Do you enjoy witty banter, great characters, daring adventures, lady sleuths, bad boys, mysterious manor houses, and tasty pastries? Meet your next favourite book: Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan, the first book in The Lynburn Legacy trilogy.

Fact: I have a love for everything Sarah Rees Brennan writes. Also fact: Unspoken is her finest, funniest, and most fun book yet. It’s no mystery why Unspoken is one of Team Teen’s top reads for this year.

Here's the set up: Kami Glass has always had an imaginary friend named Jared. She hears him in her head, and he's gotten her through every awful moment and celebrated every wonderful thing that has happened in her life. He's the person closest and dearest to her. Her family and friends think this is, well, a bit strange but they love Kami and this quirkiness is part of her normal life. But one day Kami finds out that Jared is a real person who exists outside of her head.  It's bad enough he knows what she's thinking and feeling, but he's also one of the Lynburns—the mysterious family revered and feared in Kami's hometown of sleepy little Sorry-in-the-Vale.

Kami isn't about to let this stop her. No, she is a journalist—an earnest investigative reporter who understands you occasionally need to overlook property laws in order to get to the truth. There are creepy noises in the woods on the Lynburn estate, someone tried to shove her down a well, and the Lynburns are definitely involved.

So Kami gets her friends Angela and Holly, and her new friend Ash—who is Jared's cousin—and Jared, who is her now-not-so-imaginary friend, to help her investigate. (By which I mean she tells them they're all investigating with her.) Kami’s investigation leads to the truth about both Sorry-in-the-Vale and the Lynburn family—and her connection to them.

“Unspoken is delightful, fun, and beyond CHARMING. Aside from a perfectly dreamy setting and clever writing, I found myself totally enchanted by the excellently angsty characters. Kami is like Veronica Mars; sleuthing her small town into submission and dazzling with her smarts.  This one is an excellent read for mystery fans, paranormal lovers, and really any Teen book reader who loves a good turn of phrase. Did I mention the charm factor? Because it is. Charming. And I can’t wait for the next book.” —Kate Newman, Teen Assistant Category manager

“This book makes my checklist of charm!  Clever sleuthing, delicious snark, imaginary friends that turn out to be real and might be your soulmate, a town full of secrets, myth and sorcery and, did I mention the delicious snark?  Prepare to be lulled into a gentle sense of YA security as you hang out with these lovely characters ONLY TO HAVE YOUR----------well, I’ll stop there.  You’ll see.” —Natalie Garside, Teen Inventory Analyst