Book Review: The Sound by Sarah Alderson.

Book: The Sound
Author: Sarah Alderson
File Type: Hardcover
Release Date: August 1, 2013
Publisher: Simon and Schuster UK
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

synopsis:When aspiring music journalist Ren Kingston takes a job nannying for a wealthy family on the exclusive island of Nantucket, playground for Boston's elite, she's hoping for a low-key summer reading books and blogging about bands. Boys are firmly off the agenda.

What she doesn't count on is falling in with a bunch of party-loving private school kids who are hiding some dark secrets, falling (possibly) in love with the local bad boy, and falling out with a dangerous serial killer...



IS a thrilling book, thrilling if fails to thrill you?

The Sound by Sarah Alderson, is supposed to be a romance-thriller and as far as I know, when it comes to romance, the ball is in Ms. Alderson's court... as for the thrill factor, not so much.

The Sound introduces us to Ren Kingston, a seventeen year old English girl who's on her way to Nantucket for a nanny job. Ren's plan of action? Lie low and enjoy. But her plan of action doesn't really work the way she initially intended it to work. Ren is introduced to a cliched summer of hot, beautiful boys who love to party and break hearts and a bad boy from the other side, who serves as a competition to the previously mentioned hot boys. So, Ren's summer is off to an interesting start. Do you wish to make the story more interesting? Enters the infamous character of a serial killer who likes to eat Nannies for dinner or lunch or breakfast or anything that suits his time. Our serial killer is sort of a rockstar. He likes them foreign and he's out there to get Ren..and then eat her. If this isn't enough for you, then wait for it, EVERYBODY HAS SECRETS and of course, Ren is the perfect candidate to unravel said secrets. OH YEAH.

When you're about to start The Sound, make sure that you go into it with zero expectations. I'm a romance addict and after reading so much, I've come to realize that fantasy, whether it be urban or paranormal, seems to be just my thing, Fantasy is closely followed by contemporary novels and then dystopian and then science fiction and then..well it just goes on. What I'm trying to say, is that it's because I'm more of romantic that I was able to tolerate the non-thrillyness and non-other-element-ness in the book and I think, that's precisely why, I liked The Sound more than I actually thought I would.

You have to understand, if I were a person who loved mystery and adrenaline then this book would've been a downer for me. And now that we've established that I ignored the absence of thrill, it's safe to say that I atleast noticed that it didn't exist. Which again isn't a good sign, is it?

Alderson's writing style is very simple and clean and I love it. The Lila series is one of my favourites and I can only imagine how empty my life would be if Alex Wakemen never existed. Seriously, my life would've been a dull void of emptiness. I thank god everyday for Ms. Alderson's existence and for her beautiful author-mind that created Alex. *dies*

Anyway, like I said earlier, the writing is very simple and it's simplicity is what helps make the main protagonist sound more real and alive and entertaining. The romance is always subtle but no too subtle. It's there and it's sweet and it's tangy and it's all that the book needs. Alderson's writing works for this book and the romance (and Jesse. YUM.) is the ONLY thing that made this book what it is. I'm not sure how I feel about Ren as the protagonist. The first half felt very bland and slow to me and Ren's narration wasn't really helping it.

It was the second half of the book that redeemed the book for me. It was fun, fast, entertaining and exciting as heck. I'll give this to Alderson: she knows how to write those final-showdown scenes. So much adrenaline. So much anticipation. WOW.

Jesse Miller (the bad boy. *wink wink*) has made his mark. There's this one part where Ren describes Jesse as the mixture of Daimen from Vampire Diaries and Alex Fuentes of Perfect Chemistry. DO YOU SEE WHAT SHE DID THERE?
She used the Alex card on me. She USED the ALEX card on me. She USED the ALEX card on me.
Jesse Miller is perfection. He's intense, broody and oh so delicious. Listen, if not for the romance, read this book for the guy. Please. He's amazing and wonderful and he plays a guitar and his voice is beautiful and he can paint and he can land a solid punch or two. Also,did I tell you about his holy hotness's shirtlessness? OMG.

As I end, all I can say is that even though this book lacks the thrill of a thriller, it's romance and entertaining nature makes up for most of it. Do I recommend you to read it? Yes, definitely. But, I will ask you to proceed with caution. Ciao!