Speechless Blog Tour

Hi!

It's my stop on the blog tour for the wonderful Speechless by Hannah Harrington, which is very exciting!

Speechless is Hannah's second novel and is a fantastic read exploring the issues surrounding the consequences of gossiping and bullying and how damaging it can really be...

"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"

Here's the trailer for the book as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etOsHnEq4s4

As part of the tour I've managed to grab some Q&As from Hannah about Speechless, giving a real insight into writing about the issues in the novel.

1. Are you a gossiper?
I admit I really love celebrity gossip. I keep up with a lot of those blogs. I find it entertaining, and at least there’s a distance there compared to gossiping about people in my real life.


2. The book deals with very emotional subjects- was it an emotionally tough novel to write?
The most emotional aspect for me was the incorporation of Noah and Andy’s story. It was important to me to hit the right notes and do justice to, since that is a subject close to me. But honestly, even though a lot of people have discussed Speechless as dealing with heavy issues—and it does—it felt like a nice break after writing Saving June, which was much heavier and more personal for me. I wrote about some serious topics in Speechless, but I felt like there was also a lot of lightness to it that helped keep readers—and me!—from being too bogged down by it all.

3. There are many instances of bullying in Speechless. Have you witnessed or experienced bullying?
I think anyone who has experienced middle school has witnessed or experienced some form of bullying. Those were hard years for me. I moved to a new town for high school, but before then I’d grown up in a very small town, and I never really fit in. Most kids had money, and I was poor, and just sort of awkward. I’d sit alone at lunch just writing in a notebook and have people come up to me to mock me about it, or be forced to do partner projects alone because I didn’t have friends. I’d be harassed, teased, excluded. There was a point where a certain group of kids targeted me so badly that the administration had to intervene. It was very painful at the time.

4. Do you ever speak before you’ve thought about what you’re going to say?
I’m pretty sure that happens to the best of us sometimes! I know sometimes I’ve gotten in arguments with people, things get heated, and I’ve said something I knew I’d regret. I try to be mindful of that behavior and not act so thoughtlessly. It can cause a lot of hurt.

5. Who is your favourite character in Speechless?
This may come as a surprise to people, but my favorite character is Andy. I felt like he was one of the most vital characters, even if his role isn’t the biggest. He really gives Chelsea a needed dose of reality, and he doesn’t sanitize her actions. I always find it fun to write the character who doesn’t parse words and is more blunt about things. Not only is it entertaining, but I think it’s a voice that the reader needs to and wants to hear.

And lastly (for a bit of fun).
6. If you were stranded on a desert island for a year and could only take three books, what would you take?
Oh man, this is a tough one! Okay. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris, for the laughs; The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood since I’ve read it at least five times and love it more every time; War and Peace, which I have not read, but it’s really long and that’d keep me occupied for a while, right?


Another exciting thing that is surrounding Speechless at the moment is that Mira Ink have teamed up with Movellas for a writing competition!

All you have to do is take something from Speechless, be it the themes, characters or plot and 'make something wonderful' and you could win signed copies Saving June and Speechless as well as 5 other books from Mira Ink. It sounds like a fantastic opportunity, not only to take a really great read, but to adapt it into your own story/poem/epic, however you want it to be. The stage is yours!

You can check out the full competition page here:
http://www.movellas.com/competition/show/201301231634108128/silence-secrets-a-speechless-contest

Has anyone entered, or going to? How did you find it, was it easy to come up with something - did the ideas flow when you were reading the book?

Last but no means least... I thought I would get into the swing of things properly, not only with the blog tour but with the competition theme and host my very own, very first Mira Ink giveaway!!
I mean, what blog is truly complete without a first giveaway?

I have 5 wonderful, shiny new copies of Speechless to giveaway this week courtesy of Mira Ink and all I want you to do is leave me a comment answering this:

Which books have left you speechless?

The giveaway will close midnight Sunday 24th February and 5 winners will be picked from the comments. It can only count as one entry per person but feel free to tell all your friends/fellow bloggers and stay tuned until next week when I will announce the winners.
Follow Mira Ink on Twitter and Facebook for some drumrolls (and other things) leading up to the announcements!

Have a great week and I hope you've liked this (slightly mammoth) post!

Emily x