Signs of Attraction

by Laura Brown

• ISBN10: 0062495577
• ISBN13: 9780062495570
• Publish Date: 14 June 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

Signs of Attraction was sweet, sexy, heart breaking, and eye opening. Carli has hearing loss, but she keeps it a secret. She hides her hearing aids under her hair and never uses any other accommodations. At least until she starts a class where she can't understand her professor at all, and then her hearing aid dies during class and she doesn't have any more batteries. Enter, Reed. He's a Deaf student in her class, and he comes to her rescue. Not only does he keep spare batteries for the kids he teaches, but he tells her about campus resources that could mean the difference between her passing and failing this class. And he's super hot.

Signs of Attraction was great! I loved how Carli and Reed's romance started out as him just trying to help her pass her class, and then introducing her to more Deaf people. He also shows her ways to make her everyday life much easier, as she's never used anything other than her hearing aids thanks to her family being super awful. He basically opens her up to a whole new world, and now Carli is able to truly be herself without hiding or being ashamed.

It's not all sunshine, rainbows, and making out though. Signs of Attraction does get dark once we start learning more about Carli's and Reed's families. For Reed, he's adopted and just received a letter from his birth father, but he's afraid to read it. He's also still struggling with the fact that his dad killed himself and hadn't let anyone know that he was struggling. As for Carli's family, they made her ashamed of being hard of hearing. She never sought help for anything, and she's been plagued with constant headaches which she's been self medicating for. I kind of figured out what was going on with her and her family, but I was still shocked when the whole truth came out. How in the world could someone do that to their child!?

There was one thing that really bothered me about Signs of Attraction. There's one scene where Reed has sex with Carli while she's super drunk. He's trying to put her to bed, but then things go from there. She does consent, in that she wants him, but it was still unsettling for me. Especially, given something we learn about Reed's past relationship. Additionally, there's another scene where Reed is helping to take care of Carli when she's having a particularly bad health day, and again, has sex with her. There's nothing blatantly wrong with these scenes, but they just didn't sit right with me.

Other than that, I adored Signs of Attraction. Carli and Reed are both great characters and I was invested in both of their individual stories as well as their romance. I also feel like I learned quite a bit about Deafness and the Deaf community. I had only know a little bit from the ASL class I took in college, but it was different getting to see day to day life.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Nadz@Totally Addicted to Reading]

When you can’t communicate with the world at large, you hold on to the ones you can communicate with a little bit longer.

When I was asked to read and review this title, I was a bit skeptical as the author was new to me. However, when I read the blurb, I was intrigued and so I decided to give it a chance. I am so happy I did. I found Silent Attraction to be a unique, fascinating, uplifting and heartwarming read. 
I figured based on the blurb that the story was going to take me on an emotional ride and I was not disappointed. From the moment I began reading, I fell I love with this book.  It was refreshing to read a story where both characters have a disability and the same one at that. Carli is hard of hearing while Reed is completely deaf.

Carli Reynolds is a college student who has been living with hearing loss most of her life. She wore hearing aids; however, she makes every effort to keep them hidden as she was self-conscious.  She has managed to keep her hearing loss hidden from those she came in contact with for some time now.  However, the secret she has kept for so long would be revealed in what she considered to be the most embarrassing moment of her life.

Reed, a graduate student, and a teacher was born deaf. He was adopted at the age three by a wonderful couple. He was raised in a loving and stable home. This helped to shape him into the man he was today. Reid was a sweet and caring guy as such, it was a natural instinct for him to come to Cali’s aid when he saw she was having difficulty understanding their linguistics professor.

The attraction between Carli and Reed was instantaneous. Nevertheless, they were afraid to get close to each other.  Reed’s fear was as a result of the hurt he experienced at the hands of his ex. Carli’s fear stemmed from what she was led to believe all her life, that she was damaged and not capable of love or being loved. 
 

"Ouch. Well, I shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, I was damaged goods. At least, Dad always told me so.”

"What a stupid girly thing to type. Though I saw through my own words to the depressing truth. Sooner or later I’d damage our relationship. I wasn’t destined to be loved.”

I was inspired by Carli’s and Reed’s journey of joy, pain, loss, triumphs, and love.  However, I was most impressed with Carli. She was not as fortunate as Reed to grow up in a loving environment. This has haunted her all her life and it has now come full circle. She realised that until she accepts that she is capable of great things in spite of what she has suffered she would never be free to be a woman capable of love and being loved.  I cheered enthusiastically when she gathered the courage to face her worst fear in spite of the danger she faced.

This was a riveting read. The story did not move quickly you may even consider the pacing to be slow, but it was not boring. It was not an easy book to put down. Carli and Reed were with me at all times, even when I was unable to take up my kindle.
 
The story allowed me to see the world through the eyes of the hearing impaired.  Their lives are no different from that of a hearing person. The only difference is the silence that surrounds them.  Silent Attraction reveals how easy it is for one’s life to spiral out of control after experiencing destructive life changes. The story tackled heavy issues such as suicide, depression, and abuse.  I thought the author adequately handled each of these issues.

Verdict: 
This was a sweet, inspiring and romantic read which I wholeheartedly recommend to fans of romance.

Copy provided by the publisher via Edelweiss