Sloane Kennedy - Locked in Silence

Ten years after leaving his small Minnesota hometown in his rearview mirror for what Nolan Grainger was sure would be the last time, life has decided to throw the talented musician a curveball and send him back to the town he lived in but was never really home.
At twenty-eight, Nolan has traveled the world as a successful concert violinist with some of the best symphonies in the country. But success breeds envy, and when Nolan’s benefactor and lover decides Nolan has flown high enough, he cruelly clips Nolan’s wings. The betrayal and ensuing scandal leaves the violinist’s career in shambles and with barely enough money to start fresh somewhere beyond his vindictive ex’s powerful reach. But just as he’s ready to get his life back on track, Nolan gets the call he’s been dreading.
Pelican Bay’s golden boy, Dallas Kent, had the quintessential perfect life. Smart, gorgeous, and popular, the baseball phenom was well on his way to a life filled with fame and fortune. But more importantly, he had a one-way ticket out of Pelican Bay and far away from the family who used love as currency and whose high expectations were the law of the land. But a stormy night, sharp highway curve and one bad decision changed everything, leaving Dallas with nothing. Dallas’s silence was supposed to send Nolan scurrying, but what if Nolan ends up being the one person who finally hears him?
Will two men who’ve been fleeing from the past finally come home to Pelican Bay for good or will the silence drive them apart forever?

Comment: I got interested in this book because the blurb made it seem one of the characters would have some sort of disability and I often like to see how authors write romances when one of the characters might not be deemed "normal".

In this story we meet Nolan Grainger, who is back to his hometown in Minnesota to help take care of his father who had a stroke. His relationship with his parents wasn't very warm and his interest in music and "nerdier" subjects made him an outcast in school and he felt great when he finally went away. Now he's back, down on his luck after some sort of scandal, and to make it even more humiliating, in his POV, the only job he can find is with Dallas Kent, his former crush.

Dallas was with his parents when they had an accident, and his mother died. Dallas lost his voice and everyone blamed him for what happened but he decided to move on and is now part owner, part caretaker of an animal center. He has always liked Nolan but never had the courage to defend him but now is his chance to help and, perhaps, something more might happen between them.

The problem is that not everyone likes this situation and following some unfair accusations, they have to present an united front to defend what they believe...

It's true this was an interesting story to follow, if not really surprising. I liked the overall flow and the writing but I must say that once things started to reach the end, many sudden situations were introduced and the plot started to feel very busy and too many things were happening. I see that it's likely the set up for the next installments, or to set up some elements in those stories, but it still made this story feel cluttered.

The premise is very simple, Nolan returns to a place he isn't fond of to help his parents. Although they have never been caring or emotionally supportive, he feels he needs to help but he is coming back after leaving a scandal behind - which we only learn what was later on - and the financial difficulties force him to find a job. The only choice ends up being helping Dallas at the animal center he manages and this, of course, forces them to interact and finally admit their feelings.

I liked Nolan for the most part but it did seem as if there is a huge focus on his vulnerability, and I could certainly sympathize with some of the things he went through, but it still felt as if he was a bit too susceptible and I wanted him to be shown as becoming stronger or more confident. I suppose this does happen but not in a way I'd feel was very organic. His relationship with Dallas is also a bit too simple once they realize they like each other... I kind of wanted more tension or genuine development in their feelings so that the romance would feel solid.

Of course I say this because since we have the POV of both, in alternate chapters, we know Dallas is attracted to Nolan too and has always more or less been since they were teenagers. I can accept this notion, despite the surroundings of their past lives and the current situation but to be fair, apart from the obvious, I struggled to see the evolution of the romance as something inevitable. The author wrote things in such a way that this is where the story goes, but it would have made for a much better romance, in my opinion, if their relationship had been more about slowly learning they liked one another instead of just acknowledging past attraction.

The disability content is related to Dallas, for he lost his voice after the accident. This event provides more detail to the whole story than what we would think and it did offer good content to develop Dallas' character. I liked him as a protagonist more than Nolan, somehow his characterization appealed more to me than Nolan's, even though I'd identify more with Nolan, personality wise. Weird to think of and hard to explain!

I especially liked the idea of the animal center and the help they gave the animals. I also liked we have some scenes with Nolan doing the cleaning and how hard that was physically, it was a nice way to help me see what jobs the maintenance of the center required and how much importance the place had in the story. I suppose, too, with the blurbs of the next installments suggest, that the center will remain as the focus of action in the future too.

As I've said, the more dramatic situations happen closer to the end and while this did feel as too much too quickly, it did present interesting characters and possibilities and a few elements make me curious about what might happen with some of those characters, so I'll likely read the next one, at least.

Grade: 7/10