{Audiobook} Review: Unbreakable by Elizabeth Norris

Title: Unbreakable
Author: Elizabeth Norris
Narrator:  Katie Schorr
Series: Unraveling, book #2
Publisher: Harper Audio
Publication Date: April 23, 2013
Source: purchased
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

Four months after Ben disappeared through the portal to his home universe, Janelle believes she’ll never see him again. Her world is still devastated, but life is finally starting to resume some kind of normalcy. Until Interverse Agent Taylor Barclay shows up. Somebody from an alternate universe is running a human trafficking ring, kidnapping people and selling them on different Earths—and Ben is the prime suspect. Now his family has been imprisoned and will be executed if Ben doesn’t turn himself over within five days.

And when Janelle learns that someone she cares about—someone from her own world—has become one of the missing, she knows that she has to help Barclay, regardless of the danger. Now Janelle has five days to track down the real culprit. Five days to locate the missing people before they’re lost forever. Five days to reunite with the boy who stole her heart. But as the clues begin to add up, Janelle realizes that she’s in way over her head—and that she may not have known Ben as well as she thought. Can she uncover the truth before everyone she cares about is killed?

Death to everyone!  Okay, not really, but damn.  After the ending to Unraveling and now this, I know not to get too attached to anyone when it comes to this author!  And no fakesies or take-backs.  This shit is for real.  But is it the end?  And who are those extra people on the cover?

Damn, that is one doozy of a spoiler!

I don't have any answers for you, but I have some guesses.  And some of that might be spoilery.  Bewares.  First, is this a duology?  It makes sense based on where this book left off, and if it is, I'm totally okay with that.  I like when an author realizes they have enough material for two books and not three.  Every series does not have to be a trilogy.  I wouldn't mind reading more of this world, but with several really good characters out of the picture, I'm not sure my heart would be entirely in it.  As far as the cover goes, I think it's pretty easy to guess that the couple in the forefront is Janelle and Ben.  But who are those other two?  Based on his attire, I'm going to hazard a guess that the guy on the left is Barclay -- he is often described as wearing military-type gear, which makes sense since he's an IA agent.  Plus, he plays a much bigger role in this sequel than he did in the first.  As for the girl, well, [spoiler]the cover for Unraveling showed multiple versions of both Ben and Janelle, so what's not to say there's a little of that going on here, too?  Though, she does look a bit different, doesn't she?  ;)[/spoiler]

Hmmm....at this point, I don't know whether to recommend reading the Undone novella prior to Unbreakable or not.  It helped me to figure out some things much sooner than the characters did, but I don't know if I really liked having advance knowledge in this instance.  It's definitely worth a read, though, since you get Ben's POV.  :)

We already know that I rather liked Ben and Janelle's relationship in the first book. And Barclay was but a bit player in Unraveling.  At least, that's what it seemed like to me before reading Unbreakable.  But in this sequel, Ben is less of a prospect and more of a suspect.  He's kind of MIA for a big chunk of the book.  And I thought I'd miss him.  But then Barclay turned up in Janelle's world again, and I was kind of like, "Ben, who?"


As in Unraveling, no one is safe in this second installment.  Don't get too close to anyone.  Don't get cozy with where the story is headed.  Pretty much, just expect the unexpected, and even then, I still think you'll be surprised.  Oh, but if I scared you with my brazen shipping of someone other than Banelle, don't worry; there truly is no love triangle to speak of.  It's all in my head.  o_O

This time around, I didn't have an ARC to fall back on whenever I stepped out of the car or finished the housework.  But it didn't matter.  I kept on listening.  Katie Schorr proved once again that she was the narrator for the job, and she has definitely found a place on my list of favorite narrators.  And so I'll just repeat what I said about her narration for Unraveling:  "Katie Schorr was an excellent pick for narrator of this book.  She really gets Janelle's dry wit and sarcasm and she nails those one-liners.  The narrator also portrays Ben perfectly as the quiet, reserved love interest.  Schorr seemlessly pulled off the witty banter between many of the characters.  I never lost track of who was speaking, and I never lost interest in the story...obviously."

Lots of action.  Lots of crazy.  Lots of crazy action.  I'd love to tell you more, but man, books like this are so much better when you go into them knowing very little.  Trust me, though, if you liked the first book, and you were left tragically empty at the end of Unraveling -- before we knew a sequel was in the works -- then you'll definitely want to pick up Unbreakable.  Elizabeth Norris seriously rocks some sci-fi.


Rating:   1/2

About the author:

Elizabeth Norris briefly taught high school English and history before trading the southern California beaches and sunshine for Manhattan's recent snowpocalyptic winter. She harbors dangerous addictions to guacamole, red velvet cupcakes, sushi, and Argo Tea, fortunately not all together. Her first novel, UNRAVELING (Balzer+Bray, April 2012), is the story of one girl's fight to save her family, her world, and the one boy she never saw coming.

Find Elizabeth:

Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest | Tumblr

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Labels: audiobooks, elizabeth norris, favorites, harper-collins, mystery, post-apocalyptic, reviews, sci-fi, unraveling

{Short Story Sunday} Review: Undone by Elizabeth Norris

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Short stories are awesome.  They give us in-depth insight into characters, providing anecdotal proof of why some characters are they way they are.  They entertain by creating a certain mood or focusing on a singular effect...some instance in a previous body of work (or one to follow) that might have been glossed over or ignored completely in a longer novel. 

And so, every Sunday for the foreseeable future, I would like to highlight short stories and novellas set in worlds I've already come to love and learn a little more about some of the secondary characters in my favorite novels.  I'll be underscoring some of my favorite aspects of these short works of fiction, in addition to offering up a mini review of each work.

This week I'm featuring a novella from the Unraveling world:

Title: Undone
Author: Elizabeth Norris
Series: Unraveling, book #1.5
Publisher: HarperTeen Impulse
Publication Date: March 5, 2013
Source: purchased
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Before the accident. Before their universes collided. Before they fell in love.

Riveting and romantic, Undone: An Unraveling Novella contains three short stories set in the world of Unraveling, the first book in the gripping sci-fi duology by Elizabeth Norris.

Before Ben Michaels saved Janelle Tenner’s life, Janelle saved Ben when he stumbled through an interuniverse portal into a completely new world. That day, he fell in love with the girl of his dreams. And he never forgot her.

Through three stories told from Ben’s point of view, learn how Ben and his friends discovered their ability to travel between worlds, how Ben first met Janelle, and how he pined for her for years before he actually got the chance to meet her, save her life, and capture her heart. And find out what happens to Ben between the cliff-hanger conclusion to Unraveling and the beginning of its heart-stopping sequel, Unbreakable.

I loved Unraveling when I listened to the audiobook a couple of weeks ago.  It was intense and fast-paced and had everything I'm looking for in a good sci-fi novel:  a take-charge heroine, a compelling storyline, and a secondary cast of characters that deserve a storyline of their own.  And with Elizabeth Norris' Undone, we get just that.

Ben was an awesome love interest for the seemingly fearless Janelle in the first book in this series.  And that's no less true with this novella.  But I knew there was more to Ben than just the borderline-stalker-turned-boyfriend we saw in Unraveling.  This  novella is broken into three sections:  Before She Knew Me, When I Saved Her, and After I Left Her.  With each segment, we learn a little bit more about Ben as we see the events in Unraveling from his perspective.  And then there's what happens after Unraveling.  I've not yet read Unbreakable, but I have an idea what to expect thanks to this novella.  I don't think it will spoil the story for you, but it will ramp up your anticipation for Unbreakable, which releases in another month.  (Psst.  There's also a sneak peek of the sequel at the end of Undone!)

Undone was exactly what I was hoping for:  a little more of the world from Unraveling from a fresh point-of-view.  Admittedly, I like Janelle's voice better, as far as the story-telling goes because she is far more sarcastic and witty, but Ben's narrative was a welcome alternative.  I'm kind of hoping we'll get a dual narrative from these two in the sequel.  Only one more month till we find out!  And now that I know what's coming, it's going to be an even more agonizing wait.

Rating:  

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Labels: elizabeth norris, favorites, harper-collins, novellas, reviews, sci-fi, short story sunday, unraveling

{Audiobook} Review: Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris

Title: Unraveling
Author: Elizabeth Norris
Narrator:  Katie Schorr
Series: Unraveling, book #1
Publisher: Harper Audio
Publication Date: April 24, 2012
Source: purchased audio/ARC received from publisher
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

Sixteen-year-old Janelle Tenner is used to having a lot of responsibility. She balances working as a lifeguard in San Diego with an intense academic schedule. Janelle's mother is bipolar, and her dad is a workaholic FBI agent, which means Janelle also has to look out for her younger brother, Jared.

And that was before she died...and is brought back to life by Ben Michaels, a mysterious, alluring loner from her high school. When she discovers a strange clock that seems to be counting down to the earth's destruction, Janelle learns she has twenty-four days to figure out how to stop the clock and save the planet.

This novel was exhilarating...and honestly, that's putting it kind of mildly.  I received an ARC prior to release last year, but I got backlogged and never got around to it.  But I never forgot about the book.  Fast forward to the present, when I'm seeing so many people showing their enthusiasm for the sequel, which releases at the end of next month, and I figured I'd better check out what all the fuss is about.  I still didn't have time to fit the book into my reading schedule, though, so I downloaded the audio a couple of weeks ago.  I listened whenever I could, but it still wasn't enough.  I wanted more of this book.  And so sometimes I caught myself pulling out the ARC and picking up where I'd left off on the audio.


Katie Schorr was an excellent pick for narrator of this book.  She really gets Janelle's dry wit and sarcasm and she nails those one-liners.  The narrator also portrays Ben perfectly as the quiet, reserved love interest.  Schorr seemlessly pulled off the witty banter between many of the characters.  I never lost track of who was speaking, and I never lost interest in the story...obviously.

I honestly don't know that I had any complaints about this book.  It was intense, fast-paced, and there was never a dull moment.  Add to that the X-Files references, the sarcastic but completely lovable heroine, and the intimidating countdown clock ("Stop the countdown.  Save the world."), and I don't think I could have found a book more suited to my tastes.  And the fact that the author didn't care who she maimed or killed off on her way to the end...well, there's really no question that this is one of the best debuts I've read, is there?

“Apparently this month is full of surprises. No one is as dumb as I thought they were.”

Janelle's family situation is, um, not great.  She's pretty much relegated to being the parental figure to her younger teenage brother.  At this point, she's kind of just surviving, day by day...she's not really living anymore.  But then a near-fatal confrontation with a truck that seems to have appeared out of thin air changes that.  Ben Michaels, a loner she's never spoken a single word to, resuscitates her.  And she suddenly has to know more about him.

  “And the way it felt?” I whisper, as if that might soften the blow of embarrassment I'm about to deal. “Is that how you were feeling - how you feel - about me?”
   A breeze comes off the ocean, and my skin feels strangely empty and open as he gives an almost imperceptible nod.

I actually liked the relationship that develops between Janelle and Ben, despite how creepy he might have seemed in the beginning.  Ben's been watching J for years, maybe even been in love with her for years, which  appeared a bit stalkerish at first.  But ultimately, Ben proves himself a decent guy, even if his friends come off as complete douche-nozzles.  Back to Ben and Janelle, though.  Sincerity and honesty rule what's blossoming between them, and I am 100% on board with that.  There's little to no confusion about feelings between these two...they leave that all for the end of the world stuff.

   “So your perfect proposal, what would it be?” Ben asks.
   “Seriously?”...“I don't know. It would just be the two of us, and I guess I'd want him to say something honest, not overly romantic, not something that would make a great story to tell his friends. I'd just want him to lean over...” As I say it, I lean slightly toward Ben, close enough that I can feel the warmth of his body radiating into the empty space between us, and drop the volume of my voice. “... and say 'Janelle Tenner, fucking marry me.'”

Speaking of, I love the countdown clock, the sense of urgency it produces and how as time runs out, so does the story unravel.  Such a fitting title, if you ask me.  No big reveal.  Just clues to the bigger puzzle, bit by bit.  And every second of it was worthwhile, even if we did lose some peeps along the way.

“Is it wrong I'm hoping we'll get at least one diabolical monologue from a bad guy?”

I don't know how else to express my love and excitement for this book.  It ended on a note that left the reader with questions, but it could have sufficed as an ending.  Though, I am terribly, horribly excited that Unraveling was only the first book in the series.  I'm not yet ready to leave these characters behind.  And I have hopes that some, um, situations from this book might yet be remedied in the sequel.  Now, though, I'm off to read Undone, a novella from Ben's POV.

Rating: 

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Labels: audiobooks, dac 2012, elizabeth norris, favorites, harper-collins, must-read, reviews, sci-fi, unraveling

Awhile on the Pile #14: Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris

Awhile on the Pile/From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday but was also inspired by Rachel at My Reading Pile/Fiktshun. The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review -- or any book that you own and really want to read/review -- but haven't yet got around to reading in order to give the book some extra publicity.

Here's the book I chose to give some extra love this week:

Title:  Unraveling
Author:  Elizabeth Norris
Series:  Unraveling #1
Publisher:  Balzer + Bray
Publication Date:  April 24, 2012
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, Janelle knows—with every fiber of her being—that Ben has somehow brought her back to life.

But her reincarnation, 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 one boy she never saw coming.

Sounds pretty awesome, right?  Yeah, I thought so, too.  I really can't tell you why I haven't read it yet, other than I just haven't had the time.  But I really need to get to it.  I've read some really varied reviews, anywhere from this being one of the best end-of-days novels to others that indicated it was very formulaic and contrived.  I love when a book garners such mixed reactions from readers.  And I can't wait to see which camp I end up in!

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Labels: awhile on the pile, elizabeth norris, harper-collins, mystery, post-apocalyptic, reincarnation, sci-fi, unraveling