Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris Series: Unraveling #1
Published by Balzer + Bray on April 24, 2012
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult
Pages: 445
Source: BEA
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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.
What I Thought…
- Unraveling wasn’t quite what I expected. But that’s not really a bad thing. Though it almost took a turn for the worse around page 200 or so. (There was a brief mention of something I won’t ever read about and I almost freaked out because I was enjoying Unraveling and I would have hated to stop reading. And I would have.)
- It definitely has an X-Files kind of vibe to it, though for me I wish it would have been more earlier X-Files than later X-Files because I didn’t dig the later ones as much, but whatever. It’s still good!
- I don’t want to say too much so I can avoid spoilers but I loved the concept. It was fascinating and I am so grateful that Norris did not get too sciency because I don’t like science. She gave just enough info to make it plausible (in my eyes, I don’t really care if it’s actually possible or not).
- I freaking loved Janelle. She had a great attitude for the most part (though I totally wanted to scream at her “are you crazy?” several times). I loved how much she cared for her brother and I really felt for her and all the responsibility she was shoved into (not just the saving the world part).
- I liked Ben well enough. He’s a very different kind of character. The whole premise behind him and Reid and Elijah was good but at times Ben was a little too standoffish for me. He was a perfect fit for Janelle.
- Janelle’s mom and her ex boyfriend drove me nuts! Nick treated her like crap (hence the ex part) and her mom has so many issues that it just made me crazy.
- Her FBI dad and his fellow agents were awesome. I totally have a thing for the FBI (or really cops and agents of any kind) and I really enjoyed that aspect. Especially since Janelle went snooping around in her dad’s FBI stuff.
- The ending really made me mad. I didn’t see it coming and I’m not happy about it. It makes me really sad and I just wish authors wouldn’t do things like that! :(
Notable Quotes
“Life is a fragile thing. Apparently the whole world is fragile too.”
“Apparently this month is full of surprises. No one is as dumb as I thought they were.”
I love the quotes and now I totally need to know the thing that was mentioned that would have made you stop reading… TEXT ME!
It was good, you would like it.
I want to know the thing too! Don’t hold out Kim!
I hate to say it, but I don’t know if I could read a book where the main character is named janelle. I knew a janelle once…we had issues.
I like the idea behind the reincarnation but pairing that with a sad ending, I’m not sure if I’ll be up for this one.
I’m glad that you liked it though! And I love the cover!
I think you should let go of your irritation of Janelles for this book. It was good.
I loved this book… but it fell a bit flat at the end for me too. The first 2/3rds of this book was amazing, but it kind of started to lose me at the end. It was a lot different than most YA out there, and I will definitely be checking out future books by Elizabeth Norris!
The ending was what prevented the 5 stars.
I think this one is on my TBR shelf. If it isn’t it will be now. Even if the ending did suck. :)
It did suck that bad it just… I can’t explain. It just didn’t go where I wanted it to go.
I need to read this one! It totally sounds like my kind of book. And now I really want to read it to see what that thing was around page 200 that made you almost stop reading, and what this ending is all about! Hmm, maybe I’ll see if it’s at my library when I go next time… ;)
The first 3/4 of the book were much better than the last 1/4. Still a good book though and I definitely want to read the next one.