Unraveling (Unraveling, #1)

by Elizabeth Norris

[Ashley]

Nose Graze — Young Adult book reviews

4.5 Stars

Why did I not read Unraveling sooner??? A few months ago, this book was all anyone was talking about. I was intrigued, but didn't jump on it. Even when I got a copy of the book, I still didn't jump on it. But OMG I was totally missing out! This book rocked.

I think I never realized how much cool FBI stuff there would be in the book. A large part of it is Janelle trying to play teenage FBI agent. Her father works for the FBI so she's grown to be really interested in his work. She likes to sneak peeks at his case files and speculate. A lot of the book was her going through FBI speculation sessions with her best friend Alex. They'd go over the evidence together and talk about their theories, etc. That's something I see in movies a lot and I always think it's super interesting! But what made Unraveling so cool was combining the FBI element with science fiction!

And oh my gosh, Unraveling has SUCH a sweet romance! Ben is one of the nicest and most interesting guys ever. He has this bad boy, "up to no good" exterior, but when you get to know him you realize he's actually a sweet, morally grounded brainiac! YES! Bring on the hot science geek! But one of the great things about Unraveling is that this isn't a sci-fi book that turns into an all-encompassing romance. The sci-fi doesn't yield to the romance. The romance is more in the background and just supplements the plot; it doesn't overtake it.

But honestly, what I may have loved even more than the romance was the friendship. Alex is Janelle's best friend and I LOVE HIM!! Actually, I like him even more than Ben. Alex kept citing all these movies like The Mummy and Star Wars that I LOVE! Ben may be a science nerd, but Alex is an academic and a movie nerd. But on top of that, he's such an amazing and incredible friend. I seriously wish I had a friend like him. Alex and Janelle have this "finish each other's sentences" type friendship where they just know each other inside and out. It's one of the best friendships I've ever read about in YA, which is why I wanted to cry like a baby when he died! OH MY GOD! How could that happen!?!?!

There is a bit in the middle where Unraveling halts a bit action/plot-wise, but it picked up again at the end... triple time! Things get so intense, and everything starts happening at once! It made me not want to take a breath, for fear of missing something. It was awesome. O_O

As much as I enjoyed Unraveling, I have to say that there weren't many surprises. There are a TON of twists and turns, but the problem was that I guessed every single one before they happened. I didn't dislike the book as a result, though. I still enjoyed watching everything play out, even if I already knew it was going to happen. I guess it was still a bit of a bummer though because I LOVE twists, but mostly I love them when they catch me off guard. I felt like there were a lot of hints along the way that were easy to pick up on, and for everything else, there were simple formulas. Like there's the guy who you are led to think is the culprit, but really it's the guy right next to that one. That's a pretty common move in books and movies.

I love how there wasn't really a cliffhanger at the end of Unraveling. Yes, things were pretty intense and I can totally see where the second book could go, but everything got wrapped up pretty well too. It left me feeling very satisfied (although also devastated.. HOW COULD YOU KILL ALEX??? HOW??!?!! *sobs*). So if you're into science fiction, parallel universes, great romances that don't dominate a book, fabulous friend ships, family dynamics.. check this book out now!