And Then Everything Unraveled - Jennifer Sturman

paperback

hard cover

Delia Truesdale has no idea her life's about to change forever. She's too busy enjoying the California summer. Her internet tycoon mother, T.K. Truesdale, is out of town, and that means Delia can spend all her time at the beach, surfing. That is, until everything unravels.  

Her mother suddenly goes missing, and everyone thinks she's dead - except Delia, who knows T.K.'s way too organized to simply disappear. But Delia's still sent to New York to live with her two aunts - a downtown bohemian and an uptown ice queen.   

And in case that's not bad enough, she also has to deal with a snooty new school and trying not to fall for the wrong guy. Oh, and finding her mother.  

As she delves deeper into the tangle of conspiracies and lies surrounding T.K.'s disappearance, Delia begins to suspect that the wrong guy may be the right guy...and that some secrets - especially the dangerous ones - were never meant to be unraveled (synopsis: goodreads)

I'm crushing on this book hard.

Mainly because of the voice which is exactly my kind of thing. Clever and funny and quirky, I was grinning my way through this and nodding along at Delia's wry observations. Also, its written in a slight stream of consciousness style, which is just so wonderfully done.

I'm envious of the way Sturman captures the essence of a character and just breathes life into them in a few sentences and mate, you know these people. And you'll love them and laugh at them and will amuse yourself to no end.

I love Delia. Who wouldn't? Even if there was no mystery here, I'd just read pages of her voice. Anyway, the mystery helped drive the plot, but it wasn't overly in-your-face Nancy drew style, more just Delia trying to figure out what happened to her mum and there's some lovely foreshadowing of who could be the bad dude which I couldn't figure out - despite being 30 and highly intelligent ;) - and I liked that mysteriousness about it all.

Delia's Aunt, Charley. I want to be her. Anyway, I want my adult characters to shine this hard and work their way into my heart in just a few paragraphs like Charley did.

And, helloooooo Quinn. Here's a YA dude that can make you swoon with no cringe-y details of hotness (but trust me, he is hot). He is awesome and I wish there had been more of him so thank God there is a sequel. Because I am so there. (Ahh, when it comes in paperback that is, a painful wait, but hard covers aren't in my budget...and they hurt my hand more).

And, I also love that this book has a fresh and innocent feel about it. No swearing or drugs, etc. Very sweet and I wish I could go back in time and give it to my teen self who craved books exactly like this. And craved boys exactly like Quinn :)

I read this book in one day. Good times.

I give it 4 stars of brilliance. 

This cover was made for me. I love the funky illustrated stuff and the girl on the paperback makes me think of Delia (who is half Indian). The colours are awesome.

• And a shout out to the ever-so-cool Mary of Sparkling Reviews who is holding her first international comp and giving away books from this  selection (2 separate posts, 12 books in total) Here to enter  She's a new blogger looking for some <3

xx Nomes