Name: In The Unlikely Event
ISBN: 9781732624733

L.J. Shen

A second-chance, enemies-to-lovers contemporaryu romance.

In The Unlikely Event

Sophie Richards

My favourite LJ book so far

I drowned in this book in the best way possible. Mal and Rory are everything. They're relationship is so messy and raw and real, both of them leaning on the past rather than looking at what's in front of them. I felt every emotion throughout this story and know it's going to be one I reread regularly

While Rory was in Dublin, grieving her father's death, she hooked up with Malachy, a lovable starving artist. At the end of their one day together, they wrote a contract on the back of a napkin stating that should they ever meet again, both would drop everything and be together. Eight years later, Rory has a photography job she likes, a boyfriend she likes, an entire Manhattan life she likes and then she meets up with Mal again. This time, he's not a starving artist, he's a world-recognized superstar.

In the Unlikely Event

Chantale

I very much enjoyed this book.

I found it to be a book that got me hooked and I just didn't want to put it down.

If you are looking for something with angst then I think you will want to read this one.

Lacey

It pains me to give this a low rating (I’m in between 2-3 stars), but struggled with ITUE. Miscommunication/no communication between MCs is one of my biggest pet peeves and the entire story was basically that. I grew incredibly frustrated with all the characters and didn’t particularly have any one that I wanted to root for. Sometimes they made me want to throw my kindle against the wall. The way Mal kept Rory in the dark about so many important things for the longest time (80% of the book) was manipulative and rubbed me the wrong way, so I sadly didn’t love him like I hoped to. Almost everyone is either a cheater, a liar, a drunk, or a combination of the 3. As much as I wanted to love ITUE - it’s a second chance romance!!! My favorite - it just wasn’t for me. But if you do like lots of drama and don’t mind miscommunication, I’m sure you won’t have problems with it like I did!

Jessica 

Blog | Twitter | Instagram | Review can also be found here at Booked J. 

In the Unlikely Event never felt like the right fit for me. I waited for the moment it might click into place for me, but the moment never truly came. The truth is, I liked L.J. Shen's writing. And I'll be looking into her backlist soon. There was just something about this story that wasn't right for me. AND I'M SO SORRY FOR IT. I know, I know, I'll show myself out. Be gentle with me. Don't throw too much food at my head. 

Here's a small, slightly humorous attempt at the truth of my feelings for this novel: flipping its pages felt a lot like the time I decided, on a whim, to try a pumpkin spiced beer. Okay, okay, I know what you're thinking, but... stay with me. In theory, I thought I'd love it. I like the flavor combination of the spices used. 

When I tasted it, I grimaced. Pause. Another taste, another grimace. I repeated this, 'just to be sure', until finally it was mostly gone. Admission of defeat soon followed. I slid the bottle away and left. For much of In the Unlikely Event, I felt like this. Like, I was chugging through this book not out of enjoyment but out of the hope that I could like it. I couldn't ignore its glaring flaws and choppy moments. I also couldn't get past some of its more cringy, problematic elements that did virtually nothing but sever the connection further. 

In the Unlikely Event depends far too much on more melodramatic elements and soap opera twists. I'm all for characters who are flawed, problematic and border on cruel as long as it is done well. The issue is that it, being the entire book, and how everything unfolded and then concluded, just didn't feel right. 

The premise had promise and there were moments in the story were I felt the tug of humor or the moment of shifting tides or whatever, but overall it didn't do much else for me except occasionally overwhelm with irritation. I also felt like the plotline was heavy with more questionable moments; it was littered with cliche (secret child, anyone?) plot devices. 

Dark romances can be quite good when done right, and while I adored L.J. Shen's writing (and really will be looking into other titles of hers in the future, predictably the ones from series--I hear those are where the real gold lay) I felt like so much of this novel was a mess and could have been cut out or written differently.

In The Unlikely Event

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