Earlier this year, I reviewed two other books revolving around bullying getting a lot of acclaim: KEEP HOLDING ON by Susane Colasanti and THE LIST by Siobhan Vivian.  SPEECHLESS felt rougher, grittier, and more compelling to me, especially since the reason that main character Chelsea Knot is in her predicament to begin with is because of a secret blurted at an inopportune time.  Author Hannah Harrington focuses on the devastating consequences of a popular girl's fall from grace, as well as extreme bullying techniques due to the fact that she got two popular athletes into trouble with the law.  Harlequin Publishing has long been associated with frou-frou romance titles, and when I first noticed their Teen imprint, I expected more of the same.  This year, I've been pleasantly surprised with just how deep and raw and real the imprint is, steering far away from its roots.  PUSHING THE LIMITS by Katie McGarry dealt with hard issues, and I gushed all over it in my reviews earlier this year.  SPEECHLESS also pushes boundaries, and I found it the best book revolving around school torment this year.

By the end of SPEECHLESS, readers truly care about Chelsea and her life.  This is a complete 180 from the beginning, when Chelsea is a supremely unlikable character.  Chelsea would fit right in with the popular crowd from the movie Mean Girls, living it up at the top of the social pyramid with her friends and trash-talking everyone around her.  After her fall, a lot of her peers thought she got what was coming to her.  After all, "everyone knows that Chelsea Knot can't keep a secret."  In a way, Chelsea reminds me a lot of Samantha Kingston from Lauren Oliver's award-winning BEFORE I FALL.  Both Chelsea and Sam are easy to dislike, and it's hard to care about their plight.  They both learn hard lessons about the consequences of their actions and become stronger, kinder characters along the way.  This particularly shines through in SPEECHLESS because Chelsea must make amends with the friends of the student who was the victim of her words, especially as she realizes how much she likes them.

It's interesting to see the way Chelsea's words and actions change her life.  She even takes a vow of silence after reading an article in National Geographic, which fuels more teasing at school from students who don't understand.  I know from personal experience that long-term silences (even with just one person) are hard, especially when you want to talk, but don't know how to start things up again after going so long without.  In that aspect, I connected with the book on an additional level that other readers might not.  I also liked the unflinching way Harrington highlights the consequences of one's actions, the negative side of bullying, and the benefits that come from sticking up for your beliefs and doing what's right.  SPEECHLESS is a powerful addition to the teen genre and should be read by teens of all ages, forcing them to consider thinking before they speak.~*~

 

This Saturday, Macmillan is sending its quarterly Fierce Reads tour my way!  Not only that, but they've been kind enough to ask my personal blog A Backwards Story to be the Featured Blogger at the event! 

I'll be live tweeting from the event as @abackwardsstory (so long as I can get onto the wi-fi without a library card because I won't be in my own township) and posting a wrap-up either Saturday night or Sunday morning along with an exclusive interview AND a giveaway of six autographed books from Macmillan and attending authors Gennifer Albin (CREWEL), Leigh Bardugo (SHADOW AND BONE), Caragh M. O'Brien (The Birthmarked Trilogy), and Marie Rutkoski (THE SHADOW SOCIETY, The Kronos Chronicles Trilogy)!  I'm hoping to also pick up some fun swag to give away as well!

 

Make sure to check back this weekend for all the details!

 

If you have any burning questions you'd like to ask any/all of these authors, please leave them in a comment below and I'll ask them on Saturday!

 

I'll be reviewing (and in one case, re-posting a review) each of the Fierce Reads authors this week, so look forward to reviews on the books all week long!

~*~

HAPPY BOOK DAY!!

 

Yesterday also marked the Book Day of two of the authors, CREWEL by Gennifer Albin and THE SHADOW SOCIETY by Marie Rutkoski. 

 

I've read both of these and they're both great reads, so check them out.   ....And, of course, enter to win them this weekend!

 

I'll be reviewing both of these novels this week, so look forward to it!

 ~*~

 

CONGRATULATIONS!!

 

And while, sadly, Fierce Reads author Marissa Meyer won't be at Saturday's event (Woe, I tell you, woe!!!), her debut novel CINDER was just listed as one of YALSA's 2012 Teens' Top Ten Books! (Along with heavyweight authors John Green, Sarah Dessen, and Meg Cabot, plus many more talented authors!  I love so many books on this list!)

 

For anyone who has yet to learn about the fabulousness that is CINDER (and what are you waiting for?  Run.  Now!), check out my review from earlier this year, along with an interview with Macmillan cover designer Rich Deas!

 

 

Want a gritty new book to love while waiting for something new from Lauren Oliver?


Stay tuned after today's review at the bottom of this post to enter to win your own copy of the buzzworthy PUSHING THE LIMITS!  Today may be my birthday, but HarlequinTeen and I are gifting one of you with this incredible, hard-hitting novel!


Also, did you know there's mythology in PUSHING THE LIMITS?  It's true!
Check out my Mythological Mondays post!

Another cool thing?  Candace's Book Blog, Natalia @ Dazzling Reads, The Page Turners, Mary @ The Book Swarm and at The Bewitched Bookworms have put together a PUSHING THE LIMITS Read-Along from July 31st to August 28th, including a live Twitter chat with author Katie McGarry!  
Click here for more information!

While I've always been more of a fan of fantasy than I have contemporary, especially teen contemporary now that I'm no longer a teen, I've been trying to read more in this genre.  PUSHING THE LIMITS by Katie McGarry has been garnering huge amounts of advance buzz this summer, the like of which I haven't seen since Stephanie Perkins released ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS.  It took me a long time to pick up ANNA because I didn't like the cover or the title and, let's face it, I thought it was pure romance, which I really don't read.  But it was devastatingly good and stuck with me long after the book ended because the character development was so superb.  PUSHING THE LIMITS also has a very romantic cover, so I overlooked the book when I first saw it online and I ignored the initial buzz.  I read an interview that another blogger had done with McGarry and became intrigued.  When publisher HarlequinTeen offered me a review copy and a giveaway copy, I jumped at the chance to see the book everyone is talking about.  I'm not going to make the mistake I did with ANNA and judge this book by its cover.

I'm so glad I read this.  As soon as the book arrived, I dropped what I was reading (Which turned into a DNF anyway, so I'm glad I dropped it...*cough*) to pick up PUSHING THE LIMITS and I devoured it.  It was my day off, so I had plenty of time to read, and I stayed up late to finish.  It was that good.  Like the way Perkins developed characters I became enamored with when reading ANNA, so too did McGarry.  Plus, PUSHING THE LIMITS is an issues book.  Personally, I love books full of hard-hitting issues because they keep my attention more than a straight-forward romance ever could.  Books with issues are the sort of contemporary novels I love best.

Ignore the deceptively romantic cover.  All of that romance came at a high price.  Told in alternating points of view between main characters Echo and Noah, both characters are incredibly damaged at the novel's start.  Echo's older brother died in Afghanistan, which was a huge blow to her family.  Her mother, who already suffered from mental illness, did something devastating, something that left scars on Echo despite the fact that her mind has repressed the memory.  Noah, on the other hand, is an orphan.  His parents died in a tragic house fire and his two younger brothers have been taken away from him and put into separate foster housing.  Both Echo and Noah had so much taken from them and have gone through so much ever since their respective tragedies.  Despite being from different paths in life, they find one another and learn how to heal, how to let go, how to move on, how to embrace the future and leave the past behind.  The journey these two embark on is incredible and by the novel's end, both have come so far.

It's hard to describe PUSHING THE LIMITS without giving things away.  All I can say is that McGarry, despite this being her debut novel, is a pro at layering and building up the development of her characters.  Their world is real, and it's so easy for readers to get lost in the journey.  The book has very raw, realistic emotions reminiscent of teen contemporary queen Simone Elkeles, who actually has a blurb on the dust jacket of PUSHING THE LIMITS.  While most of McGarry's secondary characters fall to the wayside (it isn't, after all, their story), it's interesting to see that she'll focus on one of these characters in the 2013 release of her next novel, DARE YOU TO.  While the character isn't one I necessarily gravitated to the first time around, it will be interesting to see how McGarry gets into her psyche and whether or not she can make me care the way she did when I read about Echo and Noah.  I'll willing to take that chance and find out.  Are you?

Now it's your turn. 

 You have until August 15th to enter to win the awesome PUSHING THE LIMITS by debut author Katie McGarry. 

 Good luck!

The 2nd YAS Crush Tourney is on, and Alex is competing against Zachary Moore, and he's losing! 

We need to help him win! Go vote for him now! 

You need some help in making the decision to vote for him? Then why don't you read these:

(quotes chosen by the YA Sisterhood)

Don't miss Figment's upcoming all-star chat: Writing with Friends: How to collaborate on a novel while not losing your mind (or your pal)!