Speechless by Hannah Harrington

Title: Speechless
Author: Hannah Harrington
Age Group: Teens
# of Pages: 272
My Rating: 5/5

Chelsea Knot loves to gossip. She can't help it. Once she hears something, she must tell it to someone. But what happens when she revealed something she shouldn't have that resulted in someone almost getting killed? Chelsea takes on the vow of silence so she will never end up hurting anyone else by her words ever again.

I read Harrington's debut novel, Saving June, last year, which I highly enjoyed. In my opinion, Speechless is even better than Saving June.

The story didn't not take long to develop, which I love. Chelsea caught a classmate she knew having sex at a party. He was with another guy. Thinking that she would get a good laugh out of it, she proceeded to tell a group of friends at that party. She received an unexpected reaction of homophobic disgust, resulting in a couple of the guys to beat up the classmate later on. Originally, Chelsea had that "I don't give a damn" attitude until there was a bad turn of events due to her gossiping habits. I was proud to see that she immediately saw how wrong the actions of her so-called friends were and spoke the truth about it, even though her best friend wanted to pretend nothing had happened. Everything in her life immediately changed and everyone she used to know shunned and bullied her right after.

During her vow of silence, a girl that was friend's with the victim befriended her. Chelsea was unsure about this act of kindness initially, but graciously accepted the friendship. As a reader, you get to see how she internalizes her surroundings and grows as she starts to learn the reality of her "friends" from the past and those who truly care for her. Her being silent allows her to take in so much more than she could ever have known. From start to finish, Harrington created a novel that is truly engaging and would have you think critically about the current issues on bullying and homophobia. It's one of those novels that leaves a lasting impression which gives you sympathy for the protagonist from start to finish.

Speechless encompasses real issues, real characters and a story that anyone can truly connect to.

Review copy provided by Harlequin Teen.

Author Interview: Hannah Harrington

So it has been ages since my last author interview! For those who likes to read the author interviews, I apologize! During the school year, I totally forgot about it altogether and just focused on trying to get a post up every week as much as possible. If you guys want to see an author interview with an author I have reviewed a novel of, please comment below! (Either click the author interview hashtag or search on the side bar to see).

Three weeks ago, I reviewed a contemporary novel called Saving June about a girl who goes on a road trip to California in order to spread her sister's ashes (click here for review). Originally, the novel was supposed to be coming out this May. Unfortunately for those who are anticipating it, the release date got pushed to December 2011.

So while waiting, you can read the interview with Saving June's author, Hannah Harrington! (Apparently I'm the first to interview her, haha!)

What inspired you to write Saving June?

There wasn't really one singular event that inspired the book-- I actually wrote a bit of it while I was still in high school. I had the characters in my head, I just wasn't sure what to do with them at first. About two years after I graduated, it all sort of coalesced into a fully formed idea that I decided to write out. Some of it was inspired by my own teenage experience, either people I'd known or things I'd gone through personally, and some of it just came while I was writing.

Have you ever gone on a road trip before? If so, what was the experience like?

I've been on a lot of road trips! When I was seventeen I drove in a van with some friends from Michigan to New York for a political protest. I've also done the drive up Highway 1 along the California coast that Harper, Jake, and Laney take in the book-- it's a breathtaking drive. The most recent road trip I took was from Illinois to Atlantic City with two friends; we did both ways within less than 48 hours, which was completely ridiculous, but also a blast. We stopped in Philadelphia on the way back, where I'd never been, and I ended up accidentally wandering around five blocks out of my way trying to meet up with my friends to get cheese steaks-- it would've been annoying, except it was kind of nice to get a look at the city. There was also a lot of off-key car singing and good conversation involved, the kind that can only happen when you've been trapped in a car with someone for over ten hours and lost all sense of shame.

Where else would you like to travel to, road trip or not?

I've never been to Europe, and I'm dying to go at some point. The one city in the U.S. that I haven't ever visited but would love to is New Orleans. The whole culture there is so interesting to me.

What would you recommend someone to bring or do before going on a road trip?

Well, good music is definitely a must! I have an iPod, but I tend to go with burning mix CDs; my car is full of them. And a lot of people have GPS systems now, but I always print out online directions as a backup since those things can go a little haywire in my experience.

What are your personal thoughts on suicide?

It's complex and painful in about a million different ways. What I hope people take away from SAVING JUNE is that, like much else in life, when it comes to that, you can't always draw straight lines to find easy answers.

Do you have any other stories in progress? If so, please give us a brief description of it.

My second book will also be published with Harlequin Teen-- it's called SPEECHLESS, and it's about a girl named Chelsea Knot who takes a vow of silence after her gossip-mongering ways yield unexpected consequences. It has some romance too, of course!

To close off, please give us an interesting fact about yourself that most people don’t know of!

My favorite song to play on guitar is U2's "With Or Without You." Probably because it's one of the few I can play that is halfway passable!

Saving June by Hannah Harrington

Title: Saving June

Author: Hannah Harrington

Age Group: Older Teens

# of Pages: 384

My Rating: 4.5/5

Harper's sister, June, committed suicide. Devastated, Harper has no idea why her perfect older sister decided to do so. In order to fulfill June's wish to go to California, Harper decided to embark in a journey to spread her sister's ashes to the place she always dreamed of living in. Tagged along with her is her best friend, Laney, and Jake, a classic-rock fanatic who had a connection with June.

On a road trip to the west coast, the three encountered new people and new experiences. Harper learns about herself and her sister on the journey when she discovers that nothing is all it appears sometimes.

I somewhat expected the novel to be a really depressing from the fact that the protagonist's sister killed herself. However, it turned out to be a very swell contemporary novel that I am sure many people of all ages will enjoy and take to heart.

I had conflicts with Harper sometimes in the novel. There were times where I would really like her personality as she would stand up for herself and take no crap from anyone. Then there are the times where she would get slightly under my nerves in certain situations. Overall though, I found her to be extremely dimensional with personal conflicts who still has a lot to learn. Jake and Laney who have problems themselves also added to the enrichment of the story. Although none of them are perfect, you can tell that later down the road they would take a lot from this trip together.

This novel has a lot to do with music, especially songs from your parents time. However, not being much of a classic-rock person myself, it wasn't in my interest. I did think that it added a very nice touch to the story though, because it seemed that it worked so nicely with the road trip.

Saving June is a deep novel with many layers that practically anyone could relate to, teen or not. It is a thought-provoking read with amazing music similar to Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert, without the pure rawness. I highly recommend it! However, the novel will not be out until December 2011 so hold tight! As well, there would be a cover change.

Review copy provided by Harlequin Teen.