thatswhatshanread's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-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
5.0
You know what, maybe love is in the air. Because when I tell you that I inhaled this book, I mean I was on another plane of being. MY EMOTIONS!!!! I knew this was a love story, but God did I underestimate how much love would be packed into this story and how much it would affect me. Is it possible to feel loved by a book??
“Archer’s Voice” is a powerful, beautiful love story about trust, acceptance, and complex communication. I really liked how Mia Sheridan handled Archer’s ability to communicate without his voice. It struck a very strong note in me, as I work with many nonverbal individuals and know firsthand how much you don’t know until you learn to communicate using their language.
Because communication is not exclusively vocal. We all know body language makes up a good part of it, but words can also be shown in many different ways. Voice isn’t reserved just for sound that comes out of your mouth, that is spoken. Sometimes voice is sign language (featured in this book) or through a communication device or through writing on paper, reading lips, etc. Whichever it may be, that is your voice. And our sweet, incredibly misunderstood Archer’s voice shouldn’t have been so different from everyone in Pelion, Maine. If only they’d taken the time to listen with more than their ears and preconceived prejudices.
Until Bree shows up, and everything changes for Archer. I fell headfirst into Archer and Bree’s tender, tentative love—how much they trusted each other and believed in one another, despite each of their own past trauma and current obstacles. It was first love and it never read so real to me. When love is right, it’s bigger than anything. (Note: LOTS AND LOTS OF SPICE in case you were wondering!)
I already wish I could read this again for the first time. LOVE is, in fact, the reason.
“Archer’s Voice” is a powerful, beautiful love story about trust, acceptance, and complex communication. I really liked how Mia Sheridan handled Archer’s ability to communicate without his voice. It struck a very strong note in me, as I work with many nonverbal individuals and know firsthand how much you don’t know until you learn to communicate using their language.
Because communication is not exclusively vocal. We all know body language makes up a good part of it, but words can also be shown in many different ways. Voice isn’t reserved just for sound that comes out of your mouth, that is spoken. Sometimes voice is sign language (featured in this book) or through a communication device or through writing on paper, reading lips, etc. Whichever it may be, that is your voice. And our sweet, incredibly misunderstood Archer’s voice shouldn’t have been so different from everyone in Pelion, Maine. If only they’d taken the time to listen with more than their ears and preconceived prejudices.
Until Bree shows up, and everything changes for Archer. I fell headfirst into Archer and Bree’s tender, tentative love—how much they trusted each other and believed in one another, despite each of their own past trauma and current obstacles. It was first love and it never read so real to me. When love is right, it’s bigger than anything. (Note: LOTS AND LOTS OF SPICE in case you were wondering!)
I already wish I could read this again for the first time. LOVE is, in fact, the reason.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexual assault, Ableism, Injury/injury detail, Physical abuse, Bullying, Car accident, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Alcohol, Grief, Alcoholism, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Child abuse
Moderate: Sexual violence, Addiction, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug use, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Gore and Vomit
hapalyn's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Death of parent, and Grief
Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, Drug use, Drug abuse, Injury/injury detail, Car accident, Child abuse, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content
Minor: Vomit and Pregnancy
gurbirparmar's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book had me hooked and I just have no words honestly to describe it. It was just so beautiful. There were certain dynamics I would have wished had been explored but just wow. Ch. 35 though or at least the beginning was just criminal.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Child abuse
Minor: Addiction and Rape
kajasversion's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
sad
tense
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
4.0
I really liked the book and it broke my heart many times. The only reason i didn’t give ita hugher rating is because i felt all those sex scene were really unnecessary and made me a bit uncomfortable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/injury detail, Rape, Violence, and Sexual content
Moderate: Child abuse and Domestic abuse
abesreading's review
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual assault, Ableism, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders
readingwithmeredith's review
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
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
5.0
🐚 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖 🐚
𝗧𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝘀: small town, friends to lovers, disabled hero (muted), grumpy x sunshine
𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀: 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.
𝗧𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝘀: small town, friends to lovers, disabled hero (muted), grumpy x sunshine
𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀: 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
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
cozybec's review
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