Book Review- Unraveling

I just finished reading Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris for an Around the World ARC Tour.

From Goodreads:

Two days before the start of her junior year, seventeen-year-old Janelle Tenner is hit by a pickup truck and killed—as in blinding light, scenes of her life flashing before her, and then nothing. Except the next thing she knows, she's opening her eyes to find Ben Michaels, a loner from her high school whom Janelle has never talked to, leaning over her. And even though it isn't possible, she knows—with every fiber of her being—that Ben has somehow brought her back to life.

But her revival, and Ben's possible role in it, is only the first of the puzzles that Janelle must solve. While snooping in her FBI agent father's files for clues about her accident, she uncovers a clock that seems to be counting down to something—but to what? And when someone close to Janelle is killed, she can no longer deny what's right in front of her: Everything that's happened—the accident, the murder, the countdown clock, Ben's sudden appearance in her life—points to the end of life as she knows it. And as the clock ticks down, she realizes that if she wants to put a stop to the end of the world, she's going to need to uncover Ben's secrets—and keep from falling in love with him in the process.

From debut author Elizabeth Norris comes this shattering novel of one girl's fight to save herself, her world, and the boy she never saw coming.
 
I am totally not into sci-fi books.  And I didn't know this was one.  And if I had known I wouldn't have signed up to read it.  But I'm soooo glad that I didn't know!  I really enjoyed it!  It had me on the edge of my seat trying to figure out what was happening and why.  I was hooked.  I don't usually like sci-fi because a lot of the time I feel lost and have no clue what's going on.  But Elizabeth Norris wrote the book so I completely got what was going on.  And she threw in a great romance as well.  The book read like the TV show Fringe that my husband loves to watch (except where's Pacey? :) )
 
Janelle was a kick-butt girl who was completely true to herself.  She had a great relationship with her younger brother and her dad and tried hard to help out with her bipolar mother.  And I loved her relationship with Alex.  It was great to read about a guy/girl best-friendship with absolutely no underlying feelings of love whatsoever.  (Usually there is always one person secretly in love with the other so this was a nice change of pace).  And Ben.  Yum.  The whole stoner thing threw me off at first but it was nice to see that he wasn't really like that.
 
I don't want to give too much of the plot away.  Just know that it is definitely sci-fi, not paranormal.  And that even if you don't normally like science fiction, definitely give this one a try!  I just reading on Elizabeth Norris's website FAQ that she's turned in a sequel.  I can't wait to read it!
 
I gave this book a rating of 4.5/5.
 
Unraveling will be released on April 24, 2012.
 
This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2012 Reading Challenge 150+: 25
2012 ARC Reading Challenge: 22
2012 Debut Author Challenge: 7
2012 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 22
 
*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.