My Summer Reading: Spoiler Alert

      This summer, I read the book: Speechless by Hannah Harrington. Let me just start with saying, this is a great book. It is about a girl, named Chelsea Knot, who is one of the popular kids in school. She is at her best friend, Kristen Courteau's New Years party, and she is having a good time, and of course, having a couple drinks. Actually, she was having a lot of drinks. And just like any other story, she eventually has too much, and needs to puke. She walks into her guest bedroom, and sees to people on the bed. Two boys. And they were kissing. She runs out of the room and hurries to Kristen, and tells her what's going on. Of course, being drunk, she yells it too loud and half the school hears. Two jocks, being drunk, go and beat up one of the boys; and it was really bad. He had to be hospitalized for over a month. This makes Chelsea feel so bad about what she did, she told the cops. Now she is one of the most hated kids in the school, and has taken a vow of silence because she says people are better off with her not talking. 

      Obviously, this story is filled with a lot of drama. High school drama. Also, there is a lot of the story of where Chelsea is developing into a better person, instead of being the obnoxious Chelsea.  

      This change starts when she meets Asha, someone that made an impression on Chelsea. Such an impression that Chelsea thought, "Normally I wouldn't bother with some geeky freshman loser dressed in the most unfortunate fuzzy purple sweater I've ever seen in mu life. I don't associate with freaks."

      Asha is a nice girl though, and eventually invites her over to the place she works to help her with her homework. The change starts when Andy, the boyfriend of the guy that she got beat up, Andy was there. Being there was emotionally hard for Chelsea because of the guilt she was feeling.   

      Throughout the story, Chelsea has many emotional trouble, because of the things that people that used to be her friends did things like egg her car and vandalized it. Her reaction is not very good, "I let them continue with their bantering and walk up to the car, and that’s when I see it. Someone’s thrown eggs all over the front window, the yolk running down onto the hood in a sticky yellow mess. I walk around only to find the word B**** spelled out in shaving cream all over the back. It’s like I’ve been sucker-punched. My bag drops to the ground at my feet." 

      Even though her old friends are bullying her, her new friends are always there for her. Asha is in the car with her, and Sam is outside talking to Asha when she discovers the eggs and shaving cream. Sam and Asha didn't have to do anything but they do everything they can do to help. 

      Throughout the story Asha and Sam become Chelsea's best friends, and support her through everything. We can learn from Chelsea's story that we should always make friends with the right people.

     The review on Speechless by Shellyrae Cusbert talks about some of the same things, like Chelsea growing from a immature girl to a mature, caring girl. Cusbert also mentions that the consequences that Chelsea faces are realistic, by getting shunned from the popular group. 

Speechless Review