SRB continues to be the master of making me laugh through a book and then punching me in the gut (make that stabbing me in the gut with a golden knife) and leaving me wailing in the best way.

So many YA books are about fantasy romantic relationships, but Unspoken has something even better--fantasy friendships. I mean, the kind of friendships everybody would want to have, where you get to hang out and have fun, and laugh, and solve mysteries and explore deserted mansions and secret lakes. Who didn't spend their childhood searching for friends like Angela and Holly and Kami? Who wouldn't want them by their side when being attacked by sorcerers or even just obnoxious guys? I especially loved Holly, who was kind of my hero, spending her adolescence developing her mad friendship skills, testing them as best she could on teenage boys who could never quite accept the beautiful girl the way they would another guy, just waiting for the girl team she was born to be part of. Though not without complications (Oh, Angela! I love you too!).

As in her other book released this summer, Team Human, SRB totally knows how supernatural stories work metaphorically with the emotions of her characters, especially when they're turned on their head. Kami and Jared have been linked since birth and this makes them...completely unsuited to be boyfriend and girlfriend, actually. No matter how much pain and misunderstanding might come if they were unlinked, they would have to be brave enough to do it if they were ever going to have a relationship. Will they? Won't they? Apparently I will have to wait a year to find out. Aaaaaaahhhhh!