{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.

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