Book Review: Speechless by Hannah Harrington

At First Sight: Chelsea Knot can't keep a secret, everyone knows that. She likes to know everything about everyone just a touch less than she likes sharing her knowledge with the world, particularly with Kristen, her best friend and the most popular girl of their class.

This time - during one of Kristen's parties - Chelsea stumbles upon a really big secret about one of her classmates, Noah, and before she knows it she has told everyone and her actions have consequences that she never imagined before. 

So Chelsea decides to take a vow of silence, since opening her mouth always gets her and the people around her in serious trouble. Still, the vow turns out to be harder than expected, when she wants to speak up, when she's being bullied by those who were supposedly her best friends, when she things would just be easier if she could say what she means. 

Still, the vow takes her to unexpected places, like to meeting new friends Asha and Sam (who happen to be close to Noah) and hanging out with them at the dinner they work at, Rosie's, and dealing with the fall out of the things she has done. 

Australian Cover

Second Glance:  Speechless was an interesting book. I wasn't expecting much of it since I didn't like Saving June all that much - I thought it was okay but nothing didn't love it as much as everyone else seemed too.

Speechless was a happy surprise. I really liked Chelsea from the start - I thought I would hate her because of what she did, but instead I felt a lot of compassion for her.

She was a bit of a bully, partially because she was a huge gossip, but mostly because she went along to get along and let her friends do questionable things without protesting.

But when it mattered, she did the right thing even though it cost her and her family a lot. It does take her a while to realize she might not want her old life back after all, but the way she thought felt very true of a teenager.

I liked Asha, Sam and Andy, and generally all the new people that Chelsea meets, they were a lot nicer than her old friends.

I did think that, toward the end, the book got a little trite and the ending was a little anti-climatic and clichéd, but at least it was sweet and it ended in a good place. 

Bottom Line:  Speechless was a very pleasant surprise to me. It had humor, and I really liked the characters I was supposed to like and disliked the ones I was supposed to dislike, and it worked well for  the most part. All in all, Speechless was a very engaging read. 

Favorite Quote:

"And you think I can help with this... why, exactly?"

"I don't know. You see more diabolical than anyone else here."

Andy puts his hand over his heart and smiles at me like I've just granted him a wonderful compliment. "That's sweet of you," He says.