A Sea of Unspoken Things by Adrienne Young was a great read. As always, Adrienne Young does a brilliant job of creating atmosphere. It's something I love about her writing. The story itself was great, as well. It was entertaining, I couldn't put it down and when I did, it was in the back of my mind. It's eerie and engrossing. I loved it!

Thank you to the publisher for this arc!

Being originally from Northern California where this is set, I was familiar with many of the settings mentioned. Despite the subject matter being about grief and loss, the author did a fantastic job of writing beautiful scenery that made me feel like I was within the pages.

James is a complex character that you don't always agree with, and Johnny is the perfect mysterious sibling we're trying to understand what happened with.

I did find the book to be more character driven than plot at certain points, which made it move a little slower for me. But! I enjoyed it overall.

this was the first book i’ve read by adrienne young and it definitely won’t be the last. i looooove her writing.

my ONLY complaint is that i felt like the “plot twist” at the end fell flat. we spent all the time working through what happened to johnny and the reveal at the end was over as soon as it started.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an early copy of this eARC.

3.5 Stars!

This was very eerie. Like. Really eerie. This book is so different from The Unmaking June Farrow and yet the sense of foreboding is what Adrienne does right. The sprinkling of magic in this story added to the mystery, but I wouldn't call this a fantasy. I would call this a mystery/thriller with a drop of magic.
This story follows James Golden a woman who is returning to her hometown in Northern California, a small town with one diner and one police officer. She is settling affairs after her twin brother, Johnny, died in an accident. But as she comes back to town, her connection to her brother begins to tell her that maybe it wasn't an accident at all.

Now, while reading this I had my suspicions of what happened, but I was completely wrong. This book tapped into a lingering fear I have of being alone in the forest. Very creepy. The Sea of Unspoken Things also touches on poignant moments meditating on grief and moving on from your old friends, old towns, and old ideas of who you want to be.

Full of supernatural occurrences, A Sea of Unspoken Things tells the story of twins with an unusual connection to each other, one that continues even after Johnny is found murdered. Can Johnny's ghost help his sister James solve the mystery surrounding his death? There are a lot of red herrings that leave the reader switching back and forth guessing among the potential killers. The fact that the story goes back in time to reveal what led up to Johnny's murder made it doubly hard to second-guess the narrator. In the end, James finally figures it out. (I didn't.) A very different type of murder mystery.

This was a hauntingly beautiful book. Adrienne really captured the wildness of the landscape and it felt like it was another character.

Twenty years ago James Golden left Six Rivers and never looked back. Leaving her entire life up to that point behind - including her twin brother Johnny and her boyfriend Micah - James needed to start over and with an opportunity to go to school in San Francisco and pursue her art, she couldn't turn it down.

Three months ago Johnny was killed in what was supposedly a hunting accident. Now, James is headed home to Six Rivers to sort out his stuff.

While there, James sees and feels the ghost of her brother everywhere. In his home, in the halls of the high school they both used to attend, out in the woods where he used to capture his photography, even sitting in a booth at the local diner. James cannot get away from her past, and also cannot help but wonder if Johnny is trying to tell her something. As she begins to unravel the life Johnny was living since she went away to school, James is left wondering if she ever really knew her twin at all.

Adrienne Young is like the queen of the slow-burn. I have read all of her books and they all have this meticulous way of unravelling the story. Sea of Unspoken Things is no different. For me, the pacing didn't even really start picking up until well past the halfway mark, but never once did I feel like it slogged along.

It's because Adrienne Young has this way of really getting to the heart of the characters she writes to the point where every crumb of information learned is like another light illuminating the entire piece. And let's be honest, this book deals with a lot of heavy topics. Whereas this might make me second-guess reading a book by another author, Adrienne Young always seems to be able to imbue this sense of hope and lightness which takes away a lot of that heaviness.

This is a really interesting story about going home again and how secrets always have a way of coming out. Whether that is literally or if it's more of the effect taken on your life in keeping them.

Johnny's death brings up similarities between another tragedy that occurred in Six Rivers. A tragedy that was a contributing factor in prompting James's departure. By coming home again she has to recon with everything and she knows that if she doesn't it'll continue to haunt her for the rest of her life.

The only other person who at least partially understands is Micah - James's ex and Johnny's best friend. The three of them were seemingly inseparable when they were younger. Until James left, then it was just Micah looking out for Johnny. I'm a real sucker for a second-chance. Something about rehashing the history between two people who, for all intents and purposes, loved each other just hooks me in every time. Adrienne Young is a master of this type of dynamic, but it's the way she also balances the unfolding mystery of Johnny that makes for such a compelling read.

Adrienne Young has come to be one of my favorite authors both in her Adult and Young Adult books. I love that she inserts some magic within the pages of everything she writes kind of like finding the magic within the everyday of life.

Thank you to NetGalley, Ballantine, Delacorte Press, and Random House Publishing Group for this advanced copy! You can pick up A Sea of Unspoken Things on January 7, 2025.

I had high hopes for this one after falling in love with The Unmaking of June Farrow last year. And I do think Adrienne Young captured a similar vibe and tone in A Sea of Unspoken Things, but I found the story a bit less compelling. For such a short book, we spend a huge amount of time hearing James our FMC, discuss her twin brother's personality, and while it helps us understand her actions later on in the book, it also made the story drag for me a bit. But when she finally starts investigating her brother's death and new factors come to light, the story takes off. I flew through the last 100-150 pages as James pieced together what really happened right before Johnny died, and what it could mean for the small town they grew up in.

*SLIGHT SPOILERS BELOW*

While I enjoyed the plot twist at the end, I was def not expecting a double plot twist, which felt just a tad contrived. I do wish we'd had more time to sit with the first one or process the second one a bit longer before the book ended.

But overall, it was a pretty good murder mystery with a hint of magical realism and a big dosing of small-town drama.

I was absolutely thrilled to receive an ARC copy of this one after adoring Young's previous work. While this one has a very different storyline with much less magical realism, her tone and incredible storytelling remain the same.

James and Johnny were twins, and James has always felt an almost supernatural connection to her brother. Even at the moment of his death, she feels a punch to the chest and understands that he is gone. When she returns to their small hometown, James pulls at the strings of the secrets Johnny hid away, and suddenly a dark story begins to unravel.

Young's ability to write an incredibly atmospheric story is unparalleled. She spins a beautiful web, and you feel like you are right there with the characters in whatever haunting setting she has chosen. The small town in the middle of the woods was the perfect setting for this mystery and felt like an additional character in the story.

The pace is definitely a slower one, as we are introduced to multiple people in the town that James has history with. James finds a whole new mystery while trying to discover what happened to her brother and face her own demons from the past. Ultimately this felt like a story about connection and family ties, and just how far we would go to protect our loved ones.

I did a tandem read of this one, listening to the audio narrated by the incredible Christine Lakin while reading along at times. Lakin lends a wistful tone to the story, handles multiple characters with ease, and was the perfect choice to narrate.

Thank you to Delacorte Press for the ARC; all opinions are my own.

As always, so good. The story and characters were well thought out and put together but the imagery is on a whole other level. I could see myself in the town, with the people, feeling the emotions. Loved this one

4.25 stars and another gorgeous, heart-wrenching, atmospheric, and just a touch supernatural story by Adrienne Young!!

James and her twin brother have a special connection, and even though he's recently passed, she can still sense his presence. A tug in her heart brings her back to the small logging town she grew up in- and promptly escaped with her high school diploma for a life away from the metaphorical ghosts left in town. Coming back brings confusion, stronger senses that her brother didn't just die but in fact was murdered, and rekindles emotions she thought she had left when she did.

This book is all atmospheric vibes (classic for Adrienne), and you can feel yourself sucked into the little logging town thats barely a blip on the map. You feel the way that everyone in town knows each other, cares for each other (to an extent), and wants to keep their secrets safely tucked away. James is interesting to follow because she fits, and yet she doesn't. She's protective over the memory of her brother, and will fight for him no matter the cost- which of course there is. The mystery is constantly unfolding around her, and its fun to spot the connections as she's making them (or before, in some of the cases!!).

Thank you so much to Adrienne Young and NetGalley for a chance to read this in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you NetGalley, Delacorte Press and Adrienne Young for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of A Sea of Unspoken Things.
This is a beautifully written mystery set in the wonderfully described Redwood Forest in California.
The characters are well developed, unique yet flawed. I became totally immersed in the plot from start to finish. This is a slow burn, needing time for the reader to think and process all the clues and bits of information that need to be put together. We are given a few puzzle pieces at a time but need to wait for more so the story finally all fits.
The story is filled with emotions and my heart was breaking over and over again.
We see the characters as teenagers wanting to escape their environment. They grow up, now with lots of baggage that needs explaining and old questions with new ones need to be answered. And the cycle continues.
I loved every twist and turn and my seatbelt was firmly secure in this wild ride. Great writing, great characters and great plot. I can’t ask for better-5 stars-no doubts!

4.75 🌟

Unputdownable.

When I saw Adrienne Young had another book out, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it but wondered if it would be as good as her others. I'm here to tell you that it was. The twists were so good in this book!

Thanks, Netgalley for the ARC of this book!

𝒜 𝒮𝑒𝒶 𝒪𝒻 𝒰𝓃𝓈𝓅𝑜𝓀𝑒𝓃 𝒯𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈
𝒷𝓎: Adrienne Young

𝐵𝓁𝓊𝓇𝒷: James and Johnny Golden were once inseparable. For as long as she can remember, James shared an almost supernatural connection with her twin brother, Johnny, that went beyond intuition—she could feel what he was feeling. So, when Johnny is killed in a tragic accident, James knows before her phone even rings that her brother is gone and that she’s alone—truly alone—for the first time in her life.

𝒬𝓊𝑜𝓉𝑒: “He was there the first time my heart beat, the first time air entered my lungs, the first time the sun touched my face. But now, he'd gone back to the dark without me.”- James Golden

𝐹𝒶𝓋𝑜𝓇𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓉𝑒𝓇: James for sure! I love the way she thinks and how she would do anything to protect her brother. She follows her intuition and is incredibly loyal.

𝒲𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝐼 𝐿𝒾𝓀𝑒𝒹: I’m such a huge mystery/thriller person and not a huge romance person… but I’m talking like strictly a book about a romance. I do enjoy romance/love stories mixed in with my fantasy, horror, mystery/thrillers, and this one had such a good one! This was the perfect amount of mystery mixed with a childhood friendship turned lovers! Some found family mixed in! I loved all the aspects of this book, it was honestly nothing like I was expecting it to be.

𝒮𝓊𝓂𝓂𝑒𝓇𝓎: I enjoyed this one a lot. If you like mystery with some romance and even a little supernatural element mixed in!! I think you should pick this up!

𝑅𝑒𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒 𝒟𝒶𝓉𝑒: January 7th, 2025

𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝒴𝑜𝓊: NetGalley, Adrienne Young and RandomHouse publishing for this ARC copy.

Review posted to Instagram, link attached

This book completely blew me away! From the very first page, I was pulled into James’s world and couldn’t put it down. Adrienne Young’s writing is so vivid and emotional—I felt everything James was going through like it was my own. Her grief, her love for her brother Johnny, and her complicated feelings for Micah were so raw and real, it stayed with me even after I finished reading.

The bond between James and Johnny was so beautifully written. Even with Johnny gone, you could feel the depth of their connection in every chapter. It was heartwarming, otherworldly, and devastating all at once. And then there’s Micah—ugh, I loved him! Their history is messy and full of pain, but the chemistry and connection they shared made every interaction between them so gripping.

What really stuck out to me was the setting. The small-town vibe of Hawthorne and the nature of Six Rivers felt so alive, like another character in the story. There’s this mix of beauty and danger that mirrors James’s journey perfectly. And the magical realism was so subtle and stunning—it made me question if it was real or just James’s way of holding onto Johnny.

This story had me feeling everything: the heartbreak, the tension, the moments of hope. The twists and secrets Johnny left behind kept me glued to the pages, and I loved how each character felt fully fleshed out, like I’d known them forever.

If you’re looking for a book that’s equal parts heartbreaking and beautiful, with a touch of magic and mystery, you need to read this. It’s one of those stories that will stay with you long after the last page. I already can’t wait to read more from Adrienne Young!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I absolutely love the way Adrienne Young tells a story, and this newest book did not disappoint. From the start, you are transported into the setting of this small mountain town, making you feel like you’re a part of the story. The author just has a way of building the mood and tone of her stories. While I read other reviews about the slow pacing of this book, I felt that it was just right. I enjoyed slowly taking in all the details that brought this story to life. I cared deeply for each of the main characters and loved watching their story unfold. Thank you so much to Net Galley and Random House for an advanced copy of this book! I can’t wait to order my copy when the book is released!

This may be Adrienne Young’s best book! I truly have loved all her books. They are so special and unique! This one did not disappoint. I love the plots and the characters!

*4.5
i’m not going to post quotes because of spoilers but are you kidddddiiiiing so so beautiful…i loved jamesmicah so much but 100% the best part of this book were james and johnny and honestly as much as the book was focused on johnny i wish there was more because i still didn’t know him by the end but also he was unknowable soooo idk. anyway. so good and one of the best books i’ve read all year

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

It didn't take long for me to become glued to the pages of this one. The mystery surrounding Johnny's death was so good! I enjoyed the connection and relationship between James and her twin. The storyline has a good pacing as more and more secrets of the past are revealed. There were a few jaw dropping twists that I didn't see coming. A 5 star read for me!

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Delacorte Press for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Adrienne Young has such a way with creating these beautiful lyrical magical realism concepts and this did not disappoint.