Review of Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

Title/Author: Unspoken (The Lynburn Legacy #1) by Sarah Rees Brennan
Publisher/Date published: Random House Books For Young Readers, September 11th 2012
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley

Goodreads summary: "Kami Glass loves someone she’s never met... a boy she’s talked to in her head ever since she was born. She wasn’t silent about her imaginary friend during her childhood, and is thus a bit of an outsider in her sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale. Still, Kami hasn’t suffered too much from not fitting in. She has a best friend, runs the school newspaper, and is only occasionally caught talking to herself. Her life is in order, just the way she likes it, despite the voice in her head.

But all that changes when the Lynburns return.

The Lynburn family has owned the spectacular and sinister manor that overlooks Sorry-in-the-Vale for centuries. The mysterious twin sisters who abandoned their ancestral home a generation ago are back, along with their teenage sons, Jared and Ash, one of whom is eerily familiar to Kami. Kami is not one to shy away from the unknown — in fact, she’s determined to find answers for all the questions Sorry-in-the-Vale is suddenly posing. Who is responsible for the bloody deeds in the depths of the woods? What is her own mother hiding? And now that her imaginary friend has become a real boy, does she still love him? Does she hate him? Can she trust him?"

I have a confession to make: I'd never read anything by Sarah Rees Brennan before. And now I am KICKING myself for that! I LOVED THIS BOOK!! And I also have some serious cover-love for Unspoken, it's just so pretty :)
Let me tell you all the things I loved about it.

I was immediately engaged by the writing style, it felt like talking to one of my best friends, joking around, it felt like there was just this bond immediately between me and Kami and I love it when that happens!

Kami is a main character I can root for, she's smart, isn't afraid to speak her mind and she's just a good person! I loved how witty she was and because of this the conversations were one of my favourite parts of the story. Every one of them was filled with life and didn't sound forced or like something you'd NEVER EVER hear someone saying (this is a pet peeve of mine). I loved that she was so curious about everything and was bold enough to go after the answers, even if that might not be the best idea sometimes.

And then there's Jared and Ash, the Lynburn boys. While I like Ash well enough, my heart absolutely belongs to Jared. That tortured, unsure, lonely boy who I just wanted to give a really big hug the whole time. He's a combination of endearing and confusing and GAH AGGRAVATING, but apparantly that's how I like my boys. I absolutely loved the interaction between him and Kami and how there was so much TENSION without them even TOUCHING. And for the sake of my heart, please let there be kissing in the next book! Cause I was ready to tear my hair out, feeling just as frustrated as Kami (and bald is NOT a good look for me probably).

I loved how Sarah Rees Brennan had me both laughing and crying, she definitely has the funny down as well as the deep emotions and I felt ALL THE THINGS! It was wonderful! I felt like writing down all these things Kami and the others said a lot of the time, one of my favourite quotes is:
"Honestly, Jared, one thing at a time. Why are you in the well with me? This is a really bad rescue!"

The only thing that annoyed me somewhat is that when Jared and Kami discovered they could do magic, all of a sudden they could DO magic without anyone explaining exactly how it was done. But that's the only complaint I have.

I thought the whole Lynburn Legacy was sufficiently creepy and VERY interesting and I had not seen the whodunnit we discover towards the end coming! The ending left me crying and staring at the screen of my ereader going NOOOO! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME LIKE THIS! I really need the sequel, Untold, NOW instead of August 2013... My heart can't take this kind of ending, it's been pretty much stomped on...

Unspoken is filled with loveable characters, an engaging writing style, a creep factor and clean romance with so much tension I was chanting JUST KISS ALREADY in my head. So yeah, I'd highly recommend to any of you who are into that sort of book.

My rating: 5 stars