A review by rihoward
In the Unlikely Event by L.J. Shen

5.0

This author is one that I will add to my TBR and my calendar regardless of whether it even has a title or blurb. Case and point, for the longest time this was just known as ITUE. Once the title was announced and the blurb it became, even more, real and went from a want to read to a NEED to read. And now after having read it, I can say without a doubt that not only was it everything that I had come to expect from this author but it most assuredly will need to be read again because it is so very different than just about everything I have read including but not limited to anything that she has done before.

There is just something about the way that this author writes. Her characters are unique, the cadence and style that she uses are always different and meaningful. Her world-building and stylistic choices always make me posit what is going on in her head as to why she chooses to do it the way that she does. This stylistic choice is really apparent in this book. Trust me when I say this because this book is told from several different points of view. SEVERAL. Yet, I say this not in a disparaging way. It worked. Would it have worked for other authors? NO. Trust me on that (I will just say that #bestdayever has a new meaning). Yet, this author made me a believer. She made me laugh several times, hell, she made even rethink my stance on how much I detest chocolate. Seriously, I detest chocolate but not in an LJ Shen world. And before anyone can say how "bad" this is can stop. It is fiction. Would I do this in real life? NO. Have I experimented with other things than chocolate in my life? Yes? was it healthy? NO. But it didn't make it any more fun and messy during that point in my life. Which in my opinion is the point of how I appreciated the author for doing something, silly, and out of the norm. For me, it worked and that is what I am basing this and my entire review on.

This book truly had it all, humor, angst, betrayal, coming of age, Steam, Some questionable morals, dirty talking, and finally a love story that was written in the stars. It is very different from the usual work from this author but that just made me like it even more. She kept it fresh and in that difference, it made me see how truly talented that she is. That being said, there are some things (often something that is a hard limit in romance books--Nothing dark but a hard limit nevertheless) that are discussed in this book that other readers might find questionable or might not be their cup of tea. Considering the premise of the napkin note it would be hard to fulfill that no questions asked IF a line wasn't crossed. My take on that is to just work through it as it all can be explained in the end.

There are a lot of different facets to this just as there are a lot of different people involved in this story coming to fruition the way that it needs to for Rory and Mal to have their journey unfold the way that it does. These two characters made me believe in the power of the universe. It also made me wonder if there truly is a bigger plan in play when it comes to the universe and how much fate plays in finding true love. Is it serendipity or is it all planned? In the case of these two, I would like to think it was a combination of both because sometimes it takes a little guidance and assistance from the most unlikely of people and circumstances.

Off-topic, I hope that if this author ever gets another wild hair and wants to write something different than her norm that she revisits a certain friend and TDAH get the chance to tell their story!