Eleanor

The Unseen, Book 1

By: Johnny Worthen

Narrated by: Sandra Murphy

It was a gamble for Eleanor to rejoin humanity, but she was driven to it. She’d been too successful forgetting. The last vestiges of her family hung by a thread in her transformed brain and drove her to be reckless.

Ten years later, Eleanor hides in plain sight. She is an average girl getting average grades in a small Wyoming town: poor but happy, lonely but loved. Her mother, Tabitha, is there for her and that’s all she’s ever needed. But now her mother is sick and David has returned.

The only friend she’d ever had, the only other person who knows her secret, is back. And Eleanor again becomes reckless. Eleanor is a modest girl, unremarkable but extraordinary, young but old, malleable but fixed. She is scared and confused.

She is a liar and a thief. Eleanor is not what she appears to be.

Winner of the League of Utah Writers Gold Quill for Best Young Adult Novel of the Year

©2021 Johnny Worthen (P)2025 Johnny Worthen

Review of Johnny Worthen’s Book (The Unseen Series

I’m under the spell! I absolutely loved this book and couldn’t put it down—or get enough of it.
I was first introduced to the concept of skinwalkers through Patricia Briggs’ series. For years, I reread the stories of Mercy, Anna, and the Tri-Cities shape-shifting world, hoping more books in that vein would appear. My wish came true when I discovered The Unseen series by Johnny Worthen.
I fell in love with Eleanore—shy, timid, trying so hard to fit in, and yearning for love and acceptance. She’s a beautifully written heroine with depth, vulnerability, and strength.
I devoured the Audible version. I listened at work, at home, and even while on a date with my husband. I was completely spellbound.
Worthen’s writing is witty and outstanding, filled with overshadowing, hints, and rich details of rural Wyoming life. The name-dropping, the portrayal of small‑town struggles, and the stigma of being different or exceptional are so real and relatable. I adored the heroine, her family, and, of course, the one and only fabulous David.
This book gave me hope—hope that humanity isn’t lost, that good people do exist, and that sometimes it just takes a little more effort to find true friends, soulmates, or love in a broken world.
One of my favorite Easter Eggs was Worthen mentioning his other book series on a table in the Riverton bookstore. I burst out laughing! I read the Tony Flanner mysteries years ago, and seeing them referenced so cleverly made my day. Well played, Johnny.
A special shout-out to Sandra, the narrator. Her ability to portray all the different characters brought the story to life. I will truly miss Tabatha in the next book—I grew to love her as a fierce fighter and a wonderful mother.
Johnny Worthen has created something magical here. I can’t wait to continue the series.

Fantastic book with great twists

I loved this book. The writing is great, the characters are deep and complex and the twists are perfectly unexpected. I highly recommend this book.

YA Fantasy

Eleanor by Johnny Worthen is a great YA fantasy thriller. Sandra Murphy did a great job with the narration. The story is entertaining, enjoyable, engaging, suspenseful, thrilling, mysterious, and more. Eleanor is the first book in The Unseen series.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Slow to start

The narrator is kind of slow so I used a 1.2 and 1.25 to listen, which made it much better. It took quite some time into the book to understand what is being said there’s not enough backstory and not enough thinking process that the author lets you in on as it proceeds. But hang in there and once you get about 50% to 75% into the book, it becomes quite a bit more interesting because Eleanor is revealed as a Skinwalker.

I am choosing to go on to book 2, so I can see what’s going on there and we’ll see at that point if I will choose to go onto three, but I believe I will want to complete the series. If you like mysteries that you can’t figure out for quite some time, but eventually is revealed then this would be a very good book for you and a good series to follow.

A Complicated Fantasy

This was my first experience with this author's work. The story started out a little slow for me, but the longer I listened the more I became intrigued by the tale. The mystery of Eleanor slowly unraveled. I felt for Eleanor as she dealt with her acceptance of self and the pains of first love. The story took some surprising turns. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. I was entertained by Sandra Murphy's narration as her performance enhanced the story's emotional impact. 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.