Sheziss loves Zeshak

The story practically continues in the point [b:Aaron|16005260|Aaron (Survivor Stories #1)|J.P. Barnaby|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347498590s/16005260.jpg|21757650] ended. Yeah, 5 years have passed, but there is a status quo in which the characters have stayed for years. Aaron's mind health has improved, but not all the way to be able to have a complete relationship. I like the sweetness of the characters and situations, and I have a weakness for cute characters.

Aaron and Spencer have a routine, but one day that ends. A company offers a job to both of them, and Spencer accepts. Allen leaves for university, leaving Aaron alone to deal with Anthony's problems. The mother is stressed at some family disease. And if that was not enough, the three guys who abused Aaron and his friend come back. Aaron's world turns upside down and he has to find a way to cope with it all. That happens in the first 100 pages. The following 100 are about seeing all the characters breaking and healing, once and again. Aaron follows the shrink's advice and contacts other broken people like him and he meets Jordan. I liked Jordan pretty much, and although he's straight (or is he?) I want to know more about him in his own book (could it be written?).

There is a surprise at some moment of the book. Before the trial, Aaron and Spencer attend a conference, and who is holding it? Zach Tyler! The MC in [b:Finding Zach|8079528|Finding Zach|Rowan Speedwell|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1272613226s/8079528.jpg|12802050]. David appears too. I find it funny.

The book is quite short, so I was all the time wondering how was the author going to resolve everything in so little space, but she did. Sort of. Well, not really. But I liked [b:Aaron|16005260|Aaron (Survivor Stories #1)|J.P. Barnaby|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347498590s/16005260.jpg|21757650] more than this one, despite all the mistakes about Spencer's dealing with his handicap. But both books could be considered one together.

You people already know I take deafness quite seriously, and you could accuse me of it being some kind of obsession for me but that's precisely why I just can't shut up.



In this book Spencer has an app in the mobile phone that translates what is being said into written words during the trial. Now, I have some doubts about this. First, it is a trial, so Spencer doesn't sit near the lawyer or the witness or the defendant or whoever participates in it. There is a Shazam app, do yo know it? It's a very useful one, when you are listening to a song you like you activate it and if you get the phone closer to the speaker it identifies the song with the lyrics and even you can see youtube videos and the like. Well, I don't know yours but when I want to do that I have to put the smartphone VERY close to the loudspeaker because if it's far the Shazam thing tells you it can't do it and you should try to get closer. Do you really think this translator speaking-writing thing will be able to catch the voice better than Super Shazam from a distance? I seriously doubt it. Secondly, that translating thing... would it work with no mistakes at all in the writing? If that was the case, I think everybody would be using them instead of taking notes in class like crazy! Thirdly, I found out the app actually exists, but it costs $150 a year. Now I know why my mates don't use it.

Another subject, Spencer is invited to go clubbing with some people at work. He meets one guy and they dance together and suprise, suprise... he knows ASL! Because he has a deaf sister! Why there always is such a coincidence in these stories? I didn't know you had a higher probability of meeting a person who speaks ASL than one who speaks Mandarin Chinese.

Now I'm not going to criticize Spencer's character again. You can read it in my review of Aaron. But I should add that the other day I found in my notes from Pediatrics something that is quite interesting. It said deaf children tend to maintain infantilized behavior and histrionics when they grow up and it hit right to the core, as I know some deaf people around 30 years old who are exactly like that. That's part of why you almost immediately sense something different about them. But course it's just a little detail and the tip of the iceberg so today I decided to research a bit, using Spanish and English sites alike and in short, this is what I found: deaf people have a tendency towards lack of understanding and acceptance not only about language but about other people's feelings and perspectives and society's rules. They also have a lack of motivation to learn and have very poor quality in language and its structure. They have self-steem problems and the feeling that nobody understand them, which is a reason they develop a kind of egocentrism. They have more chances to develop behavioral disorders and depression and sometimes they can be quite impulsive because they can't calculate the consequences of their actions as they have a lacking in the abstract thinking. And something quite curious: they are quite unable to listen and make a task at the same time. I feel kind of identified with a few of these things but in a lesser degree, as I'm far to be a deaf per se. So just guess what a profound deaf person like Spencer must be feeling.

Spencer has none of these qualities I mentioned above.

Don't get it wrong, don't get romantic ideas about deaf people, it's not only a person who doesn't hear, the important issues are the consequences of that lacking. I'm pro-cochlear implants forever.

PS: I'm not really that bitchy while reading books, in fact, I quite pass over this kind of mistakes in most of the books I read. But I can't let this one go. The day I find a real deaf character will be a day to celebrate.