A Whisper To A Scream by Lauren Hammond

A Whisper To A Scream
By Lauren Hammond
Published October 11th 2011 by S.B. Addison Books
Pick up your copy at Amazon or B&N for only 99 cents today!
Synopsis borrowed from Goodreads:

Sometimes love....can be deadly.

Ellory Graham detested high school. She relished the fact that she was a rebel. A wild, carefree, type of girl. She basked in the glory of being the type of girl who stood up to authority. Unfortunately for her, her upfront, honest and bitchy nature always managed to land her in some kind of trouble.

Adam Jacobs was everything Ellory was not. Not only was he beautiful, but he was smart, artistic, and sweet. To almost every girl he seemed like the total package- that all around perfect guy. But in a town were nothing particularly interesting happens, and gossip seems like the only fun thing to do, sometimes those perfections become flaws. And it doesn’t take long for Ellory to find out, even Adam has secrets.

But Adam’s secrets, are the kind of secrets people die for....

What Darkfallen & Greta has to say:

Greta: This is an interesting and unique read that I've never seen done in YA.

Darkfallen: For me this book was brilliant!

I mean ok, ok, ok there is a little room for improvement. Like maybe one good look through with a fresh pair of eyes could catch the typos and misplaced words that are sprinkled here and there throughout the book. But as you can tell from my 5 star rating I thought the book was still too good, even with the errors, to take a star away.
Greta: Ellory is your typical ya teenage angst girl. She's 17, a senior in high school, has a mouth like a sailor, doesn't like to get gussied up, and loves her friends.

Her life is about to get flipped upside down. Burton, Ohio hasn't had anything exciting happen to it in years. Maybe even decades. That is until Adam Jacobs moves to town. A beautiful boy with a winning smile, football skills, and a dark dark secret.

Adam is a monster. But not like the ones from fairytales. Adam is for real.

I found the plot at times to be a bit out there. Ellory's story is told in 1st person POV while Adam's is told in 3rd. I have to admit that this confused me when it was first introduced. I didn't mind it but I definitely wasn't expecting it. I've only see that done with Heather Gudenkauf novels.
Darkfallen:  Yes I totally agree with Greta and warn you that at first it might be a little confusing to read. It switches back form Ellory's POV which is first person present, to Adams POV which is third person present. And while the first couple of switches are slightly awkward, in the end I get it. I think it honestly needed that.

With Ells POV the way it is you feel a connection with her. With Adams POV you feel the disconnect. And I think that is important because what I take from the book is this...

Ells is a girl that is trying desperately to live numb. Always trying NOT to feel anything. While Adam is desperately trying to feel ANYTHING. He is completely devoid of emotion, and if he could muster the concept of hate...then he would hate it. Either way Adam knows he is a monster. It's not until meeting Ells that he thinks maybe he is starting to feel something. That maybe there is more than just the monster that he has known all his life.

While Adam is intrigued by this and trying to pull Ells closer to him. To see just how much he can feel. Can she make him feel love? Ells is pushing him away because she is scared of what she feels for him. The push and pull work great, and I couldn't get enough. The twist in the end is dark and perfect. I can't wait to get my hands on the in this series. I need to know where this all goes. A part of me thinks that maybe Ells is slightly bi-polar. I would love to see if that's the case. Like can an over emotional bi-polar girl balance out an devoid of emotion sociopath boy? And vise versa?

Greta: I kind of figured that the duo would fall head over heel for each other. And in fact they did but I feel that Ellory shouldn't have fallen so hard. I can understand why Adam would. It makes sense since he's the one fighting between bloodlust and normalcy. But I thought Ellory should realize that he was going a little over the top. In my opinion it would be the best move to make Ellory a fourteen year old. I think that if the author was to do that then her being so infatuated with Adam would make more sense. She'd be too young to realize their relationship is a bit too clingy (in a way).

Another reason I would make Ellory younger is the fact that she talks about her BFF as though she's the center of her life. Now, I know that I did that when I was 17 but I don't know if that is the norm. Again, if Ellory was just a smidge younger than this would maker perfect sense.

I told my husband about that and he told me that if the author was to do that then it would be socially unacceptable for her to get it on with Adam. Well, that doesn't happen in this book. There is some making out but nothing too graphic. It's all pretty tame. But what if there was something to happen? Ellory likes to party and is proclaimed as the wild child. If she's all that then I'm pretty sure that a fourteen year old having sex would not raise any eyebrows. We all knew those kinds of girls.

In closing:

Darkfallen: I will tell you this...this isn't for the faint at heart. Now please don't misunderstand me, it's not all American Psycho. It won't make you vomit...well at least it didn't me. But it is pushing the bill a little on YA and you need to keep an open mind while reading this book. For the squeamish it just might be a little too much for you. But I say this is hands down a series to look out for.

Greta: The ending is probably the best part. It does make me wonder what is in store for the next book. You are left with a delicious cliffhanger that will leave you wanting more and biting your nails until the next book is released.

This is kind of a dark book. American Psycho was darker and so was Misery, but this has the potential to give me that SCREAM FACTOR with the upcoming book. I'm really wanting that. With that being said, I wouldn't recommend this for the squeemish. It didn't shock me at all but that's kind of hard to do. I can imagine it disturbing others.

Darkfallen: Is it taboo, and maybe heading in the direction of the Banned Book List? Quite possibly...but does't that make it even better? *winks* lol

Greta & Darkfallen both agree Lauren Hammond is an authore to keep your eye on!

Darkfallen's rating...

Greta's rating...

Until next time...