Whisper by Heather Hildenbrand

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Synopsis
The Cherokee believe when a person dies, their soul is reborn. Life is repeated. An endless cycle of lessons to be learned, love to be found, destiny to be fulfilled. For the past six months, in every flower, every bird, I’ve imagined my parents, relieved of their human forms.Now, after five months at the Skye View Wellness Center, it was summer. A time for parties and friends, but that’s the last thing I want to do. So when my best friend Erin convinces me to attend a bonfire at Eagle Point, I can’t handle the crowd full of sympathetic stares or drunken class clowns who would use my tragedy as a way into my heart – or my pants. The solitude of the woods offers an escape, until I stumble upon a boy, unconscious and bleeding, his pockets stuffed not with identification but with poetry illustrating the beauty of dying. I’ve seen enough death. I will not leave this boy’s side.Even after he wakes, when the only thing he can remember are visions of events that haven’t happened yet…

The choice to read this book was an incredibly simple one to make.  I absolutely fell in love with the author's Dirty Blood series; if you haven't read them yet, you definitely should. Not convinced? Check out my reviews for Dirty Blood and Cold Blood. Anyway, back to my review of Whisper. It was everything I hoped it would be and more!

The main character is Whisper and when we are introduced to her she is still trying to come to terms with her parents dying. There is so much to admire about her: she's caring, intelligent, witty at times, and extremely passionate when it comes to rescuing animals. The family farm serves as a reserve for these animals that have nowhere else to go. It's obvious that Whisper has always had a love for animals, based on her memories, but I suspect it became more important to her after her parents died, since it was a big part of their lives as well. It certainly served to help her feel connected to them, by continuing their work. Her grandfather, Tinker, is a huge part of her life. They are very close and he's really the only person that knows exactly how she feels about her parents; he lost them too. There's a guy, Taregan, who works at the animal clinic and seem so to have some sort of romantic interest in Whisper. When we first meet him he seems innocent enough; just a boy with a crush. Things soon change though, which I'm not going to elaborate on. Mystery and intrigue enter the picture when Whisper happens to find a young man, Dylan, in the woods. He can't remember anything about who he is, but the connection between he and Whisper was very apparent early on. The characters were all so  detailed and such great care was taken to develop them, that it was easy to forget that they don't really exist.

Let's talk a little more about the connection between Dylan and Whisper, shall we? I'm not sure there were ever two fictional book characters more right for each other. Even though Dylan couldn't remember a thing, the way he was with Whisper made me fall in love with him. He understood her without even knowing much about her, something most people who had been in her life for years could not do. I had a lot of respect for him from the beginning, especially after Whisper tells him what happened to her parents. 

I pressed my lips together, determined to keep my expression neutral, but I couldn't look at him. I hated this part more than anything else - the part where I had to tell someone new. Delivering the news, like an unexpected blow, always created an awkward gap where people were at a loss, no idea what to say next. Then I was left picking up the slack with things like, "It's okay. I understand there's nothing to say." And in the end, I'd end up comforting them instead of the other way around. No matter what was said next, I hated this part. ~ " You must really love them." ~ I blinked back tears, but part of me wouldn't have minded if they fell. It wasn't so much what he'd said as how he'd said it; he'd used present tense, like me. I smiled. "I do."

 There are so many sweet moments like this that just cement the fact that these two were meant to be together. Their relationship is actually much more complicated than it seems (yes that's an understatement, and yes, I realize I'm being cryptic). You'll just have to read it for yourself to find out what I mean. I do want to share my favorite part of the book though. Here it is, enjoy!

"One last time: you are not holding me back. Do you know how many steps forward I've taken since you got here?" ~ "That's just it. If I hadn't been here, maybe you would've taken those steps with someone else." ~  "Or maybe I took them because of you." I stopped. It was the closest I'd come to admitting I felt something for him. To either of us. I think Dylan knew that, because he watched me for a long moment, neither of us willing to go there. ~ "I don't want to hold you back." he whispered. ~ "I can't move forward without you." The words were out before I could stop them.

I loved the mystery that surrounded Dylan. Who he really was, what he was doing in the woods that night, who might have wanted to hurt him. It made it impossible for me to put the book down. I enjoyed the ending immensely. Not only was it intense, but some mystery still remained as to how everything would work out.

It was hard to write this review, simply because I didn't want to give too much away. All you really need to know is that the characters and story are absolutely amazing and you will love the romance between Whisper and Dylan. 

Now let's get on to some fun stuff. First, let's find out a FACT related to the book, courtesy of the author, Heather Hildenbrand!

Car anxiety – Fact

  Whisper’s parents die in a car accident and she struggles at the beginning with panic attacks whenever she’s faced with getting into a car. That, along with her severe depression, lead to her being admitted to a psychiatric facility for a few months. I haven’t ever done a stint in a mental hospital, but I DO freak out in the car. Especially when someone else is driving! #ControlFreak It may be due to losing some close friends to car accidents when I was a teenager. Not sure, but maybe. All I know is that I’m like Dee from Clueless on the Highway:

I white knuckle the arm rest, or the “oh shit!” bar. (That’s the one hanging from the ceiling near the passenger window. Yeah, that’s its official name.) My husband hates it. I’ve tried to explain it’s not him, per se. It’s my habitual anxiety, in general. Yeah, the whole “it’s me, not you” speech. Whatever. He still takes it personally, like I’m accusing him of bad driving. Nope, I’m just a bad passenger.

If he doesn’t brake in time for my tastes, I’m like “brake, brake, brake,” under my breath. And then he’s glaring at me and then if he STILL doesn’t brake, I’m like this:

Seriously, it’s a vicious disease. #car-ophobia

Yep, that's right, it's time for an awesome giveaway! Up for grabs is 1 (one) eBook copy of Whisper by Heather Hildenbrand, courtesy of the author! All you have to do to enter is click on the link below and fill in the simple information. That's it! You have until Sunday, May 6 at 11:59 PM CST to enter. Good luck!!

Click Here To Enter The Giveaway