Review: Tone Deaf by Olivia Rivers

Tone Deaf

by Olivia Rivers

 May 3, 2016

256 pages

Goodreads  Indigo

Goodreads Summary:

His world is music. Her world is silent.

Ali Collins was a child prodigy destined to become one of the greatest musicians of the twenty-first century—until she was diagnosed with a life-changing brain tumor. Now, at seventeen, Ali lives in a soundless world where she gets by with American Sign Language and lip-reading. She’s a constant disappointment to her father, a retired cop fighting his own demons, and the bruises are getting harder to hide.

When Ali accidentally wins a backstage tour with the chart-topping band Tone Deaf, she’s swept back into the world of music. Jace Beckett, the nineteen-year-old lead singer of the band, has a reputation. He’s a jerk and a player, and Ali wants nothing to do with him. But there’s more to Jace than the tabloids let on. When Jace notices Ali’s bruises and offers to help her escape to New York, Ali can’t turn down the chance at freedom and a fresh start. Soon she’s traveling cross-country, hidden away in Jace’s RV as the band finishes their nationwide tour. With the help of Jace, Ali sets out to reboot her life and rediscover the music she once loved.

 

Review

When I first requested Tone Deaf, I didn't think too much of it. It sounded like the type of contemporary reads I usually enjoy. As I got around to reading it, I realize this book is more than just a cutesy love story. Surprisingly it dealt with some difficult subjects.

 

Ali's life literally went from being in heaven one moment to stranded in hell in the blink of an eye- a music prodigy to an abused deaf girl. After the death of her mother, she goes to live with her father who did not care for her at all. I could really feel the desolation from Ali's thoughts and actions. When the perfect opportunity to escape pops up, she hesitates to take it. But when her father denies her her dream, she snaps and goes for it. I admire her courage. It took a lot of self- convincing for her to commit to running away early (she was just a few months shy of legal independency). It was also hard to see Ali's reaction to being in a foreign surrounding but I'm so glad she found comfort and safety. In the most unexpected place too.

 

Jace was every bit the tortured soul. I didn't approve of some of his words and actions but as we got to know him, I could understand where it all came from. It made me sad to hear about his past and how it's shaped him into who he is. Thankfully he's away from it all now and is surrounded by kind and caring people.

The romance in Tone Deaf was too convenient for me. I would've thought it would take Ali and Jace a little more time to fall in love. It almost seemed like they fell for each other because they were in such close proximity and saw each other everyday. Don't get me wrong, I really loved the connection they made through their sarcastic retorts and musical talent but it was fast. In my opinion, Killer and Arrow was the ultimate ship ;)

I'm also a little dumbfounded by the timeline of the story. I couldn't wrap my head around how everything happened in such a short span of time. The story was suppose to take place during the band's nationwide tour but it only went two(?) stops before shit hit the can. (Please excuse the language but that's literally what happened.) Granted there was an unplanned stop but that worked out. The short timeline really weighed down the plausibly of the story for me. 

Similar to the romance I found the solution to Ali's problem to be too easy. I mean I get that some people need a little push but they (the other three witnesses besides Ali's bff and her parents) seriously could've stepped forward a lot sooner. It was logical but too rushed for me to taste the victory.

Tone Deaf surprised me in a really good way. Even though I realize the chance of this story ever really happening in real life is slim, I couldn't help but love the book. I am definitely happy with the curve Tone Deaf threw at me and how the story turned out.

*I received an eARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinion are my own and not affected in any way.