Unfinished

by Carol Oates

Jonas is already raising eyebrows at his new school and Cathy's day isn’t going much better. Everyone is acting as if she isn’t there, her twin is usurping her friends and her occasional boyfriend is moving on. Can she convince Jonas to help her before it’s too late?

Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Short Stories, Fantasy, Supernatural

ebook

First published August 13, 2011

About the author

Carol Oates came into the world on Christmas morning, in an elevator. Raised just across the street from the childhood home of Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, it was only a matter of time before Carol’s love of all things supernatural would emerge.
She began experimenting with fiction at school and keeps the notebook containing her first unpublished novel in her desk drawer. Over three decades later, all her stories still begin life scrawled on paper.
When not writing, Carol can be found exploring history, old buildings, castles, and tombs.

Reviews

[A. Powers · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick, gripping read. The ending was a bit rushed, but I preferred it that way rather than dragged out. Well done example of a short story.

[Lissette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was actually a pretty good read. It's a short story, sure, but still very well written. I actually wanted to read more of it, though.

We find ourselves caught in the lives of Cathy and her twin, Lottie. Both identical, but quite different in temperaments. Cathy is popular and out-going. Lottie is quiet and very bookish. Yet despite their differences they get along quite well. Or they did, anyway.

Lottie's taken to ignoring Cathy, something she's not comfortable with. Her boyfriend has decided that he's interested in someone else and Cathy isn't sure how she feels about that. There's also the fact that Delia, the head cheerleader and very popular girl at school, has taken her sister under her wing.

In comes the beautiful, and very shy, Jonas Darby. He instantly grabs Cathy's attention. She's delighted that he's not ignoring her. More so, she's happy because he's actually giving her the time of day.

When things start to go awry with her sister, Cathy decides that she needs help. She tries to enlists Jonas' help, yet he's reluctant to help her. As her sister starts changing, Cathy knows that her time is running out and she starts pulling out all the stops in making Jonas give her the hand she needs in order to make everything right again.

[Mitsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it. Love the depth and attention to detail. Excellent YA story. Carol Oates is impressive. I will read more of her books. :)

[Brittany Goodman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heart strings

This story this at the heart strings. I enjoyed this story even as it tugged and broke my heart a little. A short read. Definitely worth it.

[Jeraca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty good short novel! It was fast paced, had mystery and paranormal in it, and kept my full attention. I'm also glad for the solid ending and nothing left open or unanswered.

[cheryl doerr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow

I love this sort story. It was but really good. I really enjoy all of it. It is awesome and all I can say is wow.

[JWinter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good!

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a little torn about this one. On one hand, this is a great concept for a story, and I was surprised about 10 pages in (out of the 73 my Nook listed for this book) when you figure out that the narrator (1st POV) is dead.

Color me surprised. Based on the blurb, I did not expect this to be a ghost story . That revelation comes out of left field.



It's a credit to the author that I didn't see this coming. There is nothing in the first 10 pages that would even indicate this little twist.

Enter Jonas. New kid, with a British accent, who has recently moved to Cathy's little town.

Initially, you expect some kind of HS drama, but once Cathy reveals her secret, you realize that this goes way beyond that.

I liked how Ms. Oates portrayed the characters, especially considering that it's quite difficult to give them any depth in a story as short as this one. I liked how she described Cathy's pain and desperation at Jonas' refusal to help her. I could appreciate Jonas' reasons for refusing. I also liked the ending, giving Cathy the resolution she needed, though that felt a tiny bit rushed.

Both of them do sound age-appropriate though both had to deal with way more than any teenager should.

This book is self-published and it shows. A good proofreader should have found the typos and grammatical errors prior to publishing. Even for a free read, this is in my opinion mandatory. Every missing comma, every misspelled word jarred me out of this story.

The author says this was written for charity. Kudos for that.

[Nancy (The Avid Reader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone has started to ignore Cathy including her twin sister Lottie and her boyfriend. Lottie has also started hanging out with her best friend Delia. Cathy does not like the fact that she is being friends with Delia. Getting mixed up with Delia will get her in trouble and possibly cause her to lose her life. She doesn't want her sister following in her foot steps.

A guy, Cathy has never seen before shows up at school. Cathy thinks he is cute and wonders why he acts like a nerd when he is not. Jonas doesn't ignore Cathy like everyone else does. Cathy needs Jonas' help to save Lottie. Jonas can't or won't help someone like her. He use to help people like Cathy and he lost everyone he ever cared about. Can Cathy save Lottie? Will Jonas help Cathy? You will just have to read Unfinished to find out. I don't won't to reveal any more spoilers and ruin it for you.

Unfinished is a very fast read not because it is a short story. It will grab your attention and keep it until the end. It is a very well written story. I would have like to have known more about Cathy and her sister's life together. More about Jonas and who he is.

[Katie Rodante · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short story is actually pretty good. Compared to the description, this wasn't what I expected at all -- there's a huge twist in the story and it's awesome.

The reason this gets 3/5 stars is because the ending was abrupt, and although it made sense, the pacing changed so much at the very end that I couldn't rate this one higher. If the ending had been drawn out a bit more, and the overall story was a bit longer, I would have enjoyed this more.

[Becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was great. I read it in about 10 minutes because it was short. Hence the name short story.
At first, this book confused me because I didn't know if Cathy was dead or not. Then I realized that she was. By the end of the book, everything was cleared up and I understood the story completely.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes short stories that have a sense of paranormal-ness to them.
I hope you enjoy Unfinished by Carol Oates!

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow

So this was a great book. I loved the story, the characters and the whole idea behind the story. Most of the books I've read related to ghosts are like the show Dead Like Me this book is the rare exception to that rule.

It's a story about a murdered girl whose ghost is trying to keep her twin sister from finding the same fate. There is much more to the story but this is a must read.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was honestly torn reading this little novella. At first, I was very confused as to what was going on, until the author casually dropped that the main character was dead. I was like oh! Ok...the story didn't really develop very much farther than that, and it was honestly more of a disappointing read, more of a synopsis, than anything. I do like it when novellas leave me wanting more, but this one only gave me a snip of a story, and then rushed through the rest.

[Autumn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome read, I can not wait to read more by this author. I was wondering what was going on at first when her twin sister was ignoring her, but as the story progressed it became clear. I do wonder if the author would think about doing a series with this book, seeing as how Jonas "sees" ghosts. Just an idea. Great book that I would recommend.

[Shawanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this was a really good short story and that is why I wished it was a full novel. I would have loved to follow Cathy on her road to finding out about Delia and the accident and be able to follow Lottie in her journey to bring Delia to justice. even though it was a good read I kind of felt shorted in a way but the concept was good and it was easy to follow.

[Alisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a short ghost story. I cant rave about the characters or the plot development but overall the story wasn't bad. Perhaps a bit underdone, even for a novella. I can't help but wonder how much better this could have been if the author had put a bit more time and effort into this book. One plus, I got this free on my Kindle. It wasn't a waste of time but it wasn't great either.

[Big Book Theory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesomely written. I do not want to give away the reason why it is titled Unfinished, and in the beginning Cathy seems like just another normal teen at high school ... until you realize she isn't.

This is a perfect short story. It had suspense, a little bit of love (always nice) and then of course the twist. When the twist in the story came I was like: "What? Didn't see that coming."

[Psych25 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it!
Not just another supernatural story. A fast-paced page turner. I was happily sucked in to the description and lives of the characters, and after I finished reading it they stayed with me for the rest of the day. I really hope there is a sequel

[Tienn Nguyen · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay. It was too short so the story didn't turn out that good. It was pretty predictable most of the time so it wasn't as challenging as other books. It lacks the climax a short story should have.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a short simply read that was very enjoyable. I plan on keeping it to read any time I want something quick that well written during boredom or what have you. Another recommendation of mine and author to check out more works from as well.

[Julianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ummmm

it was a short satisfying story. this is a very exciting story. it would've in my mind be better if u added more to it though. it's a good way to start off something interesting for a beginner author

[Sharon Hallman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this short story. Would have liked for it to me longer but I think it's a great start for more books . Hope she writes more. Good mystery and I liked the characters. Fun to read.

[Bia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great short story! The innitial suspense and the twin sisters mojo with each other were the best part. I don't have a twin, but I would do the same for my sister.

[Shelly Crane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A seriously short, but cute story with a little bit of heart string tugging.

[Kassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this short story, but I just wish there would be more. Although, I will definitely read more books/short stories written by this author.

[simran kaur]

nomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnom.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable short story I would have liked it more if I got to know a little more about a few characters over all good read

[pinK · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this story was very short, it was very nice. As someone that has lost a sister to a car accident, it was nice to imagine that she could be watching over me and protecting me.

[Cristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I ess confused for a long while but I really enjoyed it. altho I had hoped for a different ending, it ended well nonetheless.

[Alicia Huxtable · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent short story. Well written characters but also left me wanting more.