Speechless by Hannah Harrington Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
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Synopsis:
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.
Running my mouth has hurt enough people already-the least I can do is shut up. Why can’t everyone see I’m doing the world a favor?
There are so many books that I admire and adore, especially when it comes to YA realistic fiction. And while I can’t say they all make lasting marks on my heart, they do get under my skin. I’m starting to read so many in this genre that I am beginning to get pickier, look deeper, see what I crave-It’s not simply, oh, this is realistic fiction, now. It’s-Oh, well, this worked for me here, so let’s find something even better. And that’s exactly where this book landed, for me: I found a niche last year that gripped deep into my soul, and I’ve yet to find many wins for it. My absolute favorite book last year was Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers, and literally nothing has compared since. And while this was a super close second…it just didn’t hold a candle to my wonderfully depraved, over-the-top, and beautiful boy holding favorite of 2015.
I can’t believe this is my life now. Spending lunch in the library. Doing homework. Ahead of time. Homework I cannot even understand. Oh, parabolas, why must your formulas elude me so?
Which isn’t this book’s fault-It was a delightful take on one of my now favorite type of stories ever. But, for me, when the last page turned….I was fine. I didn’t need more, I didn’t wonder what happened next, it was just over for me. And that’s probably due to the fact that this wasn’t as dark as I’d have hoped. And yes, I was told this was lighter on the bullying front, but I do tend to like a little more vigor behind the former-best-friends trope. And all I really got was a mild confrontation or two where feelings were hurt…and not much else.
Maybe some bridges are better left burned.
I expected the girls to be vicious, cruel, unrelenting…and they were, to an extent. But when I was bearing down, expecting dirt and grit and something extra it just…leveled. And that’s the main reason I can’t give this more than four. While the story and boy stole my heart…the depth just wasn’t there for me.
I am trying so hard not to be that person anymore. I am trying to be the kind of person who deserves to be looked at the way Sam is looking at me now, like I’m someone worth caring about, someone worth knowing. I want to prove that the risk he’s taken in reaching out to me isn’t for nothing, but I don’t know how to do that.
Which leads me to Sam-kind, loyal, smart, endearing, and fiercely protective, he, of course, wormed his way into my heart. In the beginning, he wasn’t a huge fan of our MC (I refuse to say Chelsea, it’s odd almost talking in third person without it being funny lol), but he never treated her with anything other than respect. And this is a favorite of mine-When the male doesn’t like the MC because of some past misdeed done to them or someone they love (COUGH SOME GIRLS ARE COUGH MY HEART). He begins to see she’s a good person, she has a good heart…she just can’t shut her mouth to save her life when it comes to gossip.
You can be surrounded by people and still be lonely. You can be the most popular person in school, envied by every girl and wanted by every boy, and still feel completely worthless. The world can be laid at your feet and you can still not know what you want from it.
And that’s my other favorite part about this story-He fell for her mind, her actions, her smile…not her mouth, not pretty words, and not her declarations of how she did no wrong. I feel this put a nice, new twist on something that has been done before, and it made it all the more sweeter when the popular-but nerdy-Sam finally fell for the gossiper trying to set things right after hurting someone.
He faces me, my Nelly dog in his hands. Oh, God. That’s embarrassing.
“I met your friend,” he says. He cups the back of Nelly’s neck and bobs her droopy head up and down. “Arf, arf.”
“I think she likes you.”
“Well, we’ve been bonding.”
I let out a fake gasp. “Uh-oh. Does this mean I have some competition?”
“She’s cute, but I don’t think so. There’s only one girl for me,” he says. His smile is like floodlights, lighting up everything.
^^See, this is why I might have given a five (he’s so cute-it’s always a boy for me, lol) if it wasn’t for the lack of grit!!!^^
So, yeah. Other people did the evil ex-best friends work and there wasn’t as much..hmm..darkness as I’d have liked, but this was a great story that really satisfied my inner worry that I’d never find another book like my beloved SGA from 2015-and it was funny! I loved her voice, she really cracked me up. And while I wish I was a little more satisfied, I was content in the fact that it was fun, sweet, and I met yet another wonderful loyal boy. I’m starting to find all these sweet ‘loyal’ guys lately…and I’m really loving it. It’s fresh, it’s not done correctly very often and I’m going to savor this win streak of sweet boys as long as I can find it. ♥ ♥ ♥
Maybe when it comes down to it, what we’re interested in doesn’t mean so much-it’s who you are that ties people together.
(Inadvertent) Christmas gift from the lovely Jen!! love ya lots! ♥ ♥ ♥
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Another realistic fiction win. While there was quite a bit left to be to desired (One of my absolute favorite books last year was Some Girls Are, so this had a lot to be compared to), I still found that it was exactly the type of book I love to read. It’s so rare that you find an excellent book centered around the new outcast of a once social queen-At least for me it is-and I ate this shit up. The friends turning against her, the school…it just hit all the right places.
And then, of course, Sam!!! Her knight in shining armor. Seriously. I am in SUCH a win streak. Still waiting on my first realistic fiction five star of the year, though.
Review to come!
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