Review: Undone – Cat Clarke

I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

REVIEW

Jem Halliday is ‘that’ girl. The one with the dark hair, black eyeliner laid on thick (making her look pale) wearing all dark. Most people refer to this as ‘emo’ or ‘goth.’ Truthfully Jem could not care less what anyone thinks of her, except that of her best friend and the love of her life Kai. Whom also happens to be gay.  No matter what Jem tucks away that unspoken love for Kai because she knows they will be nothing but friends. The bond that Jem and Kai share from the moment they meet is an instant friendship that no one can tear apart. Not even death.

High school is one of the hardest places anyone can fit into. Everyone has their cliques, and it is all a matter of fitting in. No one but Jem and his family knew that Kai was gay. That is until someone an unspeakable thing, and Kai was outed in the most horrible way. Then EVERYONE knew. The worst part…after it was all said and done…Kai committed suicide. Kai left behind 12 letters. Every month, one was to be read by Jem. Will these letters help Jem in the grieving process or will it just help in honoring Kai’s last wishes before she does the unthinkable herself? Will Jem heed to Kai’s dying wishes?

Undone by Cat Clarke is a beautiful yet emotional read. Although the synopsis gives a little too much away of the story, there is more to this story. It is about one girl and the love she has with her best friend. Trying to deal with the everyday motions of life. Trying to get through each day and making a plan of your own. Watching the effects of what death has on not only you but those around you. Blaming yourself, not knowing that your friend felt so hopeless that they did not turn to you. Just knowing you could not prevent it. The guilt, the pain and knowing that somebody/people hurt the one that you love. What would you do?

This is the first book that I have read by Ms. Clarke, and I have to say the writing style was so good that it engaged me from the very first page. Ms. Clarke writes from the point of an average teen (cussing and all) but it just makes the characters that more real. The character development was so good it brought out emotions from this reader. I caught myself smiling at times, and others felt like tears were going to fall.

I look forward to reading Ms. Clarke’s previous books and those in the future. The only reason I gave this book four stars is in reading the ARC of this novel, the editing/layout of the story had the title, and authors name throughout the story in the paragraphs of the story where they did not belong, which was a bit distracting. Other than that this was a very good read!

Leona

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