Review: Unblemished (Unblemished #1) by Sara Ella

About the Book

Eliyana can’t bear to look at her own reflection. But what if that were only one Reflection—one world? What if another world exists where her blemish could become her strength?

Eliyana is used to the shadows. With a birthmark covering half her face, she just hopes to graduate high school unscathed. That is, until Joshua hops a fence and changes her perspective. No one, aside from her mother, has ever treated her like he does: normal. Maybe even beautiful. Because of Joshua, Eliyana finally begins to believe she could be loved.

But one night her mother doesn’t come home, and that’s when everything gets weird. Now Joshua is her new, and rather reluctant, legal Guardian. Add a hooded stalker and a Central Park battle to the mix and you’ve gone from weird to otherworldly.

Eliyana soon finds herself in a world much larger and more complicated than she’s ever known. A world enslaved by a powerful and vile man. And Eliyana holds the answer to defeating him. How can an ordinary girl, a blemished girl, become a savior when she can’t even save herself?

Amazon / Goodreads

My Thoughts

Unblemished has been on my on TBR list for quite a while. It's a book I've been eager to read, but kept getting pushed further and further back in my pile for some reason or another. Since the final book in the trilogy recently released, I decided I HAD to find the time to finally start this series. I'm so glad that I did. It's oh so good, better than I expected it to be. It's super unique and the writing is fantastic. The descriptions are so vivid and El's emotions are so easy to feel, as though they're my own.

The reader is thrown right into this unknown world full of secrets and wonder, right alongside El and learns things right with her. Because of this, things got a little confusing for me, but it didn't bother me too much. It just made me extra eager to figure out what was going on.

There's so many twists and turns. I'd think I had an understanding of things and then, wham... a huge twist would come along and change everything. There were a few times in the beginning that there'd be a shocking reveal and El would kinda brush it off as no big deal, but it was actually a HUGE deal. It was a bit frustrating, but I don't know, maybe it was just me.

Unblemished is a story of good and evil, light and dark, the Verity and the Void. I was entranced by this unique world and the characters in it. It's been said that fans of the TV show Once Upon a Time will enjoy this book and I wholeheartedly agree. I'm excited to dive into book two, Unraveling.

4.5 Stars