Kami Glass is in love with someone she's never met - a boy the rest of the world is convinced is imaginary. This has made her an outsider in the sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale, but she doesn't complain. She runs the school newspaper and keeps to herself for the most part - until disturbing events begin to happen. There has been screaming in the woods and the dark, abandoned manor on the hill overlooking the town has lit up for the first time in 10 years. The Lynburn family, who ruled the town a generation ago and who all left without warning, have returned. As Kami starts to investigate for the paper, she finds out that the town she has loved all her life is hiding a multitude of secrets- and a murderer- and the key to it all just might be the boy in her head. The boy who everyone thought was imaginary may be real...and he may be dangerous.
I was completely caught up in this book from the beginning. Something about the tone and setting and characters were all so well-described and so real, I couldn't help falling into that world, the town, the school, all of it. Brennan seamlessly wove a somewhat light and often quirky tone alongside the darker elements of the plot, and it was this mastery of balance that kept me so enthralled.
I do think that things got a little too confusing at times, even beyond the "well the mystery hasn't been solved yet so of course it doesn't make sense" level. But I really couldn't be bothered to care while I was reading it, because I was so engrossed in the story. Actually, I think I like that about the book, because it's something that will make me excited to reread it before [b:Untold|15801763|Untold (The Lynburn Legacy, #2)|Sarah Rees Brennan|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nocover/60x80.png|21525150] comes out. Now that I know how things worked out, it will be really cool to go back and understand some of the things that threw me during my first read.
My only genuine complaint is that I am extremely nervous about what happened between Kami and Jared at the very end, especially Jared's reaction, which I find intensely frustrating. I understand it, sort of, but I don't have to like it.
This book still deserves 5 stars, though. Definitely one of my favorites of 2012.
