Scan barcode
theeclecticreview's review against another edition
5.0
“Words matter–how we use them and how we don’t.”
Chelsea learned the hard way. Her words almost ended up killing a fellow classmate. When she outed a boy at a party, her “friends” decided to beat him and send him to the hospital. Her conscience made her rat out those friends and all hell broke loose. Due to the incident and her actions, she decided to take a vow of silence which changes her life forever.
This is a frightening, true-to-life, story that we see way too often in our world and Ms. Harrington, again, finds a very real way of bringing this raw view of bullying, peer pressure and friendships into the 21st century. The story is riveting and the characters are well-developed and engaging. A must-read for young and old alike.
Thank you to Ms. Harrington, Harlequin and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review this book.
Chelsea learned the hard way. Her words almost ended up killing a fellow classmate. When she outed a boy at a party, her “friends” decided to beat him and send him to the hospital. Her conscience made her rat out those friends and all hell broke loose. Due to the incident and her actions, she decided to take a vow of silence which changes her life forever.
This is a frightening, true-to-life, story that we see way too often in our world and Ms. Harrington, again, finds a very real way of bringing this raw view of bullying, peer pressure and friendships into the 21st century. The story is riveting and the characters are well-developed and engaging. A must-read for young and old alike.
Thank you to Ms. Harrington, Harlequin and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review this book.
amychant07's review against another edition
4.0
For the full review please visit my blog: Following the Reader :)
This is the first book I have read of Hannah Harrington's, though I have been trying to get my hands on a copy of Saving June!
Speechless is a thought provoking young adult novel, about the consequences of gossiping and bullying. Teens these days are faced with these everyday, becoming victims of gossip and bullying. Hannah gives a powerful voice to those being bullied. As in the case with Speechless the topic of bullying is Homophobia. Hannah approaches this issue with great care and a well thought out plot line.
This is the first book I have read of Hannah Harrington's, though I have been trying to get my hands on a copy of Saving June!
Speechless is a thought provoking young adult novel, about the consequences of gossiping and bullying. Teens these days are faced with these everyday, becoming victims of gossip and bullying. Hannah gives a powerful voice to those being bullied. As in the case with Speechless the topic of bullying is Homophobia. Hannah approaches this issue with great care and a well thought out plot line.
stephxsu's review against another edition
3.0
Hannah Harrington’s debut novel, [b:Saving June|10947600|Saving June|Hannah Harrington|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1301624078s/10947600.jpg|13329559], was my delightful surprise of 2011, so I had high expectations for her sophomore novel, SPEECHLESS. And while I didn’t like SPEECHLESS as much as I did [b:Saving June|10947600|Saving June|Hannah Harrington|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1301624078s/10947600.jpg|13329559], it was still an uplifting and quick YA contemporary read.
SPEECHLESS’ strength lies in its treatment of its protagonist, Chelsea. There is no doubt that Chelsea is a mean girl at the beginning of the book, so caught up in the dangerous thriller of being the first to find and spread gossip, and yet we readers undoubtedly see the potential she has in her for good. And yeah, okay, this is kind of the way that protagonists have to be—they have to arouse our empathy in order for us to want to invest in their journey—but Chelsea is, really, likable. She has a very relatable reaction to her changing social position at her high school, but she has an inner strength that we can admire: this is not a girl who will dissolve into a spineless, quivering, tearful mess in the face of extreme challenges.
That being said, the predictability of the rest of the story made this only a mediocre read for me. SPEECHLESS follows a very basic YA contemporary story format, complete with a budding romance that readers can call from the love interest’s first appearance on the page. While Chelsea’s situation is no doubt cringe-inducing—she’s forced to suffer at the hands of some truly heartless school bullies—it’s all written about in a very straightforward manner, so that you can anticipate everything that’s about to happen. While I don’t always require oodles of surprises and utter originality in my reads, the elements of this book just all felt very…safe to me, and thus ultimately forgettable.
SPEECHLESS’ reformed protagonist, golden-hearted supporting characters, and predictably sweet romance are nothing new in this genre, but sometimes that’s the kind of read you seek. If so, you can’t go wrong with Hannah Harrington’s well-intentioned books.
SPEECHLESS’ strength lies in its treatment of its protagonist, Chelsea. There is no doubt that Chelsea is a mean girl at the beginning of the book, so caught up in the dangerous thriller of being the first to find and spread gossip, and yet we readers undoubtedly see the potential she has in her for good. And yeah, okay, this is kind of the way that protagonists have to be—they have to arouse our empathy in order for us to want to invest in their journey—but Chelsea is, really, likable. She has a very relatable reaction to her changing social position at her high school, but she has an inner strength that we can admire: this is not a girl who will dissolve into a spineless, quivering, tearful mess in the face of extreme challenges.
That being said, the predictability of the rest of the story made this only a mediocre read for me. SPEECHLESS follows a very basic YA contemporary story format, complete with a budding romance that readers can call from the love interest’s first appearance on the page. While Chelsea’s situation is no doubt cringe-inducing—she’s forced to suffer at the hands of some truly heartless school bullies—it’s all written about in a very straightforward manner, so that you can anticipate everything that’s about to happen. While I don’t always require oodles of surprises and utter originality in my reads, the elements of this book just all felt very…safe to me, and thus ultimately forgettable.
SPEECHLESS’ reformed protagonist, golden-hearted supporting characters, and predictably sweet romance are nothing new in this genre, but sometimes that’s the kind of read you seek. If so, you can’t go wrong with Hannah Harrington’s well-intentioned books.
rcrops's review against another edition
2.0
I am sorry I wasted my time on this book. The characters were ridiculous throughout the entirety except Sam. He was the only thing that made the book readable if I'm honest. It really was not my idea of a good book and I found the school scenes really fake and annoying.
bookishmadness's review against another edition
5.0
What it's about: A teenage girl who can't keep secrets decides to take a vow of silence after she almost gets a boy killed because she couldn't keep a secret.
What I thought: I was worried that this book was going to annoy me that Chelsea couldn't talk. I know, that's the whole point of the story, but still, I wasn't sure how it was going to go. But I don't even know why I worried because Hannah Harrington is an amazing writer and she wrote this story perfectly! This story made me cringe, made me laugh but most of all, made me cry (in a good way of course!).
The good: Chelsea Chelsea Chelsea. WOW. What a fantastic character. I absolutely love when characters make a massive personality/life change and this was it. Chelsea starts being popular and stuck-up, judging people by their looks, only caring about parties and shopping and ignoring school. As she struggles through her vow of silence, she learns about what it is like to be on the receiving end of the bullying. She learns about people by watching and listening, and learns not to judge. The changes she goes through is tremendous and Chelsea is a strong character who takes it all in her stride. All the supporting characters are amazing, I wanted to be part of their little group. Sam, yes it is obvious from the beginning that Chelsea will develop feelings for me, but that doesn't make it any less lovable!
The bad: I was slightly annoyed that it took Chelsea so long to move on from her friendship with Kristen. Yes, they were best friends for ages, but even Chelsea could see most of it was a lie, but she clung on for so long, I wanted to slap her a bit.
Rating: 5 bookstacks
What I thought: I was worried that this book was going to annoy me that Chelsea couldn't talk. I know, that's the whole point of the story, but still, I wasn't sure how it was going to go. But I don't even know why I worried because Hannah Harrington is an amazing writer and she wrote this story perfectly! This story made me cringe, made me laugh but most of all, made me cry (in a good way of course!).
The good: Chelsea Chelsea Chelsea. WOW. What a fantastic character. I absolutely love when characters make a massive personality/life change and this was it. Chelsea starts being popular and stuck-up, judging people by their looks, only caring about parties and shopping and ignoring school. As she struggles through her vow of silence, she learns about what it is like to be on the receiving end of the bullying. She learns about people by watching and listening, and learns not to judge. The changes she goes through is tremendous and Chelsea is a strong character who takes it all in her stride. All the supporting characters are amazing, I wanted to be part of their little group. Sam, yes it is obvious from the beginning that Chelsea will develop feelings for me, but that doesn't make it any less lovable!
The bad: I was slightly annoyed that it took Chelsea so long to move on from her friendship with Kristen. Yes, they were best friends for ages, but even Chelsea could see most of it was a lie, but she clung on for so long, I wanted to slap her a bit.
Rating: 5 bookstacks
kalliste's review against another edition
3.0
I nearly didn't finish this one. I said to myself "If by the time I get off the bus this afternoon and I still don't like this book, I'm giving up".
I didn't and it was a cute, easy read in the end. It has a 'serious' theme about gay teenagers and how it's ok to be gay the actions of some not so open minded people but it's really not that serious.
The main character is quite hard to take and being that it's written in first person makes it just that little bit harder. I just wanted to tell her to shut up (which is quite funny, given one of the plot points) so many times and realise she's an idiot... eventually, after 200 pages she did.
The supporting characters were much more likeable and interesting than Chelsea and I think they're the only thing that kept me going.
I didn't and it was a cute, easy read in the end. It has a 'serious' theme about gay teenagers and how it's ok to be gay the actions of some not so open minded people but it's really not that serious.
The main character is quite hard to take and being that it's written in first person makes it just that little bit harder. I just wanted to tell her to shut up (which is quite funny, given one of the plot points) so many times and realise she's an idiot... eventually, after 200 pages she did.
The supporting characters were much more likeable and interesting than Chelsea and I think they're the only thing that kept me going.
bookishwillowdusk's review against another edition
3.0
This book was so young adult it hurt. All the teen drama and romance really made me realize that I am so thankful to not be in high school anymore. I'm not gonna lie, there were come cute parts that made me go 'aww' but overall it was a really quick, easy read and brought me back to my high school years. I enjoyed the personable voice Chelsea spoke with, but I felt like some of the characters were not fleshed out enough and lacked the depth associated with higher-level reading.
maximevhm's review against another edition
4.0
I have to admit that when I started reading the book I wasn't that excited. This was mostly because the start was kind of cliché. Typical girls in high school who party and gossip a lot, but after the vow of silence things changed and I became aware of the message behind it. I really liked the ending of the book, "..and I don't have to say a word.” it shows that yes, you can say a lot with words, but at the same time you can say a lot without words as well.
It is so interesting how you can become so aware of yourself by not speaking. Not speaking to others, but also not to yourself. This book has such a good message. It is good to realize that sometimes the best thing to do is just to say nothing, because words do matter.
:) xx
It is so interesting how you can become so aware of yourself by not speaking. Not speaking to others, but also not to yourself. This book has such a good message. It is good to realize that sometimes the best thing to do is just to say nothing, because words do matter.
:) xx