{"id":21319,"date":"2022-11-23T10:24:13","date_gmt":"2022-11-23T15:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=21319"},"modified":"2025-09-29T21:55:37","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T01:55:37","slug":"loud-and-clear-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21319","title":{"rendered":"Loud and Clear"},"content":{"rendered":"

Loud and Clear<\/a><\/em> (2016) Aidan Wayne<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Loud<\/a>Another mental hug for me.<\/p>\n

Jaxon was getting the feeling that was his default way of coping with the world. Blanking himself out when things got tough. Jaxon used to do the same thing but with anger, till he\u2019d gotten better ways to cope.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If he wanted to do his part and try to get a decent conversation going with Caleb, see where this dinner might take him, he actually had to at least make an attempt at learning the language Caleb was obviously more comfortable with. Jaxon wasn\u2019t about to magically get better at reading overnight, but sign language\u2014 that he might be able to do.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Caleb grinned. \u201cHi. How are you?\u201d <\/p>\n

Jaxon beamed<\/em>. \u201cI\u2019m fine<\/em>,\u201d he signed. Signed! \u201cHow are you<\/em>?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cYou speak ASL<\/em>?!\u201d Caleb signed back, sure his eyes were bugging out of his head. <\/p>\n

\u201cOnly a little,\u201d Jaxon said. \u201cI tried to learn some basics. Thought it might make things easier for you if you could sign at least a little to me. I didn\u2019t get to learn very much. I only had a few days. But it\u2019s not that hard to learn! It\u2019s just memorization, so even I could get it through my head.\u201d His smile was bashful, but he still looked nervous, like he was waiting for Caleb\u2019s approval. <\/p>\n

This man had started learning ASL for their first date<\/em>. And he was good<\/em> at it. <\/p>\n

And he thought he was stupid<\/em>?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Caleb blinked himself back to reality and tried to give Jaxon his warmest smile. \u201cIt\u2019s good<\/em>,\u201d he said. \u201cThank you<\/em>. You\u2019re amazing<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n

Jaxon rubbed the back of his neck. \u201cI\u2019m glad it was okay.\u201d <\/p>\n

Okay<\/em> to try learning the language Caleb was most comfortable speaking? Okay<\/em>? This was already the best date of Caleb\u2019s life, and they hadn\u2019t even ordered dinner yet. \u201c<\/em>Very okay<\/em>,\u201d Caleb signed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jaxon always acted like he\u2019d done something wrong<\/em> when he didn\u2019t know a sign, like he was stupid for not learning an entire language in a weekend. Caleb really wanted to find Jaxon\u2019s old teachers and punch them all in the face.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Loud and Clear (2016) Aidan Wayne Another mental hug for me. Jaxon was getting the feeling that was his default way of coping with the world. Blanking himself out when things got tough. Jaxon used to do the same thing but with anger, till he\u2019d gotten better ways to cope. If he wanted to do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,668,292,207,608,196,148,41,26],"tags":[379,649,597,544,535,644,783],"class_list":["post-21319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-10","category-comfort-read","category-ebook","category-mental-health-rep","category-neurodiversity","category-novella","category-queer","category-reread","category-romance","tag-aidan-wayne","tag-alcoholism","tag-dyslexia","tag-mm","tag-neurodiversity","tag-asl","tag-stutter"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-5xR","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18308,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/18308","url_meta":{"origin":21319,"position":0},"title":"Loud and Clear","author":"Michelle","date":"September 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Loud and Clear (2016) Aidan Wayne Jaxon is a cab drive--and a good one, despite the fact he can't read. He turned on the light in his car and squinted. Those were letters, all right. Probably there was even a sentence. Caleb had written something on the receipt. Huh. Curious,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Loud and Clear","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Loud-and-Clear.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13782,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13782","url_meta":{"origin":21319,"position":1},"title":"Loud and Clear","author":"Michelle","date":"January 1, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Loud and Clear (2016) Aidan Wayne Let me state first that the cover may be innocuous, but it also gives you completely the wrong idea about the book. There are no car chases are action scenes, it's just that one character is a cab driver in the city. Jaxon may\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Loud and Clear","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Loud-and-Clear.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21883,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21883","url_meta":{"origin":21319,"position":2},"title":"Loud and Clear","author":"Michelle","date":"May 7, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Loud and Clear (2016) Aidan Wayne He turned on the light in his car and squinted. Those were letters, all right. Probably there was even a sentence. Caleb had written something on the receipt. Huh. Curious, Jaxon bent over the words, trying to sound them out. Caleb\u2019s handwriting wasn\u2019t messy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Loud and Clear","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Loud-and-Clear.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20740,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/20740","url_meta":{"origin":21319,"position":3},"title":"Loud and Clear","author":"Michelle","date":"September 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Loud and Clear (2016) Aidan Wayne I just needed to reread this is all. This is a romance, but it's also about the huge difference that money and power can make. Jaxon: \u201cServes you right for being the smart one,\u201d he said, shouldering his phone so he could clear away\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Loud and Clear","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Loud-and-Clear.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24916,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24916","url_meta":{"origin":21319,"position":4},"title":"Loud and Clear","author":"Michelle","date":"September 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Loud and Clear (2016) Aidan Wayne \u201cServes you right for being the smart one,\u201d he said, shouldering his phone so he could clear away his dishes. \u201cShut up.\u201d Tatyana always got touchy when Jaxon brought up that he was the stupid one in the family. He didn\u2019t know why; it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Loud and Clear","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Loud-and-Clear-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":23607,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/23607","url_meta":{"origin":21319,"position":5},"title":"Loud and Clear","author":"Michelle","date":"May 5, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Loud and Clear (2016) Aidan Wayne This is probably one of my favorite novellas, one I reach for when I'm feeling terrible and need to get out of my own head. \u201cDon\u2019t bother,\u201d he said, nodding at the notepad. Caleb looked up at him and frowned. \u201cI mean. You can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Loud and Clear","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Loud-and-Clear.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21319\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}