Book Review: Unremembered

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?
From popular young adult author Jessica Brody comes a compelling and suspenseful new sci-fi series, set in a world where science knows no boundaries, memories are manipulated, and true love can never be forgotten. Quoted from Goodreads

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I feel like this is an excellent example of what I consider the next (or at least another emerging) YA trend: YA vs. mysterious corporation   It's not that they're new, exactly, but after all your vampires, angels, werewolves  dystopia books out there, I'm enjoying finding a new motif to fill the bookshelves. 

Now, let's start with Seraphina (aka Violet in the beginning).  She's an interesting character. She's naive and rather innocent, while at the same time, skeptical of anyone and everything.  Combine that with her memory loss, being thrust into the limelight, and having people chase her, and  you get someone who can't quite believe anyone and wants nothing more than to start fresh.  I think she does a really good job of portraying what it would feel like no not remember anything about yourself and the struggles that would cause.  It's not just her own personal life she can't remember, but she's also kind of clueless with slang, computers, and even people in general, which further complicates the whole situation and heightens the mystery of who she really is.

I also really enjoyed Zen and Cody.  Zen's the mysterious love interest, and he was cute.  I liked his devotion of Sera, how he gave her space and didn't push her, while still always being there for her.  Cody is her younger foster brother, and he was just adorable.  He was the perfect combination of liking and not liking girls.  I loved how Sera's good looks were actually a strike against her in his book and how he helped her even though he wasn't convinced he even liked her. It really made for a great character.

Now for the action.  This book really was pretty much non-stop, keep-turning-pages action/mystery. I read it in one, very lazy, rather indulgent afternoon.   To be honest, I sort of guessed the big revel early on, but I didn't really find that to be a problem. There were other surprises I really enjoyed. I also really enjoyed the sci-fi elements of the book, but I appreciated how it was more mainstream.  The ideas are very accessible and contribute to the situation rather than overwhelming the book.

All in all this is a fun  4 star read.  It actually works as a stand alone, but I guess there are two more books in the series.  Regardless, I can't wait to see what happens to Sara and Zen and where, exactly, they end up.