thank you for an advance copy of this book by an author I have enjoyed in the past. This book tells the story of James and her journey has many twists and turns that definitely kept me interested. The first half of the book was a little slow, but the writing is so good I stayed engaged to see where the story would go. The character of James was interesting but needed more growth I felt, especially with the relationship with Micah. I felt there was more there to be explored. But overall this was an interesting well written journey that had a satisfying ending. 3.5 stars.

Yet another winner from Adrienne Young! I adored this so much. Adrienne Young does magical realism so well. This was twisty, suspenseful in just the best way, and an amazing read. It was so atmospheric and was perfect for reading in the midst of snowy winter weather.

Adrienne Young’s writing does not miss! I loved her previous novels, and while I did not enjoy this one as much as her previous I still enjoyed her writing and the story. Had a bit of a slow start, but the romance got me good.

3.5/5

I’ve heard so many phenomenal things about this author and was excited to get an early arc.

I was really wanting to enjoy this one. Unfortunately, this was very very slow. It was hard for me to stay connected to the story.

I also don’t read many magical realism books so this was different for me. It was just pretty slow for mw and I wasn’t invested.

3/5 stars

A Sea of Unspoken Things by Adrienne Young is a haunting and beautifully layered story about grief, love, and the secrets that bind us to our past. James, a woman deeply connected to her twin brother Johnny, feels an inexplicable pull back to her hometown of Hawthorne, California, after his sudden death. What seems like a tragic accident begins to unravel into a web of mystery as James digs into her brother’s life, uncovering secrets she never imagined.

Adrienne Young masterfully balances the eerie atmosphere of the secluded mountains with the raw, emotional journey of her protagonist. James’s grief is palpable, her twin connection almost tangible, and the slow unraveling of the truth keeps you hooked. The narrative is both heart-wrenching and uplifting, exploring themes of vulnerability, forgiveness, and breaking free from cycles of pain.

Young’s writing brings the natural setting to life in a way that immerses you completely—you can almost hear the whisper of the trees and the rush of water through the gorge. Her characters feel achingly real, especially James, who navigates loss, unresolved love with her first partner Micah, and a town full of whispers and suspicions. The romance, while subtle, adds a glimmer of hope to an otherwise heavy tale.

This isn’t a fast-paced thriller but a slow-burn mystery that grips you from the first page and refuses to let go. The story builds with an emotional intensity that had me in tears by the end. It’s thought-provoking, eerie, and deeply moving—a testament to the power of connection and healing.

Adrienne Young has delivered her best work yet. A Sea of Unspoken Things is a story that will linger with me for a long time, and I can't recommend it enough.

4.5 stars to this wonderful, beautiful new release by Adrienne Young. One thing is for sure, Young knows how to draw you in, flesh out characters and create a moving atmosphere. She makes you care about the characters she has created. In A Sea of Unspoken Things, we are immersed in the life of James Golden. James has recently lost her twin brother and feels there is more to how he died that what she is being told. Their relationship was strained but they are twins - they were connected on a level most people would never understand. James decides to stick around Hawthorne to figure out what happened in Johnny's final days and to see if she can unravel what really happened to him.

A Sea of Unspoken Things by Adrienne Young follows James Golden, who is forced to confront a past that’s haunted her when she returns home to investigate the mysterious death of her equally mysterious twin brother, Johnny.

Young is very clearly a talented writer, and she’s particularly skilled in her ability to transport the reader — her writing is extremely atmospheric. The premise successfully captured my attention, and her characters have depth and intrigue. I appreciate how Young’s characters have dimension and capture how people aren’t solely good or solely bad. It’s more interesting and far more relatable as well. It’s definitely more of a character driven story vs plot, but I still found it engaging and entertaining.

My biggest critique would be that because it’s a more standard mystery set in the real world without any fantasy elements which Young usually has in her writing, it’s bound to certain expectations of reality and I felt like there was a notable lack of credibility regarding the underlying investigation portrayed. It’s definitely a plot hole or overexertion of suspension of belief — police work needs to be portrayed realistically or else I catch myself rolling my eyes or questioning entire plot lines.

The quality of the writing is there, the characters were complex and interesting, but I wish it were a little more realistic at times. These are critiques I had in hindsight, but I did absolutely enjoy the book while reading it, it’s just not a new favorite.

3 stars, but actually 2.5.

If this book were a roller coaster, here's how I would describe it. It would start off with a sudden upward hill, leading you to believe you're in for the ride of your life. However, the hill ends by flattening out and taking you on a smooth, lazily winding, flat path. Just when you're wondering if it's moving slow enough to jump off, it darts up again, and you finally have it, the ride of your life! Flips, rolls, ups and downs, it has it all! It starts to settle into what you expect to be a satisfying ending, the suddenly, the ride becomes almost painfully violent, jerking you unpleasantly back and forth at random until you have whiplash and are wondering why the designers included this portion of the ride. Then the ride makes a sudden, jarring lurch forward and comes to an abrupt stop.

What I'm saying is, this book could have been 100 pages shorter, there was a good story buried in there, but the jarring ending dropped it at least a full star and a half. Truly, the writing was good, there was a solid story; but the build up was too slow and the ending felt like it was trying to squeeze in too many twists while trying to have an audience-pleasing ending.

Will Adrienne Young ever put out a bad book? I don't think so. If you are a fan of Adrienne Young, you already know how beautiful her writing is. It is both lyrical and edged with a bit of darkness, but nothing that will drag you down while reading. Instead, the mysteriousness of her writing will have you flipping the pages faster and faster. I am already planning to re-read A Sea of Unspoken Things; it's that good.

Spectacular, give me 14 of them right now. Adrienne Young novels, that is.

From the moment this book began I knew I was in for a ride. It pulls at your heartstrings, weaves together love and loss and longing, and settles into your heart with an eeriness that's nearly indescribable.

I'm not a murder mystery girlie. I don't like thrillers. I left my true crime era behind years ago. But this book???? It's haunting in a way that is limbed with such deeply soulful intuition and grief. There is such a sense of otherworldliness to Young's writing that it imbues her stories with genre-traversing magic. The ride is wild, the twists unpredictable, and the ending is so unlike anything I'd have anticipated. A Sea of Unspoken Things reads like a poem but feels like your favorite Crime Junkies episode. Beautiful and haunting in every possible way.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

I recently finished A sea of unspoken things by AY and I did not want the book to end. It was so atmospheric and I was sucked into it right there with our main character. The mystery revolves around the death of a twin and the other one having strong feelings that something is wrong. The surviving twin has these visions and hallucinations that drive her towards uncovering the truth. It keeps you guessing till the very end and I did not see that ending coming!

This was the second book I read by this author and she has become one of my favorites. I loved A sea of unspoken things just as much as I loved The unmaking of June Farrow. I love how she does magical realism mysteries!!

Thank you @adrienneyoungbooks, @randomhouse , @delacortepress and @netgalley for this e-arc.

Adrienne Young’s A Sea of Unspoken Things is a gorgeous, heartfelt story about love, loss, and the quiet power of healing. The characters feel so real, with raw emotions and personal struggles that pull you in right away. Young’s writing is stunning—simple yet lyrical—and the way she captures unspoken emotions is truly moving.

This book struck a perfect balance between heartbreak and hope, making the journey feel authentic and rewarding. I couldn’t put it down and didn’t want it to end.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC—I’m so glad I got to experience this beautiful story! Highly recommend!

I would like to start by saying that this book has one of the most gorgeous covers I have ever seen. Truly stunning. Also, it is an awesome read. I was HOOKED from the first page. I loved the setting! Young does a fabulous job of creating an atmosphere that adds to the tension of the story.

And the characters! I wanted to know so much more about all of them! I was eat/sleep/breathing them by the end of this book. My heart was racing throughout and I thought the romance between James and Micah was an added bonus. It wasn’t necessary for the plot but was the icing on the cake, especially for readers who don’t usually read mystery/thrillers.

I highly recommend this to anyone who loves a well-told mystery with a compelling plot and a compelling cast of characters.

Thank you so much @prhaudio for the early listening copy and @netgalley and @delacortepress for the early copy!

Whenever I see a new Adrienne Young book coming out I am always so excited! She is the Queen of atmospheric mysteries that take you on quite a journey.

I love her small towns, her angsty characters, and the suspense to know what the heck happened! I love stories with deep character development and Young AWLAYS delivers on that!

I really enjoyed doing an immersive read of this one. Christine Lakin’s narration really transported me to Six Rivers and I found myself connecting more with James through audio

I really, really think that once you finish this one, you need to do a deep dive into Young’s backlist. Spells for Forgetting is an all time favorite and I highly recommend it!

4 stars

For the few chapters it took me a while to slip into James’s story and life. James coming back into her hometown and settling in to wrap up her recently deceased brother’s death took a bit to get into.

However, it promptly took off when James started to dig deeper into her brother Johnny’s death.

Now this is where I am going to say that I felt like I connected more with Johnny, the deceased brother, than I did James, the main character. James was kinda lifeless and uninteresting. The mystery around the town, its people, and the truth to what happened was more interesting to me.

While I enjoyed the thriller aspect of this book, I felt like I needed more from the FMC, then I would have really got sucked in.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Oof this one was SLOW. I thought about DNFing probably 30 times. I figured “oh this book is under 300 pages, I should finish this in 2-3 days” WRONG, took nearly 3 weeks.

This is my first book from this author despite owning two others from her. Based on reviews, this one seems to be a letdown compared to her other books, so I will go into those with an open mind.

I couldn’t form a liking to any of the characters — I actually found most of them annoying. The mystery didn’t have any wow-factor. I’m giving this book 2 stars instead of 1 because the author does have an artistic way of describing scenes that I appreciate.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I have loved everything I’ve ever read by Adrienne and this was missing a bit of that magic I’d become used to with her stories.

The aspect of the book was overall good, but lacked a depth to its characters and relationships.

I struggled to get into this one but was intrigued to keep going, but this did not hit the spot as much as June Farrow or Spells.

Writing this review is difficult. I’m a little disappointed because I love Adrienne Young’s writing and The unmaking of June Farrows was one of my favorite books last year, if not the one.

Throughout this book I was curious to see what had happened, and the story was interesting. Though I never felt really close to the characters.

I did struggle with motivation about halfway. As soon as I really managed to get into it again I was more invested. It wasn’t a bad book, but it wasn’t what I expected and hoped for. I also probably went in with too high expectations.

3,5⭐️

i thoroughly enjoyed this! although very slow to get into once i got 30% in it was really hard to out this down! adrienne young knows exactly how to transport you directly into the book with all the imagery. i expected magical realism and it did somewhat deliver but the mystery aspect was most def my favorite part (even though i was able to figure out before the end). my first young book and definitely not my last!

thank you to netgalley and publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review

3.5 ⭐️ -- I wish I could rate this one on different aspects! The writing style was 5 stars for me, but the story was so slow to build up and everything unraveled/came together in the last 25-30 percent of the book. I wished it was more excited and that it leaned more heavily into the ghost aspect. Characters were also kind of mid, and I'm never a fan of "last minute revelations" that tie the story together. More foreshadowing!! More suspense!!! Higher stakes!!! But truly, the writing was beautiful.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a DRC in exchange for my honest review!