Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

Title: Unspoken

Author: Sarah Rees Brennan

ISBN: 9780375870415

Publisher: Random House Children's Books

Released: September 11, 2012

Series: The Lynburn Legacy #1

Page #: 384

Source: ebook from NetGalley

Summary:

"Kami Glass is in love with someone she's never met—a boy she's talked to in her head since she was born. This has made her an outsider in the sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale, but she has learned ways to turn that to her advantage. Her life seems to be in order, until disturbing events begin to occur.

There has been screaming in the woods and the manor 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. Now Kami can see that the town she has known and loved all her life is hiding a multitude of secrets—and a murderer. The key to it all just might be the boy in her head. The boy she thought was imaginary is real, and definitely and deliciously dangerous."

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First Lines: (quote from ARC - subject to change)

"Every town in England has a story. One day I am going to find out Sorry-in-the-Vale's.
The closest this reporter has come to getting our town's scoop is when I asked Mr. Roger Stern (age seventy-six but young at heart) to tell me a secret about our town."
Page 3
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Review:

This is my first Sarah Rees Brennan book, and I can promise you that it won't be my last. Especially since this is going to be a series - I'm all in.

Kami has a voice in her head. But she didn't expect him to be a real person. When he moves to town, all sorts of crazy things start happening - and not just because he was her invisibile friend. His family is the ruling dynasty in their town. No one crosses them, no one speaks ill of them, no one befriends them. But Kami wants to find out why - her journalism instincts tell her there is more to the story. And she's right.

I wasn't expecting this book to be as witty and funny as it was. Our heroine, Kami, is a smart and sassy reporter who will stop at nothing to get her scoop. Sounds a little like Nancy Drew, huh? She's also got a connection with a boy that she wasn't entirely expecting. You would think that hearing each others thoughts and feelings would bring you closer... not push each other away. But she juggles this and her new friends and her newspaper and her crazy family and some insane happenings around town. Can I just mention how funny her parents are? They probably made this book for me.

I loved that the big mystery in this book was magic-based. But it wasn't hokey like some things are with the whole magic thing. This is dark, scary magic. Magic that can encase you in stone without the person moving. I thought the way all of that was handled was adequately spooky and well done.

Let me just talk about the boys for a moment. Yes, of course, there is a love triangle. With complications (aren't they all complicated?). They're cousins... who have lived in America. I understand that the author is from the UK, but there were a few times where the American boys used entirely British terms. I guess it could be because they were raised by British parents... but it was a little out of character. Other times, they pointed out the fact that it was different (See: Elevator/Lift). So that seemed a little inconsistant, but it may have only bothered me a little.

Because I am reviewing the advanced version, I am sure this has been fixed... but it threw off my reading quite a bit. There was a huge need for more page breaks. You would switch character point of views without even knowing you were doing so. Several times I had to go back and figure out where things changed. But I know this has probably been fixed for the final version, so you guys are not even going to notice :).

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. I think anyone who loves magical mysteries will totally get into this book. I know lots of people have found it through NetGalley already, but lucky for you this book was released today. I highly suggest you give it a try. Now I'm highly anticipating the next book (thanks for the cliffhanger, Brennan).
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