Speechless: Review

Title: Speechless
Author: Hannah Harrington
Release Date: August 2012
Published By: Harlequin Teen
Pages: 288
Goodreads Rating: 4.11 stars

Review: 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.

SPEECHLESS opens with an intriguing concept that brought an issue that perhaps can be considered old into a new light. Although topics like gossip and harmful secret sharing are nothing novel in young adult fiction, I've never read a book about a vow of silence, so this intrigued me. The plot is engaging right from the first page and doesn't let up until the book is over, without sacrificing any character development.

As with most young adult books, this novel definitely had a romantic angle to it, which I was not sure would be entirely fitting for the story. To my pleasant surprise, it wasn't jarring at all and fit in relatively smoothly with the events of the book. The romance itself was sweet, although not terribly original. I do sometimes wish that there would be a romance to really shake things up without the same old, predictable line.

What did bother me, though, was the author's treatment of minor characters. As there should have been, there was a large focus on Chelsea and the emotional consequences of her actions, but I wanted to know more about what happened to Noah, Kristen, and her boyfriend, and how the book ended for them too. They were important elements of the story as well and to merely gloss over it felt wrong.

All in all, SPEECHLESS was not quite a book that left me speechless (I just can't resist the puns) but it was a good read nonetheless. The plot concept was intriguing and executed well, although I did wish for a more original romance and a broader focus than just her inner turmoil. I would recommend this to any fans of contemporary, but this is perhaps not the right book for anyone who does not already enjoy the genre. 
 

Saving June: Review

Title: Saving June

Author: Hannah Harrington

Release Date: May 2011

Published By: Harlequin Teen

Pages: 336

Goodreads Rating: 4.19 stars

Review: Harper's older sister has always been the perfect one, so everyone reels with shock when June killed herself a week before graduation - Harper the most devastated of all. She goes against her parents and plans a road trip with her best friend to deliver the ashes to the ocean. When Jake, a boy with a connection to June, insists on coming along, she's desperate enough to let him. Except it turns out June's not the only one with secrets - Jake has one with the power to turn everything upside down.

SAVING JUNE's execution was as lovely as the premise sounds, every word on every page brimming with honest, gritty emotion. Hannah Harrington wove a story of grief, love, and longing set to a backdrop of a road trip across America, the melancholy sweetness of the narrative strong enough affect even the most stolid reader. From Harper's quest to deliver her sister to where she always wanted to go, to the budding emotions concerning Jake's secret, this book promises to pull tears.

Although the writing was exceptional, there were some plot devices that occurred that felt far too contrived. Everything fit together a little too perfectly and coincidentally to be truly satisfying, and the plot's smoothness was perhaps its largest flaw. Some of these events were rather cliché and a bit too overused to be anything but stale, and the novel could have benefited from a more original take on the road trip romance in this regard.

From a talented author comes a remarkable debut book with a sweet, moving plot and a cast of characters sure to warm the grizzliest of hearts. The storyline bordered on contrived at points and was not wholly original, but it was executed well with emotional writing. This is a novel for anyone who enjoys young adult contemporary fiction with grieving and road trips.  

I received a free copy of this book for review. This in no way affected my review.