Review of Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris

Title/Author: Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris
Publisher/Date published: Balzer + Bray, April 24th 2012
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley

Goodreads summary: "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."

You guys, as I'm writing this review I've only just finished Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris and it's left me feeling a little shell-shocked. And not because it ends on a cliffhanger, but because things that happened in the big finale were devastating and it totally tugged at my heartstrings. I need to read a happy book after this...

Ok, so let me talk more about Unraveling: I hadn't expected this to be so much science fiction as just maybe paranormal or something. But it definitely is and though it's not usually my thing (I'm more of a paranormal and fantasy kinda girl) I ended up really liking it.

Janelle is for lack of a better word badass. She is. After she's come back from the dead she realises what's important in her life and isn't afraid to make certain choices in order to 'better' her life. By badass I don't just mean she can kick butt, cause she can thanks to her dad, but she's also fiercely loyal and isn't afraid to get in touch with her emotions even if they're ugly or she'd rather not admit to them. And I loved her for that.
And I liked Ben. I wasn't head-over-heels in love with him like I would have wanted to, but he's a good guy.
The romance between them felt a bit weird at first, because you know, even though he's been staring at her for 7 years, she only just acknowledged he even existed and it's all happening a little too fast. The insta love was a bit strong, but the teenage hormones I could understand ;)

Also, I thought the FBI were giving Janelle a LOT of room to operate in when at least one of their agents knew she was keeping things from them and had even stolen files at one point. I mean, sure he'd been a friend of the family forever, but still, it just didn't seem fully plausible.

I LOVED the science fiction part of all this and without wanting to give anything away: the explanation for everything was crazy good!
But even so, I wasn't going to give this book an above avarage rating, but then THE END HAPPENED! OMG, the last couple of chapters were like crack and I just kept reading and holding my breath and it was just amazing! And it was pulling on my heartstrings like crazy and because of that I need to get something out and it's a HUGE spoiler, so do not light up this next part if you don't want to know!

***SPOILER! Light up to read:***
OMG! Alex died! And Ben LEFT! And I LOVED Alex! His death hit me harder than anything happening in the novel so far, even worse than Ben leaving. Alex was such an amazing guy and I would have fallen in love with him instead of Ben. *sob*
***End of spoiler***

So this was an ok book with an amazing ending and whole lot of science fiction not just for the fans of said genre! And I've already checked Elizabeth Norris' blog: there will be a sequel! HOORAY! I was a little afraid when I didn't see any info about it on Goodreads, but now I'm cool :)

My rating: 4 stars