jang's review against another edition
4.0
Insightful and moving. Unforgivable covered some pretty relevant issues, too, such as racial discrimination, racial profiling, depression and addiction (just like in the first book).
Unforgivable started right where Invincible took off but it was told from Marcus's POV. I like his back stories and the way his personality was portrayed in this book. It tells readers that Marcus isn't just some kid who enjoys pot and is full of teenage angst. His story was actually colorful and his ending was great.
This book didn't do a lot for Evie but I'm glad that she decided to sober up her way to her emotional, physical, and mental recovery.
Unforgivable started right where Invincible took off but it was told from Marcus's POV. I like his back stories and the way his personality was portrayed in this book. It tells readers that Marcus isn't just some kid who enjoys pot and is full of teenage angst. His story was actually colorful and his ending was great.
This book didn't do a lot for Evie but I'm glad that she decided to sober up her way to her emotional, physical, and mental recovery.
bluekaren's review against another edition
4.0
I have to admit right away that I didn’t read [b:Invincible|22960609|Invincible (Invincible, #1)|Amy Reed|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1412878148l/22960609._SY75_.jpg|25702334]. The real issue now is “did I feel like I missed anything by not reading it?” Nope. I caught everything I needed to enjoy this story as a stand-alone.
I am not even going to try and re-cap this story. Every detail is a spoiler for this book or probably the first book in this series.
Things I loved about this story:
*Marcus is a complex many faceted character. He might have a drug problem at the beginning of this story, but when we see the reasons he needs to escape reality drugs are actually the lesser of a few evils.
*His relationship with his mother and father is complicated. (i would say parents, but they are separated so each relationship is complicated in it’s own way) They are present in this story and I loved their interactions.
*Marcus is roaming aimlessly throughout much of this book. He gets motivated and then it falls apart for him. Nothing is an easy fix and that is so realistic. He felt like a real person to me.
*Evie makes some tough choices in this story, but I am damn proud of her for it. Evie’s story is a whole ‘nother story (literally, see what I did there). The snippets we got of Evie’s story made me really curious about her as a person and as Marcus’s obsession.
This story covered some brutal topics like; death of a sibling, drug and alcohol abuse, suicide, racial prejudice, interracial love, divorce, and self mutilation. The author portrayed so many situations in this story with tack and truthfulness. The characters weren’t always right, but the situations were pretty realistic. I can hardly believe all the shit this kid Marcus loved through. The worst part of Marcus’s situation is losing Evie, who meant so much to him. Even after he learns the truth about her, he can hardly believe she doesn’t want to see him anymore. Evie has issues for sure, but they are so well matched.
I devoured this book in just a few sessions. I loved how the story is broke up into chapters titled: here (about Marcus right now), there (about things that happened in his past), and you (where he addresses his thoughts to Evie). This was a heavy and quick read. I actually want to go back and read Invincible now.
jessicabeckett's review against another edition
4.0
Blog | Twitter | Instagram | As a note, an e-galley of this novel was sent to me via Edelweiss by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not effect my opinions in any way.
In the highly anticipated sequel to one of my favorite reads last year, Invincible, Unforgivable paints a much darker image on the lives of Evie and Marcus and their all-consuming love for one another. Amy Reed should be highly praised for her proper portrayal of the complexities of human emotions and the fact that her teenagers feel–and act–like teenagers who are struggling.
That was one of the best things about Invincible, it felt real and as painful as one could expect. We knew instantly at the end of the previous novel that we would be left in a hurricane of heartbreak and changes and Unforgivable picks right up on that tone. Unforgivable is fast and beautiful and a world of cloudy memories and painful realizations.
Its biggest theme? Moving on. Letting go. And how difficult it can be to do so. You see, letting go of loved ones is all well and good in theory, but it takes some time to resonate with our decision. Reed’s prose brings to life this sort of feeling and will tug on your heartstrings until the very final pages.
Continued: BOOKEDJ.
In the highly anticipated sequel to one of my favorite reads last year, Invincible, Unforgivable paints a much darker image on the lives of Evie and Marcus and their all-consuming love for one another. Amy Reed should be highly praised for her proper portrayal of the complexities of human emotions and the fact that her teenagers feel–and act–like teenagers who are struggling.
That was one of the best things about Invincible, it felt real and as painful as one could expect. We knew instantly at the end of the previous novel that we would be left in a hurricane of heartbreak and changes and Unforgivable picks right up on that tone. Unforgivable is fast and beautiful and a world of cloudy memories and painful realizations.
Its biggest theme? Moving on. Letting go. And how difficult it can be to do so. You see, letting go of loved ones is all well and good in theory, but it takes some time to resonate with our decision. Reed’s prose brings to life this sort of feeling and will tug on your heartstrings until the very final pages.
Continued: BOOKEDJ.
ruthsic's review
4.0
Unforgivable takes off where Invincible left us—with Evie drowning in San Francisco Bay. Marcus finds her just in time, but her survival is not the happy ending he was hoping for. Forbidden from seeing Evie by her parents and unable to reach her, Marcus learns of a pain that might break him completely.
Marcus spirals into an even deeper darkness and is forced by new events to face the demons of his past. The pain of losing Evie becomes tangled with the loss of his mother and brother, and he must finally face the ghosts he has been trying so desperately to outrun or risk losing Evie forever.
In Invincible, a broken Evie had met Marcus and they began a relationship that became all-consuming. She found in him a reason to live, and now we get his reason for her to be his salvation. The story of Unforgivable is told in the past, present and a direct voice from Marcus to her, but it is mostly about his past and explains his mental state before and while he was with her. He saw the brother he adored from childhood waste away to nothing, and then he sees it happen to Evie. He has been mostly ignored by his parents, and now in the aftermath of him saving Evie and yet not being able to see her, he is more alone than ever. He was broken by his love for his brother before, and it is happening to him all over again with her.
For her part, she met him at a low point in her life, that is clear. The girl she was then - he doesn't know if it was truly her, whether she really loved him, whether what they had was real - all these doubts are sending him down a dark path. He is reliving his past, and it wasn't a pleasant experience to live through. Ultimately, it is about him learning how to heal, and how to let go, and realizing that sometimes people will make their own decisions, no matter what you do. It is a process of catharsis that this book is leading to, making it more of a companion novel than a true sequel. The author wrote wonderfully about him, and his troubles, his depression, and presented both sides of a story that is so complicated. I do feel that this book was spent in superfluous words, and at times, I was tempted to leave it and return some other time, which is why I was more on the fence between 3 and 4 stars. Overall, a well-written emotionally charged book.
Marcus spirals into an even deeper darkness and is forced by new events to face the demons of his past. The pain of losing Evie becomes tangled with the loss of his mother and brother, and he must finally face the ghosts he has been trying so desperately to outrun or risk losing Evie forever.
In Invincible, a broken Evie had met Marcus and they began a relationship that became all-consuming. She found in him a reason to live, and now we get his reason for her to be his salvation. The story of Unforgivable is told in the past, present and a direct voice from Marcus to her, but it is mostly about his past and explains his mental state before and while he was with her. He saw the brother he adored from childhood waste away to nothing, and then he sees it happen to Evie. He has been mostly ignored by his parents, and now in the aftermath of him saving Evie and yet not being able to see her, he is more alone than ever. He was broken by his love for his brother before, and it is happening to him all over again with her.
For her part, she met him at a low point in her life, that is clear. The girl she was then - he doesn't know if it was truly her, whether she really loved him, whether what they had was real - all these doubts are sending him down a dark path. He is reliving his past, and it wasn't a pleasant experience to live through. Ultimately, it is about him learning how to heal, and how to let go, and realizing that sometimes people will make their own decisions, no matter what you do. It is a process of catharsis that this book is leading to, making it more of a companion novel than a true sequel. The author wrote wonderfully about him, and his troubles, his depression, and presented both sides of a story that is so complicated. I do feel that this book was spent in superfluous words, and at times, I was tempted to leave it and return some other time, which is why I was more on the fence between 3 and 4 stars. Overall, a well-written emotionally charged book.
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