*sigh* It pains me to rate this book so low, it really does. I really wanted to like this book. It started off ok, but then it just slowly went downhill from there. So many things about this book irked me. For one, I was instantly annoyed by the fact that Melody (the main character) has seemingly genius, no make that savant, level intelligence. But because she can't speak (she has a severe form of Cerebral Palsy) no one really knows just how smart she is. 
 Don't get me wrong, I'm all for disabled characters being shown to be smart and 'just like other people' but the level of Melody's intelligence was almost unbelievable. I'm talking being able to memorize entire numbers and names, speeches and even entire movies from the age of three. Sorry, that just struck me as entirely unbelievable and really pushing to show this character is 'special' despite her disability. 
 Another thing that bothered me were the...ahem 'characters'. They were so one dimensional, like cardboard cut-out flat! It got to a point where I could easily put almost every character into two camps. 
 1. The flimsy antagonists whose sole purpose is to crack jokes and make extremely offensive comments about the main character. 
 2. Or the characters who constantly spout stuff like 'you're just like everyone else' or 'You're perfect just the way you are.' 
 (Not that I mind characters like that, but please try and mix it up a little. It's a very bad sign when almost all the cast can be dumped into two groups like that. *shakes head* ) 
 I should say that I also have Cerebral Palsy, although not as severe as the main character. So, a lot of the stuff shown in this book was kind of....I guess off-putting for me. With the character's almost constant verbal abuse by her peers, and even one doctor suggesting that she be put in a home at five years old! 0_o (so she 'wouldn't be a burden' to her family.) 
 I know things like that need to be discussed, and I'm sure there are even some really stupid doctors who honestly think that way, but still reading about that did sting somewhat. 
 And another thing, what makes the characters, especially the 'antagonists' so bothersome is they never learn anything! throughout the entire book all they do is spout hateful remarks about the main character. *HEADDESK* I understand at first they would be idiots, but not constant through the whole book. Even after the teachers constantly tell them to stop. *rolls eyes* 
 And the ending...ugg...it wasn't what I was expecting I'll say that much. So much for 'friends' if that is how you treat her. And there's sadly not much of a follow-up either, not even a follow up reaction of her parents for what had happened. 
 *sigh* I guess my main annoyance with this book was, yet again, the trope of portraying a disabled person to be incredibly smart. Like I said, I'm all for that but...why does every disabled character need to have something like that to make them stand out more? Why can't a character just be shown like everyone else, but just happen to be disabled? 
 A good example would be the movie 'I am Sam'. 
 Reading this book it just seemed to me that the author just did a lot of research on this kind of disability but never really met or knew anyone who had it. 
 In the end I was just greatly disappointed by the book. If you want to read something by this author I suggest 'Forged by Fire' it was a million times better then this one. 
 Also NINE years to get her speech device?? Really!?? 
 Final rating: 2.00 out of 5.00 Stars.