Silent

by Jesse Haynes

Drew Telmon is living her best life. Her basketball skills have not only caught the eye of her crush, but also the head coach of her favorite college basketball program.

Then she gets sick. Overnight, a boiling fever nearly ends her life. She’s lucky to have survived.

Her hearing, however, did not.

Drew must cope with losing everything as she learns a new language and desperately searches for a sense of normalcy and a way to fit in.

More importantly, though, she must learn she doesn’t need to fit in when she can stand out in a world of silence.

299 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 11, 2024

About the author

Jesse Haynes writes fiction and non-fiction, selectively, depending on how many bills he needs to pay. He lives in Tulsa, OK and his content marketing work has been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, Marketwatch, Inc., and more.
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Haynes got his MBA from The University of Tulsa, but the only time he uses it is when he throws buzz words like "return on investment" into his young adult novels.

Jesse enjoys playing basketball, staying active with his church, and hanging with his family, He has a dog named Biggs, too, who's the best dog in the world and you can't change his mind.

Reviews

[Kristin Flor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book at the Louisiana Book Festival last November 2024. It spoke to me for two reasons. One, it involved basketball which I spent many hours and days as my younger self with a basketball in my hand and a rim in my view. The other reason was because the main character was going through a major life change with losing her hearing. I usually go to the book festival with a few friends, but the one who normally goes with me is in a hospital bed dealing with a brand new diagnosis of Guillain-Barré Syndrome. The onset of this syndrome has rocked her world and although not the same issue as the character in the story, a life changing illness nonetheless. I had the pleasure of meeting the author Jesse at the festival, getting my book signed, a photo op, and actually discussing and sharing my friend and her struggles with him which is when I found out that his story was based on a real life instance involving his friend too. He did a great job with shedding light on the ASL community and recognizing how important they are. I learned so much about ASL and sudden change and the repercussions of said change. Friendships lost, comfort forgotten, trust loss, and severe depression let alone hopelessness,sadness and confusion just to name a few. This book is full of emotion which I felt right along with Drew the whole way. I pray my friend continues to get better And also his friend that this book derived from. May others learn and live and if the only thing we learn is compassion, then it is a lesson learned well.