Review: Speechless by Hannah Harrington

Speechless 

by Hannah Harrington

Published: August 28th 2012 

Publisher: HarlequinTeen

Paperback, 288 pages 

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.--Goodreads

5 Stars!

Review: 

Before I read this book I wrote a paper on the word silence for my English class. I like to say I learn all there is about silence, but I really haven't. My definition on that word (and on any word for that matter) is going to continue to grow as I grow. I actually meant to read this book for more research for my silence paper, but I didn't have time to finish the book for the paper's due date. :( But I still finish the novel and really enjoyed it.

Speechless tackles many problems such as homophobia and bullying. At first I thought Chelsea was a coward for taking the easy way out by not talking. In a small way she was being a coward, but in a bigger way she wasn't. I felt she could've accomplish the same things that she accomplished in the novel without her vow of silence, but the vow of silence symbolized something. The vow of silence stood for the self-loathing Chelsea had towards herself, the anger she has towards Warren and Joey (the people who beat up/ almost killed Noah), and the sadness Chelsea has about her lost friendships. Although Chelsea does realize that she didn't actually want to be friends with Kristen at all; she just wanted to be seen in high school and by being Kristen's BFF, Chelsea was seen. I thought this was selfish, but really doesn't everyone want to be notice? Especially in high school? Maybe not noticed all the time, but at least seen most of the time and not feel invisible like you don't matter?

Asha who became a good friend of Chelsea's was so so kind. Chelsea and Asha met in detention where Asha struck up a convo with Chelsea and invited her to Rosie's (a restaurant Asha, Sam, Noah, Andy, and eventually Chelsea work at). 

I simply do not understand why anyone would beat up another person for something they can't change! Warren and Joey, shortly after finding out that Noah was gay, hunted him down and beat him so hard that Noah went to the hospital unconscious. Even if you don't believe in being gay, why would you beat up someone because you don't believe in what they stand for? Violence is never the answer. Chelsea was the only who found out that Noah was gay and told everyone at the party that Noah was gay and that cause Warren and Joey to go after Noah. If Chelsea never told anyone that bit of gossip Noah would never have gotten hurt. Chelsea blames herself for that, but she didn't know that Noah was going to get beaten, so it's not all her fault. Since we are only human, we're going to blame ourselves for things we can't completely control.

Through Chelsea's vow of silence, she learn a lot about herself. By the end of the novel I was really proud of her. Chelsea was never a bad person, but by the end of the book she became a much better person than she was in the beginning. Many lessons can be learn from this novel and if you guys are looking for a good book to read or just have some free time, read Speechless. You'll read enjoy it and who knows maybe it'll give you something to think about!

Lesson: Think before you speak!

Purchase this novel at: Amazon / B&N / TBD