In the Unlikely Event

A messy love story if you can call it such… take it or leave it.

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1. IN THE UNLIKELY EVENT by L.J. Shen

SYNOPSIS

Sometimes you meet people who are out of this world, so you make them a part of yours.

A one-night stand born from vengeance in a foreign land. An explosive chemistry neither of us could deny. We signed a contract on the back of a Boar’s Head Pub napkin that said if we ever met again, we would drop everything and be together.

Eight years and thousands of miles later, he’s here. In New York. And he’s America’s music obsession. The intangible Irish poet who brings record executives to their knees. The blizzard in my perfect, unshaken snow globe. Last time we spoke, he was a beggar with no intention of becoming a king. But a king he became, and now I’m his servant.

I’m not the same broken princess Malachy Doherty put back together with his callused hands. I have a career I love. A boyfriend I adore. An apartment, a roommate, a life. I changed. He changed, too. But Mal kept the napkin. Question is, will I keep my word?

BOOK REVIEW

L.J. Shen is ultimately one of my favourite authors. I absolutely love her Sinners of Saint series and the spin-off All Saints High series. Her standalone books are usually very good, too (The Kiss Thief, Midnight Blue, Sparrow, you name it). Unfortunately, something went wrong with In the Unlikely Event.

The BLURB sounded really promising, and I couldn’t wait for the release. I mean, c’mon… The first meeting of the main characters happens when Rory travels to Ireland to learn more about her deceased father (argh total arsehole). Mal shows her around town, and the two completely fall for each other. The feelings are so strong that when the time comes and Rory has to head back home they make a vow and write it on a napkin. The vow that if in the unlikely event they meet again, they will drop everything and be together. How cool and promising is that?

So, you can already guess that ITUE is a second chance romance. I’m not the hugest fan of second chances, but was excited, nonetheless. The main problem with the book, in my humble opinion, is too much drama…

Mal and Rory were flawed and complicated (not that it’s a bad thing). However, the things they did and the choices they made were just overwhelmingly awful, breaking each other’s already bleeding hearts and mine along the way.

There’s threat laced in her voice, and I want to suck it out of her mouth and scoop up the rest of her venom with my tongue.

Their chemistry was intense, emotionally charged but toxic through and through. The mix of love and hate tasted poisonous. And it was the first time ever I didn’t root for the main characters.

Through my carefully crafted exterior, it hits me like a ton of bricks. I’ve been missing a big part of the truth of it all. The one unspoken. Her truth.

The secrets and lies got bigger after each flip of a page. And they remained hidden up until it was (almost) impossible to come back from them. I put ‘almost‘ in the brackets because it was simply unbelievable the way the twists were turned and truths revealed. Shocking as it is, miscommunication was all behind the confusing mess.

SPOILER! I wasn’t happy that the rape thing was brushed off. Really?

Overall, In the Unlikely Event was just too much, and not in the best kind of way…

Besides, the chocolate bar scene traumatized me for life. Like, why?