Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Every Word You Never Said

I love the way Jordon wrote the whole story about this book. This is cute, sweet yet funny. And most of all, we have pansexual rep in this book which I love! Thank you. I read the beginning of this pretty designed book. I love all of the aspects.

This book is somehow heartwarming with a simple high school story thing. I love how the issues captured as the story goes.

Thank you for the beautiful story, Jordon Greene ^^

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stardustandrockets's review

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I had such high hopes for this book. I really did. Unfortunately it fell incredibly short. The whole time I was reading, I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what I didn’t like about it, but after reading lower rated reviews on StoryGraph, I figured it out thanks to people putting into words what I couldn’t.

The plot follows Skylar, a newly adopted nonverbal boy, who likes skirts and wears one to school. This sends the conservative Christians into a spiral because “boys in skirts are against God!” *eyeroll* This prompts a super sexist dress code proposal spearheaded by none other than Jacob’s toxically Christian father. All with the sub plot of romance between Skylar and Jacob. It's also a dual POV in 1st person which I didn’t love, but that’s not the book’s fault. I’m just not entirely a fan of 1st person.

Don’t get me wrong, this book was cute—in an extremely superficial way. The nonverbal rep is good, though you’re trying to tell me that people can lip read literally everything this boy says? When only about 30% of the English language is lip readable? Sounds fake, but okay. The only thing really diverse about this book is Imani, the Black pansexual witch. Though she’s written as the stereotypical Black sidekick which wasn’t great. I did like how Wicca was explained though. It was a nice contrast to the extreme of Christianity. The only other “diverse” characters were Jacob (a white, gay, rocker boy) and Skylar (a white, nonverbal, gay boy who likes wearing skirts). Otherwise there was zero diversity because cis-het white boys is the opposite of diverse. The characters were underdeveloped and all we got was surface level personality. Even the romance wasn’t developed well. It starts out as a love-at-first-sight slow-burn, which I absolutely love. However, everything gets thrown away after Skylar throws a tantrum and then guilt trips Jacob because he can’t read sign language well. So much of the development was off-screen and that was incredibly frustrating. And don’t even get me started on the amount of homophobia.

The toxic Christianity runs strong in this small North Carolina town and gods forbid you’re gay. The first time the f-slur was thrown around I almost rage quit the book. Then it was used again and again and again. Jacob even said something along the lines of “they can’t call me that slur, but I can use it on myself and that’s okay.” And like, I get reclaiming things that were once seen as slurs (i.e. queer), but I draw the line at the f-slur. Their classmates slinging it at them was bad enough. There was also one use of the r-slur by Skylar towards himself and that wasn’t okay either. I get that he’s extremely traumatized from years in bad foster/group homes, but never once did a character on-page ever call him that. So I felt it was extremely uncalled for.

Overall there was a lot more telling than showing and it made for a clunky reading experience. There was supposedly a conversation about sex between love interests that we only find out about because Skylar mentioned it, and there were a lot of random time skips (which is fine, but not when important stuff happens and we find out after the fact). Would I recommend this book? No. It had so much potential and it fell incredibly flat. For me, the only redeeming quality is the cover. Not even the conflict was satisfying because

they failed. Then the decision was overturned after the fact by the NC Supreme Court. So what was the point?

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its_soup's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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roadoutsidemyhouse's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

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pagesofnay's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad 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

4.5

Every Word You Never Said was a fast, lovely, and heartwarming read.

The characters were really the main focus of the book. Skylar is nonverbal, gay, and loves wearing skirts. I absolutely loved Skylar and think he deserves the world. Jacob is gay and his family is very conservative and religious. While these two are the main focus, there are other characters that were absolutely lovely.

However, I did feel like the ending was a little rushed. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing since it was an easy read, but I wished there had been more depth and connection before the ending.

I thought this book was very cute and definitely worth the read. Once I saw the cover and description, I knew I had to read this. The writing was great and had realistic dialogue between teenagers.

Please check the TWs before reading!! Don’t just go into this book blind as it deals with many issues like; homophobia, ableism, bullying, and religious trauma.

Content Warnings

spookieboogie's review against another edition

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challenging sad slow-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

1.5

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tkhenry99's review against another edition

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3.0

The first half was really good and enjoyable, but it really went downhill after that. I have a lot of issues with some of the messages this book sends to teens about relationships. The whole conflict was Skylar massively overreacting and refusing to see reason, which made him really unlikeable in the end. While I understand Skylar had a significant amount of trauma, it made me really uncomfortable that Jacob had to bend over backwards for WEEKS to get Skylar to even consider forgiving him…… when Skylar was in the wrong in the first place. I wish there had been a scene where Jacob and Skylar talk privately instead so the author could better explore the nuances of the characters situations and thoughts. (Also, it made me realize that Skylar has great new adoptive parents that are probably aware of the trauma he’s experienced in foster care, and they DIDNT get him a therapist??? seems unlikely).

I’m also not a fan of the public apology thing. It’s always manipulative and I honestly thought it was kind of out of character for Skylar to appreciate it.

And I’m glad the book is sex positive, but I didn’t really like how that all played out.

I mean, the characters hardly knew each other and Skylar had literally JUST turned 16. Both characters are admittedly completely inexperienced. The conversation they actually have about sex happens completely off page. They wouldn’t even have had condoms if Skylar’s mom hadn’t provided them.

There are better ways to be sex positive and not inadvertently encourage reckless behavior. But like…. at least it had good representation……

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