A gut-wrenching, lump in your throat read. Very powerful follow up to THE QUIET YOU CARY. Full review coming.

*Received a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review*
This was a little too intense for me. I have a hard time reading about sexual abuse especially when the perpetrator is a parent. It breaks me a little inside and I can't handle it.

I received this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion and review. I was impressed with Victoria’s chapter development. Sexual assault is something that happens way too often. It’s refreshing to see a character overcoming their fears and becoming real survivors. We need more of this in our books. I’m a little disappointed in Victoria and Kale’s relationship, but I understand why it needed to happen.

As those who read the first book The Quiet You Carry, you will recall Victoria Parker and the ordeal she went through as at first her stepmother Tiffany believed that Victoria had made a move towards her father until everything unraveled at the end and Jeffery Parker was thrown into jail and it was revealed that he had sexually abused Victoria and tried to abuse her sister Sarah. Now Victoria is in college and trying to move on with her life as her Dad is behind bars, she has a good boyfriend in Kale and she has joined the Sexual Harassment Club at the college and Tiffany/Sarah are on her side. Life though is about to throw Victoria some more curveballs as she receives a letter from a long-lost Aunt Audrey who is her father's sister. Audrey reveals some dark details of her family's past, including the fact that she and Jeff were molested by their Grandfather when they were children. Though this isn't an excuse for what Victoria's Dad did, Audrey hopes that it will help and influence Victoria's victim statement against her father. Meanwhile, on campus, the club is trying to get funding but due to a personal conflict with the Student Body President and one of the other girls Lana in the club - it looks like that won't be approved. What happens though when the president decides to expose Victoria's past and turn her and the group into what he thinks they are - man-haters. Kale wants and believes Victoria's father should rot in prison and that she shouldn't do anything for him and cut contact and move on with her life. He doesn't think it's doing Victoria any good being in the SASH group. What happens when their differences and POV's start pulling them away from one another? I admired Victoria near the end of this book as in the first book and even the majority of this one, it was like every decision and move she made regarding what she went through, was to make someone else feel better. She wasn't thinking of herself and putting herself first as it wasn't just Audrey, Tiffany, and Sarah that were victims and survivors. Victoria was too.
This was an amazing conclusion to the series and finished on such a good strong ending with Victoria's speech of "her story".

***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of QUIET NO MORE by Nikki Barthelmess in exchange for my honest review.***

3.5 STARS

Now in college, Victoria continues to recover from her father’s abuse. She’s joined a sexual violence prevention club and struggles to forgive her former stepmother when her father’s sister, an aunt Victoria never knew existed, emerges. Audrey wants her niece’s help to lessen her brother’s sentence. Everyone wants to steer Victoria’s process.

I loved THE QUIET YOU CARRY, the first book in the series, but struggled with the sequel. QUIET NO MORE felt like it was trying too hard to recapture the magic of the book one. The characters feel less unique and more tropish, almost like people I’d see on Law&Order: SVU. QUIET NO MORE read like an Important Message Book rather than a story I was invested in following.

While I appreciate that Barthelmess was trying to show that the story of abuse doesn’t end when the perp is jailed, I’d have rather seen Victoria working through her PTSD with a therapist as a necessary part of her healing.

Readers who like newer episodes Law&Order: SVU will enjoy QUIET NO MORE. Those who prefer more nuanced characters and plots may want to skip this sequel.