A shattered heart, a fate foretold. The world undone by tales of old. Emlyn DuLaine just wants to know what happened to her sister, Camille, seven years ago on the fateful day she vanished—literally. Emlyn witnessed Camille unravel and disappear, but no one believes her. Since they think she’s crazy, the least the cops could do is solve Camille’s case. Is a little closure too much to ask? But Emlyn’s life is upended when she is pulled through a portal into the fantasyland of her childhood imaginings—a magical library holding the storyworlds of every story ever published. And trouble is brewing in the land of Rivenlea. Rogue characters threaten their plot lines, and broken classics are beginning to crumble, but Emlyn only wants to find Camille. As she searches for her sister, Emlyn begins to learn the reality of Rivenlea and her own origins. A nefarious plot is afoot, and the line between fact and fiction is becoming hopelessly blurred. The truth threatens the storyworlds, Rivenlea, and Earth—the fabric of creation, itself. |
Release date: February 4, 2025
I fell in love with Lindsay A. Franklin's writing a few years ago with her Weaver Trilogy so when I saw her name on The Unraveling Of Emlyn Dulaine I didn't even bother to read the blurb before setting about getting my hands on the first Rivenlea Sphere book.
The Unraveling Of Emlyn DuLaine more than lived up to my expectations. Lindsay A. Franklin is at her best with the introduction to her new Rivenlea Sphere series. The worldbuilding is exquisite with the perfect blend of familiar and fantastical. The titular character is just the right sort of heroine for a novel that will appeal to both YA and adult fans. Emlyn is smart but makes mistakes, she is fearful but will do anything to find her missing sister. She is a true contradiction just like we all are.
One of the things that I loved best about The Unraveling Of Emlyn DuLaine, aside of the vividly painted world of The Rivenlea Sphere, is the emotion packed within the story. Lindsay A. Franklin really gets to the heart of the fears and insecurities of a girl who has been seriously traumatized by witnessing the disappearance of her sister and the subsequent disbelief of the people around her. I was completely drawn into her story and 100% emotionally invested as I read.
I found the book to be impossible to put down and when I turned the last page I felt a little lost without the characters and setting. I am an adult reader but that made no difference to my sheer enjoyment of the tale. The only bad thing about it is that now I have wait what currently feels like forever to read the second book and find out what happens next to Emlyn and the others....
Tell Tale Book Reviews gives The Unraveling Of Emlyn DuLaine by Lindsay A. Franklin a 5 Bark rating.
More from Lindsay
Those were the words God put on my heart when I cried out to him in 2020 as I tried to plot The Unraveling of Emlyn DuLaine. My cry and the fact that I was plotting a novel were not exactly connected at first–though outlining does usually result in some weeping and gnashing of teeth for me. But I released my last novel in 2020 and happened to be working on my new series, The Rivenlea Sphere, when the world was suddenly thrown into chaos.
Being creative in the midst of a global pandemic and significant social unrest is not easy. In fact, I found it impossible. I stared at my unfinished outline, asking myself and God, “Why is everything so messed up? Why is this world so broken?” I know the theological answer to that question, but sometimes, the soul aches. Sometimes, it feels like the whole world is falling apart in a way it never has before.
When God reminded me that this world has, since the fall of man, always been broken, he also reminded me that he’s always been in the business of rescuing us, giving us hope, and pointing us toward a better future–one that is complete and holy. One that is fully redeemed.
Over the next two years, an underlying brokenness that begs for solution wove itself into my storyworld. The Unraveling of Emlyn DuLaine is intentionally whimsical and fun, filled with references to beloved classics and packed with wry humor. There’s a magical library, a sassy dragon, a fish-out-of-water protagonist determined to dodge every YA trope being thrown her way. But underneath it all is the idea that this world isn’t what it was originally designed to be–and there is hope on the horizon.
Lindsay A. Franklin is the Carol Award–winning author of The Story Peddler, ECPA best-selling author of Adored, and Managing Editor of Enclave Publishing. She would wear pajama pants all the time if it were socially acceptable. Lindsay lives happily among the rain and evergreens of the Pacific Northwest with her scruffy- looking nerf-herder husband, their three (nearly) grown geeklings, and three demanding thunder pillows (a.k.a. cats). |
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