This book was so romantically captivating that I couldn't put it down. The love story was exceptionally well-developed, and I found myself rooting for the couple throughout the entire read!

A beautiful story of blooming teenage love, What I Didn't Say is a well-written drama that shows us how love can help us endure things we never thought we would possibly have the strength to overcome.

This book was such a surprising pleasure to read. It took me back to those high school years and the feeling of first love. This book is an honest look at some tough situations. Jake pays dearly for his transgression. He's lucky though. He has a large, loving, understanding family and the support of a close-knit community. He borders on depression at times. His senior year and plans for the future now have to accommodate his impediment of being mute. He teeters between feeling lucky that he's still alive and being overcome with frustration over not being able to voice his feelings.

He starts to see that he can overcome these obstacles when Samantha, a girl he's had a crush on for a while, starts to help him through his ordeal in more ways than one. Love blooms, at least for Jake. Samantha on the other hand says she doesn't believe in love. Her parents split when she was young and she never really knew her father. But Samantha has many secrets and, as those are revealed, Jake realizes he's not really the one who needs saving.

These teens were pretty responsible. Jake was great at sports, comes from a great family, and acts "grown-up" for the most part. Samantha is a straight-A student with her future in mind, never taking her eyes off the prize of a full scholarship. I wouldn't call these two your "typical" teenagers. They're a little more adult-like.

This one's pretty "clean". There are some make-out sessions but nothing beyond that. I think this is a conscious decision between Jake and Samantha that's never verbalized.

I did find it disheartening that in such a close-knit community with a small population, no one ever noticed what was happening with Samantha.

This is a great story! It's heartfelt and deals with issues that happen more often than we like to think. Even if you don't typically read teen books, this one would be well worth your time.

This file is no longer on my Kindle it seems. Thanks for the opportunity to review this book though. I really appreciate it. If I end up reading it in the future, I will update this review.

I won't be able to leave a review for this book; I requested it in a past lifetime of my NetGalley use and it no longer fits with my reading interests. If I ever do end up reading it I'll come back and update this!

Loved it. I enjoyed this, the characters and settings were great. I just recently re read and it brought me back

The critical part of me didn't want to like this book, but ultimately it fulfilled that part of my soul that loves high school drama troupe books and movies. Though obviously there is trauma and loss that both Jake and Samantha experience, the book was really adorable to read and I found myself flying through it. I'm not usually a fan of contemporary, but this was nice to read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Keary Taylor for giving me a e-copy of What I Didn't Say. I absolutely loved this book. It is a sweet story of family, love, and getting past obstacles in life. I read almost all of it in one sitting.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

Jake is a great character. The story is told in his first person POV. After he gets into a crash homecoming night and destroys his voice box, he learns he will never speak again. This is a challenge to him, but he manages to hurdle it by finding his "paper voice." To talk to people, he writes what he wants to say in the journals. He also starts to learn sign language, but he can only use that around people who know sign language. He is a strong, kind, and caring guy, but he also has a few moments of self-pity. These seem realistic since he is going through a lot.

Samantha (Sam) is also a great character. She is very strong, and she is hiding a secret of her own. Her secret is that her mom died, and she is living on her own in a motorhome. Because of all her challenges in life, she gets mad when Jake pities himself too much. She tells him that he has food and a family. Sam is very sweet, and she begins to let Jake help her. When power goes out across town, he tells her to come stay at his house. He brings over extra food for her.

The romance between Sam and Jake is very sweet and well-developed. Jake was going to tell her he loved her on the night of the car crash. He regrets not getting to say this to Sam. Both Sam and Jake had secretly had a crush on the other. At the beginning of the story, Sam doesn't think she believes in love. By the end, her feelings have changed since she has fallen in love with Jake.

If you like sweet YA contemporary with heavy parts, read this book.

I highly enjoyed reading this book. There was a lot of heart and I liked the characters a lot.