred me enough I had to start highlighting them. Bree once thinks, "and of all the bitchy, condescending... bitches! Who were really bitchy!" and my brain short-circuited because, genuinely, who has internal dialogue like this? Let alone the frequent use of cursing on the calibre of middle schoolers?
The characters were laughably one-dimensional. We get some classics in here like the "town jock, who's privileged and a jerk" and the "busy-body old neighbor who drinks tea on her porch." These characters only become a mockery of themselves because of the things they say, like a certain character mentioning that sex in a strip club is alright because his friend, "has been married for almost ten years now, and he still takes advantage of the girls in the back rooms. His wife looks the other way because she benefits from it, too. Get it?" I think I pulled away from the book at that point to stare at the ceiling and question what I was doing with my time.
Lastly, maybe it's on me, maybe I should have paid more attention to the content warnings - but the content in this book made me so painfully uncomfortable. Multiple characters are coerced into sexual situations without fully understanding what's going on - there's attempted rape in the past and a severe, gross mishandling of PTSD after the fact. I cannot in good faith ever recommend this book to a survivor because as one myself, this was so poorly done and mismanaged. I saw quite a few people upset over the way Bree's character handles her flashbacks, which personally, I didn't find an issue with those - it's the "magical cure" for them that had me genuinely angry at this piece of fiction.
I saw the ending coming a thousand miles away and while skimming, it just confirmed to me the plot that was slowly set up the entire first half. Honestly, this book would be 30% it's length without the absolutely cringe-inducing sex scenes and bizzare, Hallmark Mysteries level side-plot it ventured down. I think it broke me and I'm going to go touch some grass and pray I don't remember a single line of this novel in the morning.
Content warnings: on page panic attacks, depictions of PTSD flashbacks, sexual content, car crash description, death of parents, shooting, gun violence, ableism, past attempted rape, mentions of sexual assault, harassment, coercion, and probably more that I'm missing.
I just want to preface this review by saying I completely gave this up and DNF'd at 50%, the rest of the book I skimmed and got the general plot and just said screw it to finishing this. I cannot believe people think this is one of the best love stories ever written. Maybe I'm just in the minority here, the reviews would seem to agree with that statement - but this book is bad.
Archer's Voice follows Bree, which after a traumatic experience moves to a small town in Maine that she used to visit in the summers with her parents. It's when she moves to the town that she has a chance meeting with Archer Hale, a local man who seems to be self-isolating and has no friends, though his family owns the town. As Bree and Archer get closer, the mystery of what happened to Archer's parents finally comes to light, exposing the town's murky past.
This book was written in 2014 so I automatically cut it enough slack from the get-go. I'm no stranger to reading books from decades ago, so I (wrongfully) assumed this one wouldn't startle me too much with the content, but when I say it went in with the ableism, it went in. I cannot even begin to describe how freaking uncomfortable I was with Bree's narration surrounding Archer and his inability to speak. Multiple times she refers to him as her "strong silent man" or "mute boy" and every single time he was infantilized I wanted to rip my hair out at the roots and throw my iPad against a wall. Archer was raised by his uncle (who suffered from severe PTSD after being a soldier) in a remote house, was homeschooled, and subsequently we, as the reader, are made to expect he's innocent and doesn't know anything about the world. Each time he was discussed or his POVs came up, I felt nauseous at the way the author chose to make his thoughts so child-like, not understanding sex or these blatantly traumatic situations he was being put in. He also came off as extremely autistic coded, and though it's never mentioned on page (that I saw) this only made me hate the infantilization of his character even more.
The writing in this book is so, unbearably bad, I've read better fan-published works than this from the early 2000s. There were frequent mistakes (in a book nearly a decade old!! Fix the manuscript!) and the kind of flat, bland writing I'd expect from an article about paint drying. Some of the sentences completely pulled me out of this book, in a way that jarred me enough I had to start highlighting them. Bree once thinks, "and of all the bitchy, condescending... bitches! Who were really bitchy!" and my brain short-circuited because, genuinely, who has internal dialogue like this? Let alone the frequent use of cursing on the calibre of middle schoolers?
The characters were laughably one-dimensional. We get some classics in here like the "town jock, who's privileged and a jerk" and the "busy-body old neighbor who drinks tea on her porch." These characters only become a mockery of themselves because of the things they say, like a certain character mentioning that sex in a strip club is alright because his friend, "has been married for almost ten years now, and he still takes advantage of the girls in the back rooms. His wife looks the other way because she benefits from it, too. Get it?" I think I pulled away from the book at that point to stare at the ceiling and question what I was doing with my time.
Lastly, maybe it's on me, maybe I should have paid more attention to the content warnings - but the content in this book made me so painfully uncomfortable. Multiple characters are coerced into sexual situations without fully understanding what's going on - there's attempted rape in the past and a severe, gross mishandling of PTSD after the fact. I cannot in good faith ever recommend this book to a survivor because as one myself, this was so poorly done and mismanaged. I saw quite a few people upset over the way Bree's character handles her flashbacks, which personally, I didn't find an issue with those - it's the "magical cure" for them that had me genuinely angry at this piece of fiction.
I saw the ending coming a thousand miles away and while skimming, it just confirmed to me the plot that was slowly set up the entire first half. Honestly, this book would be 30% it's length without the absolutely cringe-inducing sex scenes and bizzare, Hallmark Mysteries level side-plot it ventured down. I think it broke me and I'm going to go touch some grass and pray I don't remember a single line of this novel in the morning.
Content warnings: on page panic attacks, depictions of PTSD flashbacks, sexual content, car crash description, death of parents, shooting, gun violence, ableism, past attempted rape, mentions of sexual assault, harassment, coercion, and probably more that I'm missing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Gun violence
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Car accident
suhanimahindru's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
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
5.0
Rating: 5/5
I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS BOOK.
Their love story was so pure and precious. Archer Hale is my favourite contemporary romance book bf now. He is so so so so so precious. I just want to hug him!!! Bree is so sweet and precious!!! UGHHHH I JUST LOVE THESE TWO SO MUCH!! I will protect them with everything I've got. I will not be accepting any criticism against this book.
There was no unnecessary conflict or misunderstanding. Every conflict was reasonable and understandable and was solved in a great way!!! it was very nice and refreshing.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS BOOK.
Their love story was so pure and precious. Archer Hale is my favourite contemporary romance book bf now. He is so so so so so precious. I just want to hug him!!! Bree is so sweet and precious!!! UGHHHH I JUST LOVE THESE TWO SO MUCH!! I will protect them with everything I've got. I will not be accepting any criticism against this book.
There was no unnecessary conflict or misunderstanding. Every conflict was reasonable and understandable and was solved in a great way!!! it was very nice and refreshing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Gun violence, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Murder, Sexual assault, Car accident, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, and Grief
Minor: Abandonment
alzyest's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Car accident, and Panic attacks/disorders
lorenab's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
"Archer's Voice" is an engrossing read that I couldn't put down. It features rich character development and shows how almost all of the characters grow and change for the better. I enjoyed reading about the insecurities of men and how Archer shows his own weaknesses and struggles to accept and love himself for who he is. It was refreshing to see that vulnerabilities are not just a feminine issue, as is often the case in romance books. The book also includes a number of inspiring and reflective quotes that resonated with me. Overall, I consider "Archer's Voice" to be one of my favorite books of the year, particularly because it tackles different themes than many other romance books which made it very interesting to read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Vomit and Car accident
Minor: Drug use, Rape, Addiction, and Drug abuse
robyn_c's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I loved this book so much. It was sad, funny and romantic that left me wanting for more. the main characters both have trauma that they overcome individually and together that is sad but has a happy ending. Really hits you in the feels with its twisted fate, Archer and Bree have good communication despite their challenges and Archer is a complete sweetheart that is definitely worth the read. Would definitely read a sequel of this!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content
gelilasolomon's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Alcoholism, Sexual assault, and Rape