Review: Christina doesn't disappoint with Whisper To Me at all.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 22, 2014
When we first meet Rachel Mattson in Christina Lee’s debut novel, All of You she’s portrayed as a no-nonsense girl who lives by her own rules. She’s comparable to Avery in the fact that she’s very in control of her sex life, using one-night stands to not let others in. She’s sowing her oats, if you will, after dumping her fiance before coming to university.But not is all that it seems to be in Whisper To Me, the third novel in Lee’s Between Breaths series. Rachel is in fact a broken shell of her old self. Having been in deeply in love with her high school boyfriend, he breaks up with her in the middle of rehabilitation due to a motorcycle accident the two were in. Then her parents divorce. Everyone she loves and trusts just seems to leave her, even one of her best friends, Kai Nakos. So when she goes to college, she decides that she isn’t going to let anyone in, she’s not going to hurt again.Kai has been there for Rachel since the beginning. He’s been her best friend, confident and shoulder to cry on. He’s the only person she’s ever really been comfortable being true to herself around. But he has his own share of problems.Kai is more vulnerable than he’s willing to admit. He’s a self-admitted screw-up and knows that he doesn’t have much going for him. Sure, he has amazing looks, and is good with the ladies, but he’s essentially coasting through life squandering the opportunities he’s been given. No one in his family ever thinks he’ll make something of himself and neither does he.But being around Rachel helps to ground him. She “fills up all the quiet places” inside of him. When the two are together they are able to just relax and let go.Whisper To Me is nothing short of a great book. The emotional punch of the book keeps you wanting to read more and see where the characters are going to go. I really feel like Rachel and Kai are the most human, the most realistic of Lee’s characters. They are both doing something that is so easy for all of us to do, hide ourselves. Whether we do it with the help of others like Rachel, or delve into vices like Kai.I found myself relating very much so to Kai but as with all of Christina’s characters, I think it’s very easy to find a character in one of her books that’s so easily a slice of yourself.The chemistry between Rachel and Kai was simply hot. One of my favorite romance tropes is when two friends fall in love with each other. There’s just something great about it. They know each other already, they have a better understanding of the other person. This is incredibly true with the characters in Whisper To Me. And thankfully, keeping with tradition, Lee knows how to pack a wallop of a punch when it comes to sexual tension. Just the scenes where the two are kissing? I felt like I needed a fan, or at least some ice water.