Unraveling Isobel Review

Unraveling Isobel 
By Eileen Cook
From Goodreads:

 "Thrilling and creepy, super sexy, and so very hilarious." --Lisa McMann, bestselling author of the Wake trilogy.

Isobel’s life is falling apart. Her mom just married some guy she met on the internet only three months before, and is moving them to his sprawling, gothic mansion off the coast of nowhere. Goodbye, best friend. Goodbye, social life. Hello, icky new stepfather, crunchy granola town, and unbelievably good-looking, officially off-limits stepbrother.
But on her first night in her new home, Isobel starts to fear that it isn’t only her life that’s unraveling—her sanity might be giving way too. Because either Isobel is losing her mind, just like her artist father did before her, or she’s seeing ghosts. Either way, Isobel’s fast on her way to being the talk of the town for all the wrong reasons.

My Thoughts:  Unraveling Isobel features some of my favorite YA topics- ghosts and hot stepbrothers.  Mental illness also makes an appearance, but unlike the recent Life is but a Dream, this book features the more common plot tool of "is the heroine crazy or haunted?".  For me this was the only draw back of the book as mental illness has a huge stigma in our society and for most of the book Isobel's mom, and Isobel to a point, treat the threat of schizophrenia as if it's the bubonic plague.  The author does a good job of making up for it at the end, which I thought was sorely needed.  Yes, schizophrenia is bad, but it's a mental illness that can be treated, like high cholesterol or diabetes.

Okay, getting back to what I loved about this book, because I realize that the above paragraph might make you think I didn't like the book, but I really, really did!  This is my first Cook book (sorry :), but I loved her writing style.  It was snarky and funny.  Isobel was an infinitely relate-able character.  It's easy to be on Isobel's side in the beginning of the book when she's forced to move her senior year because her mom has decided to marry a man she recently met on the internet.  Especially when the new stepfather's name is Richard, aka Dick, Wickham (for all you Pride & Prejudice fans out there you know that can't be good).  And now Isobel is stuck living in a huge house, sorry- estate, called Morrigan (again a omnious name for any King Arthur fan out there) on a tiny island.

The upside is that house and stepdad come with a cute, hunky stepbrother. And even though Isobel is forced to utilize the town library in order to get dirt on Morrigan, she's aided by a likeable librarian.  It's a bit nice to see some research done old school style and not just on Google.  Isobel is determined to discover if she's going crazy or being haunted by Dick's dead daughter- because his wife and daughter died under tragic circumstances just the year before.

You'd think having a creepy new stepdad, a possible haunted house and a questionable crush on your stepbrother (because while it's not incest you have to admit it's a bit weird, since they have to live with each other) would be enough for Isobel to contend with.  But the house and new family come with more secrets and for some reason the resident head Mean Girl wants to mold Isobel into a happy little Stepford bff.

So back to what didn't work for me- Isobel's mom.  The woman is self-absorbed and ridiculous.  Her behavior seems a bit out there to me, but that said there are plenty of self-absorbed and selfish parents in the world.  The other problem I had was small, and a bit spoilerish, but I would think that if I was a psychiatrist  working out of my home I'd make darn sure that the heating vent in my office didn't allow my teenage daughter to spy on my private conversations with clients.  Just saying...

Although I knew from the beginning that Isobel wasn't going all Girl, Interrupted on us, Cook delivers a good twist at the end.  It's not that it was a surprise per say, but the details were unexpected.  But honestly it wouldn't have mattered even in the ending had been predictable since I really enjoyed the characters so much. 

Good ghost stories are hard to come by, but Unraveling Isobel is proof that they are out there.  I feel comfortable recommending this read, although for those of you that have a low tolerance for cursing in YA books you should know that there is some in this book.  I don't know that it needed it, but it's pretty realistic considering teens in real life swear.  Except for the Duggar teens and of course the perfect angel you have raised (or will raise in the future).  ;)  The sexuality is pretty tame, yet still a tad steamy since we are dealing with the topic of hot stepbrother.  Trust me, Glee is more explicit.

Unraveling Isobel gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

It's not quite a Midnight Read, but it'll keep you up and turning the pages nevertheless.  And while I love the cover, I probably would have gone a bit darker since it seems a little light for the story contained inside. I also rated it slightly higher here than on Goodreads but that's only because Goodreads doesn't allow the half star, which I find to be very necessary in ratings!

***I read Unraveling Isobel as part of the Around The World Arc Tours, but all opinions, snark and wit are my own.  I was not given anything to sway my opinion and passed the book on to the next tour member on the list.

Expected Book Release Date: 01/03/2012