Unraveling (edition 2012)

This book was unexpected in the world of paranormal YA. Multiple worlds, global consequences, and only the barest hints of a love triangle. The heroine is not always likable, but this story never disappoints. ( )

I know many people had problems with love story...too much too soon, but if you're going to suspend your disbelief regarding the "science" you might as well suspend the disbelief that two people can't fall in love in a week.

As for the science, no it's not explained, but does it really need to be? The story remains fun without getting into the hows.

I see this copy is marked book 1, so book 2 coming soon? I can't wait. ( )

AN AMAZING BOOK !!!!!!!

What I Loved about this book

Such a strong protagonist. An amazing heroine. I literally love Janele. She doesn't need a man in her life and even if her lover leaves she can still get through it in the end. She has had to deal with so many sorrows in her life. It is amazing how much she was able to cope with it all.

I am officially in love with Ben. He is such an amazing, caring character.

I love Jared and Janele's Dad because they are amazing and seem very realistic in my opinion.

What I hated about this book

What is with Elijah and swearing. I felt like teleporting into the book and smacking her in the face. You don't need to swear in every single sentence. It drives people mad.

How so many people had to die ? Her dad :(, Alex :(

What I am neutral about

-Struz
-Reid
-Barclay
-Alex

-The whole alternate universes etc. (what an interesting idea for the end of the world)

Questions
I wonder what the next book will be about? I am hoping it will be just as good as the first. I don't want it to be a series where the first book was promising and then the series just fell apart.

So to Elizabeth Norris.... make the next as amazing as the first.


♥ Isabelle ( )

Unraveling is one of the books I've been waiting for, not just because its an Apocalypsie book, but also because it seemed like it would be awesome. However, I also went into the book with a healthy dose of skepticism. I really feared it was going to be a melodramatic, typical YA novel. Why? Because the cover kind of looks like a CW TV show. The first sentence definitely had me worried. Immediately after that, it was pretty apparent that Unraveling is a whole different animal.

Contradicting what I just said, the opening of Unraveling definitely made me think of the television show Roswell, in which Max saves Liz's life. Later, he's able to show her his memories of her and she can see how he feels. I imagine that the show must have served at least somewhat as an inspiration, and, if not, Norris should probably go watch it now. Anyway, cheesy at is, I enjoy Roswell, and Unraveling is better and more intense than Roswell.

The countdown opening each chapter is a device that has been used before, and I think Norris uses it quite effectively. There was an immediacy to all of the events in the book. At pretty much no point in my reading was I bored or not reading as quickly as I could because I needed to know.

I love Janelle from the outset because of her independent mindset and how she doesn't let the high school drama get the better of her. Plus, she judges her boyfriend for sending a grammatically incorrect text message (grammar is hot!). I would judge her for liking the guy, but she mostly doesn't; she just wants to have fun, which I can respect so long as she does so responsibly.

YA heroines are known for doing a lot of really annoying stuff. One such thing that particularly aggravates me is just accepting huge news without any curiosity OR being super curious but not asking anything, and generally acting in a stupid banner based on completely absurd guesses. If they do ask and are rebuffed, they usually give up. Janelle, however is totally unlike those heroines. Janelle pesters people for information until she learns what she wants to know; even FBI agents have trouble not spilling the beans to her. Thank goodness for a heroine who's proactive!

Another thing I really appreciate about Unraveling is in the details. We really get to see Janelle's life, rather than solely focused on romance or the mystery plot line. I know who does the laundry in what way in her household and mundane facts like that. I also really enjoyed the school scenes, such as one in which the AP English class dissects a scene from a novel. Most books skip over the actual learning part of class, but Norris didn't, and I loved how much it felt like one of the good discussions from my AP class. Rather than school just being a place for romantic drama to happen, it's also a place to learn. Props.

With all of the dystopias out there right now, I'm really surprised the publisher or Norris herself didn't try to make this into one. Certainly, it's counting down to an apocalypse, but the book definitely comes off more as a science fiction detective story than a dystopia. Also, the science in this was SO COOL.

Another thing that I loved about Unraveling, because I really seriously don't have anything not loving to say about this book, is the humor throughout. Although the book is seriously intense all the way through, like holy-shiz-what-just-happened-oh-snap intense, Norris has woven humor throughout the whole book. Janelle and most of the other teens are snarky wise-cracking sorts who deal with the shit that is GOING DOWN through jokes. Of course, the book might not be as humorous to people who don't love sarcasm, but I do, and I think everyone should.

I should really wind up this review, because I've stayed up til 1 already finishing (because I HAD to) and my alarm's going to go off at 6:30. So here are the final points:

1) Elizabeth Norris rocks my socks and I will be reading everything she writes subsequently.

2) Unraveling is amazing. You should go buy it/borrow it/cajole someone into buying it for you/find one of the copies that was rock-the-dropped and read it ASAP.

3) Unraveling comes out April 24. You have two weeks to figure out where you can get a copy. The 24th is a good release date for Unraveling, since that's the number of days Janelle has to save the world. Funny that. ( )

Unravelling was a book I initially had no interest in reading. But then the gushing reviews started popping up, and then I saw and loved the UK cover and finally, I won a copy of an ARC. So clearly I was meant to read this book and I'm so glad I did. It was fantastic! The books I give high ratings to are always the ones that I take days to actually read because I don't want them to end. That was definitely the case with Unravelling and I hated seeing the ending getting closer, which was heightened by the fact that the chapters showed the countdown to the end. A little detail that I really liked, actually.

Janelle may just be one of my favourite female protagonists of all time. There was just something about her voice that really resonated with me. If I haven't made this clear before, I love well-written snarky characters and just can't get enough of them. They make the reading experience a lot more amusing, especially when the character is also really intelligent, as Janelle was. I especially liked how kind and caring Janelle is despite everything life keeps throwing at her. She has a really close bond with her younger brother Jared mostly because she had to step up and parent him since their actual parents weren't doing too good in that department. She does get frustrated with it at times but mostly just does her best and gets on with it.

It is not often that I like a main character's best friend. Let's face it, when they're girls, they're made annoying probably just to make the protagonist seem even amazing. And when they're boys, they lust after the protagonist- again to make her seem even more amazing. But I loved Alex! He was such a sweetheart and an actual friend! I adored him right from the first time we met him and wish he'd been in it even more. And there's a scene with his mother that I found pretty comical too! Ben- the love interest- is a very different guy but just as brilliant. I enjoyed getting to know him and I think he'll have many readers crushing on him!

The plot itself moves at a perfect speed and had many twists that I really did not see coming which was awesome. But why am I not giving it a full five stars? Well it was depressing as hell. Seriously. The first half wasn't so bad but I got so weary of bad things happening after a while. It just felt so heavy and sad to me a lot of the time. Not that I can't give 5 stars to sad books (I mean, The Road is an all time favourite) but I had just been wishing some things would go differently. Other than that though, this was a seriously amazing book and I will be recommending it to everybody! ( )