Review: Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris

Unraveling

By: Elizabeth Norris

Pub. Date: April 24, 2012

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Pages: 464

Source: ARC

Two days before the start of her junior year, seventeen-year-old Janelle Tenner is hit by a pickup truck and killed—as in blinding light, scenes of her life flashing before her, and then nothing. Except the next thing she knows, she's opening her eyes to find Ben Michaels, a loner from her high school whom Janelle has never talked to, leaning over her. And even though it isn't possible, she knows—with every fiber of her being—that Ben has somehow brought her back to life.

But her revival, and Ben's possible role in it, is only the first of the puzzles that Janelle must solve. While snooping in her FBI agent father's files for clues about her accident, she uncovers a clock that seems to be counting down to something—but to what? And when someone close to Janelle is killed, she can no longer deny what's right in front of her: Everything that's happened—the accident, the murder, the countdown clock, Ben's sudden appearance in her life—points to the end of life as she knows it. And as the clock ticks down, she realizes that if she wants to put a stop to the end of the world, she's going to need to uncover Ben's secrets—and keep from falling in love with him in the process.

From debut author Elizabeth Norris comes this shattering novel of one girl's fight to save herself, her world, and the boy she never saw coming.

As soon as I read the synopsis for Unraveling I was hooked. It seemed intriguing and original and I couldn't wait to read it. Disappointed that I didn't ask for an ARC at ALA, I asked around on twitter if anyone was willing to let me borrow it. Thankfully, the awesome Mesa from The SagacityQuest sent it to me and I am grateful because Unraveling was AMAZING and I will be picking up a finished copy as soon as it comes out in April!

On Janelle's last day as a lifeguard at the local beach, she it hit by a truck and dies. But then stoner Ben brings her back to life. From this point forward, Janelle's life is completely altered and nothing will ever be the same for her.

Janelle was an awesome main character. Her father is an FBI agent and she definitely knows how to handle herself in any situation. She's funny, smart and completely realistic. She has been best friends with her neighbor, Alex since they were children. I loved their relationship and was really happy that they didn't have the cliché friendship where the boy is hopelessly in love with the girl and the girl uses him to her advantage. They had a very honest friendship and they both truly cared for each other. 

Knowing that what happened to her is completely and utterly impossible she wants to learn more about who this Ben guy is. All she really knows is that he smokes up with his friends, Elijah and Reid. Turns out there is a lot more to Ben then meets the eye and his character fascinated me.  I kept wanting to know more and more about him. My only complaint was that I would have liked to know more about his time in foster care and the different homes he has lived in.

I loved Janelle and Ben together. They were so cute and everything about the two of them felt so realistic.

Even the secondary characters were great. Alex, Elijah, Reid, Barclay and Struz all fascinated me.

In the start of every chapter there are numbers and you soon find out that it is a countdown. You don't know what the countdown is for until the middle of the book. I loved trying to figure out the mystery was and every time we learned something new, I got more and more confused about what it could be. Nothing was predictable and Elizabeth Norris had me guessing until the very last page.

Unraveling kept my attention the whole time and I could not turn the pages quick enough. I loved every single minute of this book. I highly recommend this captivating story!

Thanks again Mesa for lending it to me :)