Blog Tour ~ I Hope You’re Listening by Tom Ryan ~ Review
Morning all,
Welcome to the Blog Tour for I Hope You’re Listening by Tom Ryan! I am so happy I can be part of the tour and that I could read the book in advance! I can just tell you that I was already hyped about reading the book, but after reading it… It is now one of my favourite books of 2020! It has twists and turns, a sweet romance, tons of mystery, and more. I just flew through the book.
I got a 5+ star review for you all to read, and I also got information on the book/author.
Let’s get started.
Review:
I received this book from the Tour Host in exchange of an honest review.
I was already looking forward to this book and so I was excited that I had the chance to read it early. In the end I managed to wait at least until October 1st as I wanted this one for Hallowtober. But boy this was a ride, I just couldn’t stop reading. Thankfully, between all the exciting parts there were also some moments to breathe.
Meet Dee, or Delia. A girl who had a very traumatic experience. When she was a kid her best friend got kidnapped while she was there. We see how that still affects her to the day and also that this is why she started the podcast. To at least help out others because she couldn’t help Sibby. She is a strong character, or at least tries to be. I loved her from the first page and she only got better with each new piece of information we get about her.
At times we go back in time, 10 years, to the moment when the kidnapping happened. My heart broke when we got the last piece of the puzzle. Poor Dee. 🙁
I am not a fan of podcasts in real life, probably for the same reason as I am one to read audiobooks. My ADHD just doesn’t let me concentrate on things like that. But I do LOVE LOVE podcasts in books, especially thriller/mystery books as it definitely adds something to the story. I also liked, hopefully that is the correct word given what the podcast is about, the podcast and how much hard work Dee put into it. And how much good it did. We see several cases and we also read about other cases. Dee has quite a record with finding people, so I could only imagine how hard it is for her that she never could find her best friend.
The romance was just perfection, it was there and it was fantastic, but it wasn’t overpowering from the mystery, the exciting moments. Sometimes that happens, so I am happy with how it ws done here. You are definitely shipping these characters. I just love reading how Sarah affected Dee. Just by wearing something cute, or just by saying something. It was adorable. I loved seeing them get closer and I just loved how sweet Sarah was. How she listened, how she figured out Dee’s secret but also kept it a secret, and so on.
I absolutely loved Dee’s parents, and my favourite would be the dad. He was just hilarious and wonderful. The things he said just didn’t fit his age so that both his wife and daughter would at times cringe at it. I had a big laugh when Dee and Burke came home… to find Dee’s dad totally baked. 😛
I am still not sure about Burke. On the one hand, great character and I do understand why he changed and became more distant. HOWEVER, I was just pissed that he kept pushing Dee into doing a podcast about Layla while she clearly said no. While she clearly was uncomfortable with it all. Respect her damned wishes. Even later on he keeps saying stuff that just had me rolling my eyes. I get he was affected just like Dee, just like many people. But no need to chew her out. 😐
Quinlee (or whatever the bitch name was) was one of the worst characters in the book and I kept hoping that karma would dole out some justice because hot dang that woman is a mess.
I loved that this all took place in a small town. There is just something special about mystery/thriller books that take place in there. Everyone knows each other.
The ending and seeing Dee go full out on finding Sibby was just wonderful, exciting, the pages went by even faster than they already did. It was great to see Dee follow the snippets of information she had and make something out of it. She is always saying that she just finds the stories to tell on her podcast and that she leaves the rest to the Laptop Detectives, but here she is, along with Sarah, and she is doing something amazing.
That scene when
The Layla case was also an interesting one and the parallels with Sibby were creepy. I can just imagine how it is for Dee, for the town. Another missing girl. Exactly 10 years after. Copycat? The same person again? I am glad that this case also got closure, and no I won’t tell you what happens.
I was so happy with the last chapters. That was a great way to end this book. A great conclusion.
All in all, if you are looking for an exciting and mysterious read with great characters and sweet LGBT romance? Try out this one. Perfect for this Halloween season.
EVERY MISSING PERSON HAS A STORY.
In her small town, seventeen-year-old Delia “Dee” Skinner is known as the girl who wasn’t taken. Ten years ago she witnessed the abduction of her best friend, Sibby. And though she told the police everything she remembered, it wasn’t enough. Sibby was never seen again.
At night, Dee deals with her guilt by becoming someone else: the Seeker, the voice behind the popular true crime podcast Radio Silent, which features missing persons cases and works with online sleuths to solve them. Nobody knows Dee’s the Seeker, and she plans to keep it that way.
When another little girl in town goes missing, and the case is linked to Sibby’s disappearance, Dee has a chance to get answers with the help of her virtual detectives and the intriguing new girl at school. But how much of her own story is she willing to reveal in order to uncover the truth?
Buy the book here: Amazon
Tom Ryan is the award winning author of several acclaimed books for young readers. He has been nominated for multiple awards, and was the winner of the 2020 Arthur Ellis Award for Best YA Crime Book. Two of his books were Junior Library Guild selections, and three of his young adult novels, Way to Go, Tag Along, and Keep This to Yourself, were chosen for the ALA Rainbow List, in 2013, 2014 and 2020. He was a 2017 Lambda Literary Fellow in Young Adult Fiction.
Tom, his husband and their dog currently divide their time between Ottawa and Nova Scotia.
2 thoughts on “Blog Tour ~ I Hope You’re Listening by Tom Ryan ~ Review”
Great review! It’s always so satisfying when a book you’re looking forward to lives up to the hype isn’t it?
Thank you. And yes, yes it is. Very very much satisfying!