In the vein of psychological thrillers like We Were Liars, Girl on the Train, and Beware That Girl , bestselling author Caroline Cooney’s JANIE series delivers on every level. Mystery and suspense blend seamlessly with issues of family, friendship and love to offer an emotionally evocative thrill ride of a read.
The kidnapping is long past, and the Johnsons and the Springs are on the way to restoring their lives. Janie is ever grateful to her devoted boyfriend who helped her through it all. As Janie tries to balance herself between the two families, she feels torn. It seems the only thing keeping her together is her love for Reeve, but he is away at college and Janie misses him terribly.
For Reeve, college life seems overwhelming. And as a first-time disc jockey at his college radio station, he is discovering that dead air can kill you. To fill the silence, he finds himself spilling Janie's story over the airwaves. Reeve is so sure that Janie will never find out what's making his broadcast such a hit that he doesn't stop himself. What will be the price for Janie?
Caroline Cooney knew in sixth grade that she wanted to be a writer when "the best teacher I ever had in my life" made writing her main focus. "He used to rip off covers from The New Yorker and pass them around and make us write a short story on whichever cover we got. I started writing then and never stopped!" When her children were young, Caroline started writing books for young people -- with remarkable results. She began to sell stories to Seventeen magazine and soon after began writing books. Suspense novels are her favorites to read and write. "In a suspense novel, you can count on action." To keep her stories realistic, Caroline visits many schools outside of her area, learning more about teenagers all the time. She often organizes what she calls a "plotting game," in which students work together to create plots for stories. Caroline lives in Westbrook, Connecticut and when she's not writing she volunteers at a hospital, plays piano for the school musicals and daydreams! - Scholastic.com
I read this as a stand alone. Had not read any other book in the series.
So Apparently Janie, had been kidnapped in another earlier book in the series. Her boyfriend, Reeve, gets a job at a radio station. All he has ever want ed to do is be on the radio. But he can't connect to the audience.
Desperate to keep his job, (actually I should not call it a "job" job, it is unpaid), Reese struggles to connect to his audience. Eventually, he starts telling the story of Janie's kidnapping, violating his promise to keep that confidential. What he does not expect is the reaction his story invokes with the listeners. All of a sudden..hundreds, maybe thousands of people are tuning in to hear about Janie's story.
Only Janie has no idea the most wrenching details of her life are being spoken about ..all over the radio.
ENDING SPOILERS ALERT:
I enjoyed this short read greatly and now want to read others in the series. Reeve obviously has some type of addiction to, as he describes it, "the sound of my own voice". I was pretty unforgiving toward his actions and do not like that the book ended on a (possible) note of forgiveness.
To readers of realistic YA fiction , this one was pretty good.
Ah, yes. Book 3, in which Reeve proves that he is slime. In the earlier installments of this series, Janie discovered that she had been kidnapped as a child, went to live with her biological family, went back to her adoptive family...and now is navigating a long-distance relationship with Reeve, who has against all odds made it to college. The trouble is, the thing that interests Reeve most is the college radio station—and when he can't think of anything to say on air, he takes the juiciest story he can think of: Janie's. And he spills it to the world. Without changing a single name or detail.
Here's the thing: Reeve messes up here, big time. More than, I think, a 'good guy' of a contemporary YA book would be allowed to—this is such a staggering violation of Janie's trust and privacy that it's sort of hard to fathom. Even when listeners rave to Reeve about how well he's described things, how they'd recognize Janie if they saw her on the street (Janie's defining physical feature is her hair, which every single book of the series obsesses over), Reeve doesn't stop; when shit hits the fan, he decides that he'll have to drop out of college to stop himself from continuing to share all the intimate details that Janie and her family trusted him with.
So Reeve is scum. And in a contemporary book, I think he'd probably be the Wrong Guy of the book, the Boy Next Door Gone Bad, and there'd be another boy waiting bashfully in the wings to sweep in and make Janie see that there was someone else all along. But...in this series, he manages to stay in the picture, and even as I think Reeve is scum...I also think that's one of the most realistic things about the series. Because: teenagers do stupid things. (Adults do stupid things too.) And sometimes that's a reason to cut ties—and sometimes people do, and sometimes people don't, and the fact that Janie still loves Reeve, can't separate this awful thing he's done from pretty much every previous memory of him, makes their relationship so much more complex.
This is also the book in which we start to see a bit more of one of Janie's brothers, who were relegated to side characters in book 2. Everyone's growing up a bit, I guess. Except Reeve. Not my favorite of the books, but messy in an interesting way.
This series has taken over my weekend (and my life). That hasn't happened since the Hunger Games.
Back then I was on a 12-hour train ride so it didn't matter... but this? This must be that Netflix binge I hear everyone talking about. When you fall deep into a blackhole, desperate to know what happens next that you keep going and you're enjoying the depths so much that you don't mind you've been in a cave the whole time.
I start the next book right after the finishing the previous one, swearing I won't. Swearing I'll get up and go do something, or go to sleep (!) but... here I am starting book 4.
Can somebody else kidnap Janie and take her to live with good people who actually experience empathy and recognize that this is a CHILD who is going through one of the most traumatic experiences possible and that blaming her for her feelings is not at all constructive?????
Now that Janie has found out about her past, things finally seem to be falling into place, and she's slowly building a relationship with her original family.
Reeve, her boyfriend, has gone off to college to begin a new part of his life. He feels lost in college, but he thinks he might have found something that he can be good at. He becomes a DJ at the school radio station, and manages to get on the prime time slot. At first, he panics, having nothing to say, and then slowly, he begins to tell Janie's story to his captive audience.
More and more people start tuning in to hear about "the janies", and he finds it difficult to stop. His reasoning is that his only listeners are all college kids, so what harm will it do to anyone? Plus, he's becoming famous which is something that appeals to him.
Of course, Janie finds out when Jodie (her new sister), and Brian (her brother) take a trip down to Boston to visit colleges as well as to see Reeve. What will Janie do, now that she's found out?
All of these books don't really seem to be a book by themselves. If it was combined into one big book, it'd probably flow a lot better than the way it was done. However, I have all of the books, so I read them all from beginning to end, and the story compelled me enough to finish them.
If you have ever read The Face on the Milk Carton, the first of the Janie Johnson series, then this is a must read! If you have read this series, it is still a must read. Many years ago, as a teen myself, I embarked on a journey with Janie/Jennie, a teen who finds out that her parents are NOT her biological parents when she happens to see a picture of herself on a milk cartons during lunch at school. While uncovering her roots, she attempts to deal with many issues that arise while unearthing a secret over a decade old. In this book, the 3rd in the series, Reeve is away at college, and as his dreams of being an on-air sensation stare him in the face, he sufferers from a major shock of stage fright. At this point he begins to tell the story of Janie, his girlfriend. As he is not in broadcasting area that Janie can tune in, he begins to enthrall Boston with her story.Laying out secrets of two families and an unraveled teen, he hopes that she will never find out. Is he successful? If not, how would Janie react? With a high school romance on the brink of survival, will Janie be allowed to keep her thoughts private? This was the only book in the series that I could not get my hands on all those years ago, and was pleasantly surprised to find it on the shelves of the Bookworm shortly after beginning my employment with them.
I had read the first two in this series and didn't even know there was anymore until I saw them in a used bookstore, so I picked this one up to read. I haven't read the rest of the series though. This one was sad because you think she is just getting her life together and then she is once again betrayed. This is a good series to read. I do not remember the date I read this.
Everyone loves Reeve including Janie. He is the perfect guy with an amazing voice. Then he does something that will crush hearts and trust. Will anybody ever trust him again?
Reeve continues to be the worst. And once again, I know this is a children's book essentially, or YA, but the author's obsession with labelling people as wholly good or wholly evil is frustrating.
I feel like the more I get into this series the more boring it gets and I think I have 1 or 2 more books to go…. However I don’t know why I would keep a boyfriend who has a radio station but uses it to make fun of things…. Just my opinion tho…. Just didn’t enjoy this book!
I don’t remember the other books on this series. At least not very well. I probably read them as a late teen or maybe early twenties. Back in my YA days. It was a quick read that was pretty predictable but I loved how the issues eeew portrayed especially the peer pressure bit. Do I want to see Reeve and Janie get back together? Not really. They were too whiny and need to get on with their lives. They were far too young to be that serious in my opinion.
Quick read. There is a pretty big betrayal by Reeve, and some of the metaphors get a little tortured in covering the emotions. The emotions are ultimately handled well, though there is a mystery remaining.
It has been a while since I read the first two books of this series but with this sequel was fairly easy to get back into the story. It was lovely and I liked the portrayal of different emotions and issues Janie is going through. Now I absolutely hate Reeve and I am going to read the additional parts of the series just to know how their relationship will continue.
Onvan : The Voice on the Radio (Janie Johnson, #3) - Nevisande : Caroline B. Cooney - ISBN : 0440219779 - ISBN13 : 9780440219774 - Dar 224 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 1996
The kidnapping conclusion has calmed with Janie adjusting to her new families. Unfortunately, her rock, her boyfriend Reeve, has gone off to college all the way in Boston, and the long distance relationship is taring her apart. Reeve, while he misses Janie is busy with his new gig as a disk jockey, on a local college station. On his first night he is welcomed with dead air, until he starts a story, Once Upon A Time a girl was kidnapped.... Reeve's "janies" become an instant sensation and famous in his own right overnight. All is right, as Janie is in Connecticut and unable to receive his station, he's seemingly save, until Janie Johnson comes for a surprise visit and hears a voice on the radio.
The Voice on the Radio, could have come off like a rehash of The Face on the Milk Carton, but it didn't, I was riveted once again. Janie's story was told in a new refreshing voice as fascinating as it was the first time. Although, I had a hard time getting past what a prick Reeve was being. Reeve, the perfect boy next door, why Reeve, why? How could you sell your girlfriend like that? Even the head of the radio station said as much. I was disappointed. Although, despite my loathing Reeve his scenes were my favorite as they were the most dramatic. The Janie front was filled with whining and crying which gets a little old. I really enjoyed this installment in the Janie Johnson series, even though Janie was like a whiny three year old and Reeve was an undeserving dick, because occasionally I think its fun no matter how annoying to have a character you want to throw the book at.
Now that Janie knows the truth about everything, life seems to be settling down for both the Johnsons and the Springs. Janie is slowly building a relationship with her blood family.
And Reeve is off at college. He becomes a DJ for his college's radio station and thinks he has finally found something he is good at. But, at what cost did he achieve his radio success? It is because he's telling Janie's story and listeners want to hear more.
Book 3 is different from the first two. Janie already knows the truth about her parents, she knows she was kidnapped and has met her blood family. It was rough-going for Janie, but she is building a relationship with her blood family. I think what is really great about this book is that Janie realizes she can love both parents: her biological ones and the ones that raised her. I think Janie has grown up a bit and I like it that she is getting along better with her siblings.
I can't say I'm the biggest fan of Reeve. It's not just because of this book, but book number 2 also. It is true Reeve has been there for Janie through everything that has happened, and on the surface he looks like the perfect boyfriend. But when the narrative switches to Reeve and what he's thinking, he is not so perfect after all. Sometimes it seems that he only wants one thing. I think he does care about Janie, but after a while you get tired of Reeve thinking he wants Janie to stop talking so they can do other things. But, maybe Reeve will grow up too, especially after what he did.
This was a good book. I couldn't put it down. It'll be interesting to read the next book in this series to see how Janie's story continues.
This was one of the best YA sequels I have ever read. I loved it for the realistic portrayal of first off, what the reality of not only long distance, but age difference relationships are like, but also what the reality of true heartbreak after unfaltering trust could be. Janie is still dating Reeve, who is away at college. She sits in her room, fantasizing about wedding colors, while he is nervously drumming his nails in his college radio station, trying to figure out what to say to empty airwaves. Under pressure, he decides to make a sort of serial out of Janie's kidnapping. All is well until Janie, Jodie, and Brian arrive in Reeve's college town and hear him spilling the story to millions of people. Janie's humiliation at trusting him is palpable. She states it perfectly: you sold me and my story to strangers for your own desire for fame. I hated Reeve so much it took me until the series finale to look at him in a positive light. But the family is hopeful that Reeve's broadcast could scare Hannah out of hiding and bring her to justice. While I hated Reeve's betrayal, it was a necessary evil, as it catapults Janie from Sleeping Beauty princess, taking a backseat to her own life, to the independent young adult she's been hiding from. All this kidnap worrying and missing Reeve has stunted her development, and I like that she admits this, and acknowledges the silver lining to all her dark clouds: she survived as Janie/Jennie. With both families intact... for now... Unfortunately, the latter takes a backseat to the relationship melodrama, which is a real shame, since that's the basis for all the Janie novels.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
"The Voice on the Radio" is a very interesting book. This book is very mysterious and suspenseful. This is a sequel to the series called "The Face on the Milk Carton". In this book it shows a high school love story where the boyfriend named Reeve goes to college. He is a very smart and masculine man. He is hardworking and he knows what he wants and he will achieve it. He is a loving man that would never intentionally hurt someone. Reeve's girlfriends name is Janie. She is also hardworking. She is very shy and quiet and she is not very sure what she wants out of life yet. When she was little she was kidnapped and she did not even know until she was in high school. The only other person in the whole world that knew the whole truth and that was Reeve. Janie really liked to keep to herself and she liked to live in her own little world. Reeve was a talk show host on the radio at the college he went to which was in Boston. He accidentally spilled the beans about Janie and told all of the details that Janie wanted to keep a secret. Janie went to go visit him and she heard his voice on the radio and was so upset. In the end they overcome their trials and they end up good. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes mysteries. I think this would be a good book for students who are of the ages 13-16 because it is interesting and fun and once you start to read you will not want to stop.
Summary: It is the third book in the Janie Series, starting with The Face on the MIlk Carton. This book is about Reeves Shield's (Janie's boyfriend) college experience. He finds that he wants to do better at college since he didn't try hard in high school. He finds college life to be exhausting because of all of the pressure. He gets a job as a D.J. at the school's radio station. Feeling the pressure to come up with interesting things to talk about, he starts retelling Janie's whole life. He never thought it would ever get back to Janie. Reeve finds that people are more interested than he thought and can't help but continue telling the stories. He loved doing what he did while feeling quite guilty. Does his fame come crashing down?
My reaction: I thought it was a creative way to continue the Janie series without being too redundant. It was easy to read and full of energy. I still think that the first book of the series was still the best but this was still a good way to tie in the first two. It had some strong and weak parts but overall it was good.
Janie can count on Reeve. He’s the only one who knows her whole story. How she discovered that she had been kidnapped. The agony of trying to sort out allegiances between two families. The mystery of her kidnapper, Hannah.
But when Reeve arrives at college, he faces his own demon. Dead air. As a brand new freshman deejay, it’s talk or sink. And Reeve needs a story he can run with. A story that will grip listeners. In short, he needs Janie’s story.
I first read The Face on the Milk Carton in middle school, and I remember loving the first book and its sequel. At the time, I never found my way through the third story in the series, no doubt because I was so disappointed by Reeve’s betrayal. But there are now two more books! So I decided to tackle this one again. And blitzed through it. My favorite part is Janie’s evolution at the end. How the darkest times lead to unforeseen strength.
{my thoguhts} - This book covers what happens after Reeve goes off to college and Janie went back to live with the Johnson’s. She decided to work things out with the Spring’s and she finally realizes that things are okay and she has enough love to go around. Jodie makes a trip to look at colleges in Boston and Janie tags along. They discover that Reeve isn’t the person they had thought he was in fact they discover he’s a jerk. And Janie finally comes to terms with having four parents that she can love them each and not be a bad daughter by showing them all how she actually feels.
{reason for reading} – I had read the first two and now I am trying to complete the series. So far so good since I didn’t know this and the last book had existed. I suppose it happens. But it is a nice little series.
Janie desperately want's to finish high school so she can join Reeve in collage. As time slips away Janie would love to visit Reeve and one day her wish finally comes true. Janie, her sister and her younger brother all drive to Reeve who is in Boston for collage. They finally got to a hotel were all of them can lay down and sleep. Janie's younger brother turn's on radio, and they all hear a familiar voice, It's Reeve! Janie had known that he played at that time at night. She began to listen as he slowly told the audience about Janie's kidnapping. Janie was shocked and had nothing to say. Janie's brother called the radio station and told Reeve to come to the hotel immediately. As soon as he arrived Janie would not talk to him. She seeked for advise from her birth mother and she told her to for give him. Janie slowly took Reeves had and they began to walk.
I just finished reading Voice on the radio by Coroline b Cooney. this book is about the main character named janie in the early 1900,s when they were creating the radio. these people are learning how these people managed to create the first radio and how they made a voice come from another location.the book is about how her friend named steven finds the voice on the radio and gets really excited and researching about how these people were able to create a voice that can travel from destination to destination. The radio was made with voice transmitters and then the people attached a mic to it. i like this book because it talks about technology and how far it has come. i would recommend this book to all middle school grades if you like stories about technology.