The Quiet Series includes the two books written by Nikki Barthelmess; The Quiet You Carry, published in 2019, followed by its sequel Quiet No More, which was published the following year in 2020. It features Victoria Parker as the series' protagonist, who has suffered sexual abuse at the hands of her father, and has to endure a lot of adversity before getting what she finally deserves in life, while learning the importance of having a voice.
This series provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: The main focus of the first book is Victoria's dad having sexually abused her, which is what has led to her entering the care system, and what has motivated her to join the SAAHA group in the following book, as well as it still being a lingering court case investigation in the second book.
- Adults Are Useless: Highlighted several times throughout the first book. First there's Victoria's social worker, Mindy, in the first book, who is not very helpful towards Victoria, only making her feel worse if anything, and treating her like she is simply a case rather than a human being, as well as making her feel like an inconvenience, while also refusing to believe her about Connie being uncaring and unpleasant towards her. While she may be overworked, this does still not justify taking it out on one of her wards who is clearly very vulnerable and is going through a lot of trauma and adversity.
- The same can be said for Connie, who, before she Took a Level in Kindness, is very unpleasant, uncaring, domineering, brusque and abrasive to the foster kids she is looking after, despite it being clear that they are vulnerable children who she should be showing compassion towards.
- Same goes for the Child Protection Services and policeman who are very brusque with Victoria when first taking her away from her home into care, rather than showing compassion and gentleness to what is clearly a very distressed girl, not to mention that they don't seem to consider that she might be too scared to give her side of the story to them rather than that she actually is guilty of what her father told them she did.
- Again with Tiffany who is ignorant to the fact that Victoria's dad was clearly coming onto her and not the other way round when she walks in the room, and stays this way until Sarah and Victoria inform her otherwise.
- Victoria's mum is also a significant example of this, having actually told Victoria to look after her dad before she died, despite having already known how unstable he could be, not to mention that this is not the child's job, and Victoria was only a child at this point too.
- Aesop Amnesia: Despite having learned about finding her voice and not feeling a duty to protect her abuser even if it is her dad by the end of the first book, by the second book she's back to feeling torn when her long-lost aunt suddenly appears and tries manipulating her into going easy on her dad by downplaying the abuse she experienced. She has to learn again by the end of the second book about standing up for what's right and finding her voice.
- Alpha Bitch: Taylor is definitely this in the first book, being the most popular girl in Victoria's grade at school, who always wears Letterman jackets and fashionable clothes, always being very snide and spiteful towards Victoria, even going as far to talk about her and her situation with her father as being the reason she's in care, which she somehow found out about, making out Victoria was in the wrong, despite knowing nothing about the true story from Victoria's side, to one of her friends, despite not knowing the whole story, and isn't even apologetic after she is caught red-handed by Victoria and Christina.
- Ambiguous Ending: Downplayed, as while the overall ending of the second book was not so much ambiguous itself, it is not all that clear exactly what happened to Blake when he was asked to "stay away", as Victoria only mentions that he was asked to "stay away" but does not specify what exactly this meant, like if he was expelled from the college or just given some type of restraining order from the SAAHA group. This is kind of annoying too considering how vile, hateful and abusive Blake was, so you'd like to think they'd be clearer about his actual comeuppance.
- Beta Couple: Victoria's gay neighbour and friend Ray and his new beau Jake are in a much more stable relationship than Victoria and Kale, despite having been together for a much shorter amount of time.
- Big Bad: Victoria's dad in the first book and Blake in the second book.
- {{Bitch in Sheep's Clothing}}: Lana, although she is never actually sweet, she still appears to be good-natured and a friend of Victoria's, until she betrays Victoria's trust and confidence by using her sexual assault case involving her dad against her to form a rally when she hears that Victoria is thinking of going easy on her dad.
- Character Development: Lampshaded by the end of the first book and in the second book with the title even being "Quiet No More" as Victoria begins to finally find her voice and stand up for what is right, as well as go from a Shrinking Violet to a a confident young woman with a solid social circle of friends who is also an activist for sexual and physical violence.
- Commonality Connection: This is what brings Victoria and Trey closer together in the second book, with them both just happening to have suffered sexual abuse from an older, male family member, with Victoria even stating that this is why she feels Trey understands her more than her current boyfriend Kale.
- She also lampshades to having one of these with Rosa, one of the women from the Women's Refuge Home, who was also abused (albeit physically rather than sexually) by someone she felt she loved, being her husband.
- Also with Connie, who was also sexually abused by her stepfather, something which brings them closer together.
- Contrived Coincidence: Downplayed, but Victoria finds herself connecting more closely with first Connie in the first book then Trey in the second book because they also have been sexually abused by an older male relative like Victoria. This may not be all that coincidental given that Trey is actually a member of the Sexual Assault and Harrassment Activist group at their community college, but it still seems to be written in a somewhat contrived way, with the guy she falls for just of course having to also have gone through the exact same kind of adversity and trauma as she has. The same with Connie, though this appears to be one of the factors that motivates her into becoming a foster mother, though she couldn't have suffered any other kind of adversity/trauma in her childhood could she?
- Cool Teacher: Santa in the first book, who is very informal, to the point he lets his students call him this nickname, as well as being very friendly and humourous, as well as Principal Nelson, who is really kind and helpful to Victoria.
- Creepy Uncle: Trey's uncle was this to Trey.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Connie becomes a lot kinder, warmer and more caring to Victoria later on in the first book.
- Derailing Love Interests: Downplayed, as while Kale doesn't actually become a full-on Jerkass, he does definitely become less likeable, conveniently to make room for Trey as Victoria's new love interest.
- Driven to Suicide: Victoria's foster sister Jamie ends up attempting suicide due to everything in her life suddenly falling apart at once, by drinking bleach, but very luckily survives after being treated in hospital, and has to stay in a convalescence type of place where she gets therapy to help her recover.
- Dude Magnet: Victoria seems to be this to some extent, with the first guy who she claims to have been attracted to her having only been attracted to her rather than her best friend who also liked him, then Kale is very attracted to her longing to be with her, then Trey also reciprocates her attraction towards him.
- Easily Forgiven: Although Victoria does say that she doesn't actually fully forgive Lana yet when they reconcile at the end, and that their friendship will never be the same again, she still seems to accept her friendship again too easily considering what she did was downright abusive, vile and unforgivable, having actually used Victoria's sexual assault case against her to publicly disgrace her in a rally (she didn't name her but everyone still knew it was about her after Blake leaked her case on Twitter to everyone), simply because she was angry with Victoria for saying that she was considering going easy on her dad, to the point it may surprise the reader why Victoria doesn't just abandon this friendship completely, seeing how toxic Lana was to Victoria, not to mention how Lana didn't even apologise properly considering all the damage she'd caused Victoria. Heck she doesn't even show any remorse when Victoria angrily calls her out for this and she can see how upset Victoria clearly is.
- Female Misogynist: Victoria's aunt Audrey, as despite knowing full well that Victoria's dad sexually abused her, instead of supporting other females suffering such misogynistic treatment at the hands of patriarchal men, she actually encourages Victoria to go easy on her father, when as a woman herself you'd think she would be standing by Victoria's side rather than the male abuser's side. Victoria even tries to raise awareness and send a message to her about the significance of sexual violence by inviting her to the charity walk for sexual assault survivors but of course this doesn't change her mind.
- False Friend: Lana proves to be this later on in the sequel book to Victoria, actually betraying her trust and confidence, even though she gets Easily Forgiven in the end.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Victoria's aunt Audrey claims her dad as having had a Freudian Excuse as to why he has sexually abused her, since he was sexually abused himself by their grandfather, and so the cycle of abuse has continued, although Victoria and her step-sister Sarah claim that this doesn't make any sense as surely he would have the opposite attitude after having gone through this knowing how traumatic it is and not want to put any of his own kids through that.
- Gay Best Friend: Downplayed with Ray being this to Victoria in the second book, as while he is not quite the stereotypical gay best friend, and he is not quite Victoria's best friend, he still seems to be close with Victoria with them also discussing their love lives involving guys with each other.
- Girlboss Feminist: Lana is very much this, easily being the most outspoken and dominant of the group, to the point you forget that she is not actually the leader of the group.
- Hate Sink: Blake is this to a tee and beyond in the second book, as he literally does nothing throughout the entire book but viciously harass the SAAHA group that Victoria's in, first by refusing funding for their group accusing them of being a "hate group", then by creating a Mens right's group simply as a bitter and petty statement towards the sexual assault survivors group, then he starts a campaign insisting they be banned, then he posts details about Victoria's sexual assault case with her dad on Twitter simply to spite her and the SAAHA group complaining how there had been an in-fighting; doing nothing but hold an abusive hate campaign against them for the entire book. He also raped a girl before the events of the book, and in his last scene he also attempts to attack Lana. Oh, and then after Victoria attacks him to stop him from attacking Lana, instead of backing down or just simply shouting abuse after them, he actually goes after them and tries harassing them once they are in the car, trying to follow them. Calling this guy a Jerkass is without a doubt the biggest understatement of the century.
- Victoria's dad also of course most notably given he not only sexually assaulted his daughter but also attempted to sexually assault his stepdaughter and was also physically abusing his wife, both his wives at that.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Victoria and Christina.
- Hypocrite: Blake is constantly condemning the SAAHA group for being a "hate group", all while holding a strong hate campaign against them, and even forming his own group that is clearly meant as a hate group against them.
- Innocently Insensitive: The CPS and policeman when they are taking Victoria out of her home and into the care system, as they are very brusque with her even though she is clearly very distressed, seeming like they might actually believe her father's claims of her having been the one to come onto him, although this is likely more out of them just being brusque people in general with their intense jobs, rather than anything being meant maliciously, not that this justifies it of course.
- {{It's All About Me}}: Victoria's dad when he is in prison, as instead of actually showing remorse for what he did to Victoria, all he seems concerned about is getting out of prison, seeing Victoria when she visits only for entirely selfish reasons, which is to try and convince, or rather manipulate her into going easy on him in her statement by downplaying his abuse so he can get out of prison. He does finally apologise in the end, but it's ambiguous as to how sincere this was, since even after he apologises he is still pleading with Victoria to give him another chance and go easy on him so he can get out of prison.
- Jerkass Has a Point: As horrible and hateful as Lana was towards Victoria for using her case against her to form a rally, it was perfectly understandable that she was angry with Victoria for deciding to maybe go easy on her dad after he sexually abused her, as this of course would be morally wrong, and does indeed go against everything the people in their SAAHA group should stand for.
- Jerk Jock: Zach in the first book is an absolute Jerkass who not only makes fun of Victoria for having been arrested the previous night during the dance but also makes fun of her and stigmatizes her for being in foster care and not having " a proper family". He of course typically is also a jock who wears a Letterman jacket and dated the Alpha Bitch.
- Long-Distance Relationship: Victoria finds herself in one of these with Kale throughout this book, which is partly what contributes to their relationship failing.
- Love Triangle: Between Victoria, Kale and Trey in the sequel book.
- Manipulative Bastard: Victoria's dad when he is in prison, as he tries manipulating her into downplaying his abuse towards her for his own selfish reasons, and still doesn't stop at this even after she reads her statement to him. Her aunt Audrey also spends the whole book manipulating Victoria into going easy on her father.
- Missing Mom: Victoria's mom is not present at the time the story takes place due to her having died of breast cancer years earlier, with her only appearing in flashbacks.
- Nice Girl: Jasmine is by far the nicest girl in the SAAHA group.
- Pervert Dad: Victoria's dad is this of course to Victoria, and to his stepdaughter, although luckily he doesn't get as far with the latter.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Kale in the second book, as while he has every reason to feel angry with Victoria for stringing him along and being cold and distant with him, as well as being very temperamental with him, actually showing No Sympathy towards her when she cries in front of him about how everything in her life was falling apart and instead getting angry at her for the way she's been treating him and being hostile towards her, even demanding that she leaves after he gives this speech was rather uncalled for. He could have at least been more sympathetic and supportive towards her before having a talk with her about how he feels about their relationship.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Connie later on in the first book, and especially by the sequel book, to the point that in the sequel book she's the only one truly there for Victoria and giving her proper advice and words of wisdom, being a solid support network.
- Trauma Conga Line: It's actually ridiculous just how much Victoria never seems to get a break. First she loses her mum to cancer while she's still a child, then she is sexually assaulted by her dad, then she is thrown and locked out the house by him, then she is taken away by Child Protection Services and made to sleep on the couch of the CPS office, then she is put in care with a foster mother who is uncaring, abrasive and domineering, then she is arrested in front all of her peers at the school dance for having been ruled as a "runaway" by her foster mother where she has to spend the night in jail, being made fun of by the Jerk Jock at school the next day for it, then she has to witness her foster sister attempt suicide (or at least after she has done so). Then, in the second book, just when you think she is free from all this adversity, she ends up getting harassed by the Big Bad, Jerkass who threatens to leak the details of her court case situation with her dad on Twitter, which he actually goes through with as well, as well as having had her so-called "friend" along with hordes of other girls use her sexual assault case with her dad against her by holding a rally with them all glaring at her when she enters the scene.
