Unspoken

Unspoken
by Sarah Rees Brennan
384 pages
Middle School+

Kami Glass has the ultimate imaginary friend; he even talks back to her.  She has talked to Jared in her head since she was a child. While it may seem weird to everyone else, she enjoys having a best friend that is honest with her, and is hers alone.  Being half an outsider in her little town of Sorry-in-the-Vale, it's comforting to always know that she can at least talk to Jared.

Then one day, the entire town is in an uproar.  The Lynburns, the local "aristocracy", have moved back into their mansion on the edge of town. No one has seen them for years, and their reappearance has been waited for.  Kami, not truly a native of the town, shrugs off this momentous event, only noticing it to try to write a column about it in her newspaper.

Then, Kami meets Ash Lynburn.  Sunshine incarnate, he wows her, and starts to sweep her off her feet.  Not sure if she wants to be swept, Kami hesitates before getting too serious.  All the rumors she has heard about the family, she is not sure she wants to be involved with it.

And then, she meets his cousin, Jared Lynburn.  First, she is startled by the similar name to her imaginary friend.  After talking to each other, she realizes he is her imaginary friend, only not so imaginary.  Able to speak mind to mind, they have few secrets from each other, can tell what the other if feeling, and are connected deeper than they imagined.  Jared and Ash are both jealous of the other, each wanting Kami for their own.

On top of all this, strange things start happening in Sorry-in-the-Vale.  Screams are heard in the forest directly behind Kami's house.  People are getting hurt, and the village seems to connect the Lynburns to the incidents.  Caught in the middle of everything, Kami learns more about Jared and his family than she ever wanted to know.

So, this was a book I randomly picked up while looking for something else, but I'm glad I did!  A good alternative to other paranormal romances, I found it much more intriguing and interesting. What would it be like to have the voice in your head, that you shared everything with, suddenly turn real?

The one thing I did NOT like about this book- the ending!  Oh my goodness!  While it does have a climatic scene, and action, it didn't seem like enough.  There is way too much left undone or unresolved to make me feel completed as I finished the book.  I don't expect every little thread of the story to be wrapped up, but to me, the ending left a lot more questions and created more unresolved problems than it needed to.

I did really like the character interactions.  Kami has some very interesting friends, from a long-time loyal friend to a newer, not so sure about this, friend.  Plus, there are great scenes between her and Ash and Jared.  Ash likes her, and tries to kiss her, but she has the hardest time because Jared is always in the back of her head.  Also, Kami and Jared are trying to get over this "my imaginary friend that everyone told me doesn't really exist is really real" feeling and the awkwardness of having someone know everything that goes through your mind.

Overall, pretty good book, just not thrilled with the ending.  There is obviously more coming, but that ending kind of distracted me from the rest of the book.  I am eager to read the sequel, just to see what happens next!  Good book, nothing inappropriate happens (I think a kiss is the worst), but lots of tension and mystery involved too!