3.5 stars

Thank you to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Young truly writes beautiful imagery and small town settings. I remember falling in love with The Unmaking of June Farrow last year, and I still recommend it to people. A Sea of Unspoken Things was no different in the imagery and setting. I could almost feel like I was there in the setting with James as she searches to find out exactly what happened in relation to her brother’s death.

However, there were some parts of this book where I was so bored in regard to the plot. I was working on trying to connect so many ideas to the mysteries and twists of the book only for it to fall really flat for me. I’m sad I didn’t like this one as much as I wanted to.

CW: grief, death, gun violence, murder, sexual assault, abandonment, violence

This was a departure from what I am used to with Young's stories but that didn't make me love it any less. I am always in awe of how lyrically beautiful her writing is. The world building in this story is lovely not over the top but it gives a clear picture letting you feel as if you can see the town and the gorge in your mind. I loved James's character and thought that her heartbreak and struggle to come to terms with what was unfolding before her tangible and genuine. I will fully admit that there were points in the story that I thought the truth would come out to be one thing. Only to think something completely different a few pages later. I liked the way that this played out and found the twists and lies to be gripping as I desperately wanted to know what had really happened to Autumn and her brother. I also loved that even though James was still struggling internally with all that had gone on that she was showing great character depth as far as her healing and moving forward with her life. Even though there was no "magic" in this story I would absolutely read another mystery from Young and this further solidifies her as an auto author for me.

I really enjoyed this work which delves into topics of familial love, childhood romances, and how trauma shapes our lives. I’ve previously read Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young and thought this was a much more fleshed out and engaging read. The characters felt real and flawed, the setting was isolating but familiar, and the plot was relatively fast paced. The ending was easy to predict but I don’t think this took away from my overall enjoyment of this work.

I recommend to fans of mystery novels, particularly set in small towns/rural settings.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for access to this ebook in exchange for an honest review!

I loved this book and all the others by Adrienne. I loved the mystery behind the storyline and the rekindled romance. The setting was a favorite, having a small town near the woods. It made the story feel even more mysterious and gave a bit of a thrilling aspect. I think the author did a great job with the pace of the book and I was kept interested throughout.

Adrienne Young just knows how to craft a compelling, mysterious, atmospheric adult magical realism story. This one wasn't as much of a home run for me as 2023's June Farrow, but it was an incredibly bingeable read! I loved the main character and her journey of discovery - it felt like we were figuring things out in real time with her which I really enjoyed. The premise of this story was simple but the way it played out was complicated and complex in a way that really scratched an itch in my brain.

Overall, I think this was a really fun and quick read that will appeal to mystery readers and fantasy readers alike. This book relied on magical elements much less than her last two adult books, which I know will be a draw for some readers and a deterrent for others. Personally, I missed how much magic was infused into her last two but still enjoyed this for what it was.

This is the third book that I have read from this author and I have enjoyed them all. She is a talented writer. This one was fantastic on audio. A mystery set in a small town as a woman tries to find answers in her brother’s death.

I've got to say this wasn't my favorite by Adrienne. It was still a good book, don't get me wrong but it was much, much slower paced than her first 2 NA novels. I really liked the story between James, Johnny, and Micah but the sometimes it felt like the 20 years in-between their friend dying and Johnny dying didn't add up. Just the way it was written sometimes it didn't make much sense. There was a LOT going on with the whole story that made it feel tiresome to read until about halfway through.

Things I loved about this story was the unique twin connection between James and Johnny, the way Adrienne describes the town and forest makes it feel like it has its own soul, and the almost ghost story aspect of it. It really was a good book was just a lot going on and maybe my brain just couldn't absorb all that 🤷‍♀️

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Mystery
Ebook

First of all this book is extremely well written. I wanted to just take my time reading each page. It is a mystery with some magical realism.

James (girl twin) comes back to her home town when her brother Johnny dies. James keeps seeing Johnny and feeling his presence. She feels like he is telling her his death is not an accident.

I love the way Adrienne Young writes. This made me want to pick up more books by her.

#netgalley #netgalleyarc #aseaofunspokenthings #adrienneyoung #adrienneyoungbooks #mysterybooks #mysterybook

This was such a great book!!! It was slow for me to get into in the beginning and didn’t have me hooked until around 40-50% but once I was hooked, I was HOOKED!! There’s so many mysteries to be uncovered throughout this story and the plot twists were crazy!!! There’s a lot of descriptive scenes throughout the book that really made me feel like I was in the story which I think is really hard to achieve and this author did it well! I can’t wait to read more of the authors work!!

Obviously fantastic. Did anyone doubt that it would be? Of course not. This book was as beautiful as it was mysterious.

This is a haunting tale of family, love, and the weight of secrets. James Golden returns to her hometown of Six Rivers, California, after the death of her twin brother Johnny in a supposed accident. Their unique connection, once a source of strength, now drives her to uncover the mysteries surrounding his life and untimely death. Haunted by Johnny’s presence and shared past, James confronts old memories, unresolved feelings for her first love, Micah, and a town shrouded in tragedy. Young masterfully blends a slow-burn mystery with atmospheric storytelling, exploring themes of grief, connection, and second chances. While the twists may be less intricate than her previous works, the novel’s rich emotional depth and evocative setting make it a compelling read.

I loved Ms. Youngs prior book, 'The Unraveling of June Farrow', so had high expectations for this one as well, but it was much different. Not the plot, but the style of writing, as if it was written by an entirely different person. It was slow, tedious, and really dragged for me. The plot and mystery doesn't really get moving until you are 60% into the book, and the start of the reveal is not until 80%, which makes the whole ending seem rushed.

Twins James and Johnny grew up together in the small CA redwoods town of Six Rivers, a few hours from San Francisco. They hang out together in a tight knit group which also includes Micah, Garrett, Olivia, and Sadie.

When an unexpected event occurs, James flees to San Francisco, where she attends art school at Bryon. When she is told about the unexpected death of her brother, she returns to Six Rivers, determined to find out what happened, and convinced that his death was not an accident. Johnny was working on a project for an environmental agency, studying wildlife, and he was a bit wild himself.

As she goes through all his photos and journals she starts seeing another side of him she didn't know existed. When he is suddenly accused of something that happened in the past, she realized she might not have known her brother at all.

Since they were twins, they have a connection, and there are large portions of the book dedicated to her seeing his shadow everywhere, feeling his presence in the house, diner, all the places he used to frequent. These descriptions got tedious after awhile, but it was like he was taunting her, asking her to find out the truth about him.

There is a sweet love story here that ties things up nicely at the end as James must make the decision to return for good to Six Rivers or go back to San Francisco, where she has a successful painting career. I liked the last half of the book much better than the middle, and I think if this was edited better, it would have been more enjoyable for me.

This was amazing! I read this is one sitting. Honestly I knew I was going to love it before I even picked it up because Adrienne Young but still WOW! I don’t know how Young does it but the atmosphere and vibes were amazing. The writing was fantastic . The pacing kept me on my feet. The mystery was not what I expected. I thought I knew something and then I was wrong, then I thought I knew something else and bam I was wrong again. If you are looking for a quick thrilling read or are a fan of Young’s writing I highly recommend picking this one up!

ARC Review

Thank you to Adrienne Young, Random House Publishing, and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was outside of my comfort zone. I typically do not read thrillers and if I do, there is significantly more romance. However, I enjoyed this book! I really enjoyed the writing! Once I was invested, I did not want to put this book down.

My thoughts:

1. This book didn't surprise me by any of its twists. But I wouldn't have guessed the twists before they happened either. It felt like I was unraveling the mystery with James, which I loved!

2. The ending felt a little anticlimactic! Due to the tension that had been built, I expected a bigger or more emotional reveal.

3. The way grief was dealt with was beautiful!

Review has been posted on storygraph and will be posted on instagram @readsinhyperspeed within the next few days

The prose was incredibly atmospheric and the descriptions of the woods were haunting and immersive. This story is very much a slow-burn, small town mystery. I was anticipating something more fantastical with a bit of magical realism, based on the cover, and was pleasantly surprised with how thrilling it actually became towards the end. That being said, the pacing of the first 75% is quite slow and I was also a bit disappointed with how predictably and quickly everything wrapped up, especially with how long the build up was. I also wish we would’ve been given more character development because the entire cast just felt like background noise.

I had high hopes for this book after loving Spells for Forgetting by this author. I enjoyed the story, but it just didn’t have the same depth as previous books. I would have liked to get to know the characters more. I would have liked the mystery to slowly come to light, rather than being explained all at once.

You can’t go wrong with Adrienne Young! I LOVED all of her books including this newly released A SEA OF UNSPOKEN THINGS. The book was beautifully written with twists/secrets that I didn’t predict. My mind was reeling through out the book trying to figure out it all before the end. It is an emotional packed mystery/thriller taking place in a small town read. The bond between the twins, whew! After reading this book, I just wanted to hug my brother. This book may be my favorite of Adrienne Young’s! Thank you NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the ARC - all opinions are my own.

4.5⭐️ First, if the publisher and/or NetGalley is reading this, please do a much better job of monitoring these reviews as a reader/review completely revealed/spoiled the who done it for this book which definitely impacted my experience. That said Adrienne Young has become a must read author for me. Once again she has delivered an atmospheric slow burn mystery in a beautiful setting.

This book was beautifully written and pulled me in from the very beginning. It was a slow burn but in the end I did not see the twist coming. I overall enjoyed this read.

Rating: 3.5

Take a trip to the Northern California woods and immerse yourself into a small-town mystery. That’s what this book feels like. A woman is mourning her twin, whom she thought she knew. Only to come back to her hometown after being away for two decades and piecing together the life of the late brother she thought she knew.

There were a lot of moving parts of this book that involved quite a bit of townspeople and for the first half of the book, I was getting impatient waiting for something to happen. When the clues start revealing themselves and things start to pick up, I got really interested in the story.