Book Review: Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris

By: Elizabeth Norris
Published by: Harper Teen
Released on: April 24th, 2012
Source: arc/book from publisher to review
Series: Unraveling #1
4 Stars: I Enjoyed It
Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
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Sixteen-year-old Janelle Tenner is used to having a lot of responsibility. She balances working as a lifeguard in San Diego with an intense academic schedule. Janelle's mother is bipolar, and her dad is a workaholic FBI agent, which means Janelle also has to look out for her younger brother, Jared.

And that was before she died...and is brought back to life by Ben Michaels, a mysterious, alluring loner from her high school. When she discovers a strange clock that seems to be counting down to the earth's destruction, Janelle learns she has twenty-four days to figure out how to stop the clock and save the planet

Aliens, supernatural powers, the end of the world, and romance. These are just a few of the things that you'll find in Elizabeth Norris's Unraveling. In what I'd best describe as a Sci-Fi/Mystery/with a whole heck of a lot more, Unraveling is a book that fans of YA will enjoy. I'm not a huge Sci-Fi fan, and I enjoyed this book! Elizabeth Norris writes in way that is both interesting, entertaining, and educational. Yes, I said educational, because I might have learned a thing or two about physics while reading Janelle's story. Let me just say, either Elizabeth is a genesis or she spent a lot of time doing research to write this book. Even though there's this interesting storyline happening that deals with aliens being on our planet, the threat of the world ending, some romance, and a murder (or two) mystery happening, I loved the details and theories that were a huge part of this intriguing story line. I wanted more of them....

The Writing. Elizabeth Norris has this great blend of humor, the "what if", mystery, and something else that I can't quite point out what it is, that makes this book so hard to put down. From her characters, to the plot, the setting and everything in between, there was something about this book that hooked me. Now I will say the only thing I wasn't a fan of, was how much the f-word was used. I'm just not a fan of that word, and it doesn't who you are, if you use it more than 5 times in a YA book I'm not going to like it. Plus this word was used in a some scenes that really took me out of what could of have been a much more emotional moment had that word not been used the way it was. I'm talking about the one towards the end. BUT, aside from that, this book has some solid writing. Despite this books size, I seriously couldn't stop reading it. I swear I say this a lot, but this is another book that no matter how hard I tried to pace myself, I didn't put this book down until I finished reading it. I was hooked, and couldn't stop reading. Even though it's a 400+ page book, it is a fast paced read.

The Characters. I loved the characters. Oh yes, even the twists with some of them. I liked that Elizabeth didn't give me everything there was to know about all of them right off the bat. The more the story goes on, the more I got to know them. Talk about twists, there is plenty of them! Not everyone is in this book is who you think they are, or who they first say they are. And remember how I mentioned this was also a murder mystery? Yeah, Elizabeth isn't afraid to kill off a character either. I might have gotten a little choked up over this character's shocking death. I was really blown away at the way in which Elizabeth allowed Janelle as a character to grow and change during this time. This character's death really effects her, as it should, and it was the cause for some changes and rash decisions on her part, which I can't say that I blame her. As a reader, I'm really glad that she allowed for her character to change and really be effected by this. It made the story feel more realistic and made me connect with Janelle on a different level that hadn't happened until this point.

I loved the family dynamics and the friendships in this story. These are what molded the story together. These relationships added more depth and layer to a story already rich in detail, and made it realistic, and relatable. Speaking of relationships, I wasn't a huge fan of the relationship between Janelle and Ben at first, but it was one that the more I read about it the more it made sense. Not that all relationships need to make sense, but this one is one I understood. I got and understood the connection they had, and slowly but surely it grew on me more. One of my favorite relationships in this book is the one between Janelle, her brother, and their family friend Struz. I don't know why, but I love those secondary characters who play this over protective role in a character's story, which Struz does. It wasn't hard for me to like him right off the bat.

Talk about an unpredictable page turner! I'm so glad this is the first in a series, because there is so much more I need to know. I loved the twists and answers I got in Unraveling, but man a live I'm dying to find out a whole heck of a lot more more in Unbreakable. I NEED more! Huge kudos to Elizabeth Norris for hooking me and making me fall in love with another Sci-Fi. All I can say is I'm looking forward to reading more Elizabeth Norris books.