Title: Unknown (Unknown #1)

Author: Wendy Higgins

Pub. Date: August 8, 2016

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.75

Amber Tate believes the worst thing she’ll suffer in life is dealing with the unrequited love she feels for her brother’s best friend, Rylen Fite. She also believes war is something unfortunate that happens places far, far away from her rural Nevada town. She’s wrong on both counts.

When an unknown organization meticulously bombs major cities in the United States and across the globe, a trickle-down effect spreads to remaining towns at an alarming speed—everything from food and water sources to technology and communications are compromised. Without leadership, the nation is split between paralysis and panic, but Amber isn’t one to hide or watch helplessly. She’s determined to put her nursing skills to use, despite the danger, even if it means working alongside the man she can never have.

This will be a spoiler free review.

After yesterday’s behemoth of a post, i have a short and sweet one for you today!

I couldn’t get into my last book, and this caught my eye on my shelf. So, I decided to give it a go. Overall, I really enjoyed it, but the first half of the novel made me angry. But even so, I’m dying for the next one – so much so, that I legit just ordered it. You know those books that you read that you ultimately enjoy, but you’re also incredibly angry at them? This is books, is that for me. I don’t even know where to begin, because I really did enjoy it, but ugh. I don’t want to post spoilers, so it’s harder.

I guess I kind of expected more romantic tension and not so much backstory. Actually, I was expecting this to be a little more post-apocalyptic right from the get-go and it wasn’t. It kind of reminded me of Poison Princess in that way. I also figured out who the bad guys were right away, and then grew frustrated that it took the characters so long to come to certain realizations.

I do think my favorite part about this book is the cast of characters and the bonds between them. I care about the core group and I want them to be okay and make it to the end of this trilogy. I really can’t wait for the romantic tension to break, because damn slow burn/unrequited love. No, it’s not actually unrequited now that I think about it. It’s that trope where they both fucking love each other but won’t do a damn thing about it but stare at each other. At this point, I need Rylen and Amber to get together because I’m dying.

If you’re looking for a quick, post-apocalyptic, alien, slow burn romance read, you’ll definitely want to check this out. I’m anxiously awaiting the arrival of book 2, and maybe I should just go ahead and order book 3.