The Fine Art of Keeping Quiet

By: Charity Tahmaseb

Narrated by: Ashley Klanac

Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

Sometimes staying silent is the biggest lie of all.

Sophomore Jolia does the one thing no one expects from the girl who has perfected the art of keeping quiet. She joins the speech team. Jolia can't confess the real reason - not to her best friend, her new teammates, or even to crush - worthy rival Sam who offers to coach her in secret. Keeping quiet might be the easy way out, but when what Jolia doesn't say starts to hurt those around her, it might just cost her a best friend, her spot on the team, and even Sam. But she isn't the only one with a secret.

It's going to take words - her words - to make things right. If only Jolia can find them.

©2014 Charity Tahmaseb (P)2014 Charity Tahmaseb

Was honored to listen to this book

Would you listen to The Fine Art of Keeping Quiet again? Why?

yes it is a wonderful book That book really made me think of all the teenage issues these days

Great narration to a great story!!!

What does Ashley Klanac bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She does a great job with narration. I am a huge fan.

Any additional comments?

Great for the age group intended to be targeted to and well written. I loved this book because I use to compete in speech tournaments. The writer obviously has competed also or has great knowledge of the completive speech world. It is a really good story about overcoming confidence issues and concurring fear.
This audio book was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBlast dot com"

a great read for young adults...

The Fine Art of Keeping Quiet is a young adult read about a girl in high school that is always keeping quiet. When she knows the truth about something, she remains quiet. When the truth will make everything all right again, she remains quiet. When her best friend sets her up, Jolia still remains quiet. Jolia is on the speech team in school. Jolia is so good at keeping quiet about things she should tell someone about, that it just is a habit with her. Jolia doesn't like to make waves.

This story is about the life of a young school girl and her trouble with others. She always takes the higher road. In the end, people can see the truth without her saying a word. Sometimes, keeping quiet is the best route to take.

This is a well written YA story by author Carity Tahmaseb. Excellent plot and a great story for high school kids with a lesson worth learning. The narrator, Ashley Klanac does a good job delivering this story to us with lots of emotion, multiple voices and accents. Definitely worth reading.

Fantastic YA!

The Art of Keeping Quiet is a young adult contemporary novel with a ton of heart! Confession time, I have both generalized and social anxiety and I had to take a speech class in college. Every week I'd basically want to curl up and die, it even felt like I was pretty close to a heart attack a few times. The only thing that saved me from freezing up was the overwhelming need to get back to my seat and away from the video camera. So while the situation is a bit different from mine, the entire premise (forgive my pun) spoke to me. I hadn't even started yet, and I already felt like I simple 'got' Jolia
.
We are treated to a story that is not only well written, but very relatable and full of characters worth rooting for. Jolia is a girl with many passions like writing and playing the violin, but speaking is not one of them. On the outside she's become soft spoken, ruled by fear, and a bit of doormat...but on the inside she's full of fire. She has comebacks she never has the courage to say, she wants to speak up when her friend takes advantage, and she wants desperately to pass speech class...but her voice and her confidence seems to desert her. Her story isn't just about learning to speak up and move forward with confidence it's also about bullying, friendships, and honesty. It's nice to see a YA contemporary that just speaks to you on a normal level; where it's easy to see the past you dealing with the same obstacles. And then there is Sam! He's such a sweet and awesome guy, he has his own issues of course but he's genuinely there for Jolia even when he doesn't need to be. It goes without saying that everyone needs that one person who pushes them to become better and achieve their goals, and Sam is that person for Jolia.

It's not really a secret that I'm a tad picky with my narrators, I tend to listen to a sample three or so times before committing to a review or purchasing. I mean I have to listen to it for hours. I didn't even listen to the full sample before I knew I had to listen to this one. While she may not be the best narrator out there, Ashley Klanac's reading of The Fine Art of Keeping Quiet is excellent. She has a voice that's easy to listen to and easy to enjoy, and to top it off she adds some real individuality to each voice she does.
In short The Fine Art of Keeping Quiet was an excellent read. In between all the fantasy and science fiction it's nice to unwind with a light YA contemporary, and just let yourself get swept up in a good story.

Very engaging, surprisingly entertaining listen

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed this book. It's a YA book about a girl who doesn't like pubic speaking having to join a speech club to save her grade. Sounds boring right?. But, it so wasn't. I listened to the sample and that sold me on giving it a try. It was a well written, well performed, wonderful little story. I'm so glad I took a chance on this book. The characters were relatable as was her fear of public speaking. This has got to be one of the most dreaded requirements for many students in high school and college. Reasons my be different, but the distaste for it is the same.
At times I didn't understand why Jolia went to such lengths for her friend. And, I didn't understand why she just didn't tell Sam what was going on so he wouldn't wonder and risk losing him. But, it wasn't a distraction. The things we do for our friends.
The speech tournaments were quite interesting. And, I just loved Sam's character. What a sweetie! Overall, just a wonderful listen.
The narrator, Ashley Klanac did a great job. She is also new to me. Her characters were well performed, believable and she just pulled you into the story.
This book was an ARC from the author. And, I'm so glad I agreed to give this one a try. I normally don't care for YA. Kid-lit, yes. But YA, no. But, this was great. I look forward to more from this author. YA at its best.

Amazing!

I loved this story and the meaning behind it. So many people can relate to this book. It's the first I have read from this author and I can't wait to see what else she puts out in the world for us readers or listeners to enjoy.

YA friendship and developing self confidence

Any additional comments?

A beautiful young adult novel about friendship and developing self confidence.

Jolia's self confidence plummeted when she got braces and was bullied at school. Now that her braces are off, she is still doesn't believe in herself and has a phobia of public speaking. This is causing her to fail the oral presentation section of her classes. The best way for her to pick up her grades is to join the Speech Club.

I found Jolia very relatable, as I also had braces at her age, was bullied and was quite shy. The narrator was well spoken and easy to listen to.

I recieved this book free in exchange for an honest review.

Important YA Message

Enjoyable YA story about the problems all teenagers face~low self esteem, bullies, young love etc. Jolia's problems began with braces and were eventually resolved with the help of Sam. Loved the characters and believe this would be a wonderful story for high school students to read and discuss as all young people go through some insecurities as they mature. Very interesting listen and great narration.

Audiobook provided for an honest review....

charming and realistic YA about finding your voice

A thoroughly charming and age-appropriate YA book. Our protagonist is Jolia, a shy junior in high school. She was bullied for her bad teeth and braces, and reacted by simply keeping her mouth closed and fading into the background. Now her braces are off, but she has a fear of speaking so strong that it is causing her to fail Speech class. She has to fix her grade and get past it or she no only won't graduate - but she won;t be able to take the elective art class with her best friend. Forced into joining the Speech team for extra credit, Jolia faces her fears of speaking in public, joining a new social group, weathering her only friend's new obsession with a boyfriend, and maybe even a chance at first love herself.

The writing is fine and lovely in this book - achingly familiar, emotional, and realistic. The first romance is awkward and breathless as I remember it being. Jolia is unable to speak her mind a few times too many, but I also know that feeling that there are some things that I just could not bear to say back when I was young. I'd have loved this book in middle school. Jolia's triumph of finding her voice and her confidence was heartwarming.

facing your fears and learning more than expected

AudioBook Review: Stars: Overall 4 Narration 4 Story 4

Jolia is a sophomore in high school: for much of her life she’s avoided speaking because of an insecurity about her looks. While intelligent, possessed of a great sense of humor and a vast list of interests, she’s typical of many of her age: worried about the thoughts of others allowing it to affect her in ways that impact her friendships, her openness and her confidence. When a failing grade presents and option to join the Speech and Debate team, Jolia’s worst fears are coming to life: speaking in public, Even more troubling, she can’t share the reasons for this change to anyone: not her friends, not even the object of her crush, Sam, a member of another school’s team.

The ‘saying nothing’ holds strongly through Jolia’s life: she doesn’t want to cause waves, so she usually remains quiet and watchful. The push to join the Speech and Debate team to improve her failing grade in speech class, becomes the path Jolia will travel to find her voice and solidify her own sense of self.

Solid prose and a strong arc for the story trajectory solidly support the engaging and well written point of view for Jolia: her rich internal life, her thought processes and observations on the various students, their relationships, behaviors and interactions Jolia’s friends are all presented, both pre- and post- Speech team, and the solid feel of being in the mix of Jolia during her day. A few twists and big reveals turn out to be so much less important than Jolia feared early on, and she does discover that silence is golden, but that the choice to provide support through silence, or simply avoiding issues by not speaking are two very different things, and she learns to speak up and out based on those differences.

Narration for this story is provided by Ashley Klanac and her voice for Jolia is solid and completely engaging. While she manages to insert the tones, emotional overlay and small variations to immediacy or hesitancy that were fully indicated by the text and situation. Each new character introduced was placed with care, their voices noticeably different without running into issues with over-emoting or sounding just ‘too’ caricature, despite some particularly clownish behaviors.

A lovely story that tackles the issue of facing your fears and learning more than expected along the way. A touch of a sweetly developed romance, plenty of interactions and social commentary and a well-defined growth arc for the main character, this is a story to please many and will speak to teens and tweens alike.

I received an AudioBook copy of the title via AudioBook Blast for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.