Letterbox Love #7

Letterbox Love is a meme hosted by Lynsey of Narratively Speaking whereby book lovers can exhibit the books they received this week.

Two books to collect from the library this week; James Cracknell’s autobiography ‘Touching Distance‘. Everyone who knows me will know that I love James Cracknell. I think he is an absolute inspiration, and I always read his books or watch his dvds if I am feeling self-pity.  I look forward to this, except it is hardback 😦 so bad for the commute! 

‘Dark Parties‘ by Sara Grant is a book I have been dithering over for a while now. The cover looks good, but there just didn’t seem to be anything special about it. But I indulged and have taken it home, and it is a nice paperback! Smiles for the computer earrings =)

A quiet week for ebooks. I haven’t started any yet, but I am hoping to this week as my collection is building. Thanks to Netgalley and Kensington books for allowing me to have ‘All She Ever Wanted‘ by Rosalind Noonan. This isn’t a book or an author I’ve heard a lot about, but the blurb sounded very intriguing! 

So that’s it from me this week. I managed to read 3.5 books this week (yay commute) but have been very bad in writing reviews. I’m hoping to be caught up by next weekend, but I apologise for the lack of posts this week. Anybody who manages to fit in a working day, commute and reviews, please share your tips with me! 

What did you receive this week? Have you read any of my books and do you think it should be at the top or the bottom of my to read pile? I’d love to hear from you! 

Book Review: Unravelling

STOP THE COUNTDOWN. SAVE THE WORLD…

Leaving the beach, seventeen-year-old Janelle Tenner is hit head on by a pickup truck.
And killed.
Then Ben Michaels, resident stoner, is leaning over her. And even though it isn’t possible, she knows Ben somehow brought her back to life…
Meanwhile, Janelle’s father, a special agent for the FBI, starts working on a case that seems strangely connected to Ben. Digging in his files, Janelle finds a mysterious device – one that seems to be counting down to something that will happen in 23 days and 10 hours time. 
That something? It might just be the end of the world. And if Janelle wants to stop it, she’s going to need to uncover Ben’s secrets – and keep from falling in love with him in the process…

‘Unravelling‘ by Elizabeth Norris has been sitting on my tbr read shelf for a couple of months, I picked it up from the library for the intriguing cover, but it is quite a thick paperback (for a YA novel) and other books have been too tempting. 

But I have been missing out! I absolutely loved this book, and devoured it in a day. Even on the tube I couldn’t put it down! Some of the chapters are very short (about a page) and I think this really helps in the pacing because I fell into the trap of ‘just one more chapter’. 

Basically the story is about Janelle, who gets hit by a truck and dies, but is brought back to life by Ben. Obviously no one believes her, but she has to find out more about Ben, and how/why he saved her. 

Meanwhile, her dad (an FBI agent) is working on a new case where radioactively burned bodies are turning up everywhere. Then a bomb-like device is discovered, with a countdown. Janelle decides to do her own investigation as to what the device means, and how they can stop it. 

I think this book had great character development. Obviously the book surrounds Janelle, but Ben is such an intriguing person (and also good looking). We follow Janelle as she finds out more and more about him, and pieces the information together. I think the book contains enough action to create suspense, but enough background to really invest in the characters. 

One think I will say is that Ben did seem a little perfect, but you gotta have good characters I suppose! It was nice that Janelle was the daughter of an FBI agent, as it made her a strong character, and she definitely showed it! I think it’s good not to have wimpy girl characters. 

The ending was good, but I’ve just discovered there is a sequel planned for next year! And god I can’t wait. Though I really hope they change the cover again, as I think the US one is just awful. For once the UK have done much better. Roll on next year! 

I would definately reccommend this books for people who like strong character development, and scifi action. Have you read it, and can you suggest anything similar? Do you agree or disagree with my review?