What do you think?
Rate this book
Invincible #2
Unforgivable
In this raw, gut-wrenching, and beautifully written sequel to Invincible, Marcus continues Evie’s story of their intense romance, a la Gayle Forman’s Where She Went, after saving her life only to find his life—and their relationship—falling to pieces.
Marcus knows pain. The kind that swallows you like a black hole. His brother committed suicide, his mother left him, and his dad mostly ignores him. Relief only seems to come from drugs, alcohol, and secret acts of self-destruction.
Until he met Evie. Together, they lived in the moment. They fell in love—hard—creating their own beautiful world. But they each had their own secrets, their own pain, hovering like a thick fog, suffocating them in a world too small to share.
Unforgivable takes off where Invincible left us—with Evie drowning in San Francisco Bay. Marcus finds her just in time, but her survival is not the happy ending he was hoping for. Forbidden from seeing Evie by her parents and unable to reach her, Marcus learns of a pain that might break him completely.
Marcus spirals into an even deeper darkness and is forced by new events to face the demons of his past. The pain of losing Evie becomes tangled with the loss of his mother and brother, and he must finally face the ghosts he has been trying so desperately to outrun or risk losing Evie forever.
Marcus knows pain. The kind that swallows you like a black hole. His brother committed suicide, his mother left him, and his dad mostly ignores him. Relief only seems to come from drugs, alcohol, and secret acts of self-destruction.
Until he met Evie. Together, they lived in the moment. They fell in love—hard—creating their own beautiful world. But they each had their own secrets, their own pain, hovering like a thick fog, suffocating them in a world too small to share.
Unforgivable takes off where Invincible left us—with Evie drowning in San Francisco Bay. Marcus finds her just in time, but her survival is not the happy ending he was hoping for. Forbidden from seeing Evie by her parents and unable to reach her, Marcus learns of a pain that might break him completely.
Marcus spirals into an even deeper darkness and is forced by new events to face the demons of his past. The pain of losing Evie becomes tangled with the loss of his mother and brother, and he must finally face the ghosts he has been trying so desperately to outrun or risk losing Evie forever.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published May 3, 2016
14 people are currently reading
1218 people want to read
About the author
Amy Reed
23 books1,068 followersAmy Reed was born and raised in and around Seattle, where she attended a total of eight schools by the time she was eighteen. Constant moving taught her to be restless and being an only child made her imagination do funny things. After a brief stint at Reed College (no relation), she moved to San Francisco and spent the next several years serving coffee and getting into trouble. She eventually graduated from film school, promptly decided she wanted nothing to do with filmmaking, returned to her original and impractical love of writing, and earned her MFA from New College of California. Her short work has been published in journals such as Kitchen Sink, Contrary, and Fiction. Amy currently lives in Oakland with her husband and two cats, and has accepted that Northern California has replaced the Pacific Northwest as her home. She is no longer restless. Find out more at amyreedfiction.com.
BEAUTIFUL is her first novel.
BEAUTIFUL is her first novel.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
March 11, 2016
(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to HarperCollins and Edelweiss.)
This was a YA contemporary story dealing with drug addiction.
I found this book a little strange at first because of the shift in point of view from Evie to Marcus, but it was good to see Marcus’ side of the story, and to see how messed up he was by his relationship with Evie.
The storyline in this jumped back and forth a bit between when Evie and Marcus first met, a time when Marcus’ brother was still alive, and the present, and at times the writing was almost poetic. We had Marcus reliving what had happened previously and also trying to get Evie back, even when her parents called the cops on him.
There wasn’t a lot of romance in this, but it was clear how strongly Marcus felt for Evie, and how hard he fought to get her back.
The ending to this was pretty hopeful, even if it wasn’t really a happily ever after.
6.25 out of 10
“I wanted to save you. I wanted to be the solution to all your pain.”
This was a YA contemporary story dealing with drug addiction.
I found this book a little strange at first because of the shift in point of view from Evie to Marcus, but it was good to see Marcus’ side of the story, and to see how messed up he was by his relationship with Evie.
“I am either halfway to saving Evie, or halfway to knowing it’s too late.”
The storyline in this jumped back and forth a bit between when Evie and Marcus first met, a time when Marcus’ brother was still alive, and the present, and at times the writing was almost poetic. We had Marcus reliving what had happened previously and also trying to get Evie back, even when her parents called the cops on him.
There wasn’t a lot of romance in this, but it was clear how strongly Marcus felt for Evie, and how hard he fought to get her back.
“And now this hell. Life without you. A vacuum, a black hole.”
The ending to this was pretty hopeful, even if it wasn’t really a happily ever after.
6.25 out of 10
March 31, 2021
I have to admit right away that I didn’t read Invincible. The real issue now is “did I feel like I missed anything by not reading it?” Nope. I caught everything I needed to enjoy this story as a stand-alone.
I am not even going to try and re-cap this story. Every detail is a spoiler for this book or probably the first book in this series.
Things I loved about this story:
*Marcus is a complex many faceted character. He might have a drug problem at the beginning of this story, but when we see the reasons he needs to escape reality drugs are actually the lesser of a few evils.
*His relationship with his mother and father is complicated. (i would say parents, but they are separated so each relationship is complicated in it’s own way) They are present in this story and I loved their interactions.
*Marcus is roaming aimlessly throughout much of this book. He gets motivated and then it falls apart for him. Nothing is an easy fix and that is so realistic. He felt like a real person to me.
*Evie makes some tough choices in this story, but I am damn proud of her for it. Evie’s story is a whole ‘nother story (literally, see what I did there). The snippets we got of Evie’s story made me really curious about her as a person and as Marcus’s obsession.
This story covered some brutal topics like; death of a sibling, drug and alcohol abuse, suicide, racial prejudice, interracial love, divorce, and self mutilation. The author portrayed so many situations in this story with tack and truthfulness. The characters weren’t always right, but the situations were pretty realistic. I can hardly believe all the shit this kid Marcus loved through. The worst part of Marcus’s situation is losing Evie, who meant so much to him. Even after he learns the truth about her, he can hardly believe she doesn’t want to see him anymore. Evie has issues for sure, but they are so well matched.
I devoured this book in just a few sessions. I loved how the story is broke up into chapters titled: here (about Marcus right now), there (about things that happened in his past), and you (where he addresses his thoughts to Evie). This was a heavy and quick read. I actually want to go back and read Invincible now.
June 25, 2017
Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales
Quick & Dirty: Marcus comes to terms with all the loss in his life.
Opening Sentence: “I’m sorry.”
The Review:
Marcus gets a text from Evie asking him to meet her on the beach. When he arrives she is nowhere to be seen, but he finds a pile of her clothes and then spots her in the water. He rushes her to the hospital and then waits for word. Only to find out she is in a coma when her mom blames him for everything. Marcus then begins to go crazy trying to find out what has happened to Evie, until he finally catches her sister outside of her school.
He realizes later that he is clean and soon begins to make other changes to his life. He takes the internship with his father, stops smoking weed and tries to talk to Evie. When he shows up at her house to apologize, her parents call the police and he is arrested. After that, he leaves her alone and becomes withdrawn. His mother nor his father can reach him. Along the way, we learn what happened to his brother David.
David was an addict slowly killing himself until one day he decided that wasn’t fast enough and killed himself. He sent Marcus a text and so Marcus was the one that found him. Marcus seems to be drowning in his loss, he doesn’t know how to deal with Evie and his mother. He can’t seem to accept the changes in his father. Will he be able to finally get through it?
I kind of have a lot to say. First off, I thought the first book was okay and that Evie was meh. I am not reviewing that book so I will stop there, but I thought it was bad enough that she texted Marcus to find her, and then when I got to the part about David it cemented the fact that I didn’t like her. I know he didn’t tell her that, but hey, just a thought. Not something that leaves a good memory behind. The way she treated him through the whole book, and the fact that he kept chasing after her burned me. I wanted to say let her go, man, you can do so much better.
So needless to say that was the worst example of a relationship in YA book I have ever read, and even when Marcus finally admitted it was toxic. He just decided to accept all the blame, ugh, she never not once apologized to him or explained to her parents that he didn’t have anything to do the pills. Yes, he partied with her, but basically, even though this was from his viewpoint he was just the welcome mat on which she walked. His story was utterly lost in that BS of a relationship. I can’t really say anything else. Kudos for a bi-racial couple, but big thumbs down for having him arrested, having her parents treat him like trash, and I am assuming all because he is black and they partied together.
Notable Scene:
“I should have tried harder. I should have done more to pull the truth out of you. I was a coward, too. But that ends now. I refuse to lose you. I will not give up that easily. I will not let you drift away and pretend you did not leave some pieces of you with me.”
FTC Advisory: Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins provided me with a copy of Unforgivable. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
Quick & Dirty: Marcus comes to terms with all the loss in his life.
Opening Sentence: “I’m sorry.”
The Review:
Marcus gets a text from Evie asking him to meet her on the beach. When he arrives she is nowhere to be seen, but he finds a pile of her clothes and then spots her in the water. He rushes her to the hospital and then waits for word. Only to find out she is in a coma when her mom blames him for everything. Marcus then begins to go crazy trying to find out what has happened to Evie, until he finally catches her sister outside of her school.
He realizes later that he is clean and soon begins to make other changes to his life. He takes the internship with his father, stops smoking weed and tries to talk to Evie. When he shows up at her house to apologize, her parents call the police and he is arrested. After that, he leaves her alone and becomes withdrawn. His mother nor his father can reach him. Along the way, we learn what happened to his brother David.
David was an addict slowly killing himself until one day he decided that wasn’t fast enough and killed himself. He sent Marcus a text and so Marcus was the one that found him. Marcus seems to be drowning in his loss, he doesn’t know how to deal with Evie and his mother. He can’t seem to accept the changes in his father. Will he be able to finally get through it?
I kind of have a lot to say. First off, I thought the first book was okay and that Evie was meh. I am not reviewing that book so I will stop there, but I thought it was bad enough that she texted Marcus to find her, and then when I got to the part about David it cemented the fact that I didn’t like her. I know he didn’t tell her that, but hey, just a thought. Not something that leaves a good memory behind. The way she treated him through the whole book, and the fact that he kept chasing after her burned me. I wanted to say let her go, man, you can do so much better.
So needless to say that was the worst example of a relationship in YA book I have ever read, and even when Marcus finally admitted it was toxic. He just decided to accept all the blame, ugh, she never not once apologized to him or explained to her parents that he didn’t have anything to do the pills. Yes, he partied with her, but basically, even though this was from his viewpoint he was just the welcome mat on which she walked. His story was utterly lost in that BS of a relationship. I can’t really say anything else. Kudos for a bi-racial couple, but big thumbs down for having him arrested, having her parents treat him like trash, and I am assuming all because he is black and they partied together.
Notable Scene:
“I should have tried harder. I should have done more to pull the truth out of you. I was a coward, too. But that ends now. I refuse to lose you. I will not give up that easily. I will not let you drift away and pretend you did not leave some pieces of you with me.”
FTC Advisory: Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins provided me with a copy of Unforgivable. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
October 1, 2017
In this subpar sequel to INVINCIBLE, Marcus deals with the fallout of saving Evie’s life. He’s forbidden from seeing her, blames for her substance abuse. He avoids his strict father, memories of his brother’s drug abuse and suicide and his mother’s abandonment by smoking week and cutting himself while desperately trying to see Evie.
Marcus’s obsession with Evie borders on stalking. Their creepy, insta-love may have worked out if both were healthier, but she was an addict and he was a wounded mess. He should have been in therapy, but would never have engaged in treatment. While Evie makes a few cameo appearances, UNFORGIVABLE is Marcus’s story. He’s sympathetic, but his story and the way it was told just didn’t feel as compelling or real as INVINCIBLE had. Perhaps if Amy Reed has chosen to use both Evie and Marcus’s points of view, I may have been more interested. I wanted to know more about her journey and the people in her life.
UNFORGIVABLE felt incomplete. It’s not a bad book, but an unequal sequel.
Marcus’s obsession with Evie borders on stalking. Their creepy, insta-love may have worked out if both were healthier, but she was an addict and he was a wounded mess. He should have been in therapy, but would never have engaged in treatment. While Evie makes a few cameo appearances, UNFORGIVABLE is Marcus’s story. He’s sympathetic, but his story and the way it was told just didn’t feel as compelling or real as INVINCIBLE had. Perhaps if Amy Reed has chosen to use both Evie and Marcus’s points of view, I may have been more interested. I wanted to know more about her journey and the people in her life.
UNFORGIVABLE felt incomplete. It’s not a bad book, but an unequal sequel.
January 28, 2018
La fin est rapide, l'auteure a de nouveau un peu trop survolé quelques points, des points assez importants et ça reste dommage. Néanmoins cela reste une suite et fin de série appréciable, qui m'aura emportée auprès d'un autre destin tourmenté.
Mon avis complet : http://bloggalleane.blogspot.fr/2018/...
Mon avis complet : http://bloggalleane.blogspot.fr/2018/...
July 9, 2016
Unforgivable takes off where Invincible left us—with Evie drowning in San Francisco Bay. Marcus finds her just in time, but her survival is not the happy ending he was hoping for. Forbidden from seeing Evie by her parents and unable to reach her, Marcus learns of a pain that might break him completely.
Marcus spirals into an even deeper darkness and is forced by new events to face the demons of his past. The pain of losing Evie becomes tangled with the loss of his mother and brother, and he must finally face the ghosts he has been trying so desperately to outrun or risk losing Evie forever.
In Invincible, a broken Evie had met Marcus and they began a relationship that became all-consuming. She found in him a reason to live, and now we get his reason for her to be his salvation. The story of Unforgivable is told in the past, present and a direct voice from Marcus to her, but it is mostly about his past and explains his mental state before and while he was with her. He saw the brother he adored from childhood waste away to nothing, and then he sees it happen to Evie. He has been mostly ignored by his parents, and now in the aftermath of him saving Evie and yet not being able to see her, he is more alone than ever. He was broken by his love for his brother before, and it is happening to him all over again with her.
For her part, she met him at a low point in her life, that is clear. The girl she was then - he doesn't know if it was truly her, whether she really loved him, whether what they had was real - all these doubts are sending him down a dark path. He is reliving his past, and it wasn't a pleasant experience to live through. Ultimately, it is about him learning how to heal, and how to let go, and realizing that sometimes people will make their own decisions, no matter what you do. It is a process of catharsis that this book is leading to, making it more of a companion novel than a true sequel. The author wrote wonderfully about him, and his troubles, his depression, and presented both sides of a story that is so complicated. I do feel that this book was spent in superfluous words, and at times, I was tempted to leave it and return some other time, which is why I was more on the fence between 3 and 4 stars. Overall, a well-written emotionally charged book.
Marcus spirals into an even deeper darkness and is forced by new events to face the demons of his past. The pain of losing Evie becomes tangled with the loss of his mother and brother, and he must finally face the ghosts he has been trying so desperately to outrun or risk losing Evie forever.
In Invincible, a broken Evie had met Marcus and they began a relationship that became all-consuming. She found in him a reason to live, and now we get his reason for her to be his salvation. The story of Unforgivable is told in the past, present and a direct voice from Marcus to her, but it is mostly about his past and explains his mental state before and while he was with her. He saw the brother he adored from childhood waste away to nothing, and then he sees it happen to Evie. He has been mostly ignored by his parents, and now in the aftermath of him saving Evie and yet not being able to see her, he is more alone than ever. He was broken by his love for his brother before, and it is happening to him all over again with her.
For her part, she met him at a low point in her life, that is clear. The girl she was then - he doesn't know if it was truly her, whether she really loved him, whether what they had was real - all these doubts are sending him down a dark path. He is reliving his past, and it wasn't a pleasant experience to live through. Ultimately, it is about him learning how to heal, and how to let go, and realizing that sometimes people will make their own decisions, no matter what you do. It is a process of catharsis that this book is leading to, making it more of a companion novel than a true sequel. The author wrote wonderfully about him, and his troubles, his depression, and presented both sides of a story that is so complicated. I do feel that this book was spent in superfluous words, and at times, I was tempted to leave it and return some other time, which is why I was more on the fence between 3 and 4 stars. Overall, a well-written emotionally charged book.
July 18, 2016
I loved this book. It made me cry like all her books but it wasn't depressing. I loved that it was a male narrator. That was a refreshing change from a lot of YA books. I wished that there had been more from the girl from the first book, but I did love make narrator's point of view and his personality.
September 3, 2016
Originally posted here
Unforgivable is a companion story to Invincible. Whereas Invincible was all about Evie; Unforgivable is Marcus’ story. It’s a very quick read, but full of all the things I love when it comes to YA contemporary – love, family, and absolution. This story is dark, as it revolves around the lives of characters who abused drugs & alcohol, are depressed, suicide recollection, and abandonment issues. Marcus’ story tore at my heart strings the entire time that I was reading. If you have read the first book, then there is no way that you can miss this next chapter. This is the story of a boy lost in his head about everything that has happened since he was a little boy. The chapters are short and are written in either present or past tense.
You- Marcus is struggling with his guilt at not being able to stop Evie from self destruction. His words are almost poetic and you can feel his pain oozing from just a simple word, or sentence.
There- Marcus recalls childhood memories, his brother’s suicide, and his mother’s choice to leave. It is heartbreaking!
Here/Now/Us- Present tense and the aftermath of what happened in Invincible. I much rather preferred this tense, as it continues the overall story. The ending surprised me, but it wrapped up the story.
Marcus’ and Evie’s relationship started out rocky, but they were two people who were bent on easing the pain and depression. They may have done bad things on the way to find the answers, but their problems defined them, so they saw no other way to cope. They fell in love, and that love consisted of toxic things that almost caused more problems than they had combined, but they had to figure it out without being in each others lives. His mom made him see that very thing in herself and the way that she took off. Interesting family dynamic at the end, but I think it worked itself out.
Overall, I really liked this book. More so than the first one. I recommend this to lovers of contemporary YA and realistic fiction.
Unforgivable is a companion story to Invincible. Whereas Invincible was all about Evie; Unforgivable is Marcus’ story. It’s a very quick read, but full of all the things I love when it comes to YA contemporary – love, family, and absolution. This story is dark, as it revolves around the lives of characters who abused drugs & alcohol, are depressed, suicide recollection, and abandonment issues. Marcus’ story tore at my heart strings the entire time that I was reading. If you have read the first book, then there is no way that you can miss this next chapter. This is the story of a boy lost in his head about everything that has happened since he was a little boy. The chapters are short and are written in either present or past tense.
You- Marcus is struggling with his guilt at not being able to stop Evie from self destruction. His words are almost poetic and you can feel his pain oozing from just a simple word, or sentence.
There- Marcus recalls childhood memories, his brother’s suicide, and his mother’s choice to leave. It is heartbreaking!
Here/Now/Us- Present tense and the aftermath of what happened in Invincible. I much rather preferred this tense, as it continues the overall story. The ending surprised me, but it wrapped up the story.
Marcus’ and Evie’s relationship started out rocky, but they were two people who were bent on easing the pain and depression. They may have done bad things on the way to find the answers, but their problems defined them, so they saw no other way to cope. They fell in love, and that love consisted of toxic things that almost caused more problems than they had combined, but they had to figure it out without being in each others lives. His mom made him see that very thing in herself and the way that she took off. Interesting family dynamic at the end, but I think it worked itself out.
Overall, I really liked this book. More so than the first one. I recommend this to lovers of contemporary YA and realistic fiction.
August 6, 2019
Blog | Twitter | Instagram |
As a note, an e-galley of this novel was sent to me via Edelweiss by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not effect my opinions in any way.
In the highly anticipated sequel to one of my favorite reads last year, Invincible, Unforgivable paints a much darker image on the lives of Evie and Marcus and their all-consuming love for one another. Amy Reed should be highly praised for her proper portrayal of the complexities of human emotions and the fact that her teenagers feel–and act–like teenagers who are struggling.
That was one of the best things about Invincible, it felt real and as painful as one could expect. We knew instantly at the end of the previous novel that we would be left in a hurricane of heartbreak and changes and Unforgivable picks right up on that tone. Unforgivable is fast and beautiful and a world of cloudy memories and painful realizations.
Its biggest theme? Moving on. Letting go. And how difficult it can be to do so. You see, letting go of loved ones is all well and good in theory, but it takes some time to resonate with our decision. Reed’s prose brings to life this sort of feeling and will tug on your heartstrings until the very final pages.
Continued: BOOKEDJ.
In the highly anticipated sequel to one of my favorite reads last year, Invincible, Unforgivable paints a much darker image on the lives of Evie and Marcus and their all-consuming love for one another. Amy Reed should be highly praised for her proper portrayal of the complexities of human emotions and the fact that her teenagers feel–and act–like teenagers who are struggling.
That was one of the best things about Invincible, it felt real and as painful as one could expect. We knew instantly at the end of the previous novel that we would be left in a hurricane of heartbreak and changes and Unforgivable picks right up on that tone. Unforgivable is fast and beautiful and a world of cloudy memories and painful realizations.
Its biggest theme? Moving on. Letting go. And how difficult it can be to do so. You see, letting go of loved ones is all well and good in theory, but it takes some time to resonate with our decision. Reed’s prose brings to life this sort of feeling and will tug on your heartstrings until the very final pages.
Continued: BOOKEDJ.
June 11, 2016
Insightful and moving. Unforgivable covered some pretty relevant issues, too, such as racial discrimination, racial profiling, depression and addiction (just like in the first book).
Unforgivable started right where Invincible took off but it was told from Marcus's POV. I like his back stories and the way his personality was portrayed in this book. It tells readers that Marcus isn't just some kid who enjoys pot and is full of teenage angst. His story was actually colorful and his ending was great.
This book didn't do a lot for Evie but I'm glad that she decided to sober up her way to her emotional, physical, and mental recovery.
Unforgivable started right where Invincible took off but it was told from Marcus's POV. I like his back stories and the way his personality was portrayed in this book. It tells readers that Marcus isn't just some kid who enjoys pot and is full of teenage angst. His story was actually colorful and his ending was great.
This book didn't do a lot for Evie but I'm glad that she decided to sober up her way to her emotional, physical, and mental recovery.
September 16, 2022
The book that I read probably wasn't the first one of the series but to be honest I did not like the book. If I could give it 0 starts I would... The book is mostly just this boy who likes this girl but she was on pills for almost their entire relationship then when her parents found out she told them it wasn't him that led her to taking pills like she was doing him a favor or something. Then after she gets out of the hospital from her tragic accident, she avoids talking to him while he spends the longest time of his life trying to see her again. She was honestly just very manipulative and a gaslighter, this book is not the best.
January 9, 2016
This is more like a high 3 for me, almost a 4. It had a good plot & good characters. I was immediately attached to the main characters & the things he did. I didn't read the first book because, but that's okay; everything made sense and everything was connected. This might be triggering to some people, but I liked that it was relatable on that aspect. I'd definitely recommend this for when it is released!! :)
December 30, 2019
"I knew I'd have to get used to waiting and become satisfied with those snippets of breath and skin, those fragments of intoxicating now.
And then the light would fade. The magic would be over, only partly revealed. That's the story of us. Over and over. Light and darkness and light again. And right now, the darkness is winning."
Starting where Invincible ended, Marcus finds his beloved Evie drowning in the ocean and scrambles to save her. From there, he expects everything to be good again, but it isn't. Marcus is forbidden from seeing her, which opens up a new deep feeling of both love and pain.
Told in sections titled "You" (addressed to Evie herself), "Here" (the present as Marcus navigates through his own personal hell), and "There" (the past as Marcus watches his mother leave him and his older brother David destroy himself to death). Marcus loses himself in grief of Evie, of his mother, of his brother, and of his strict father that is trying to be a part of his life again. All these feelings consume him, until he's left to destroy himself, too.
I'm reviewing this as a stand-alone book, as I haven't read Invincible prior to reading this. As a result, there might have been things that I was missing from not reading the first one, but I think it does a good job at keeping readers informed on what is going on, especially in a new perspective.
This is a heavy book. There's a lot of content such as drug/alcohol abuse, depression, and suicidal thoughts, but I expected it. It gets really dark, but accurately captures the feelings that are associated with such events. The short chapters were a great variation, and it made me anxious flipping through them.
Overall, I enjoyed Marcus's narrative and the variation between past and present. There were times where I wished that the characters were a bit more developed, but this was a good book that I'd recommend to anybody. Just keep in mind that this handles dark topics that may be triggering, but it is a necessary book with topics that should be covered. Preferably, read the first book before the sequel. However, you could go both ways with this one.
"The only thing that can take away this pain is a different kind of pain."
And then the light would fade. The magic would be over, only partly revealed. That's the story of us. Over and over. Light and darkness and light again. And right now, the darkness is winning."
Starting where Invincible ended, Marcus finds his beloved Evie drowning in the ocean and scrambles to save her. From there, he expects everything to be good again, but it isn't. Marcus is forbidden from seeing her, which opens up a new deep feeling of both love and pain.
Told in sections titled "You" (addressed to Evie herself), "Here" (the present as Marcus navigates through his own personal hell), and "There" (the past as Marcus watches his mother leave him and his older brother David destroy himself to death). Marcus loses himself in grief of Evie, of his mother, of his brother, and of his strict father that is trying to be a part of his life again. All these feelings consume him, until he's left to destroy himself, too.
I'm reviewing this as a stand-alone book, as I haven't read Invincible prior to reading this. As a result, there might have been things that I was missing from not reading the first one, but I think it does a good job at keeping readers informed on what is going on, especially in a new perspective.
This is a heavy book. There's a lot of content such as drug/alcohol abuse, depression, and suicidal thoughts, but I expected it. It gets really dark, but accurately captures the feelings that are associated with such events. The short chapters were a great variation, and it made me anxious flipping through them.
Overall, I enjoyed Marcus's narrative and the variation between past and present. There were times where I wished that the characters were a bit more developed, but this was a good book that I'd recommend to anybody. Just keep in mind that this handles dark topics that may be triggering, but it is a necessary book with topics that should be covered. Preferably, read the first book before the sequel. However, you could go both ways with this one.
"The only thing that can take away this pain is a different kind of pain."
January 6, 2025
This book is very well written and readable, until the last 20 pages.
As a cancer survivor I totally understand the idea that a person's pre cancer self is different from their post cancer self, and I didn't even come close to dying.
I understood Evie struggling to fit back it. What I didn't understand was how she was sent home from the hospital unsupported. It only dawns on her parents months later that maybe she should be in therapy. I mean, duh.
So we watch her spiral out of control. And I'm reading, reading, wondering how the author is going to wrap it up, and she doesn't, she just leaves Evie drowning. Literally.
You have to read the next book. And I hate this tactic. Had I known I would not have read it.
As a cancer survivor I totally understand the idea that a person's pre cancer self is different from their post cancer self, and I didn't even come close to dying.
I understood Evie struggling to fit back it. What I didn't understand was how she was sent home from the hospital unsupported. It only dawns on her parents months later that maybe she should be in therapy. I mean, duh.
So we watch her spiral out of control. And I'm reading, reading, wondering how the author is going to wrap it up, and she doesn't, she just leaves Evie drowning. Literally.
You have to read the next book. And I hate this tactic. Had I known I would not have read it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 22, 2016
This is really a really beautiful book. The characterizations were all very poignant and the emotions were conveyed in a really beautiful way. There's not much I can say about the book that hasn't been said already, but I personally really dislike the ending.
April 8, 2021
The character is solid, but there's some holes in it. I love the language and the choice of words used to describe the condition of Marcus. It is for me a pretty good insight to dysfunctional relationships. Both have too much in their plates and yet they tried to save one another (more like Marcus tried.) it's pretty good, especially the short pages where it's just the state of mind Marcus's in. It's a bit dark, but par for the course. I enjoyed it a lot, reread it multiple times. But again, it's a bit dark if you fancy a little light reading. Marcus and Evie, great story.
May 3, 2016
Check out this and other reviews on my young adult book blog, Here's to Happy Endings!
I recently read and reviewed the first book in this powerful duology, Invincible, and since I had fallen completely in love with that book, I knew I absolutely just had to read this one.
If you’re interested in reading my review for Invincible, you can do so by going here.
This review is going to have quite a few spoilers in it, especially if you haven’t read Invincible yet, so I’m just throwing that out there!
So Unforgivabl picks up right where Invincible left off – with Evie so lost and unhappy with her life she decides to text Marcus and then walks out into the ocean after consuming large amounts of alcohol and pills that she bought. Marcus goes to the beach and saves her from the drowning in the water, and then gets her to the hospital, only to have her parents completely freak out on him and blame him for Evie’s downward spiral. Needless to say, they don’t allow Marcus to see Evie or even bother to tell him if she’s okay. Marcus doesn’t know how to cope with the things he learned about Evie…but he spends some time wondering if perhaps he could have done something to help her.
“I thought if I loved you enough, if I came running every time you called, maybe that would save you. If I said yes every time you asked for anything. If I never said no.”
Marcus spends his time trying to find some way to get in contact with Evie – he knows he is in love with her and can’t accept that they aren’t allowed to be together, but Evie’s sister doesn’t want to talk to him when he tracks her down at school, Evie’s friend Cole (who works at the coffee shop) doesn’t know anything about what’s going on with Evie, and of course, Evie’s parents refuse to let him see Evie. They’ve even gone so far as to call the police on him when he showed up at their house asking if she was okay.
“Your tears were so loud, they drowned everything out. My thoughts, my feelings – just whispers compared to your screams.”
While Marcus is dealing with all of this, he is also dealing with his own demons – the death of his brother, David, which is still weighing heavily on his heart, as well as his mother’s reappearance after being gone for two years. To top it off, he lives with his father, who either doesn’t seem to know he exists or wants to spend even more time with him now. Marcus doesn’t know what to think, except for the fact that he really, really misses Evie and he doesn’t know how to deal with anything without her. But the more he learns about what is going on with Evie, and the fact that she might have never been sober around Marcus, he begins to wonder if the two of them actually had a real relationship at all.
“It’s not even a question of whether or not we were good for each other. It’s a question of whether we existed at all.”
The thing I liked most about this book is that it’s told from Marcus’s point of view, whereas Invincible was told from Evie’s. While we were introduced to Evie and read about her battling her cancer and drug addiction in the first book, it’s Marcus we get to learn all about this time around. Most of Marcus’s problems are emotional, and some of them include his missing his brother David, who was heavily intro drugs, missing his mother, who abandoned him two years ago and has now come back and wants to be a part of his life again, and feelings of neglect from his father. All of this coupled with his sadness and depression from being denied even simple information about a girl he loves makes things difficult for him to deal with. At first he spends a lot of time smoking weed and getting high, but he eventually decides he doesn’t even want to do that anymore, so he quits, and tries to make sense of everything. There are quite a few mentions of self-injury in this book – Marcus turns to cutting as a way to help ease all the unbearable pain he feels. The way that this subject is dealt with (and how Marcus talks about it) is surprising – I really didn’t expect it.
The chapters are told in three different ways: first we have the “here” chapters, which are about Marcus in the present day, such as the issues he faces with Evie. There are also chapters labeled the “there” chapters, which are about his past – including events leading up to his brother David’s death, his mother leaving, etc. Finally, we have the chapters labeled “you,” which are special chapters about Evie…thoughts he has about her, feelings, and so on. The way this book is set up makes it even more unique – it’s a nice format and it definitely works well for getting that extra emotional punch in there.
If you’ve read Invincible (which I gave a rare 5 stars), then you’re definitely not going to want to miss this one, because it continues the story where we left off. While we don’t get to see Marcus and Evie together too much (which is kind of a bummer), we do learn all about Marcus so it really makes up for it. I loved how in depth we got with his character this time around – it really rounded out the duology and definitely made it even better!
Note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
I recently read and reviewed the first book in this powerful duology, Invincible, and since I had fallen completely in love with that book, I knew I absolutely just had to read this one.
If you’re interested in reading my review for Invincible, you can do so by going here.
This review is going to have quite a few spoilers in it, especially if you haven’t read Invincible yet, so I’m just throwing that out there!
So Unforgivabl picks up right where Invincible left off – with Evie so lost and unhappy with her life she decides to text Marcus and then walks out into the ocean after consuming large amounts of alcohol and pills that she bought. Marcus goes to the beach and saves her from the drowning in the water, and then gets her to the hospital, only to have her parents completely freak out on him and blame him for Evie’s downward spiral. Needless to say, they don’t allow Marcus to see Evie or even bother to tell him if she’s okay. Marcus doesn’t know how to cope with the things he learned about Evie…but he spends some time wondering if perhaps he could have done something to help her.
“I thought if I loved you enough, if I came running every time you called, maybe that would save you. If I said yes every time you asked for anything. If I never said no.”
Marcus spends his time trying to find some way to get in contact with Evie – he knows he is in love with her and can’t accept that they aren’t allowed to be together, but Evie’s sister doesn’t want to talk to him when he tracks her down at school, Evie’s friend Cole (who works at the coffee shop) doesn’t know anything about what’s going on with Evie, and of course, Evie’s parents refuse to let him see Evie. They’ve even gone so far as to call the police on him when he showed up at their house asking if she was okay.
“Your tears were so loud, they drowned everything out. My thoughts, my feelings – just whispers compared to your screams.”
While Marcus is dealing with all of this, he is also dealing with his own demons – the death of his brother, David, which is still weighing heavily on his heart, as well as his mother’s reappearance after being gone for two years. To top it off, he lives with his father, who either doesn’t seem to know he exists or wants to spend even more time with him now. Marcus doesn’t know what to think, except for the fact that he really, really misses Evie and he doesn’t know how to deal with anything without her. But the more he learns about what is going on with Evie, and the fact that she might have never been sober around Marcus, he begins to wonder if the two of them actually had a real relationship at all.
“It’s not even a question of whether or not we were good for each other. It’s a question of whether we existed at all.”
The thing I liked most about this book is that it’s told from Marcus’s point of view, whereas Invincible was told from Evie’s. While we were introduced to Evie and read about her battling her cancer and drug addiction in the first book, it’s Marcus we get to learn all about this time around. Most of Marcus’s problems are emotional, and some of them include his missing his brother David, who was heavily intro drugs, missing his mother, who abandoned him two years ago and has now come back and wants to be a part of his life again, and feelings of neglect from his father. All of this coupled with his sadness and depression from being denied even simple information about a girl he loves makes things difficult for him to deal with. At first he spends a lot of time smoking weed and getting high, but he eventually decides he doesn’t even want to do that anymore, so he quits, and tries to make sense of everything. There are quite a few mentions of self-injury in this book – Marcus turns to cutting as a way to help ease all the unbearable pain he feels. The way that this subject is dealt with (and how Marcus talks about it) is surprising – I really didn’t expect it.
The chapters are told in three different ways: first we have the “here” chapters, which are about Marcus in the present day, such as the issues he faces with Evie. There are also chapters labeled the “there” chapters, which are about his past – including events leading up to his brother David’s death, his mother leaving, etc. Finally, we have the chapters labeled “you,” which are special chapters about Evie…thoughts he has about her, feelings, and so on. The way this book is set up makes it even more unique – it’s a nice format and it definitely works well for getting that extra emotional punch in there.
If you’ve read Invincible (which I gave a rare 5 stars), then you’re definitely not going to want to miss this one, because it continues the story where we left off. While we don’t get to see Marcus and Evie together too much (which is kind of a bummer), we do learn all about Marcus so it really makes up for it. I loved how in depth we got with his character this time around – it really rounded out the duology and definitely made it even better!
Note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
October 6, 2017
Jednotka sa mi veľmi páčila a tak som mala od dvojky podobné očakávania - ale viac než ako plnohodnotné pokračovanie dvojka skôr pripomína takú tú dodatočnú novelu, kde si druhý hrdina spomína na najdôležitejšie momenty z hlavného príbehu zo svojho PoV. Na každú kapitolu z prítomnosti a pokračovanie príbehu z jednotky totiž pripadajú 2-3 kapitoly z minulosti, kde Marcus rieši rodičov, brata, stretnutia s Evie... a, akože, dobre - ale jednotka skončila TAKÝM STRAŠNÝM CLIFFHANGEROM, že ma nič z toho nezaujíma a chcem vedieť, ČO BUDE ĎALEJ. Nie, čo sa stalo v minulosti.
Autorkin štýl sa mi veľmi páči a témy, ktoré v tejto dilógii rozoberá, sú super, ale ako pokračovanie, ktoré tvoria prevážne flashbacky a dej sa takmer nikam nehýbe, táto kniha fakt nefunguje. Ak by vyšla ako stand-alone bez previazanosti na iný príbeh, bol by dojem oveľa lepší. 7/10
Autorkin štýl sa mi veľmi páči a témy, ktoré v tejto dilógii rozoberá, sú super, ale ako pokračovanie, ktoré tvoria prevážne flashbacky a dej sa takmer nikam nehýbe, táto kniha fakt nefunguje. Ak by vyšla ako stand-alone bez previazanosti na iný príbeh, bol by dojem oveľa lepší. 7/10
November 9, 2018
Oh Marcus, we should totally hang.
I did not read "Invincible" btw, but you really don't need to. Amy Reed does it again by illustrating grief and the ways we cope with it in such raw and heartfelt ways.
Notable quote-
“What a stupid irony that they resemble such things, so useful, meant to preserve life, while I defile it again and again, turning my body into a torture chamber, punishing myself by making myself hurt more.”
I did not read "Invincible" btw, but you really don't need to. Amy Reed does it again by illustrating grief and the ways we cope with it in such raw and heartfelt ways.
Notable quote-
“What a stupid irony that they resemble such things, so useful, meant to preserve life, while I defile it again and again, turning my body into a torture chamber, punishing myself by making myself hurt more.”
June 1, 2022
Amy Reed has done it again folks! The division of chapters and the writing was so impactful, and changing between the there/here/you chapters made it way more sad to learn about the different types of losses that Marcus had gone through. Only thing I didn't like was the sharp turn towards the end. It was like a depressing mountain, but for some reason there was a pot of gold at the top. Killed the vibe a bit when everything worked out tbh. Boo to happy endings!
June 11, 2018
Qu'est-ce que je déteste les récits du point de vue d'un autre personnage qui reviennent sur les événements déjà abordés dans un précédent tome. Sans compter que le procédé et la forme n'aidaient pas à apprécier le sujet.
October 4, 2017
Would have given it 5 stars if the ending hadn't been so abrupt
November 1, 2017
UGH THESE BOOKS WERE SO GOOD
June 18, 2018
AMAZING!!!!!!!! There are so many cliffhangers and twists and turn. PLOT TWIST!!!!!!!!!!
December 8, 2018
Good book!
October 30, 2019
3.5 stars
June 17, 2024
This duology is not it for me
July 5, 2023
I didn’t read the first book of the series, but I didn’t feel like I needed to. I will say I did shed a few tears while reading. Most of the story is about Marcus‘s struggle with processing his emotions with the things going on around him and dealing with past trauma, as well as recent trauma. I wouldn’t say it was life-changing for me but it was an okay book.
February 26, 2017
Unforgivable by Amy Reed, was an amazing, descriptive, interesting story told by the main character Marcus. Unforgivable has a much darker image put onto Evie and Marcus, and their love for each other.
My favorite things about her book includes, that the description is always so good, like how the two teenagers are feeling throughout the story. It felt so real and you could almost feel the pain they where going through.
Some pages towards the end sort of reminded me of a short poetry book, which i loved because those type of books interest me, and i also enjoyed that it was from Marcus' point of view because if someone else was talking about him they would make him sound like a trashy, bad kid. But when he tells his story it shows his true colors and who he actually is in the inside, and how he actually cares about a lot of people even though it doesn't seem like it some days.
The theme was a huge part in the book . Which I believed was moving on, letting go of the past, and how difficult life can be for some people.
I definitely recommend this book by Amy Reed.
My favorite things about her book includes, that the description is always so good, like how the two teenagers are feeling throughout the story. It felt so real and you could almost feel the pain they where going through.
Some pages towards the end sort of reminded me of a short poetry book, which i loved because those type of books interest me, and i also enjoyed that it was from Marcus' point of view because if someone else was talking about him they would make him sound like a trashy, bad kid. But when he tells his story it shows his true colors and who he actually is in the inside, and how he actually cares about a lot of people even though it doesn't seem like it some days.
The theme was a huge part in the book . Which I believed was moving on, letting go of the past, and how difficult life can be for some people.
I definitely recommend this book by Amy Reed.
November 8, 2016
This book was read and reviewed by my co-worker, Emily
The sequel to Invincible, in which Marcus tries and mostly fails to cope with past events in his life: his mother leaving, his brother’s drug abuse and suicide, his father’s string of new girlfriends, and the suicide attempt of his troubled girlfriend, Evie. Even though he saved her and still wants to be with her, Evie refuses to see him; Marcus goes into a rapid downward spiral that he spends getting high and cutting himself. After pages and pages of angsty introspection, Marcus suddenly decides to move on. Then an unspecific amount of time passes; Marcus sees Evie at a coffee shop and they tentatively start their relationship over, so the book tries to end on a “hopeful” note. Still, considering how self-destructive they both were before, during and after their first try at a relationship, I can’t see this as a “good” ending.
The situations and Marcus’ feelings about them are dramatic and described in the most flowery ways possible, for example: “My body is an earthquake. My eyes pour rivers.” It was exhausting. Plus, there are two sections, one of which went on for thirty pages, that consisted of nothing but repeated vague one-word chapter titles (“you” and “there” being two of the most common) and then a paragraph or less of some thought or memory of Marcus’ before going on to the next page. This might have been a way of depicting his mental state breaking down—eventually each page was just the title and a fragment of a sentence—but after a while I felt it was just the book trying really hard to be “edgy.”
I could see some teenage readers liking this, but I can’t recommend it due to the heavy drug usage and frequent swearing, which includes one use of the n-word, and over thirty uses of the f-word. At least one of these was used as a verb, which would make it rated R if it were a movie. The book also contains underage drinking, several references to sex and a scene where Marcus finds his brother’s body. He describes his brains splattered all over the walls. His descriptions of cutting himself were also fairly disturbing and while he did eventually stop, the idea that he could quit without support from others seemed unrealistic and probably not a good model for readers struggling with that issue themselves.
While I could defend a better-written book about these issues, this one wallows too much and is too needlessly explicit for me to recommend it to anyone under 17. One star on Goodreads.
The sequel to Invincible, in which Marcus tries and mostly fails to cope with past events in his life: his mother leaving, his brother’s drug abuse and suicide, his father’s string of new girlfriends, and the suicide attempt of his troubled girlfriend, Evie. Even though he saved her and still wants to be with her, Evie refuses to see him; Marcus goes into a rapid downward spiral that he spends getting high and cutting himself. After pages and pages of angsty introspection, Marcus suddenly decides to move on. Then an unspecific amount of time passes; Marcus sees Evie at a coffee shop and they tentatively start their relationship over, so the book tries to end on a “hopeful” note. Still, considering how self-destructive they both were before, during and after their first try at a relationship, I can’t see this as a “good” ending.
The situations and Marcus’ feelings about them are dramatic and described in the most flowery ways possible, for example: “My body is an earthquake. My eyes pour rivers.” It was exhausting. Plus, there are two sections, one of which went on for thirty pages, that consisted of nothing but repeated vague one-word chapter titles (“you” and “there” being two of the most common) and then a paragraph or less of some thought or memory of Marcus’ before going on to the next page. This might have been a way of depicting his mental state breaking down—eventually each page was just the title and a fragment of a sentence—but after a while I felt it was just the book trying really hard to be “edgy.”
I could see some teenage readers liking this, but I can’t recommend it due to the heavy drug usage and frequent swearing, which includes one use of the n-word, and over thirty uses of the f-word. At least one of these was used as a verb, which would make it rated R if it were a movie. The book also contains underage drinking, several references to sex and a scene where Marcus finds his brother’s body. He describes his brains splattered all over the walls. His descriptions of cutting himself were also fairly disturbing and while he did eventually stop, the idea that he could quit without support from others seemed unrealistic and probably not a good model for readers struggling with that issue themselves.
While I could defend a better-written book about these issues, this one wallows too much and is too needlessly explicit for me to recommend it to anyone under 17. One star on Goodreads.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews