Review: Speechless by Hannah Harrington

Speechless

By: Hannah Harrington

Pub. Date: August 28, 2012

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Pages: 336

Source: Netgalley

The story of a girl named Chelsea Knot who takes a voluntary oath of silence after her gossip-mongering ways yield unexpected consequences…
 
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 knew this book was going to be so good. A girl who takes a vow of silence, because the last secret you spilled almost got someone killed?? WIN! I am a big fan of Hannah Harrington, and loved last year's, Saving June, so I was excited when I saw this on netgalley. It wasn't as awesome as I was hoping it would be, mainly because I hated the main character until the end, but it was still a very enjoyable read.

Chelsea Knot is the stereotypical girl. She LOVES to gossip. She will tell everyone anyone's secrets. Even if she is gossiping about her friends. She doesn't care who she hurts in the process either. She just doesn't think it is a big deal. One night at a party, she walks into a room and sees football player, Noah hooking up with a guy! Thinking this is the biggest news of the year, she tells her friends. Turns out her friends aren't as accepting as gay people as she thought, especially Noah's teammates.

Chelsea can not believe that she was the cause of the horrific hate crime that happened. Not only that, but everyone at school blames her for what happened. To repent, she takes a vow of silence, knowing this will never undo what she did, but she feels that this is better for everyone.

I hated Chelsea for most of the book. Even when she was trying to make amends, I couldn't get past what she did. I can understand that she didn't realize how anti-tolerant her friends would be about the situation, but did she really think it would be ok to out someone like that? During her vow of silence, she actually becomes friendly with Noah's friends. They were the only ones who didn't treat her like crap at school. It just goes to show how good some people could be, even in the face of a horrible situation.

Speechless isn't a light read. It's got some heavy situations in it. But for me, Speechless is mostly about forgiveness and acceptance. It is about being able to forgive those that have wronged you and about forgiving yourself for the mistakes you have made. Everyone does things that they wish they could take back, what matters is how you handle those mistakes.

As with Saving June, I thought the writing was beautiful. Harrington has a way of getting right to your emotions. I also thought the ending was beautifully written. Overall, a good read that I would definitely recommend!