Whisper by Lynette Noni | Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.5)

As a note, an e-galley of this novel was sent to me via NetGalley by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not effect my opinions in any way.

To be honest, I did a Very Bad Literature Lover Thing when I requested Whisper. I, wait for it, didn't read the synopsis and only was intrigued by the cover. I know, I know, bad. Should I ground myself, now or later? Don't worry, I'll ground myself after the review. Double honest moment: I'm glad I judged the book by its cover because I found Whisper to be intriguing and read it in one sitting.

I love (love, love, love!) Sci-Fi as a genre but I do struggle with it when it comes to the YA exploration of it. Most of the time, books in the genre just fall flat and don't reach my expectations. Lynette Noni's writing is just fun and purely so--it has that can't-put-down quality to it that we all crave when it comes to literature. What I liked most about her writing was the unexpectedness. After I lit a fire under myself and did read the synopsis, I was skeptical of Whisper--it sounded like so many other YA science fiction releases and I was like, "Oh. Great." And then Noni hit me upside the head with some sort of magic and I was like, okay, fair.

In short--I was pleasantly surprised in the most genuine way. Whisper totally surprised me.

And who doesn't like to be surprised in YA?

There was so much groundwork laid in Whisper. I'll be real--I don't know if there is a sequel planned or already floating around out there but if there isn't, there's a good chance I'll riot because you can just tell that Noni is only just getting started with her brilliance and I'm ready for it.

Which leads me to: WHAT I HOPE A SEQUEL WILL CONTAIN.

-More worldbuilding. Sing to the tune of ABBA: Gimme, gimme, gimme! Noni put a great deal of effort into Whisper and as I've already said, you can tell she is only just getting started.
-The characters continuing down the path of being well developed. Seriously, a lot of YA books don't always do the greatest job in developing and portraying characters but Noni is in a league of her own. I wanted more, which is selfish and a dumb reason for knocking down the rating that half-of-a-star but here we are.

That's not a very long list, I know. Really, I want to see where the story leads us and what comes next for Jane and this world. I am very excited by the possibilities of it all! So excited, in fact, that I'm not going to get into the obvious flaws of Whisper because frankly they are pretty minor and common for a book that could potentially be the first installment of a series--and that is how I am going to treat it.

If you're looking for something quick and captivating in the YA genre, Whisper is definitely for you.