Title: Quietly Making Noise
Author: Yessi Smith
Genre: New Adult
Life and love are like juggling.
With the slightest of mistakes, the whole thing can fall apart.
Dreams tug, tease, and sometimes retreat into a subtle promise of a different tomorrow. A tomorrow Elio Delacruz never expected. Not after a lifetime of chasing a single goal.
Alongside his closest friends, Elio lives and loves his passion—his art. His existence depends on the whimsical, on the intangible, on the constant motion of a traveling busker.
When a tumultuous shadow from his past forces him to return to the suffocating island of Key West, his every instinct tells him to run. To flee from the scars of his youth.
And then he meets Vianella Manco. She’s only supposed to be a temporary distraction until he can break free of the island. His heart is never supposed to beat for her. And she’s never supposed to wish for anything beyond the easy moments they steal from one another.
But, sometimes, purposes change and the truths you believed turn out to be nothing more than pretty lies.
Free on Kindle Unlimited
[Janet]
Amazon/Goodreads Rating: 5/5
In Patti's Imagination Rating: 10/10
Elio Delacruz has a complicated life growing up, but to say his life now was any simpler would not be true and his plans are changed in a way he never expected. Living his passion as a traveling busker with his friends, Elio is loving his life sharing his art with others but things from his past have him returning to his home in Key West. He doesn’t want to return and face the scars of his youth, yet there isn’t much else he could do. His life just got more complicated and painful. Now Key West is haunting him again.
His plan was to let Vianella Manco be his distraction while back on the island until he is able to leave again. A place that suffocates him. He wasn’t suppose to have feelings for her. She was just a way to feel free while dealing with his overbearing past. Once again life plans are changed. Truths that were believed were actually lies. Can Elio believe these recent turn of events? Will he see that his past and his future are intertwined in his budding relationship with Vainella?
Will Elio be able to handle the lies and find his freedom from the suffocating island and find his happiness again?
I really didn’t know what to expect going into this book as this is the first main character that was a traveling busker. You can tell the author did her research to be able to write the passion Elio has for being a busker. I really enjoyed this new experience. I learned more about those who entertain the public on the sidewalks of every town.
While at times this book is light and fun, there are some very emotional topics being discussed. There is so much to this book you will not be able to put it down. The twists and turns from a young Elio to the adult Elio are so unexpected they don’t go where you think they will. The interactions with all the characters are great and these relationships feel very realistic. Again the author has spent time researching things to make this book have that true to life feel. I look forward to reading more from this talented author.
Too full of energy to sit, I follow Vianella into my mom’s kitchen, leaving my mom in the living room. Sensing my watchful attention on her, Vianella turns from the cupboard with two empty glasses, one in each hand.
“Do you want something to drink?” She shakes a glass in front of her face.
I sit on the countertop, assessing just how comfortable she is in my mom’s space. Curiosity grabs me, and I wonder how close she and my mom are. How much they’ve entrusted with one another. “Sure,” I agree. “Water.”
She nods, and after filling both glasses with ice and water, she brings it to me. Once I reach for the glass, she pulls it away from my grasp and cocks a hip out.
“Do I get a please? Maybe a thank you?” she asks, the corners of her mouth twitching. “Or are manners completely lost on you?”
Widening my eyes, I jump off the counter and walk to her. I take both glasses from her grasp and place them on a nearby counter. With her hands in mine, my thumbs run over the backs of her hands. I lean into her, smelling the subtle flowery scent of her shampoo, and immediately, I wish I hadn’t gotten so close. Now that I know just how sweet she smells, I want to taste. My tongue slips out, and I lick my lips.
“Please,” I say, tilting my head to the side.
My hand moves to her face where I trace the outline of her features with a single finger and rest it on her parted lips. She takes my finger between her teeth, and I touch her chin with my thumb.
“Sweet Vianella,” I whisper seconds before she digs her teeth hard into my skin. “Ow,” I complain, holding my hand against my chest.
She laughs and points a taunting look in my direction. “That was your fault. Touching me when I didn’t give you permission. Not using your manners. Calling me Vianella instead of Vee.” She shakes her head, pursing her lips together, as her eyes dance in merriment over my body.
“Is this our first fight?” I ask. Ignoring her statement about touching without permission, I reach for strands of stray hairs that have fallen from her messy bun and twirl the unruly dark hair around two fingers. “I feel like it is. I think we should have make-up sex now.”
“Make-up sex before you even know my favorite color?” she snorts.
“Hazel,” I reply, pointing to the color of my eyes. “Mine is violet. Now that we have that nonsense taken care of, my room or yours?”
“I-I,” she stammers, color draining from her cheeks. “I—” she repeats again.
But I cut her off, needing to see her back at ease with me, “Is that English? Maybe we need a translator?” I tilt my head to the side again.
She lets out a loud huff of air, her cheeks rising with the smile I hoped to put back on her face. “Are you always this difficult?”
“Difficult? I think I’m pretty easy. The straightforward kind.”
Yessi Smith lives in South Florida with her husband, seven-year-old son, and newborn baby. She is also owned by a neurotic border collie and “ferocious” rottweiler.
She has a bachelor’s degree in business management and a master’s in human resource management. She has held several jobs, from picking up dog poop to upper management positions. Now, she hopes to leave the business world behind, so she can live full-time in a world that does not exist until she places her fingers on a keyboard and brings it to fruition.
