Book Review: Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

Unspoken (The Lynburn Legacy #1)
Author:  Sarah Rees Brennan
Publisher:  Random House Books for Young Readers, 370 pages
Publication Date:  September 11, 2012

From Goodreads:
Kami Glass loves someone she’s never met . . . a boy she’s talked to in her head ever since she was born. She wasn’t silent about her imaginary friend during her childhood, and is thus a bit of an outsider in her sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale. Still, Kami hasn’t suffered too much from not fitting in. She has a best friend, runs the school newspaper, and is only occasionally caught talking to herself. Her life is in order, just the way she likes it, despite the voice in her head.

But all that changes when the Lynburns return.

The Lynburn family has owned the spectacular and sinister manor that overlooks Sorry-in-the-Vale for centuries. The mysterious twin sisters who abandoned their ancestral home a generation ago are back, along with their teenage sons, Jared and Ash, one of whom is eerily familiar to Kami. Kami is not one to shy away from the unknown—in fact, she’s determined to find answers for all the questions Sorry-in-the-Vale is suddenly posing. Who is responsible for the bloody deeds in the depths of the woods? What is her own mother hiding? And now that her imaginary friend has become a real boy, does she still love him? Does she hate him? Can she trust him?

Review:
What a smart, dark, funny, and mysterious book with an incredible cast of characters and a absolutely fantastic heroine.  Although the teenagers are just a bit too articulate, I absolutely loved their conversations and their witty banter.  I don't include quotes too often, but I just had to include a few in this review.

"We're going to die." Something else dawned on her."And where is your shirt?"

"Let me explain," said Jared. "I had just gone to bed, like a reasonable person, when you decided to get tossed into a well like a crazy person. And then it was a matter of some urgency to reach you. You're lucky I tripped over my jeans on the way out the door."

"You leave your jeans on the floor?" Kami asked, horrified. "You're messy on top of everything else?  This day just keeps getting worse."

Kami has lived in a the small English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale her whole life and has always been a bit odd because she hears a boy in her head, her imaginary friend Jared.  They share everything and know each other as well as you would know yourself.  Every single thought, every single feeling.  So when Jared actually shows up in town, is an actual real boy, they are both actually horrified and their relationship as real people develops in such a great, awkward way.  It was not at all what I was expecting and I loved it.

“A leather jacket,” Kami said as he shrugged into it. “Aren’t you trying a little too hard to play into certain bad boy clichés?”

“Nah”, said Jared. “You’re thinking of black leather. Black leather’s for bad boys. It’s all in the color. You wouldn’t think I was a bad boy if I was wearing a pink leather jacket.”

“That’s true,” Kami said. “What I would think of you, I do not know. So what does brown leather mean, then?”

“I’m going for manly,” Jared said. “Maybe a little rugged.”

“It’s bits of dead cow; don’t ask it to perform miracles.” 

There are strange things happening in the town and as a want to be reporter, Kami is determined to find out what's going on.  She's so spunky and sassy, but not annoyingly so.  

“Don't feel bad, Angela," Kami said. "You know guys, they only want one thing. Repartee. I can't count how many times men have admired my well-turned phrases.” 

With her gang of friends (think the Buffy gang) they find themselves in all sorts of trouble.  There's Angela, Kami's best friend who hates people; Holly, a beautiful girl who they don't know very well; Ash, one of the Lynburn boys; Jared, of course (my heart was just breaking for him when I wasn't laughing); and then Rusty, Angie's twenty-year-old brother.  All of them have their one-liners, their quips, and they make the book so entertaining and fun.  Absolute chaos is going on all around them, and they still manage to crack a joke.  Loved this book.

And that ending...gah!  Killed me.  Definitely recommend this one.

Posted by:  Pam