This was a tough one for me to get through. It’s a very emotional read, and it pulls at your heartstrings as it tackles the very difficult topic of parental sexual abuse. The author also brought to light the challenges of foster care, the burnout of social workers and the struggles of children in the foster care system. Some parts of this book had me near tears. I liked this book, even though parts of it were upsetting. Well done. My thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a superb book. It’s a bit difficult to read, given the content, but I m really glad I read it. The characters are well developed and likable. I was thoroughly engaged in the story the whole time. You should be too. Give yourself time when you start reading this book because once you pick it up and start reading you won’t willingly put it down until you’ve finished the book.

This book is emotionally riveting and like how the event occurred in pieces. This really seemed to be a realistic view of life in the foster care system in some ways. I found the characters in the book to be well written and dynamic, I really felt for the main character that went through many things in a short period of time.

Wow, this book was intense - but in a good way. This was an important story to tell, something that I don’t feel is talked about enough especially in mainstream fiction. I resinated with the story in a way that I’m finding difficult to put into words.

I connected with Victoria almost immediately. There was just something about her that was so intense, believable and intriguing and I couldn’t help falling in love with her. I loved her determination and drive - even after everything she’d been through. I connected with her on a level I’m not sure I ever have with another character. I felt the same pain and mistrustfulness over telling someone as if I was in her body.

The writing was beautiful and it flowed well. I couldn’t stop reading because the writing was so good.

Lastly, I never normally pay much attention to the title of a book - but I thought ‘the quiet you carry’ was perfect for this book. Carrying around such a secret is like a quiet, silent burden that you have to carry around, weighing you down with every step. I’m excited to see what the author writes next!

Really great story of a girl sent from her home by her dad to be forced to move in to Foster care.

A heart breaking reveal of her view that it was just a misunderstanding and she wanted to go home.

Hearing how restricted she was in Foster care and how hard she t tried to look to her new future all whilst still going through the drama of being a new girl in a new school.

A great young adult read

I was lucky enough to receive an advanced eARC copy of The Quiet You Carry by @nikkibarthelmess from NetGalley yesterday and could not put it down for 24 hours until I'd completed it! Absolutely devoured this novel.

What an absolutely wonderfully heart wrenching novel. The themes presented here are difficult ones but are uncomfortable topics that need to be written and voiced. Our youth needs to know that they are not alone if they are experiencing something like this. We see themes of sexual abuse and suicide as well as a closer look at the foster care system and its many unruly and perhaps "inhumane" ways children are treated.

Our protagonist Victoria carries the quiet with her- one that threatens to ruin her entire life if she does not come to terms with her situation. Her notorious foster mother Connie is a seemingly cold hearted woman who cares about no one but herself. Ultimately we see how Victoria is driven to finally come to terms with her reality and face her truth with the world. What, you ask, made her finally decide this?

Love.


Furthermore, Nikki's writing style might be a little different than one is used to- she often jumps from being in Victoria's memory to her present location and then back again to another memory.
Despite this, I did not in anyway find it difficult to follow- in fact I really enjoyed this.

I cannot recommend this book enough! This should be a standard read in high school. At times I was disgusted thinking how can people like this truly exist in the world? And yet I found myself also seeing how incredibly wonderful other people in the novel are towards Victoria and her situation and in this I saw so much hope; that despite all the ugliness of the world, good people do exist.

This book will be available March 2019.

#thequietyoucarry #nikkibarthelmess #NetGalley #advancedcopy #eARC #YA #YAnovel #books #bibliophile #bookreviews #bookstagram #book #lovestruck

The Quiet You Carry was a hard book for me to read emotionally. The topics addressed are painful. I thought the plot and characters were interesting, but did have a hard time getting in to the book initially. I would recommend this book as it’s eye opening to many issues and think that many people would enjoy this.

Note: I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This compelling story about the foster system drew me in immediately. I stayed up way too late finishing the book just to see how the situation would pan out, and if the harsh truths of the topics covered would be dealt with head on or just glossed over. I cannot applaud Nikki Barthelmess enough for her honest portrayal of the cruel reality thousands of children deal with every day in the foster system. This is a topic not covered much in the YA world, but is definitely one that many readers need. I really liked this book, even though it was often tough to read.

I will definitely recommend this book.

This visceral portrayal of life in the foster care system is both heartwrenching and hopeful. Barthelmess' powerful debut is highly recommended for YA collections where realistic fiction is popular.

Hard to get into this book, seems she is so involved with her past and nothing much comes of it. Also annoying that some of the book is written in one spot then the next sentence you are somewhere else.
Not something it would recommend to others.



Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an early release of this book.

First of all, thanks to NetGalley and Flux/North Star Editions for approving my request and sending me an eARC in exchange for a honest review.
You have to know English isn’t my first language, so feel free to correct me if I make some mistakes while writing this review.


4,5 stars.

The moment I read the plot I knew it would have been heartbreaking.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: sexual abuse, incest, pedophilia, domestic violence, self-harm, attempted suicide, eating disorders.

The plot should give you away was wrong with the Parkers, but if you need help you can read the warnings - some of those things are mentioned later, others are more graphic and detailed.

The story begins with Victoria locked out of her house at 3 AM, while a deputy takes her father's statement and a woman with CPS tells her to grab a few of her things and follow her because Victoria can't stay there anymore - her father and her stepmother told the police she's dangerous.
Victoria is shocked, confused and lost - surely there was a misunderstanding, it can't be possible that her father declared she's disturbed and that she needs help because she made sexual advances on him.

Victoria sleeps on a couch and the next morning she's assigned to another social worker, one that makes her leave Reno to move to Silver Valley because no one else wants her based on what it's told about her behavior.

Victoria finds herself in a life she doesn't recognize, away from everything that's familiar with her and without her freedom and the chance to say goodbye to her stepsister Sarah. She's now forced to live with Connie - a woman who searches her bag for drugs everytime Victoria comes and goes from her house and Victoria has to ask permission to even go to the bathroom - Connie's daughter and two other foster girls.

Victoria's pleas to her social worker Mindy - so busy with work she always checks her phone while speaking - to talk with Sarah go unheard: according to Mindy, her stepmother Tiffany believes her dad and Sarah said she doesn't know what to think.
But if Victoria decides to talk, to give her side of the story... but Victoria can't.

Now Victoria wants to go back to Reno and not give up on college, even if she doesn't to how or if she can pay for it.
Now she has endure Connie's many rules, aided by her foster sisters Jamie e Lizzie.
Now she has to graduate without getting in trouble and keep everyone at arm's lenght - but she's new in town and everyone is curious, so it's hard to resist Christina and Kale's friendly attempts to know her.


This book is raw and it hurts.

We learn Victoria's story along the chapters - we read about her relationship with her mother and the one between her parents and their fights, we read about the promise Victoria has to made to her mother's deathbed to always take care of her father.

Due to that promise, Victoria forces herself to not think about that night - but her thoughts always go there. She loses herself inside her own head, her memories, her nightmares, always stating it's her fault.
Hers is a long journey to awareness: how her father wasn't the only one at fault, how her mother and Tiffany were victims too, how what happened to her could be happening now to Sarah.


This book is like a kick to the stomach.

"The Quiet You Carry" is about foster kids and everything related: a few families only foster because of the check, sometimes only the little ones get adopted because teens are labeled as difficult or found at fault because of their parents and there aren't enough social workers to care about them all properly.

"The Quiet You Carry" is about what a family shouldn't be, silence, lies and manipulation, the way the victim feels guilty, responsabilities, domestic violence and abuse and the fear that follows - because some things are unforgivable.

"The Quiet You Carry" is Victoria's story, a girl who wants normalcy and a future where she can look back and say it's over - it was only temporary.
It's Victoria's story, where she realizes the mother she loved made a terrible mistake and how much wrong is what her father did to her - and now, if she wants to save Sarah, she has to admit to herself and the ones around her what she went through.

I liked Christina and Kale.
I was a bit skeptical at his "I think you're great" when he barely knew her since Victoria was doing her best to avoid everyone. It didn't feel exactly... rushed, per se - just a touch too soon. I had a small problem with all his future college dreams involving the both of them together since Victoria clearly wasn't ready for that commitment, but in the end I'm glad he understood.

I even re-evalute Connie: no matter the flaws, given what I perceived between the lines maybe she's a better mother than Victoria's was.

"The Quiet You Carry" is a book that made me angry, almost made me cry on more than one occasion and I'll end up buying a physical copy of it anyway.

It's rare that you see a YA story centered around the protagonist being placed in foster care especially at the age of seventeen. Victoria's story is heartbreaking but I was encouraged by the positive people she met in her journey to finish high school and come to terms with the people that let her down.

Although this book was about a difficult topic, it was interesting to read. I felt like the characters were realistic and likable. I often wondered what it would be like to be a foster parent and so I am glad they shared Connie's story as well.

For someone who doesn't really care for series books, I kind of want to know how the rest of Victoria's story evolves!

Thank you to North Star Editions and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.

A heartbreaking story that grips you from page 1. I don’t think “enjoy” is the right word, but it was a beautiful journey.

I don't know if I would have read this if I had known it was about sexual abuse. I know it's heavily hinted at in the synopsis, but for some reason I didn't realize it. I'm glad I did read it though.

The Quiet You Carry is a very real story that unfortunately happens to thousands around the world everyday. Luckily for Victoria, she was able to get out. Many do not.

I liked Victoria a lot. At the rare moments we see her true personality she seems like a beautifully sarcastic girl who is also very kind and very smart. Sadly, these moments are pretty few and far between because of the trauma she has been through.

It was nice seeing her realization throughout the story that what her father did to her was wrong and that she was essentially conditioned by her mother to quietly withstand it.

Connie is someone I both detest and love. I do believe she honestly cares about her foster children, but I feel like she could have been a lot nicer. I know she has to have the rules she enforces, but I don't see why she had to be so nasty about it.

I loved Christina, Jamie, and Kale a lot. I'm glad they were all there to support Victoria, though I hate everything Jamie went through.

I liked how subtle the romance in this was, though I think the story would have worked better without it at all. I don't know if a teenager who is just getting away from sexual trauma should be in a relationship, but it did flow well and felt natural.

Victoria's inability to tell the truth annoyed me in the beginning, though I can't really blame her for hiding everything. Part of why she did it was because she was scared, the other out of embarrassment.

Overall it is an enjoyable, but sad, book. It does deal with some heavy topics so I suggest everyone use caution when reading it. Stay safe!

Firstly, how amazing is the cover?
Secondly. how amazing was the first chapter? So heart-wrenching and honest.
Howwever, for me, that is where the amazing feelings ended. I found the protagonist to be annoying, yes she has to go through some dark things, but it was incredibly difficult to create a bond with a character, that I can't stand.

I love the bravery of Barthelmess, writing about such a contreversial subject. It isn't done enough.

*This book should come with a trigger warning for sexual abuse.


The blurb drew me in as usual. We come into the book not knowing much besides Victoria is being taken away by CPS. We have no idea what happened; just that Victoria is saying that nothing happened and it was all a misunderstanding.

Victoria ends up in a foster home with two other girls, a preteen and a younger girl. The foster mother seems a bit harsh, but never having been in foster care I can't judge.

We slowly over time learn the truth about what happened on the night Victoria was removed from her home. It comes in pieces, but after the first couple of chapters, you pretty much understand what happened.

Victoria tries hard not to make any friends at her new school, but Christina and Kale won't let up on her and eventually, they become her biggest allies in the book.

I have to say that this was a tough one to get through, I understood where the main character was coming from, and how the stepmother could be blind to it all. But in the end everything worked out; and that I am glad for.

A tough, gut-wrenching read, but absolutely fantastic. This is a must-buy for libraries who serve teens.

Initially I was drawn to this book by its cover and title, more importantly I found it to hold more important messages than most contemporary YA fiction tends to. Of course there's the subject of foster care first and foremost but there are more nuanced themes as well such as none of can truly know what's going on inside other people's houses/minds/lives or as the narrator so affectingly puts it, "No one can really see the quiet you carry, unless you let them." Another theme I appreciate is that children aren't meant to parent parents, I thought it was heartbreakingly telling how many times main character Victoria fixated on having let somebody down.

I liked the way Barthelmess stuck in reference to books, like Cheryl Strayed's Wild, and that her main characters are good students who work hard, do well in school, and have good values. And while I wasn't really a fan of some of the dialogue (like a 17-year old saying "I didn't doll you up so you can wimp out on me!" or a 12-year old saying "But now they all know, and you'll be a pariah."), the book itself is so sincere somehow, it's really hard to fault it. I agree with the author that there aren't enough main characters who are wards of the state; in fact the person I could think of was Tonya from MTV's The Real World. Which led me online where I discovered there are actually lots of fascinating celebrity figures (Babe Ruth! Marilyn Monroe! Willie Nelson!) who spent some of their time growing up in foster care.

Okay first of all I have to say I absolutely loved this book from page one.
I loved our main chapter so much and really connected with her story and the struggles she was going through.
I would recommend this book to anyone who loves books that suck you in because this is an intense page turner!
Overall one of my favourite reads so far this year. I really enjoyed this book it’s a really raw and amazing story that hit home with me on a very personal level and I’m so thankful to Netgalley for sending me a copy.