Review: Speechless by Hannah Harrington

 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.

I adored Hannah Harrington’s Saving June so I was so excited to hear that she was writing a new book and I had to read it. Speechless lived up to its expectations and made me laugh and cry-something that I don’t usually do when reading.

Chelsea Knot is a popular girl who gets invited to all the parties and has all the “cool” friends, but that changes when she can’t keep a secret that almost gets someone killed and gets two people arrested. I hate reading about stuck-up rude girls, but I liked reading about Chelsea because after being abandoned by her so-called friends, she changes and starts to see things in a new light. I liked how she went from being a yacker to a mute; you could say that she went through “spiritual cleansing” by taking time to figure out what she was going to write when “talking” to others.

Asha and Sam were my favorite characters. Asha was Chelsea’s friend when everyone else hated her and her character was very kind and considerate. Sam was the boy Chelsea thought would hate her forever because of what she said, but he turned out to be a really nice guy and a friend (and romantic interest) she could truly rely on.

Hannah Harrington’s writing was beautiful and I could really relate to the characters because they were so down to earth. A lot of real life issues were talked about including gay bashing and bullying and I think that the high school scenes were portrayed pretty well. I can’t wait to read more of Harrington’s work in the future. 4.5 stars! 

Release Date: August 28th, 2012, Harlequin Teen