Speechless Review

TITLE Speechless
AUTHOR Hannah Harrington
PUBLICATION August 28th 2012 by HarlequinTeen
READ August 27 - 28, 2012

Everyone knows that Chelsea Knot can't keep a secret

Until now. Because the last secret she shared turned her into a social outcast—and nearly got someone killed.

Now Chelsea has taken a vow of silence—to learn to keep her mouth shut, and to stop hurting anyone else. And if she thinks keeping secrets is hard, not speaking up when she's ignored, ridiculed and even attacked is worse.

But there's strength in silence, and in the new friends who are, shockingly, coming her way—people she never noticed before; a boy she might even fall for. If only her new friends can forgive what she's done. If only she can forgive herself.

Speechless catches your eye from the first moment you see it, just not for the reason most books catch your eye. The cover is beautiful in its simplicity, and it makes you wonder what is inside that white binding. What's inside is a very good, contemporary story. I really enjoyed this one, it was full of high school drama (which I love) and we have a main character who starts out as someone we don't really like, but we get to watch her change and become someone much more appealing.

Chelsea Knot was a high school gossip, everything went in one ear.. and then out her mouth to the first person she saw. It's done her good so far. She is in the popular group at her school, and is the "right-hand girl" of Kristen, the Queen Bee of Grand Lake High. But all of that comes to a bitter end when Chelsea sees something at a party and immediately spreads the word getting the involved parties thrown into a life or death situation. I'll admit I was quite surprised with the direction that this novel went, I hadn't expected the situation to have so much depth or to be so touching. But it was, I literally found my jaw dropping at some instances and I wanted to reach in and shake the ignorant characters.

Characters; the driving force of any good story. Chelsea was someone who I didn't care for in the beginning but watching her grow throughout the novel and expand her horizons was definitely a great reading experience. She went from a narrow minded snob to someone who I could actually see myself being friends with. Once she is cast out from the popular crowd she befriends a quiet girl named Asha that she meets in detention one afternoon. The crowd that Chelsea gets pulled into through Asha was full of great people, I thought they all were very well developed. From Dex and Lou the diner owners to even Andy the quiet, angry cook. The one stand out character is, of course, Sam, our love interest. I really liked him and thought that he was exactly what Chelsea needed at that time in her life. He opened her eyes by understanding her and being patient.

For a novel that I went into expecting to be a light, quick read full of fluff, Speechless actually ended up being quite a touching tale that I feel has a lot of important things to say. It touches on so many subjects from tolerance to self acceptance, and it has everything you really need to feel as if you are part of the story, being affected by all the drama. This is one that I will be highly recommending to anyone looking for an Alluring Read.