By Cynthia Ayala

Embarrassed by her birthmark, Eilyana has kept to herself. But after the death of her mother, Eilyana discovers that there is more to her birthmark, and that her world is not the only world, and her the power in her mark may be the only thing that can save the people she cares about. But there’s a cost to her power, one she might not be ready for.

Published on October 11, 2016, by Thomas Nelson/HarperCollins, Unblemished is Sara Ella’s debut novel, the first in a new young adult series, that follows one insecure girl as she becomes an unlikely heroine.

Unblemished by Sara Ella is the first in her series that takes a unique perspective on playing with multiple universes. Eilyana is a great protagonist because she’s smart, but she also develops as a character. She goes from being a pushover to a strong willful individual who is willing to do what needs to be done. It makes her relatable, it makes her character driven and interesting to follow through the story. She’s such an insecure character but they aren’t overdrawn insecurities, her insecurity stems from a place of hurt and loneliness. That’s what makes her such a dynamic character and relatable to the audiences, to the point where the reader is watching her grow and loving those moments that just make her impactful.

Then there are Ky and Joshua. The dynamic between the three characters is well-written and has a lot of tension to keep everything interesting. The romance was there but it also pulled off the love-triangle without being cliché which is important since it’s become a common trope within in YA fiction. Yet, the way Ella constructed it gave the love triangle substance. The relationships between the characters, they shifted and changed, but more importantly, they grew. Through those dynamics, the reader gets to see other sides of the characters, there is no black or white, there are shades of gray to the characters which stems from a real place. Again, this allows for realism to hook the reader in and believe in the fantasy of this world that Ella has created, and those relationships, they keep the tension of the text high, making this book unable to be put down.

Overall, it was a well-constructed story that allowed the reader to get to character because of how believable the narrative was put together. There are some parts of exposition that were just a little jarring and convoluted that it requires very careful reading on the part of the reader. Flushing out some of those details would have made reading those scenes just a little easier. Otherwise, it was a great novel.

Product details:

Get a Copy:

*Disclaimer: I received this novel from BookLook Bloggers in exchange for an honest review.