Celeste

The Unseen #2

by Johnny Worthen

In book two of this remarkable series, the sleepy little town of Jamesford becomes a national battleground of faith and science, hatred and hope.

Eleanor—the girl whose life depends on not being noticed—is at the center of it all. Trusting David with the secret of what she is, Eleanor tries to keep the promise she made her mother to rejoin humanity, even if Eleanor might not be human. She dreams of a future beyond mere survival, beyond fear and loneliness — a future where she matters. But Jamesford is plagued with strangers, a predator is on the loose, and the rumors surrounding the girl from Cedar Street never quite disappear.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Urban Fantasy

376 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2015

About the author

Johnny Worthen is an award-winning, best-selling author of books and stories. A Utah Writer of the Year. Trained in modern literary criticism and cultural studies, he writes upmarket multi-genre fiction, symbolized by his love of tie-dye and good words. “I write what I like to read,” he says. “This guarantees me at least one fan.”

Johnny is best known (so far) for his award winning, nationally acclaimed, best-selling young adult novel, ELEANOR, THE UNSEEN. It is a great book and if you haven’t read it, you need to. Johnny’s debut novel, the adult occult thriller, BEATRYSEL along with its companion story DR. STUART’S HEART explores the darker sides of love and Magick.

CELESTE, THE UNSEEN BOOK 2, continues Eleanor’s story as she tries to maintain a life in Jamesford, while distant events and local suspicion conspire to threaten everything. DAVID, THE UNSEEN BOOK 3, sees the powerful transformative conclusion of this awarding series as Eleanor learns her past and builds her future.

Johnny’s entry into mystery with THE BRAND DEMAND won a Silver Quill Award from the League of Utah Writers in the best novel category, while, his genre-bending comedy noire, THE FINGER TRAP, introduces Tony Flaner, a flawed slacker every-man detective who can’t throw a punch but can slay a room with sarcasm.

Johnny's short stories appear in a number of anthologies including the Dark Fiction LITTLE VISIBLE DELIGHT (The Point), Utah Horror, OLD SCRATCH AND OWL HOOTS (Keep Sweet), IT CAME FROM THE GREAT SALT LAKE (May 15th), Utah Fantasy, SECRETS & DOORS (A Thousand Secret Doors), HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT (The Lost Curse of the Witch's Nest) and the limited edition commemorate Salt Lake Comic Con anthology HEROIC: TALES OF THE EXTRAORDINARY (The Grape Whisperer).

Johnny lectures and teaches about writing and life whenever anyone will listen. He edits professionally for Omnium Gatherum, a dark fiction press. He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with his wife, sons and a cat.

Reviews

[Tonya Bryner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every bit as good as the first book! Eleanor seems to have found a place to settle, but her desire to be "unseen" is becoming more and more difficult. When Celeste disappears and a picture of Eleanor appears on the news, Celeste's parents come to find Eleanor. Meanwhile, David's father, an abusive alcoholic, returns from active duty, and everything Eleanor has worked for is turned upside-down.

The only disappointing thing about this book is having to wait until the last book in the trilogy comes out!

[Terra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the privilege of reading an advanced copy of this brilliant book as part of the publication process. Johnny has done what many authors struggle with: book two in a trilogy that is just as compelling as the first. Now I must wait for its official release to get my own copy.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is certainly out of my usual preferences, but I have to leave a review to congratulate Worthen on doing such an excellent job with this book and Eleanor.

Typically, I would never have wanted to read this. If you’d told me about Eleanor, I would’ve said ‘heck no, no thanks’! That being said, I couldn’t get 100% invested because this just doesn’t tick my personal reading checklist lol, but considering that I’m super impressed that Worthen did manage to pull me into this story and make me truly care about every single character! Seriously, such an excellent job making every single character special, real, and having such defined personalities. I feel like I’ve really met them all!

This book and the first also has a great flow and ties everything together so well. There were a couple things that I questioned, ‘is that right in real life?’ but it’s a book…the author can get away with it! It’s his world. Lol. Just enough description to picture everything with great detail and not so much that you start zoning out. Every part of it is all just a great package held together by perfect little pieces.

My favorite thing about these books, is the depth of emotion and personal growth the characters experience. Yes, Eleanor clearly is learning huge lessons about kindness, forgiveness, acceptance, etc, but you also have Barbara, Russell, David, etc all learning their own lessons and developing into better people. We just have self growth in leaps and bounds in this book, and it’s beautiful.

Honestly, if Eleanor was really a pretty fae or something a little less disgusting than what she is, I’d probably give this book 5 stars! As I said, it’s just not my thing…but that does not prevent all of the greatness in this series from shining for what it is. I’m truly impressed that these ‘shifts’ were written in such a way to be grotesque but still cling to the goodness of her heart. This book managed to truly move me ❤️ Awesome job Mr. Worthen!

I will definitely be looking into other books by this author. And while this isn’t my particular cup of tea, I’d highly recommend this series!

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook: I was as entertained by this book as much as the first one in the series. I appreciated that Eleanor only wanted to live her life in peace; however, things always had a way of getting out of hand in spite of Eleanor's best intentions. I felt for Eleanor as she faced her newest challenges. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. I enjoyed Sandra Murphy's narration as her performance was entertaining. I was given a copy of the audiobook. I volunteered, without financial gain, to post this review which reflected my honest opinions regarding this audiobook.

[Kasi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Character growth is amazingly displayed in this book. The heroine comes out of her shell, the reader learns to sympathize with antagonists and love characters that weren't meant to be loved in book 1. Would be 5 stars but the writing errors found in book 1 were also found in book 2.

[Debra George · Rating 5 out of 5]

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

The flashbacks fall into place and we learn a little more of Eleanor’s history. Her survival depends upon staying hidden but her compulsive kindness keeps leading to exposure and danger for herself and those she loves.

[Dana Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like where he took Eleanor's story.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second book was as good as the first, which is rare. I can't wait to see what happens with these characters.

[Monique Snyman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you know why I love Johnny Worthen’s books? It’s because they pull you right into the story and then they keep you hostage until you’ve finished the book. It doesn’t matter what book of his you read and what genre they happen to fall into, you’re always right at the center of things. That, my friends, is the mark of a truly great author.

Instead of reviewing each book individually (as I did with Eleanor), I decided to rather write a bit of a mini essay on why I love the trilogy in a whole. It’s a bit different to what I usually do, but then again, this trilogy deserves something special.

I’ve reviewed numerous of Worthen’s books in the past, all of which have spoken to me on some level, but my favourite work by the author is The Unseen Trilogy. This young-adult fiction trilogy is so inspiring and relatable, so tragic and real even though it’s fiction, that I struggled to find the right words to convey my feelings. The intense emotions that Johnny Worthen leaves his readers with at the end of each book is just indescribable. You cannot not love Eleanor, you cannot not want her to be happy. Then there’s David, who is just such a lovable character and so understanding considering his own teenage problems. And Celeste, who you can’t help but feel all the feels for too …

Layered with mystery and intrigue, magic and drama, as well as romance, The Unseen Trilogy has everything a reader could ever want.The messages that Worthen painstakingly hides between the lines are so relevant today, it’s unbelievable that he was able to work them into a YA series. And considering how watered down some YA books are these days, this trilogy is a breath of fresh air.

**Mid-Review Rant: Seriously, YA fiction has become really bad lately, but the publishing machine keeps spewing out inconsequential drivel just to make more money out of an already over-saturated market. It’s why I’ve personally decided to stop reading most YA books that come my way!**

Personally, I L-O-V-E this The Unseen Trilogy. Why? Because the books are written intelligently enough not to offend young readers by suggesting they’re stupid, because adults can enjoy these books as well, and because the books handle with important subject matters without rubbing it in your face.

And that ending in David was just … well, I’m not going to give anything away, but boy oh boy! Are you in for a treat! I wish I could read these books for the first time. *cries*

These books are a must-read!

YA-lovers will enjoy the books for the good writing and well-crafted plot. Teenagers in general will be able to relate to the characters and the situations described in the books. Adult readers will love reminiscing about their own teenage years (and how the majority of them felt like outcasts). And paranormal readers will be thrilled to enjoy a shifter novel that deals with something other than werewolves and is plausible (if you’re into Native American mythology, of course).

Every bookcase should feature this trilogy in a collection. Period.

[Fiona Titchenell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Basics:

After the events of Eleanor, the frightened and secretive shapeshifter, Eleanor Anders, is working to adjust to the tentative beginnings of a new family. After the death of her adoptive mother, she's been taken in by the family of her boyfriend, David Venn, and the friends she couldn't keep from accumulating at school last year aren't going anywhere now. But as Eleanor has always known, attention is dangerous for her. The rumors surrounding her, spanning from promiscuity to Satanism to details perilously closer to the truth, aren't going anywhere either, and when Celeste, the girl from whom Eleanor borrows her physical form, is reported missing, people outside the small town of Jamesford begin to take notice of her reclusive doppleganger, including people who might have the means to learn the truth about her. Eleanor is trapped between her love for her fragile new life and her ancient instinct to run.

The Downside:

The motivations of the Venn family can be a little overly convenient. David’s mother, her edict that David and Eleanor behave as brother and sister for as long as they are legally foster siblings, and her questionable sentiments toward Eleanor beyond the fact that she’s important to David, fade in and out of the story at odd intervals until they’re finally brought to a sudden breaking point that feels a bit out of nowhere. David himself goes through a period of rejecting Eleanor just because of a gut aversion to her inhuman physiology, which after an entire book with him as the unconditionally accepting friend whom Eleanor would be wise to trust with the truth about herself, feels an out of character betrayal. Certainly Eleanor and David’s relationship was due for some serious rockiness, but his situation, stuck between Eleanor and her lingering distrust, his disapproving mother, and the unwelcome return of his mentally unbalanced father, could have been more than enough fuel.

The Upside:

If, like me, you didn’t know how you’d be able to wait once you found out Eleanor would be the start of a series, you won’t be disappointed. Heroic yet vulnerable Eleanor is back, building her confidence and her life one fragile, beautiful step at a time. As in any good second installment, the stakes have been raised, and the snowballing feud between Eleanor’s supporters and detractors and the impending notice by the outside world create a slowly sharpening backdrop of dread to Eleanor’s rising optimism. The action is more intense this time around as well, to a sometimes horrific degree that’s quite all right by me, and that mounting dread leads to a both clever and heart pounding final sequence that will make the wait for the next book even more torturous than this one was.


(This review and others originally posted on www.fjrtitchenell.weebly.com)

[Craig Kingsman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great sequel to Eleanor. We meet the girl that Eleanor became and what happens when Eleanor is found out and mistaken for Celeste. The descriptions of David and Eleanor kissing are so descriptive, you imagine Johnny wrote them when he was a teenager making out with his girl.

But. The book is not without its flaws. When you write, you need to make everything believable and Johnny misses some things such as Eleanor and the Venn's sitting down to watch college football on Saturday in January. Or a Congressman in Nebraska pressuring a local Sheriff and state child services in Wyoming.

If you can get past these or see them as minor issues as I did, you'll find Celeste a great read.

[Carol Nicolas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eleanor thinks life is finally going to settle down. She's got friends at school, a boyfriend who loves her, and enough money left to her by her adopted mother to see her through till graduation. She knows how to pass as human, and she is beginning to believe that people aren't so bad. But when Eleanor goes back to get her "DNA update" from Celeste, she is seen by Celeste's abusive father. And when Celeste goes missing, her parents begin a hunt that will bring them to Jamesford, along with a violent religious cult, an egomaniac scientist, and others who are bent on Eleanor's destruction. Jamesford becomes a battlefield, and Eleanor, David, and his family are caught in the maelstrom.
What a great story! I could not put this book down. I already felt a great deal of sympathy for Eleanor and David when I read 'Eleanor', and this feeling continued to intensify in this book. Johnny Worthen has done an excellent job of creating sympathetic characters. He shows us through the story the ugliness of racism, poverty, bullying, and other issues that lurk below the surface of our society, and at the same time shows us the love, loyalty and mercy that coincides. I can't wait to read the next installment. Amazing job, Johnny!

[Dan Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chilling delight! This YA paranormal thriller will stretch your mind, your imagination and your soul. Johnny Worthen delivers a sequel to the best-selling Eleanor worthy of his YA author of the year award. This sequel continues the genre-transcending story of a girl whose abilities are terrifying, even to herself, a girl struggling to fit in a world where her very existence conjures hatred, fear and wonder. In Celeste we dive into Eleanor's heart-wrenching backstory and forward into a mystery that threatens to expose her before she can stop the real monster in Jamesford, Wyoming. When it all goes wrong, Eleanor faces the thing she fears more than all. Through it all, the power of love shines like a beacon. If you didn't cry reading Eleanor, you will certainly smile reading Celeste, feeling that extra room that surviving something improbably tragic and yet wonderful has left in your heart. You will not be the same after reading a Johnny Worthen book. You'll be better. Simply put, this is great YA entertainment.

[Kathy Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eleanor is a monster. She has to decide who to trust. Her mother is dead. Her boyfriend gets sick at the thought of her. Her friends want her to do magic for them. The Indians killed her family. The social worker wants to send her out of state. There is a family wanting her to be their lost daughter. A doctor thinks she is made of stem cells and wants to harvest her. Is there no peace? Can she just live her own life?
WARNING: This is the second book of a series and the third one isn’t out yet! It is pure punishment to read it without being able to finish the story.

[Callie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where Eleanor is a subtle unfolding mystery, Celeste is a bullet train! Once this book starts the plot doesn't slow down as Eleanor's secret becomes even more necessary to hide and the danger of what she could lose grows. A great compliment to the first book, although the sudden change in pacing and beautiful ambiance from the first book may leave some readers wanting. Still, it is a must read that sets up the third book perfectly.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I fell in love with Eleanor in book one. I picked up Celeste simply because I wanted to know more about Eleanor. Never would I have guessed that not only would I love Eleanor more, but I would become attached to many of the other characters as well. This book kept me on my toes with the turn of every page. I am depressed that I'm done reading it. I will pick it up again soon.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like 3.5. I tend to find middle-of-the trilogy books to be less about carrying on the first story as setting up for the next. In all, I liked Celeste, but not quite as much as I enjoyed Eleanor.

[Travis Coleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eleanor was an awesome book but pales in comparison to this novel. The plots, the secrets, all masterfully done. I would recommend this series to almost anyone. Now I just need the next book to release.

[Laurie Heath · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second book in the Unseen trilogy was just as satisfying as the first book. The characters become more fleshed out and the tension increases. This is one of those books that could keep a voracious reader up all hours of the night. Definitely a must read if you enjoy paranormal YA fiction.

[Amanda Hatfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was just as good as the first one. Eleanor is an amazing character, unlike any other I've read, and I am completely fascinated by her. This series has me hooked and I have to get my hands on the third book asap.

[Emilou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story. I loved it a lot more than I thought I would. It was very interesting. It's nicely paced and the minute details that were added into the story made it feel realistic.

[Holli Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great second installment in The Unseen series! I can't wait for book three to come out in April--especially since Worthen left the book with an intense cliff hanger!

[Jane DiGiovanni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow

Amazing. I have to get to the next book. This is an excellent series. It's sad. It's hopeful. It captures you and will not let you go.