ARC Review: Unspoken by Sara Rees Brennan

Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan
Published:  September 11, 2012
Publisher: Random House
Pages: 373
Series: The Lynburn Legacy #1
Source: Randombuzzers
My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Kami Glass loves someone she’s never met . . . a boy she’s talked to in her head ever since she was born. She wasn’t silent about her imaginary friend during her childhood, and is thus a bit of an outsider in her sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale. Still, Kami hasn’t suffered too much from not fitting in. She has a best friend, runs the school newspaper, and is only occasionally caught talking to herself. Her life is in order, just the way she likes it, despite the voice in her head.

But all that changes when the Lynburns return.

The Lynburn family has owned the spectacular and sinister manor that overlooks Sorry-in-the-Vale for centuries. The mysterious twin sisters who abandoned their ancestral home a generation ago are back, along with their teenage sons, Jared and Ash, one of whom is eerily familiar to Kami. Kami is not one to shy away from the unknown—in fact, she’s determined to find answers for all the questions Sorry-in-the-Vale is suddenly posing. Who is responsible for the bloody deeds in the depths of the woods? What is her own mother hiding? And now that her imaginary friend has become a real boy, does she still love him? Does she hate him? Can she trust him?

My Review: After hearing so much praise about this book I finally gave in. I can't believe I let it sit on my bookshelf for this long. 

When I was younger I used to read the Nancy Drew books that my mother gave me. I don't remember what they were about anymore but I know that I loved them. I still love mystery books but I think that the YA genre is lacking in that department or I'm just not looking hard enough. Unspoken was the perfect combination of mystery and paranormal and I honestly wish there were more books like it.

The characters were probably what made this book and they were also what infuriated me the most. Kami was a strong and brave character, but I couldn't stand how she kept saying how she wasn't pretty and that Angela, Holly, and her mother were so much prettier than she was without even trying. I wanted to bang my head against the wall when she compared herself to these people. Other than that she was a hilarious main character and pretty awesome.

The other characters were very funny too and I cared for all of Kami's friends. I couldn't help but love Angela. Probably because her laziness attitude reminds me of one of my close friends. I also really liked Holly once Kami gave her a chance.

I knew there was a love triangle going into this book. The love triangle itself didn't bother me but I wish it hadn't taken up so much of the book. A good portion of the book was taken up by Kami's feelings about Jared and Ash. I definitely like Jared better, but he wouldn't even touch Kami and their relationship was so unstable. One moment everything would be fine and then the next they would be fighting. It was infuriating. Jared never gave a reason for not wanting to touch Kami either. I assume it was because he didn't want to hurt her or it was just too weird for him but neither make much sense to me.

All of the twists in the book were fairly predictable, except for the one at the end. I saw the one about Angela coming as soon as she became friends with Holly. It wasn't hard to guess what the Lynburns were either, but I only got part of the last twist correct.

Unspoken was a very enjoyable book and I'm definitely going to be looking out for other books that Sarah Rees Brennan writes because the dialogue between her characters made me laugh many times. I don't think I've laughed so much since I read The Mortal Instruments.

Now I can't wait for the squeal and I'm off to see if I can find some teasers because I can't believe how the book ended!