A review by mckenziestaley23
Unblemished by Sara Ella
4.0
This book was extremely good, especially for it being a debut novel.
I actually have the honor of knowing who Sara Ella is before reading her book (thanks to her wonderful youtube channel, will link at the very end of the review) I will be keeping all my love for her pushed aside while writing this review.
Unblemished is a classic fairy tale, but not. Most diffidently not a retelling, but it does have the feeling of watching a fairy tale unfolding. I felt like I was watching Once Upon a Time while reading this book. Wether thats a good thing or a bad thing is up to you. To me personally, I loved it. It was not copying the show once oh ever, but it did have that feel that reminded me of the show.
A large theme in this Novel is self image. Our main character has a very large birth mark on her face and this effects the way she sees herself. But she is not the only character with self image issues within the story, some are mental, and some are physical, but the characters all have a certain trouble with themselves in some way.
Not to say it is overdone. In fact I think this is a very important fact to the story and characters themselves.
I would recommend this book to everyone. This story is very well done, for the most part. Now I will be getting into spoilers, so please leave if you haven't read the book!
So we open up with Eliyana mourning her mother. Now was it just me, or was it completely shocking when her Mom turned out to be alive? Because I was completely freaked. I was so sure it wasn't her mom and actually one of Jaysn's tricks.
Raise your hand if you hated Joshua! (hand flies up.) Can't even deny it, I was team Ky before Ky was even introduced. Barely met Joshua, wanted the other side of the triangle. When Joshua died I was honestly excited... I almost feel guilty for admitting it, almost! Then he came back and I was cussing out the pages, so...
LETS MOVE ON!
Ky! Ky is honestly my favorite. The second he walked onto the page i fell in love. Then I heard more and more about him, and his family, and his backstory, and his obvious feelings for Eliyana! Needless to say, there is no way to turn me around to Joshua. Even if Ky dies I would rather ship him than Joshua.
Again, probably need to stop bringing Joshua up, otherwise this may turn into a rant!
Though I've been talking about ships, the most important relationship is of course Eliyana and her mother. Those two are honestly the best mother daughter due I have ever seen. You can really tell they only ever had each other, and would do anything for each other. Sara did an amazing job crafting their relationship.
Now lets talk about the plot! For the most part it was pretty easy to follow. All of it crafted really well; you can really tell Sara spent a large amount of time thinking this all over. The one thing I did not like was the way we got so much information dumps. Now as a writer, I tend to do this myself so I can't judge too harshly, but as a reader, it does make me super confused, so I do have to bring it up. There were parts where so many things would be dumped on me at once that I just had no idea what they were talking about and would have to go back and reread it. I don't know if it's because I was tired from work, or the novel itself. Either way, I figured i should bring that up, as it did have an effect on my rating.
The world itself is very interesting. I have not seen a story with a world quite like this one. I think its what sets the book apart from others. At some points I was confused about the world and it's terms, but after a while I did get the hang of it.
Again, lets give Sara props for the way she handled her main theme of the novel! Though it is marketed with Eliyana's self image, it does not stop with her. Ky does have a very hard image of himself. Not as physical as her's, but more so emotional. You can really see the struggle those two go through. And maybe thats why the bonded so well? We'll have to see!
Expectations for the second book?
I do expect Ky to come back. I would like for him to come back in the beginning... for some reason I feel like that wish won't be answered.
Joshua's death? Can that please happen? Cause I would really like it to!
Eliyana's mom's wedding! Yes please! We need a nice happy fluffy wedding chapter in our future.
Joshua's death. Oh, did i already say that?
Quin and Eliyana actually becoming friends? Is it possible? I feel a slow friendship could bloom. Maybe cause they both are under Joshua's rule?
Joshua's death!
Eliyana coming into rule. This needs to happen. I do not trust Joshua for one second with the reflection. So yes, Eliyana needs to come to the throne, claim her rights, and kick that jackass to the curve!
(Cough, cough) Joshua's blood would be a very nice color splotch on that rug over there, don't you think?
Okay! I would love for you to share your thoughts on Unblemished! I love talking about books with other book nerds! Add me as a friend for more reviews! Thanks for taking the time to read my review. Talk to you all next time!
Sara Ella's youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz5T9Tp6cXUAHro86jpflww
I actually have the honor of knowing who Sara Ella is before reading her book (thanks to her wonderful youtube channel, will link at the very end of the review) I will be keeping all my love for her pushed aside while writing this review.
Unblemished is a classic fairy tale, but not. Most diffidently not a retelling, but it does have the feeling of watching a fairy tale unfolding. I felt like I was watching Once Upon a Time while reading this book. Wether thats a good thing or a bad thing is up to you. To me personally, I loved it. It was not copying the show once oh ever, but it did have that feel that reminded me of the show.
A large theme in this Novel is self image. Our main character has a very large birth mark on her face and this effects the way she sees herself. But she is not the only character with self image issues within the story, some are mental, and some are physical, but the characters all have a certain trouble with themselves in some way.
Not to say it is overdone. In fact I think this is a very important fact to the story and characters themselves.
I would recommend this book to everyone. This story is very well done, for the most part. Now I will be getting into spoilers, so please leave if you haven't read the book!
So we open up with Eliyana mourning her mother. Now was it just me, or was it completely shocking when her Mom turned out to be alive? Because I was completely freaked. I was so sure it wasn't her mom and actually one of Jaysn's tricks.
Raise your hand if you hated Joshua! (hand flies up.) Can't even deny it, I was team Ky before Ky was even introduced. Barely met Joshua, wanted the other side of the triangle. When Joshua died I was honestly excited... I almost feel guilty for admitting it, almost! Then he came back and I was cussing out the pages, so...
LETS MOVE ON!
Ky! Ky is honestly my favorite. The second he walked onto the page i fell in love. Then I heard more and more about him, and his family, and his backstory, and his obvious feelings for Eliyana! Needless to say, there is no way to turn me around to Joshua. Even if Ky dies I would rather ship him than Joshua.
Again, probably need to stop bringing Joshua up, otherwise this may turn into a rant!
Though I've been talking about ships, the most important relationship is of course Eliyana and her mother. Those two are honestly the best mother daughter due I have ever seen. You can really tell they only ever had each other, and would do anything for each other. Sara did an amazing job crafting their relationship.
Now lets talk about the plot! For the most part it was pretty easy to follow. All of it crafted really well; you can really tell Sara spent a large amount of time thinking this all over. The one thing I did not like was the way we got so much information dumps. Now as a writer, I tend to do this myself so I can't judge too harshly, but as a reader, it does make me super confused, so I do have to bring it up. There were parts where so many things would be dumped on me at once that I just had no idea what they were talking about and would have to go back and reread it. I don't know if it's because I was tired from work, or the novel itself. Either way, I figured i should bring that up, as it did have an effect on my rating.
The world itself is very interesting. I have not seen a story with a world quite like this one. I think its what sets the book apart from others. At some points I was confused about the world and it's terms, but after a while I did get the hang of it.
Again, lets give Sara props for the way she handled her main theme of the novel! Though it is marketed with Eliyana's self image, it does not stop with her. Ky does have a very hard image of himself. Not as physical as her's, but more so emotional. You can really see the struggle those two go through. And maybe thats why the bonded so well? We'll have to see!
Expectations for the second book?
I do expect Ky to come back. I would like for him to come back in the beginning... for some reason I feel like that wish won't be answered.
Joshua's death? Can that please happen? Cause I would really like it to!
Eliyana's mom's wedding! Yes please! We need a nice happy fluffy wedding chapter in our future.
Joshua's death. Oh, did i already say that?
Quin and Eliyana actually becoming friends? Is it possible? I feel a slow friendship could bloom. Maybe cause they both are under Joshua's rule?
Joshua's death!
Eliyana coming into rule. This needs to happen. I do not trust Joshua for one second with the reflection. So yes, Eliyana needs to come to the throne, claim her rights, and kick that jackass to the curve!
(Cough, cough) Joshua's blood would be a very nice color splotch on that rug over there, don't you think?
Okay! I would love for you to share your thoughts on Unblemished! I love talking about books with other book nerds! Add me as a friend for more reviews! Thanks for taking the time to read my review. Talk to you all next time!
Sara Ella's youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz5T9Tp6cXUAHro86jpflww