REVIEW: Unraveled by Gena Showalter

Title: Unraveled (Intertwined, #2)
Author: Gena Showalter
Format: eBook
Genre: paranormal young adult
Source: review copy from publisher
Published: September 2010 by Harlequin

Since coming to Crossroads, Oklahoma, former outcast Aden Stone has been living the good life. Never mind that one of his best friends is a werewolf, his girlfriend is a vampire princess who hungers for his blood, and he's supposed to be crowned Vampire King—while still a human! Well, kind of.

With four—oops, three now—human souls living inside his head, Aden has always been "different" himself. These souls can time-travel, raise the dead, possess another's mind and, his least favorite these days, tell the future.

The forecast for Aden? A knife through the heart.

Because a war is brewing between the creatures of the dark, and Aden is somehow at the center of it all. But he isn't about to lie down and accept his destiny without a fight. Not when his new friends have his back, not when Victoria has risked her own future to be with him, and not when he has a reason to live for the first time in his life…

Why I Read this Book: Intertwined, the first book in this series, was a really interesting book to read. There was lots of paranormal elements mixed in together and a very interesting premise of a boy, Aden, who’s possessed with souls. I wanted to read Unraveled to see what would happen next with Aden and the rest of the characters.

What I Liked: The author is constantly throwing curveballs to the mix and definitely doesn’t make it easy for any characters in this story. Just when you think Aden and the crew are in the clear, they find themselves in a new predicament. There was a very interesting turn of events at the end of this book. The ending was completely unexpected and brilliant. I totally did not seeing it coming! Quite the cliffhanger ending too. There was quite a few unanswered questions, as well as some new ones, making me want to read the next book in this series.

The souls made me laugh and this part cracked me up:

“Aden, listen to me, man. Run. Please.” It was the first time Caleb had ever begged. “What if she turns all that anger to your man business? We could lose our favorite body part!”

What I Didn’t Like: For me, Aden and Victoria’s relationship took a back burner in this book; I was more focused on Mary Ann and Riley’s romance. Another thing that took the focal point away from Aden was the new development concerning Mary Ann. It felt like it took away from the main focus of the book, which I thought was suppose to be Aden and his souls.

At times it felt like there was too much description. I was wanting more doing and less thinking. It got a little to over analytical at times. I would expect that with a book told in first person POV but not with the 3rd person narrative that Unraveled was written in.

There was something in particular I was expecting to happen in this book (it happened in Intertwined and it seemed that this thing was going to be a reoccurring event in each book in this series) but it didn’t and I was left shocked and a bit disappointed. It seemed that the story was getting there with this particular thing but it didn’t follow through and I had a hard time swallowing that. Sorry about being so vague but I don’t want to give too much away. 

Overall Impression: Unraveled felt slow in beginning but it did pick up. And when it did pick up, it took off. It’s one of those books you need to be in the mood for. Unraveled, and this series for that matter, is no light, fluffy read. There is a lot going on and you need to be in the right mindset when you read this book. It took me a little over 2 weeks to read this book. I started it only to put it down shortly after and came back to it when I was ready. And since there is a lot going on in this series, you may want to re-read Intertwined if it’s been awhile since you’ve read it. The author does a good job at refreshing the reader with the events that took place in the first book but you’ll want a full recollection of things to fully grasp Unraveled. (You can also do what I did – find someone who has recently read Intertwined and pick their brain.)

Fans of YA paranormal romance will enjoy the blend of paranormal creatures found in Unraveled: vampires, werewolves, goblins, faeries and demons. There is a lot to look forward to in the next book; a lot of questions to be answered.

 

The Book Vixen’s Rating: