Unblemished

A high school coming-of-age tale combining dystopian magical realism, a winsome romance, and a good-versus-evil messiah plot, Ella’s debut novel is an ambitiously intricate mashup of genres that never quite comes together. Eliyana Ember, a senior at the prestigious West Prep in New York City, has always been self-conscious of the birthmark on her cheek. Just weeks before her eighteenth birthday, Eliyana is left as the legal responsibility of her twenty-one-year-old next-door neighbor, Joshua, when her artist mom suddenly dies in a fire. When she makes the mistake of going to a party to combat her grief, Eliyana is kidnapped by Ky, a young man with a strange power over her, and transported to the Second Reflection—a parallel world existing within New York that seems familiar to Eliyana from her mother’s paintings. The novel struggles to find its footing amidst the many forces at play: building the world of the Second Reflection, introducing the broad cast of characters, weaving together the many plot points, and keeping the romantic tensions lively. The bookis at its best in the quiet moments between battles and explanations, when Eliyana can draw herself out, stop hiding her birthmark, and become proud of what her unique feature could mean. Although her promisingly ambitious debut struggles to maintain a clear focus, Ella has created a captivating, relatable protagonist and never hesitates as she keeps thingsmoving briskly through the many twists and turns. (Oct.)