My Thoughts On: Unremembered by Jessica Brody

Posted April 27, 2013 by Asheley in Uncategorized / 11 Comments

Unremembered by Jessica Brody
Series: Unremembered #1
Published by Farrar, Straus, & Giroux (BYR)
Publish Date: March 5, 2013
320 Pages
Source: Publisher 

Find It:  Goodreads / Amazon / B&N 


When Freedom Airlines flight 121 went down over the Pacific Ocean, no one ever expected to find survivors. Which is why the sixteen-year-old girl discovered floating among the wreckage—alive—is making headlines across the globe.

Even more strange is that her body is miraculously unharmed and she has no memories of boarding the plane. She has no memories of her life before the crash. She has no memories period. No one knows how she survived. No one knows why she wasn’t on the passenger manifest. And no one can explain why her DNA and fingerprints can’t be found in a single database in the world.

Crippled by a world she doesn’t know, plagued by abilities she doesn’t understand, and haunted by a looming threat she can’t remember, Seraphina struggles to piece together her forgotten past and discover who she really is. But with every clue only comes more questions. And she’s running out of time to answer them.

Her only hope is a strangely alluring boy who claims to know her from before the crash. Who claims they were in love. But can she really trust him? And will he be able to protect her from the people who have been making her forget?
-(excerpt from Goodreads) 



Unremembered by Jessica Brody 



My Thoughts:  I was really excited to start Unremembered by Jessica Brody – I found it pretty easy to read and engaging, which is like a formula for HECK YES! Somewhere toward the end, though, I got a little confused – which I suppose isn’t all that difficult for me. But, yeah, there was some confusion. 



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Unremembered begins as our 16-year-old protagonist is floating in the ocean along with all sorts of debris. There are bodies everywhere, none alive. She floats for awhile and after night falls, she begins to hear voices, – real people. They ask if she remembers her name, they ask if she remembers boarding the plane, things like that. Then they ask her if she knows what year it is and her reply: 1609. Odd, right? Absolutely. 

Affectionately named Violet by hospital staff for her gorgeous purple eyes, it is soon obvious that she suffers from severe amnesia – she can’t remember anything from before the plane crash. She had no identification on her and fingerprints/DNA cannot be matched at this point. It is a miracle that she is the sole survivor of this horrible plane crash, and while she should have sustained at least some injuries, Violet insists that she feels fine. Still, she undergoes a battery of tests just to make sure she is okay. Eventually she is released into foster care far away from the hospital for the sake of privacy because she has attracted some serious attention as the sole survivor – the entire region and perhaps the country seems to be searching for any relatives, anyone at all with any information about who this girl could be. 

Okay, so here are some things that we know early on

1. There is a boy that keeps showing up. At first, he creeps her out. Eventually, she figures him out. 
2. There are some men that show up. At first, they creep her out. They creeped me out the entire time – I won’t lie. 
3. Violet is not her real name – it’s actually Sera, short for Seraphina. There are more details about Sera that are released to us about her past, little by little. I like learning about Sera this way. 
4. Sera has some serious skills – things like speaking several foreign languages fluently and superhuman speed and strength. She is crazy-good at math. She has a strange tattoo on her wrist. Hmmm.
5. Sera wasn’t listed as a passenger on that flight. 
6. She has a locket that says S + Z = 1609, but cannot remember what that means.

The problem for Sera is that she is living with foster parents, so finding out about herself and her past is difficult. Clearly, she wants to know who she used to be. However, this boy that keeps showing up keeps giving her warnings about not letting them find her. Sera doesn’t know who to trust – and what happens if they find her? WHO IS SHE? And why on earth can she speak so many doggone languages? 

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Okay, so Unremembered by Jessica Brody is an interesting mystery/thriller-type book that is kind of page-turning crazy, and I mean that in a good way. I was interested from the beginning and I was invested in exactly who Violet was – and when she found out she was actually Sera, I was invested in who Sera was. I wanted to know the connection between Sera and this boy (because there obviously was one) and it was clearly an emotional connection. I also wanted to know why these other creepy men kept chasing her and always finding her seemingly right away. They made me feel weirded out just by reading the book and I love when characters can do that.

The thing is that Unremembered started out really cool – I loved getting to know Violet/Sera and her foster family, particularly her foster brother Cody. Then as we met the mystery boy – Zen – I really began to like him, especially when I found out that their connection was indeed romantic (not a spoiler). These characters were unique and enjoyable and the story was unfolding in such a way that I found myself excited to realize that this was to be a series….and then I got to the final one-third to one-fourth of the book and some confusion set in.

Don’t get me wrong: it isn’t that I didn’t like the final part of the book. It’s just that there is a science-fiction component to the latter part of the story that kind of appears out of nowhere, I think, and it made the story feel a bit wonky. It had a little bit to do with those men that creeped me out from the beginning of the story and a little bit to do with the introduction of a new character toward the middle-to-ending of the story, so I was not at all surprised that the ending felt strange to me and also a bit rushed. (read: cliffhanger)

I will say that over time, Sera does figure out her memories from before the crash and I absolutely loved them – I loved her life from before, and I loved Zen’s connection to it. These two do have a romance that is present in the book but it is in the background since Sera doesn’t really remember it for the vast majority of this installment. It makes me excited for the future of this series because of what has been set up for these two here (please don’t let me down, Jessica Brody!).

Ultimately, I enjoyed Unremembered by Jessica Brody and will certainly be reading the follow-up, Unforgotten, which is scheduled for release in March 2014. I am very interested in what lies ahead for Sera herself, and for Sera and Zen as a couple. I want to see what happens with Sera as she continues to learn more about herself and I’d love to see more of the romance unfold in the next installment!

I recommend Unremembered for fans of mystery/thriller stories, sci-fi stories, and stories with characters that suffer from amnesia. 




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Unremembered will appeal to fans of:

YA Mystery/Thriller, Sci-Fi

Romance: No triangle.
Issues: Amnesia

Unremembered by Jessica Brody

is currently available for purchase.



**I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest opinion and review. I received no compensation for my thoughts. Thank you Farrar Straus Giroux BYR! 

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Have you read UNREMEMBERED yet?
Is it on your wish-list?

It really kept me on my toes. 

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Check it out: 
Click HERE for more information. Sign-ups coming soon!
Asheley

About Asheley

Asheley is a Southern girl. She loves Carolina blue skies, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and NC craft beer. She loves all things history but prefers books over everything.

You can find her somewhere in North Carolina, daydreaming about the ocean.

Find Asheley on Litsy @intothehallofbooks!

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11 responses to “My Thoughts On: Unremembered by Jessica Brody

    • You're welcome! I thought it was such a neat premise for a book and even though the ending was just a wee bit rushed, I'm definitely going to continue with the series. There's something really neat here in this story arc! I hope you enjoy it. 🙂

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  2. This sounds like something I'd be into for sure – the lack of triangle, the mystery girl with powers, the amnesia…so I'm curious as to what goes a bit off in the middle that makes it kinda meh…

    • I'm not so sure that it goes off as much as it went from one type of story to adding another element of story suddenly, which was fine, but I wasn't expecting it. I still liked it, though, and want to see what happens in the rest of the series. I just think the ending was a tiny bit jarring, but sometimes I feel that way with cliffhangery endings. It's a good book!

  3. I'm actually fairly curious about this book! I think that the story sounds pretty interesting in and of itself, and it makes me happy that the romance seems believable. I am worried though about the last part, as I think I might have issues with it being too random or off-putting since you did! I will probably give this a try sometime though 🙂

    • If you're worried about the last part, maybe wait until the next book comes out since it is a cliffhanger. I think that's probably why it felt a little bit off to me and a bit wonky – sometimes cliffhangers tend to make me feel like the endings are a bit rushed because they just…end. But it would be really cool to be able to pick up the next book and keep going, particularly with where this story is headed.

  4. I've read a lot of negative reviews for this one so though it was on my list at one point, I ended up taking it off. I think you've changed my mind though, and I might actually give it a try! I mean, it does sound good. It was just the review that stopped me from reading it.

    • Yeah I've seen some mixed reviews for this one and you know how I just love mixed reviews because I HAVE TO KNOW for myself!! But I liked the story, I just felt a little weirded out by that cliffhangery ending. They always make me feel like things are abrupt and rushed, and then I have no closure until the next book comes out. But overall, the story is pretty neat and I liked it. I'll for sure pick up the next one when it comes out next year.

  5. I like that this one has a mystery aspect and that you're trying to figure out who Sera is. Though it does sound like she's from another world or reality or something, at least from the description. Even so, it does throw me off when there appears to be a genre shift later in the book. I am definitely curious about this one, but I may hold off until book 2 is released if there is a rushed end and a cliffy. Is this a trilogy? I do always like the no-triangle vibe of course.

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