Author: Hannah Harrington
Rating: 4.5/5 stars- waiting to see if it lingers
Synopsis (as found on Goodreads):
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.
Review:
Ok so first: the cover is prettier than it looks online.
It's one of those covers that are even more gorgeous in person, because it shimmers in the light like a pearly dragon scale or something and personally, I'm happy to own it.
Hannah Harrington. Oh where do we start.
I read Hannah Harrington's debut novel Saving June about a year or two ago, and at the time I didn't think too too much about it, having liked the book, but wasn't crazy about it.
Yet as time goes on, and the days where I sit and muse about the contemporaries I've read and the stories that have genuinely touched my heart (yes I do that ok my head is like a high speed train running through topic to topic), somehow Saving June manages to be summoned up into my memories. It found a little niche in my heart to hide, coming out at moments when I need it.
That's when I knew I had to read more of Hannah Harrington's books.
Except Saving June was her only novel at the moment. Heh.
Speechless came out a while ago, and while I was crap at reading it when it was released, I finally did read it and I was satisfied but I'm still waiting.
Explanation: I want to see if it also find a corner of my heart to hide in.
But no means was this book flawless though. I don't particularly think this book was groundbreaking in the issues it addresses- it was good, it was simple, and it told a story effectively and had good morals in it. I walked away feeling good, feeling like I had one of those weird meditation things that somehow make you feel good and makes you open up and see the world better.
I did love that one line where Noah talked about hate and love.
It's not the most original plotline or romance, the characters are the tried-true kind that every contemporary has, the topic it address is a usual cliche pain in the neck, blah blah blah. It kind of doesn't matter too much in the end. Because it was executed in a way like made you feel the right way, kept you interested as you follow the protagonist through her journey of self-discovery, and the morals were delivered beautifully and thoughtfully.
It's the way the author writes that make her books come off the way it does. It's a comforting yet poignant feel, and it although the issues are different, the stories, the characters, everything is different, the underlying flow of the writing is the same for Saving June and Speechless. It makes everything not only bearable, but somehow the story was taking you by the hand and you were floating adrift with you. The characters became a comforting cast of friends you follow, despite how they seem so cliche yet seem to have these angles you never thought they'd have. The story loses the irritation it usually gives you with all the cliches. It just somehow clicks and works.
Only time will tell if this tale will stay with me like Saving June did and still does. I do think Saving June has a greater impact emotionally wise, but Speechless was more of a comforting blanket in the cold.
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