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A review by lmrivas54
In the Unlikely Event by L.J. Shen
4.0
Second chance and crazy and totally irreverent, is what this book is. Even Napkins and Chocolate Bars had a chance to share their POV’s in this book. We get a POV version from all fronts about what happens to this couple who imprinted on each other when they met, wrote a marriage contract on a paper napkin, and meet again eight hears later. History catches up with them and finds them still in love as always, but heavily invested in secrets, hidden desires and misconceptions that threaten to keep them apart.
Aurora Belle Jenkins travelled to Ireland to visit her father’s tomb. All her life she wanted contact with her father, but her mother always denied her this. She received letters and gifts but no personal contact. After visiting her father’s grave, a priest sends her to Malachy Doherty for more information on her father. Once she gets to where he busks in Drury Street, she’s mesmerized by his presence.
“I’ve never seen someone like him before. He is beautiful, true, but that’s not what stands out to me. He is radiant. It’s like his presence has a presence. He sucks the air out of everything in his vicinity, making it impossible not to look at him. Malachy is tailor-made for a huge, colossal heartbreak.”
They spend a scant 24 hours together, visit her half-sister Kathleen who gives her nothing except hostility, they spend the night together, and she leaves for the US, to college life. Fast forward eight years, she’s a photographer, he’s a famous songwriter, they meet in New York and he hates her guts.
When they separated eight years ago, she was gutted, and it took her years to move on, but she never got over him completely. Now she has a boyfriend, and Malachy arrives to make demands on her time. She’s forced to travel to Ireland for two months to photograph a documentary on the writing process of a rock music album. And here is where everything goes crazy and wild.
Malachy hates her and wants revenge. There are a lot of secrets so we’re kept in the dark for a long while. Meanwhile, he’s being a jerk, she’s trying to get the job done, the rock star who is supposed to be singing the songs that Malachy writes is a drug addict that’s constantly bent and acting crazy. The action gets complicated by the hour until it starts to clear up. Meanwhile, we’re treated to chapters with the POV’s of everything and everyone they come in touch with, including: a cow, a napkin, dead people, chocolate bars, all the current characters and some secondary actors. It’s like a POV free for all!
One thing is constant throughout the book: Mal and Rory love each other, and literally climb over others in order to be together. They have a rocky relation with many people against them and more importantly, a lot of secrets. Everyone in the village knows about Rory except her. I got annoyed at all the secrecy and letting her stew in ignorance. I also felt that Mal overdid it in the jerk department, and Rory was a liiiittle too forgiving. Even so, they had such a huge connection and pull to each other that it was impossible for them to stay mad for long.
“The idea that I’ve been sick with guilt over everything I hadn’t told her, everything I couldn’t say—promised not to tell her—makes me want to laugh now. Yes, I kept things from Aurora. But she went the extra mile and ripped things from me.”
This was a wacky but yummy read, hugely entertaining and at times a bit annoying because of the secrets and undeserved hostility towards Rory from some village inhabitants.
Aurora Belle Jenkins travelled to Ireland to visit her father’s tomb. All her life she wanted contact with her father, but her mother always denied her this. She received letters and gifts but no personal contact. After visiting her father’s grave, a priest sends her to Malachy Doherty for more information on her father. Once she gets to where he busks in Drury Street, she’s mesmerized by his presence.
“I’ve never seen someone like him before. He is beautiful, true, but that’s not what stands out to me. He is radiant. It’s like his presence has a presence. He sucks the air out of everything in his vicinity, making it impossible not to look at him. Malachy is tailor-made for a huge, colossal heartbreak.”
They spend a scant 24 hours together, visit her half-sister Kathleen who gives her nothing except hostility, they spend the night together, and she leaves for the US, to college life. Fast forward eight years, she’s a photographer, he’s a famous songwriter, they meet in New York and he hates her guts.
When they separated eight years ago, she was gutted, and it took her years to move on, but she never got over him completely. Now she has a boyfriend, and Malachy arrives to make demands on her time. She’s forced to travel to Ireland for two months to photograph a documentary on the writing process of a rock music album. And here is where everything goes crazy and wild.
Malachy hates her and wants revenge. There are a lot of secrets so we’re kept in the dark for a long while. Meanwhile, he’s being a jerk, she’s trying to get the job done, the rock star who is supposed to be singing the songs that Malachy writes is a drug addict that’s constantly bent and acting crazy. The action gets complicated by the hour until it starts to clear up. Meanwhile, we’re treated to chapters with the POV’s of everything and everyone they come in touch with, including: a cow, a napkin, dead people, chocolate bars, all the current characters and some secondary actors. It’s like a POV free for all!
One thing is constant throughout the book: Mal and Rory love each other, and literally climb over others in order to be together. They have a rocky relation with many people against them and more importantly, a lot of secrets. Everyone in the village knows about Rory except her. I got annoyed at all the secrecy and letting her stew in ignorance. I also felt that Mal overdid it in the jerk department, and Rory was a liiiittle too forgiving. Even so, they had such a huge connection and pull to each other that it was impossible for them to stay mad for long.
“The idea that I’ve been sick with guilt over everything I hadn’t told her, everything I couldn’t say—promised not to tell her—makes me want to laugh now. Yes, I kept things from Aurora. But she went the extra mile and ripped things from me.”
This was a wacky but yummy read, hugely entertaining and at times a bit annoying because of the secrets and undeserved hostility towards Rory from some village inhabitants.