5 Star Review: Signs, by Anna Martin

Title: Signs

Author: Anna Martin 

Publisher/GR Link: GR, Dreamspinner

Genre: MM Contemporary

Vice: Disability, Coming Out, ASL

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Lock this book up: 4 out of 5 keys.  The sex is sweet, hot and perfect for the story. 

Length: Novel

Satisfaction: HEA

Cover Impressions: Gorgeous!

Best Line: "Caleb held him tightly, face buried in Luc's hair.  Lucy screwed up his face and sighed heavily.  Home, he thought. I'm home."

Synopsis: After spending most of his life in special schools, Caleb Stone now faces public high school in his senior year, a prospect that both excites him and threatens to overwhelm his social anxiety. As a deaf teenager, he’s closed himself off to the world. He speaks a shorthand with his parents and even finds it hard to use American Sign Language with people in his local deaf community. But Caleb finds comfort in his love of photography. Everything he can’t express in real life, he posts on his Tumblr.

Struggling to reconcile his resentment for his father's cruelty with the grief of losing a parent, Luc Le Bautillier scrolls through Tumblr searching for someone who might understand his goth look and effeminate nature. When Luc reblogs a photo by Caleb, sparking a conversation, they both find it easier to make friends online than in person.

Luc and Caleb confront their fears about the opinions of the outside world to meet in New York City. Despite Caleb’s increasing confidence, his parents worry he’s not ready for the trials ahead. But communication comes in many forms—when you learn the signs.

Impressions: I didn't have to think a lot to rate this charming, romantic book from Anna Martin.  It was so perfect, and so sweet, and it swept me away so thoroughly that it left me with no choice but to give it a well deserved 5 star review.

I've loved Martin's work since Tattoos and Teacups, and so when I had the chance to read this book of hers, I jumped at it.  I love a romance with an imperfect hero, and this book provided me with two who broke my heart and put it back together.  Luc has had a challenging path to young adulthood, despite his wealth and comforts.  Caleb is isolated in a community that he is unable to fully embrace, and alone in a hearing world where his art and his studies are the only things he can fully embrace.  

When Luc and Caleb meet, they are finally able to find the love and acceptance that has eluded them.  Their romance builds at a sweet and romantic pace, and I loved getting swept along in their new and growing love.  

Luc provides a support for Caleb that, even with his great parents, he has not known.  I really admired Caleb's parents, and I felt their struggle to encourage his freedom and their panic and watching it unfold.  Luc builds on this, and Caleb blossoms when given he chance to develop his skills.

I found the plot to be well paced and engaging, and though this is a book that is full of the feels, it kept the angst to a manageable and enjoyable amount.  The love is the overarching element to this story, and I loved watching these young men find a purpose in each other and themselves.

This is a book to download and move to the top your TBR pile.  You will not regret it!!