Review: Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris

Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris
Publisher: Balzer + Bray (HarperCollins)
Expected Publication: April 24th, 2012
Source: Edelweiss
Format: eARC
Pages: 445

Goodreads Summary:
Two days before the start of her junior year, seventeen-year-old Janelle Tenner is hit by a pickup truck and killed—as in blinding light, scenes of her life flashing before her, and then nothing. Except the next thing she knows, she's opening her eyes to find Ben Michaels, a loner from her high school whom Janelle has never talked to, leaning over her. And even though it isn't possible, she knows—with every fiber of her being—that Ben has somehow brought her back to life.

But her revival, and Ben's possible role in it, is only the first of the puzzles that Janelle must solve. While snooping in her FBI agent father's files for clues about her accident, she uncovers a clock that seems to be counting down to something—but to what? And when someone close to Janelle is killed, she can no longer deny what's right in front of her: Everything that's happened—the accident, the murder, the countdown clock, Ben's sudden appearance in her life—points to the end of life as she knows it. And as the clock ticks down, she realizes that if she wants to put a stop to the end of the world, she's going to need to uncover Ben's secrets—and keep from falling in love with him in the process.

My Rating: 4.0 / 5

First thoughts:

Ending up to be so much more than its summary promises, Unraveling was impossible to put down. Science-Fiction meets murder mystery in an exciting adventure to find the right answers to the right questions - as soon as possible. If you're looking for a real page-turner which won't let you stop thinking about it, then this might be the perfect next read for you.

More detailed:

Despite being obviously longer than usual YA novels, it wasn't hard for me to devour Unraveling within a day. It probably helped that I didn't need to go to university and decided to spend some time relaxing - but this novel was the perfect read for me that day. I rarely put it down and kept turning its pages, hoping to find out answers to the endless questions that plagued me, and the book's characters.

This book doesn't sugarcoat anything. If you're expecting a story that will be kind to your new favorite characters and will treat them carefully, don't pick up Unraveling. I cried, I screamed and I was very angry at this book during certain situations and when you do as I'm recommending and will read it, too, then you'll feel similar. But a novel that can provoke such emotions is always a very good book, in my opinion.

Janelle's life is turned upside down within the blink of an eye. Literally. In one second, she still sees a truck driving towards her, in the next second she opens her eyes and sees Ben Michaels leaning over her, changing her life forever. I love Janelle - she is a kick-ass female main character, without being too tough to be unbelievable. Her narration was incredibly easy to follow and I could identify with her immediately.

My only excuse for not rating Unraveling with five stars would be the fact that the romance didn't get enough attention. Janelle and Ben are such a wonderful couple, sadly star-crossed though, and I would have loved if there were a few more obvious moments in which their relationship could have developed. But for people who love to focus on the mystery than the romance, this will be perfect.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed Unraveling. With surprising twists and turns it managed to captivate my attention all the time and made it almost impossible to put it away and do something else. It's a wonderful debut and I definitely hope that we'll get to see more of Janelle's adventures - especially since this ending left me hanging a little bit. There are still many things I need to find out and I'd love to spend more time in the world Elizabth Norris created.

Challenge(s): 

Debut Author Challenge 2012

Have you read Unraveling? What did you think about it?

Do you plan to read it?

Carina

Fictional Distractions of the Week #25

Welcome to Fictional Distractions of the Week. It is inspired by Book Journey's It's Monday! What are you reading? and Fiktshun's My Reading Pile and it will show you what I'm planning to read during the next week.

The books I plan to read this week:

At first I'm going to finish Embrace by Cherie Colyer which I'm really enjoying so far. While I have already heard good things about it, it was a lovely surprise and I'm happy to review it for its blog tour (remember to stop by on Friday for that).

Goodreads Summary:
How far would you go to save the people you love?

Madison is familiar enough with change, and she hates everything about it. Change took her long-term boyfriend away from her. It caused one of her friends to suddenly hate her. It’s responsible for the death of a local along with a host of other mysterious happenings. But when Madison meets a hot new guy, she thinks her luck is about to improve.

Madison is instantly drawn to the handsome and intriguing Isaac Addington. She quickly realizes he’s a guy harboring a secret, but she’s willing to risk the unknown to be with him.

Her world really spins out of control, however, when her best friend becomes delusional, seeing things that aren’t there and desperately trying to escape their evil. When the doctors can’t find the answers, Madison seeks her own.

Nothing can prepare her for what she is about to discover.
Dangerous, intoxicating, and darkly romantic, Embrace is a thriller that will leave you spellbound.

I've been excited for Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris for quite a while now and couldn't be happier to have received an eARC of it. Many trusted bloggers already read and loved it, so I'm hoping I'll be equally excited while reading it.

Goodreads Summary:
Two days before the start of her junior year, seventeen-year-old Janelle Tenner is hit by a pickup truck and killed—as in blinding light, scenes of her life flashing before her, and then nothing. Except the next thing she knows, she's opening her eyes to find Ben Michaels, a loner from her high school whom Janelle has never talked to, leaning over her. And even though it isn't possible, she knows—with every fiber of her being—that Ben has somehow brought her back to life.

But her revival, and Ben's possible role in it, is only the first of the puzzles that Janelle must solve. While snooping in her FBI agent father's files for clues about her accident, she uncovers a clock that seems to be counting down to something—but to what? And when someone close to Janelle is killed, she can no longer deny what's right in front of her: Everything that's happened—the accident, the murder, the countdown clock, Ben's sudden appearance in her life—points to the end of life as she knows it. And as the clock ticks down, she realizes that if she wants to put a stop to the end of the world, she's going to need to uncover Ben's secrets—and keep from falling in love with him in the process.

And I'm also planning to read Clockwise by Elle Strauss, whose blog tour will be stpping by on April 25th. It looks and sounds like a really cute read, so I'm looking forward to it!

Goodreads Summary:
Casey Donovan has issues: hair, height and uncontrollable trips to the 19th century! And now this --she’s accidentally taken Nate Mackenzie, the cutest boy in the school, back in time. Awkward.

Protocol pressures her to tell their 1860 hosts that he is her brother and when Casey finds she has a handsome, wealthy (and unwanted) suitor, something changes in Nate. Are those romantic sparks or is it just “brotherly” protectiveness?

When they return to the present, things go back to the way they were before: Casey parked on the bottom of the rung of the social ladder and Nate perched high on the very the top. Except this time her heart is broken. Plus, her best friend is mad, her parents are split up, and her younger brother gets escorted home by the police. The only thing that could make life worse is if, by some strange twist of fate, she took Nate back to the past again.

Which of course, she does.

What are your Fictional Distractions of the Week?

In My Mailbox #47

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren. It gives bloggers the chance to appreciate the books they got last week and to meet new people.

Last week's interesting posts:

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa (Review)
Goddess Interrupted by Aimée Carter (Review)

Interview with Wendy Higgins, author of Sweet Evil

Velveteen by Daniel Marks (Waiting on Wednesday)
Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan (Cover Comparisons)
Starters by Lissa Price (Cover Comparisons)

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The books I received last week:

Gifted:
Fever | Torn

For review:
Until I Die | Dreamless

Arise | Hemlock | Unraveling | Something Strange and Deadly

Fated | Velveteen | Flirting in Italian | The Wicked and the Just

Huge thanks to Michelle from Much Loved Books for sending me Fever and Torn! Also thanks to HarperCollins, Pan Macmillan, Random House and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for these awesome review copies.

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I still cannot believe how awesome my week was when it comes to books. I've been dying to read all of these and now I have a hard time deciding what to pick up next. I want to read all of them - immediately. Too bad my semester break's now over... I'd love to spend all of my days reading these awesome books. :D

What did you get in your mailbox?

Carina

Distractive Obsessions #01

Distractive Obsessions are books that are going to be released very soon and that I'm dying to read - books that I know I'm going to be obsessed with until I'll finally hold them in my hands and read them.

This week's pick is UNRAVELING by Elizabeth Norris.

It's going to be published on April 24th, 2012 by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins. 
ISBN: 9780062103734 | pre-order: The Book Depository / Amazon / B&N

Goodreads Summary:

Two days before the start of her junior year, seventeen-year-old Janelle Tenner is hit by a pickup truck and killed—as in blinding light, scenes of her life flashing before her, and then nothing. Except the next thing she knows, she's opening her eyes to find Ben Michaels, a loner from her high school whom Janelle has never talked to, leaning over her. And even though it isn't possible, she knows—with every fiber of her being—that Ben has somehow brought her back to life.

But her revival, and Ben's possible role in it, is only the first of the puzzles that Janelle must solve. While snooping in her FBI agent father's files for clues about her accident, she uncovers a clock that seems to be counting down to something—but to what? And when someone close to Janelle is killed, she can no longer deny what's right in front of her: Everything that's happened—the accident, the murder, the countdown clock, Ben's sudden appearance in her life—points to the end of life as she knows it. And as the clock ticks down, she realizes that if she wants to put a stop to the end of the world, she's going to need to uncover Ben's secrets—and keep from falling in love with him in the process.

From debut author Elizabeth Norris comes this shattering novel of one girl's fight to save herself, her world, and the boy she never saw coming.

Okay, someone please tell me that this isn't awesome! I have to admit that when I first read the summary, I didn't add it to my to-read list immediately, but my slowly developing love for action and mystery made me regret that very fast. Ben and Janelle's love story sounds creepy, exciting and addicting at the same time and I can't wait to uncover all of the above-mentioned secrets. Also, it's fairly long - 445 pages of suspected awesomeness will hopefully keep me very busy once I get my hands on a copy of this. And should I end up not liking it, just imagine how gorgeous it will look on my shelf... the cover's almost enough reason to pre-order a copy.

Which book are you obsessing over at the moment?