{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.

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