Review: The Silent Waters by Brittainy Cherry

Rating 3/5
angst 3/5
Steam 2.5/5
Trope: brother-s-best-friend, emotional-trauma, friends-to-lovers, level-3-steam, new-adult-romance, read, rock-star-trope, virgin-trope, girl next door,
Series: Elements #3
TW/CW: violence and murder, an assaults, selective mutism,

Review:

This was my first read by the author. I was looking for a deep emotional read and this was recommended to me. 

This book was deeply emotional. There is so insurmountable sadness but also so many moments of hope. 

Maggie is not an easy character to connect with.  It isn’t because of her trauma or her response to the trauma.  I just had a hard time believing that there wasn’t an investigation when she was attacked.  That the body of the woman was not found, and connections not made. If the author had share what had happened in the ending maybe it would have helped cover these complaints but in general, it was not believable.  I am not sure selfish is the right answer but there was a self-survival part of her that comes off as egocentric.

Brooks was overall a great character. He was the ultimate good guy. He cares deeply for those in his life. I do love that books and using that as a way of staying connected to Maggie.  He might have the most caring and loving soul of any character in a book.   Overall, I was rooting and loving him. 

Outside of Maggie I had a couple of story/editing issues.  First of all, around 60% of the book the author changed the spelling of Maggie’s middle name from Mae to May. I know that this book was published in 2016 but bad editing can still make it difficult to enjoy a boy.  There are a couple of inaccuracies that are specific to my knowledge based that made me a bit crazy that also went into my rating. I was also confused why the author did the timeline the way she did going well into the future but

In the end I really enjoyed the book, and I would even recommend it however the subpar editing really bothers me in a finished copy of a book that has been out in the world for a while. I am interested in reading more from the author. I do like her complex characters and deeply emotional storylines.