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Cute takes a sultry turn and all of my senses took a hit. Unraveled definitely delivers the hint, but the edge leans toward flirty, fun. Corwin and Belle keep the smiles flowing and the heart glowing.
Unraveled: Her Reality Is Surreality is the latest book by Meg Kimball. It’s young adult fantasy fiction, which is definitely breaking out of my usual box, but Meg is a blogger buddy of mine so I wanted to check it out.
The book opens in 16th century France with a pregnant young woman being assaulted by her mother. The book then shifts to the “here and now”, where we meet 16-year-old Marilyn, who is in the emergency room after overdosing on pills. She is then transferred to an adolescent inpatient psychiatry unit and diagnosed with schizophreniform disorder. Much of the story is set on the inpatient unit, although the shifts between different time periods and settings continue throughout the book and form an important part of the story.
The staff on the unit represent some of the unhelpful types that can unfortunately be found all too often in mental health care, seen through the lens of a teenage girl who tells it like she sees it.
Marilyn can be delightfully awkward, coming out with lines like “Let me be your toilet paper.” On the inpatient unit, Marilyn becomes friendly with several other co-patients. As the book continues, it becomes clear that none of the characters are what they originally seem. There is unexpected twist at the end that leaves the reader wondering what was real and what wasn’t.
The book is very visually descriptive, and I had to laugh at the mention of Marilyn’s chestnut hair, as pretty much any story I wrote when I was a kid was graced by chestnut hair. The descriptive detail helps to really bring the characters to life.
While this is a work of fiction, there are elements of real life slipped into the story. Parts of the book are more comical, while deeper issues like parent-child abuse are also tackled. The lead character is quirky in a likeable way, and the book makes for an interesting read.
Today’s stop is for Kate Jarvik Birch’s Unraveled, third and final book in the Perfected Series . We will have info about the book, author, an excerpt from the book and my review for Unraveled. Plus there is a great giveaway ;)
Happy reading :)
Ella isn’t anyone’s pet anymore, but she’s certainly not free.
After exposing the dark secrets about NuPet’s breeding program, forcing them to repeal the law that allowed genetically modified girls to be kept as pets, she thought girls like her would finally be free. She never dreamed that it would backfire. NuPet may have convinced the public of their intentions to assimilate pets back into society, but Ella knows it’s a lie.
They aren’t planning mass rehabilitation…they’re planning a mass extermination.
Now, with the help of a small group of rebels, Ella and Penn, the boy she’d give up her life for, set out to bring down NuPet for good. But when her group gets implicated in a string of bombings, no one is safe. If she can’t untangle the web of blackmail and lies that extends far beyond NuPet’s reach, she won’t just lose her chance at freedom, she’ll lose everyone she loves.
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No one glanced up at us as we left. We were inconsequential, just two kids leaving a pizza place. And that’s exactly what we felt like—kids. Powerless. Weak. Alone. The bell on the door jingled lightly once more, and we stepped back out into the night. Once again, the sound of jazz music drifted out of the bar next door. I paused, listening to the soulful cry of the saxophone. For a moment, I closed my eyes, focusing on the full, round tone. And then, just as the last note of the song died away, the bomb went off. One single note rang in my ears. High pitched. Whining. The saxophone... It had just been playing, wasn’t it? I could remember the low, sweet crooning, but that wasn’t what this sound was. I shook my head and tried to bring a hand up to my eyes, but something held it clamped down at my side. I tried to wiggle free, but there was something pressing my back, too, making it hard to breathe. I coughed. My mouth was dry, thick with dust and the taste of metal. “Penn,” I croaked. “Penn?” I blinked, trying to turn my head. In front of me the ground spread out like a battle field. Red and blue lights blinked behind a cloud of dust. Dark forms moved left and right, up and down. Long limbs waved to one another. My cheek pressed against something rough. “Penn!” “Here’s one,” someone said. They sounded far away, a voice inside a bubble floating somewhere high above my head. The weight on my back lifted, and a hand slipped beneath me, lifting me from the ground. I choked in a deep gulp of air and balanced on my wobbly legs. Even with the world tipped vertically once more, I couldn’t make sense of it. “Ella!” I turned. The dark outline of Penn stumbled toward me. Behind him, the building crumbled in on itself. Brick and cement.Wire and steel.Here and there a tipped table, a smashed chair. Broken glass littered the ground, glittering with the orange light of flames that glowed inside the hole where a door had just been. A door. A door. The door that had just jingled shut behind me.
I remember picking book one up when it came out, not really knowing what to expect and really enjoyed it and thought it was pretty unique and clever for a dystopian.
Now we are at the third and final book of the series and I’m absolutely thrilled to have been following Ella and her small group of trusted people.
This book was a the perfect conclusion to the series, it was just as nail biting and thrilling as the other two books, if not even a bit more. Everything is wrapped up nicely for the most part. There were a few minor things but that was okay and it was nothing important.
Sadly not everyone makes it to the end and I was at first not sure about it but it was kind of a good fit into the story.
I also really enjoyed Ella in this book, she came such a long way since book one and really has grown into her character. I love that she still has little flaws and sometimes is not sure of herself. It makes her so much more relatable.
The ending was great and I thought it did the entire series great justice.
Overall I did not only enjoy this book but the entire series and I can’t wait to see what Kate Jarvik Birch comes up with next
I rate it 4 ½ ★
Kate Jarvik Birch is a visual artist, author, playwright, daydreamer, and professional procrastinator. As a child, she wanted to grow up to be either a unicorn or mermaid. Luckily, being a writer turned out to be just as magical. Her essays and short stories have been published in literary journals including Indiana Review and Saint Ann’s Review. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with her husband and three kids.
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Ella isn’t anyone’s pet anymore, but she’s certainly not free.
After exposing the dark secrets about NuPet’s breeding program, forcing them to repeal the law that allowed genetically modified girls to be kept as pets, she thought girls like her would finally be free. She never dreamed that it would backfire. NuPet may have convinced the public of their intentions to assimilate pets back into society, but Ella knows it’s a lie.
They aren’t planning mass rehabilitation...they’re planning a mass extermination.
Now, with the help of a small group of rebels, Ella and Penn, the boy she’d give up her life for, set out to bring down NuPet for good. But when her group gets implicated in a string of bombings, no one is safe. If she can’t untangle the web of blackmail and lies that extends far beyond NuPet’s reach, she won’t just lose her chance at freedom, she’ll lose everyone she loves.
*I received a free copy from the publisher and chose to leave a voluntary review. Thank you!*
I remember picking book one up when it came out, not really knowing what to expect and really enjoyed it and thought it was pretty unique and clever for a dystopian.
Now we are at the third and final book of the series and I’m absolutely thrilled to have been following Ella and her small group of trusted people.
This book was a the perfect conclusion to the series, it was just as nail biting and thrilling as the other two books, if not even a bit more. Everything is wrapped up nicely for the most part. There were a few minor things but that was okay and it was nothing important.
Sadly not everyone makes it to the end and I was at first not sure about it but it was kind of a good fit into the story.
I also really enjoyed Ella in this book, she came such a long way since book one and really has grown into her character. I love that she still has little flaws and sometimes is not sure of herself. It makes her so much more relatable.
The ending was great and I thought it did the entire series great justice.
Overall I did not only enjoy this book but the entire series and I can’t wait to see what Kate Jarvik Birch comes up with next
I rate it 4 ½ ★
