Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Pages: 370 (Hardcover)
Series: The Lynburn Legacy, #1
Rating: 
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?
Dearest Unspoken,
I must regrettably inform you that we must do the unthinkable and separate. I really don’t know where we went wrong, you and I. After my co-blogger, Kat, set us up on that blind date, urging me to give you a go, I thought for sure we would hit it off nicely. And for a minute we did. Don’t you remember? It was love at first sight as I set my eyes on your gorgeous cover and unique premise. But somehow, along the way, something went wrong.
Unspoken, you were true. You had a solid plot and you were different from any of the others I’ve read before you. But it was clear from the beginning that our cultural differences would be our undoing. With you being so very English and me being a confused American, I just couldn’t keep up with your complexity. But darling, to be fair, you weren’t easy on me. If only your scene transitions were a little more smoother, perhaps I could have understood how much time had passed or when the character PoV had changed. Or perhaps if only the characters didn’t suffer from “just go with it” syndrome, ignoring and dismissing instances where they had the opportunity to learn more about the mystery just for the sake of prolonging the story. Unspoken, let’s be honest with one another. That mystery could have been solved halfway through the story if only the characters weren’t so wrapped up in concealing their feelings. Honey-bunches, it annoyed me.
Speaking of your characters, darling, they were entirely likable. But that’s also the problem because that’s all they will ever be for me, just likable. Not once did I feel connected to them in any way and countless times I paused to consider the possibilities of why. Kami is a smart, witty, no-nonsense girl. Just my type, if you can believe it. But her constant detachment from Jared proved to be more of an annoyance than anything else. The more and more she pulled away from him, the more I felt I lost any type connection. Don’t get me wrong, Unspoken. I really did enjoy the fact that they could read each other’s minds since they were babies. I just don’t understand why Jared never could bear to touch Kami. Why did Kami want to rid herself of Jared after she mentions how much she values their special relationship. Because she was afraid of being hurt? So this one hurdle somehow cancels out the relationship they had developed since they were children? I’m sorry, but that logical pathway confuses me.
Even still, through our rough times, you somehow managed to occasionally make me laugh. The dialogue and humor were perfection and timely placed. Unfortunately, not even your wit could save us. I probably should have mentioned all this before. Looking back, I had seen the ghosts of these feelings at the halfway mark and I struggled to stay in our relationship. I now realize that I shouldn’t have let other’s incessant peer pressure get to me. You see, they told me to just hang in there, that it was all worth it in the end. But by the time you have reached your climax and ending, I remained indifferent. To put it lightly, dearest, your ending is illogical to me. You’re telling me a group of people couldn’t disarm and defeat one enemy? Even with their special abilities combined? And in turn, it took that group of people forever to get to Kami? And dammit I wish I could go into further detail about that, but I know how you feel about kissing and telling.
No, no. I know what you’re doing right now and you shouldn’t even think it. Unspoken, you were fabulous in so many ways. It was like you were telling this hilarious joke and I was standing there waiting for the punchline, only to realize everyone else is already laughing. Which is why I must close this break-up letter with the most clichéd expression ever:
With all my love,
Stephanie Sinclair
P.S. I know that Kat Kennedy will attempt to chivalrously defend your honor tooth and nail in a review war. Please, pass on a message for me: Bring it. 
ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley.
It’s completely rare for Kat and I to disagree on a book. You can check out her review here.
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