Unravelling

Elizabeth Norris, “I fucking love you”!

If I had to describe this book in only one word I would say “incredible”, but if I had more words to play around I would say something along these lines:

“Mind-blowing, heartbreaking with a pinch of humor and an action/suspense overdose… all in the best possible way. Keep both eyes on it when it comes out! And be assured – this is a hell of a great book!“

And if I had even more words to use.. well, you should sit down as I have many things to say about this book.

My Thoughts:

Define love: An intense feeling of deep affection;
Define adoration: A feeling of profound love & admiration;

…Close, but these words are simply not enough.

Unraveling is probably one of the best books in 2012, and yes, I realize it’s only April.
It’s funny because I read Elizabeth’s blog and I noticed that her favorite book is “Jellicoe Road“, and (…take a guess, you have one chance!) that’s mine too. Next to it I put “Graffiti Moon” last year and, in 2012 I’m adding, “Unraveling” to the list as well.

I don’t remember the last time I’ve been so lost into a story.
I simply couldn’t put it down and I was turning pages like crazy wanting to see what happens next, but in the same time not wanting to reach the ending.

There is this mixture of feelings this book gave me. There were happy moments and really heartbreaking ones, there were moments when my heart was speeding dangerously, and there were moments when I didn’t realize that I was holding my breath until Janelle realized just the same thing:

“I let go of a breath I didn’t know I was holding”

This book will probably make you too want to write in italics, bold, caps lock, using way too many exclamation points and filling the review with tons of animated gifs showing your excitement (and I don’t even like gifs show

). But don’t worry, I’ll keep this urge in check for your sake and I’ll let my feeling flow without hurting your eyes.

I’ll have to hold back a lot in order not to spoil this story, but at the ending all I could think was how amazing this book really was.

It seemed like the author snooped into my entire ‘favorites’ shelf, took all the best things from the books I loved and put them into this wonderful story. More than that, all the things I don’t usually like in YA were transformed in such way that they worked wonders in this book.

What I liked:

Main character
Janelle is independent, sarcastic, confident, she can always rely on her best friend but she can handle it all by her herself too. She is the kind of character you like to read about. Yes, she makes mistakes and her snooping around gets her in trouble more than once, but at the end of the day you will always be proud of her.

The thing is that she knows she died in the car accident and that somehow a boy brought her back to life – she doesn’t know why or how, but she will get to the bottom of it, and when that happens maybe she will find out more about her dad’s new case that seems somehow related to her death.
She has questions, she doesn’t understand some things, she doesn’t know whom to trust, but she doesn’t give up. The countdown is not stopping, and she has only one chance to find the truth and maybe try to change some things in the way.

The love story
Oh, it is sweet – but it doesn’t take over the action. There are more important things that both Janelle and Ben have to do. Still they share some cute moments and I like how their story is portrayed: it happens to know someone for a very long time but not pay attention to that person until one day when you see everything with other eyes. Sometimes you never know when in the world did you fall in love but sometimes you know the exact moment when everything changed, the moment when you two locked eyes and it felt like for the very first time.

“My goal is always going to be to get home.” Home. For him, it’s a place I don’t belong.

The action
All those melting bodies (and I am not saying more about them), and all those turnarounds, all the suspense with the clock dangerously counting down to 0 – all those will make you feel like you are watching a movie unfold in front of your eyes. There are paranormal and science-fiction elements, there is drama, there is a lot of action to keep you more than entertained, there is a cute love story that will trap your heart from the very beginning… Everything fits so perfectly together, every character has a purpose, and you will mourn every single loss until the very last page and long after that.

Friendship
I liked so much the friendship between Janelle and Alex. And if you are wondering – no, this time there is no love-triangle, there is nothing to make your eyes roll in this department. There is trust, and devotion, and love but in a different way, a non-romantic type. That kind of love that would make you do anything for your friends (you’ll bail them from everything, you will go to the end of the world for them, you will keep their secrets and help them out no matter how mad you are at each other). True friendship, that is.

I could never fit into this review all the things the book is about and I won’t even try – but it felt ‘real’ in a way most books never do. There were family issues, and social issues, there were friendships forming and breaking, there were murder investigations and paranormal activities, but also subjects close to our day-by-day life (as school and grief)… Also there are so many other things I would like to talk about, but I have to hold them back. Maybe after you read this book, we’ll talk more about it, maybe then we will share our thoughts about all that happened in this book, all the mysteries, all the turnarounds and how much that ending killed us a bit and made us want to live in a world where the next book is already out.

So what I am saying with all this babbling is that I loved this story, and I think that most of you will do as well. I think that Elizabeth is a great writer, and I am holding my breath for the next book to come out. And I think that I’ve said enough..too much talking and less reading – not good, not good.

Book source: Thanks to one of my great book friends for allowing me to read an Advanced Copy

Happy midnight reading!

Favorite quote:

Book excerpt:

Watch the Book Trailer:

Music of choice:

Evanescence – Bring Me to Life