Review: Juniper Unraveling by Keri Lake


Note: This ARC was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

"You have to survive, Wren. You will." 
"Alone." 
"Sometimes, that's the only way to survive."

It's been a good, long while since I last read a dystopian novel that truly captured my attention and my imagination in equal parts, to the point that I was willing to put my heart on the line and become fully invested in what the main characters were going through. I'm talking years here, and it isn't because I haven't read any new ones--just that nothing was worth raving about. Until now. If there is one book that I sincerely hope you'll make time for on your reading schedule this year, I'm begging you to make it Juniper Unraveling. Those familiar with Keri Lake's work know she's made the dark romance sub-genre her bitch. I love how unapologetic her anti-heroes are, yet you can't help but fall in love with them. No one in Lake's stories is perfect, but that's what makes them feel almost familiar.

Take a gritty story about love and survival in Lake's signature style of storytelling set in dystopia and add to it a heroine who could give Sarah Connor a run for her money (sorry, James Cameron), and you have one of the most amazingly created novels to be released in recent memory. Seriously, this is a must-read among all other must-reads. I know a lot of us have to-be-read lists that seem to go on forever, but do me (and yourself) a favor by not just adding this title but also by putting it at the tippy-top of your list. It's a lengthy read, but one that you won't regret putting the necessary time into. If you've never read a Keri Lake book before, this is as the perfect one to choose and venture into to see exactly why I think she's an underrated author who deserves more of our attention.

I could give you bits and pieces of Juniper Unraveling so that you have an idea of what you're getting yourself into. I could tell you that Wren is a female main character whose courage is boosted by her need to survive and her desire to see and make changes in the world that she's in. I could tell you that Six is unlike any male main character that I've come across anytime over the past couple of years or so, who spoke more with his actions what he thought and felt than with actual words. But this book needs to be experienced and I'm highly encouraging you to pick it up as soon as you can. It isn't merely a good read--it's one of the most absorbing fictional undertakings I've immersed myself into in all my years of reading (think nearly four decades and yes, I know I'm dating myself here.).

Told in two parts, this dark adventure that Wren embarks upon is not always easy to get through. Keri Lake has vividly captured through words every bit of the twisted and tattered world that Wren tries to navigate through. She's a risk-taker but not foolhardy, brave but not without fear. Relating to her isn't a hardship and empathizing with her plight a given. The author has created this world that may seem like nothing more than a figment of her imagination, but there are parallels to it and to what its inhabitants are going through to today's world and events--of how it's become a disjointed place we live in, forcing situations wherein it becomes a case of "them" against "us". Juniper Unraveling is a reflection and a reminder; It is, hands down, Lake's best work to date. Five-plus stars. ♥

Release Date: 31 October 2017

Date Read: 16 October 2017

Learn more about Keri Lake.

Purchase Juniper Unraveling on Amazon.

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