Review: Speechless by Hannah Harrington

Speechless
by Hannah Harrington
Release Date: August 28, 2012
Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Pages: 288
Source: bought
Links: Goodreads
Stars: 5/5
Synopsis:

Everyone knows that Chelsea Knot can't keep a secret. Unt 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, or 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. 

Review:


I am totally in love. Speechless was an amazing adventure for me that I doubt I'll ever forget. I'm so thankful for all of you who persuaded me to read it, because every syllable of this book was worth reading and every ounce of it was bliss. I just loved watching this story unfold, the miraculous character development, and the sweet and subtle romance. If I hadn't been recommended this book, I think I would have overlooked it--not on purpose--but the cover is plain and white and I don't think it would have captured my attention. Now that I've read the book I love the cover but I don't think I thought that before I began the book.

Chelsea Knot is just one of those characters. Do you know what I mean? She's special, rare. Ive only come across a few characters like her in my entire time reading, and she's the best out of all of them. At the beginning I was conflicted about her. I disliked her snobbery, her want of attention, her constant insecurity, etc. But then I realized about midway through the book, "If every protagonist was perfect, than the whole existence of books would be one big lie." I loved the way that Chelsea was flawed and it made the story so much more believable.

The idea of not talking for as long as Chelsea did blew my mind. I talk a lot (sometimes too much) and it's actually sort of difficult to get me to stop talking sometimes, although it really depends on whom I'm with (my closest friends = you don't want to even go there). After I read Speechless I tried to go around not talking for a few days. But I only lasted a couple hours. But for me, that's semi-impressive. I know that what happened to Chelsea was really scarring and horrible, but I still found it amazing that she was able to go on not talking for as long as she did, considering the amount of talking she did before she went speechless.

I loved Sam so much. He wasn't hot or sexy or all of that crap that YA authors use to describe their love interests, he was just a nerdy, normal guy and I really do have a thing for guys (real and fictional) who are kind of geeky and nerdy-cute and just charmingly imperfect, so that's what made Sam so appealing to me. His character was incredibly believable, and every sentence of his made me just want to reach into the book and hug him like there was no tomorrow.

Anyway, Speechless was a truly amazing experience and I think I'll need to indulge myself with more of Hannah Harrington's writing from now on because it was absolutely mind-blowing.