The premise of this book is absolutely bonkers and I was excited to get my hands on it but the story really dragged for me and was sometimes confusing because of the imagined dialogue between Eve and her twin. I did find it hard to even really like Eve which is unfortunate because the real villain in this story is clearly the dad. The twist at the end was jaw dropping but I wanted more action in the middle.

I thought this thriller was okay, but not amazing. I'm not really into stories set in high school anymore, so maybe I shouldn't have picked it up.

The story felt a bit unrealistic to me. I couldn't believe that Eve's mom wouldn't see a doctor, and it was strange that they never found her "Twin" (Read the book and you will know.) The whole book had a kind of sad vibe, which I'm not a huge fan of. But of course, I should have expected that from a thriller.

I skimmed through a lot of it, and I don't think I missed much. The writing was fine, but the story just wasn't for me. I think it could make a decent movie though.

**5-Star Review for *The Quiet Unraveling of Eve Ellaway* by Melanie Hooyenga**

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

*The Quiet Unraveling of Eve Ellaway* by Melanie Hooyenga is a beautifully written, emotionally charged novel that explores the complexities of mental health, self-identity, and the intricate process of healing. From the very first page, I was drawn into Eve’s world, a young woman grappling with her inner demons, trying to understand herself and the relationships around her.

Hooyenga’s writing is simply captivating. The portrayal of Eve’s emotional journey is raw, authentic, and deeply moving. Through Eve’s eyes, readers experience her struggles with anxiety and the quiet unraveling of her once-stable life. The author’s ability to capture the nuances of mental health—how it affects both the individual and their loved ones—is incredibly insightful and thoughtful.

What truly stands out in this novel is how well Hooyenga balances the heavy themes of mental illness with moments of hope, growth, and resilience. Despite the challenges Eve faces, there is a constant thread of strength and determination that runs through the narrative, making her journey both painful and inspiring. The characters around Eve are equally well-drawn, each adding depth to the story and reminding us that healing is often a collective effort.

The pacing is perfect, allowing for quiet moments of reflection while keeping the plot moving forward in an engaging way. The emotional payoff is immense, and the ending left me with a sense of peace and hope for Eve’s future.

*The Quiet Unraveling of Eve Ellaway* is a must-read for anyone who enjoys character-driven stories that delve into the complexities of mental health and personal growth. Melanie Hooyenga has crafted a poignant, heartfelt novel that is both thought-provoking and deeply rewarding. Highly recommended!

Baby Gen Ellaway is kidnapped one day, while out for at the park with twin sister Eve and their father. Gen was never found. Grief stricken and under fragile mental state, their mother never recovers. Eve has been playing the part of Gen since the Kidnapping, to protect the already difficult mental state of their mother. 18 years; Eve is counting down the days till she graduates and goes away to Collage. Freedom! What will happen once Eve leaves for Collage? how will they break the truth to her mother about Gen not actually being found? Slow paced, goes through a young adults daily routine through senior year in high school. Plenty of conflict and drama, Eve struggling for her own independence and craving to just be herself. Family dysfunction, some suspense, mental health. Some romance although not very prominent for the storyline. Great story!

Thank you Netgalley for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book is a whirlwind emotional ride. Impossible to put down, with shocking twists and heartbreaking truths, it’s truly an unforgettable story. It does slow down in the middle, so just be prepared for that but it's worth trudging thru for the ending.

As an adult I would rate this a 3.5 but as I'm not the target audience I bumped it up to 4.

The Quiet Unraveling of Eve Ellaway follows Eve who senior in highschool and dreams of becoming a journalist. She only has one friend and a not boyfriend and tries to stay far away from people because when she is at home she has to pretend she is both her and her twin sister who was abducted as an infant.

This story deals with abuse in a way that is not often depicted but I find that it could have insisted more on what makes it abuse and how devastating it can be.

I think it is strong psychological thriller adjacent young adult fiction. I liked how it balanced between the harrowing task of being Gen and also how Eve is just a teenager wanting to live her life. I really liked the importance the book gives to Eve's social life and her discovering herself in the midst of it all. As an adult it seems a bit cheesy and maybe superfluous but I think it can really resonate with the younger target audience.

The plot is mostly predictible but not in a bad way. It follows the beats of this kind of story and it is reliable.

A good read for teenagers wanting to try thrillers or books focusing on mental health.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an arc of this book.

Find my reviews on Goodreads, The StoryGraph, and Fable

***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of THE QUIET UNRAVELING OF EVE ELLAWAY by Melanie Hooyenga in exchange for my honest review.***

From the moment I picked up The Quiet Unraveling of Eve Ellaway I was hooked and did not want to put it down. Melanie Hoovenga masterfully balances foreshadowing and suspense, giving just enough clues to make you think you know where the story is headed, but keeping the ultimate resolution hidden until the very end.
The characters are rather interesting. While I have seen other reviews state they could not dictate which character was talking sometimes, I feel that it was easy to follow along and I personally knew who was speaking at which time.
Then there’s the ending—what a payoff! I had pieced together parts of the puzzle along the way, but the final twist completely caught me off guard. It’s rare to find a story that gives you just enough breadcrumbs to keep you guessing but still delivers a resolution that feels fresh, shocking, and entirely earned.
If I had to sum up this book in two words, it would be * rabbit hole*. I started the book and could not put it down because I wanted to know more about what is happening and the ending!

I would definitely read another book by Melanie Hoovenga.

This book felt raw, gritty. Like you were Eve going through the motions, working through the trauma.

Well written, easy to read, definitely a book that gets you thinking and keeps you thinking long after the final page has been turned.
It does deal with some heavy ideas, but it adds to the authenticity.

Firstly thank you to the publishers for my early access in exchange for a review.
I’ve reviewed a few of this authors books and this is definitely one of their strongest .
Thought provoking and well written

Finished this book in less than 24 hours because I loved it that much! Such an interesting story line, and just reeled me in from the jump. This is my first book by this author, but definitely won’t be my last! Appreciate the ARC!!

This just wasn’t it for me. I don’t think any review I leave would be a fair representation because I just didn’t enjoy or love this.

Eve Ellaway is an aspiring journalist whose twin sister, Gen, was kidnapped as a baby. Eve is forced by her father to play the role of both Eve and Gen in order to appease her mentally ill mother who believes Gen is still alive. Years of pretending to be two people is causing Eve's own mental health to decline rapidly.

I really wanted to like this book! I was very intrigued by the premise, but felt like the majority of the book was repetitive and predictable. Eve is an extremely unlikeable character, which may have been intentional, but didn't make for an enjoyable read. There is quite a bit of time spent on Eve questioning her sexuality and romantic relationships, which just didn't feel relevant or contribute anything to the story for me.

The twist was shocking but honestly upsetting, mainly due to poor execution in my opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and Left-Handed Mitten Publications for the ARC!

First things first, thanks to Netgalley for the e-ARC of this book for an HONEST review.

Secondly, I made a playlist for this book, check it out if you wanna listen to it while reading the book, or after reading the book. Listen to it on shuffle because nothing I ever do is organized (except for my reading journals and bookshelf.)
Link to playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/34HPiJmTyIIyWmf5WkVgMA?si=o5AeALs8Sv2qWWrq_w1F3w

Now, onto the review....

Okay wow. I really loved this book.

It may or may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it was certainly mine! The book had my attention from the moment I read its description. You know, like when someone's describing some mysterious kinda creepy classmate you might have, and suddenly you wanna know everything about them?! That's the kind of feeling I got.

This is one of those stories where the character is the plot. The entire process of the quiet unravelling of Eve Ellaway was so enticingly hooking. I don't know how much to say without spoiling, but basically the book is follows the story of a girl name Eve, whose twin sister disappeared when they were babies, and since then, she's been living as both, Gen, and Eve.

The gradual character arc is so brilliantly written that I had to keep this one on hold so that the other thriller I was reading at the time doesn't feel too underwhelming in comparison.

There aren't many (or probably ANY, if you've read enough thrillers to predict what's next) plot twists to look out for in the book, but there ARE several moments that make you just look at the screen (if you're reading the Ebook) like, ".....Damn."

What to expect?
-A psychological story of an extremely complicated girl's Quiet and gradual unravelling.
-A book where the flaws of the main character ARE the focus of the story.
-Dysfunctional family dynamics

What not to expect?
-Plot twists.
-Unrealistic character arcs.

After the kidnapping of one twin, the second twins life is never the same or her own....

This book took me a while to really get into it. Loved the premise of the book but felt predictable. It does have some twist and ultimately is a good book.

This is a book I quite literally couldn't put down! I read this in one sitting (while staying up entirely too late for a work night) as I had to know where the story was going and how it would end. After finishing the book, I would describe it as haunting. I felt both sad and angry for the MC, Eve, as she had to carry the burden of losing her twin sister and having no support from her own family, who, in fact, made the situation much, much worse. The fact that Eve doesn't see what's happening as abuse initially is sad, and it's heartbreaking when she does recognize and call what is happening to her abuse. This is a heavy book as it deals with mental health issues, abuse, loss, and sexuality through the eyes of a teenager living in an unstable home. While some people feel that the book gets too repetitive in the middle, I think it makes sense as Eve is ruminating on the issues in her life. If you've ever dealt with mental illness firsthand, you may understand getting stuck in your own head and the repetitive thoughts that cycle constantly, so I find that it makes sense for Eve to be thinking over and doing the same things without actually making the changes she desperately wants to. My only critique is that the book shifts between reading as a YA book and an adult book throughout the story, so a more focused voice in the writing on either side would make for a stronger overall narrative.

I like how the book ends and feel like everything was resolved in a satisfying manner. I want to go more in depth about the ending, but that would be full of major spoilers. Overall I think it was an excellent book, and I hope Melanie Hooyenga writes more psychological thrillers in the future.

This book was an interesting read, and the plot was original, which I was happy to see. I saw the main plot twist coming from around chapter 3 of the book, but I still enjoyed seeing how the author went through with it. I also enjoyed the other twists that I wasn’t expecting. Overall, it was a good book, and I’d read from this author again.

I thought this book had an interesting premise but the execution was not well done. It was messy and it frequently felt as though it was biting off far more than it could chew. There's something to be said for an ambiguous ending but this one was more frustrating than that.

I’m honestly mixed on my reviews on this one. I like a good psychological thriller but when the story has no answers for some of the questions throughout the book and leaves me feeling like the end of Squid Game season 2, then I cant really leave an honest review. I liked how it started. The tension. The broken family vibes. Those were gravitating me in. Then, I reached the middle. Unfortunately it felt a little repetitive. I felt like I was flipping through pages but not really going anywhere. I really wanted to like this one, but I got to a point where I felt like I had to throw in the towel. But then I picked it back up, hoping the ending would give me the happiness I needed to finish the novel but instead, felt empty. I might give it a second go just to make certain of how I felt, but right now, it just wasn’t my overall go to for recommendations.

The premise of this one sounded so good, but unfortunately for me it was way too slow to hold my attention and I was not able to stick to it. I just couldn't get into it at all and had to call it quits.

The Quiet Unraveling of Eve Ellaway follows 18-year-old Eve whose life is anything but normal.
Born a twin, her sister's kidnapping has hung over Eve's life before she was even aware of it, with desperate actions taken to protect her mother's wellbeing chipping away at Eve piece by piece until she feels as though perhaps she's better at being her imagined identity than herself.

The premise of this book was too interesting to turn away from, and although aspects of the plot and backstory were initially confusing, these things are resolved and explained in due time within the book, after which the writing and the story flow at what is mostly a slow to medium pace (with fast paced moments when necessary).
The book features multiple plot twists which don't come as obvious to the reader and are therefore gripping and thrilling and continue to move the plot along - albeit in a direction you don't quite expect - with a shocking finish that, although open-ended in some regard, captures the messy unknown of a reality like this.

Melanie Hooyenga manages to write about serious, often taboo topics in a way that doesn't glamorise or make light of them, instead presenting the raw and often uncomfortable reality as exactly that.
Additionally, her inclusion of queer characters and coming-of-age storylines amidst the main story was very much appreciated and was interwoven in a way where neither storyline fought to overpower the other

If you're a fan of messy/dysfunctional characters, unreliable narrators, psychological thrillers, YA suspense and mystery, this is definitely a book I'd recommend picking up.

4.5⭐

Thank you to NetGalley, Left-Handed Mitten Publications, and Melanie Hooyenga for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.