Speechless by Hannah Harrington

Goodreads Blurb

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 was in a book slump for DAYS before I read this. I mean, I read great books, I did! But I felt detached from every single one and I wasn't as hooked as I usually am with books that had that level of action-packed. So it was pretty ironic that what broke it was a contemporary book that was more emotion than action!

"Hate is...too easy," he says.

And this was emotional. Whether you became angry with her, then sympathizing, then wanting to cry, you feel so much emotion and isn't any emotion better than devoid of any? But I've gone through a range of emotions reading this book and the internal turmoil hasn't stopped. Everything was jump started by one little slip of a drunk tongue, and all for the better. Chelsea finally knows who she is without Kristen and her label, what love is, and she finds friends who finally accept her for her. We get to experience all of that in a way that just...touches you. (Do I use that phrase a lot?)

(..) like he's so completely sure of what he's saying.

Leading us to characters. This has possibly the most dynamic character I've ever read. In the beginning I could barely stand Chelsea--she's one of those cliche popular mean girls, BFF with the Queen Bee and the biggest minion of them all. She couldn't see how she was just being used and I was so frustrated with her. But over the course of the book, she changes dramatically into a relatable character who we can understand. And even when Chelsea regretted her choice of doing the right thing, I understood her. Doing what's right is never easy, but she did it anyways. No one can blame her for having her doubts. And that's when I was sold. 

I've been dying to get my hands on Saving June for a year now, and I'm definitely getting it now that I've seen a bit of Harrington's work! Her characters are just so heartfelt and so real.

Love.

And the writing is one I can easily relate with. This is the voice of a real teenager, in all honesty--I don't know about the rest of you, but I definitely think like this at times! The voice of this story is just wonderful, and what's even more wonderful is how this story is told. 

This book is stunning in it's subtle way, exactly as it should be. And I definitely hope I read more books like this--a bit dramatic, a bit emotional, and a bit beautiful.

Love takes courage.

Pages: 288

Genre: Contemporary/Romance

Series: Stand alone

Publisher: Harlequin TEEN

Release Date: Aug. 28, 2012

Rating: 5 stars