Unraveled

Unraveled by Gena Showalter

Intertwined #2

For once, sixteen-year-old Aden Stone has everything he’s ever wanted:

A home.

Friends.

The girl of his dreams.

Too bad he’s going to die…

Since coming to Crossroads, Oklahoma, former outcast Aden Stone has been living the good life. Never mind that one of his best friends is a werewolf, his girlfriend is a vampire princess who hungers for his blood, and he’s supposed to be crowned Vampire King – while still a human! Well, kind of.

With four – oops, three now -- human souls living inside his head, Aden has always been “different” himself. These souls can time travel, raise the dead, possess another’s mind, and, his least favorite these days, tell the future.

The forecast for Aden? A knife through the heart.

Because a war is brewing between the creatures of the dark, and Aden is somehow at the center of it all. But he isn’t about to lie down and accept his destiny without a fight. Not when his new friends have his back, not when Victoria has risked her own future to be with him, and not when he has a reason to live for the first time in his life…

At the end of the last book, the unthinkable happened Victoria's father died, and Aden became King of the vampires. This book starts out with him dealing with the aftereffects of ingesting blood from two vampires, temporailly experiencing things in their bodies, and experiences something no one should ever have to. Then, as if dealing with the new responsibilities and threat of being king weren't enough, the witches place a curse on Aden's friends. If he doesn't show up to a meeting with the elders within a week, they will die. One problem, they didn't tell him when or where that meeting was. Meanwhile, Aden is dealing with his own impending death now that he has the three lined scar that he saw in the vision. It seems time may just be running out for all of them.

Mary Ann's character was more developed in this book. She really started to have her own identity, and an inner strength became apparent. She knows that she really cannot protect herself, so that makes her a liability. Instead of being content to always staying on the sidelines, she asks Aden to train her to protect herself, and that takes courage. Meanwhile this causes some serious tension between Riley and Aden since Aden has to make the training real, so of course Mary Ann gets hurt a little. With his extreme protectiveness, Riley just has a really hard time accepting this, but he really can't do anything about it since Aden is his King. This, and other struggles the characters have with each other make their relationships all the more realistic.

The biggest mystery of these books is what Aden really is. Why does he draw everyone in and boost their powers? Why did his parents give him up? Who were they and do they have any answers? These questions and so many more from the first book are still left unanswered. I was a little disappointed at first when I realized the book wouldn't be diverging into Aden's past at all, but the rest of the action did make up for it. I still think Aden really is the "star" of this series, and I cannot wait to find out more about his abilities. Hopefully the focus will be more on him in the next book and at least some of these looming questions will get answers.

This book was just as packed as the last one, always seeming to go in many directions at once. However, it didn't bother me as much as it did for the last book, as things are really starting to come together despite the multiple plots. Actually, now that I've gotten used to the "busyness," I find that it makes the book an extremely fast read despite the increased length. I read it in one sitting as I just couldn't put it down. The ending was another shocker, making me extremely eager for the next installment. The new direction should really make things interesting. This series is definitely worth checking out if you love paranormal novels!

(Received from the publisher for review)

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Unraveled (Harlequin Teen)