"The perfect lighthearted read!"
Reviewed by Sandra Wurman
Posted May 16, 2019
Romance Contemporary
To sum up my initial reaction to Kelly Rimmer's latest book is that it was
totally unexpected. No pun intended since the title of the book is UNEXPECTED. Kelly Rimmer has
written one of the most darling loves stories I've read in a long time. UNEXPECTED is told through the
subconscious thoughts of the two main characters Abby and Marcus.
They live together, have been best friends for a long time, and always
support one another. In the love department, they've only shared one
small hiccup in their arms-length friendship relationship. One New
Years Eve kiss they both secret recall with equal measures of angst...
could it cause damage to their friendship? Strangely enough, they are arriving at the same point in their
professional lives - Abby is busy building her gaming empire and
Marcus' company is growing leaps and bounds. Personally, Abby has
discovered her window for fertility is narrowing and Marcus realizes
that while he has no plans for a happy-ever-after, he does want a
family. Seems rather simple -- Marcus can give Abby what she needs, and in
turn, Marcus can have an albeit unorthodox family with Abby and a
child. But that's where simple ends. Kelly Rimmer crafts a voyage for
these two characters that is filled with wonder, angst, and joy in equal
measures. UNEXPECTED is a
glimpse into two peoples lives that is filled with life's unexpected
moments -- most would agree that those are the most precious. Not
only is UNEXPECTED precious, it is
also heartwarming and just plain lovely. UNEXPECTED is something like a
romantic sitcom. Abby and Marcus journey to parenthood and beyond
results in making UNEXPECTED
quite a page-turner. If you are looking for a joyous look into a wondrous
love story, UNEXPECTED by Kelly
Rimmer should be at the top of the must-read list. Sure to be a summer
favorite book. Filled with a delicious supporting cast of equally
interesting characters, UNEXPECTED will leave you with a well-earned smile
on your face. Guaranteed to please.
SUMMARY
Co-parenting with her best friend. What could
go
wrong? The next three decades of Abby Herbert’s life are as
carefully planned out as the last three were. Best career
ever? Check. Great friends, one of whom she lives with in a
stunning Tribeca apartment? Check. Perfect man to share her
dream family? Surely just a matter of time. But then she
gets devastating news from her doctor—if she wants to get
pregnant, she needs to get started on that by…well,
yesterday. On the bright side, she has the
perfect person in mind to be the father. Tech entrepreneur Marcus Ross has been harboring decidedly
not-friends feelings toward Abby. He doesn’t want
to lose her and, knowing his feelings are one-sided, he’s
been trying to move on. When he learns about the curveball
Abby’s just been hit with, he promises to be there for her
however she wants him to be, even if the idea of fatherhood
is a little complicated for him right now. But it isn’t
long
until boundaries start to blur, and a deal struck between
friends starts to turn into something perilously close to
feelings that could change everything…
ExcerptI set the phone down, just as Abby slides hers from the
pocket of her jeans and starts furiously tapping the
screen. The intense concentration on her face morphs into a
scowl before she throws the phone onto the carpet near her
bedroom door in frustration.“Yikes.” I raise my eyebrows at her. “I want it on record that I did not want to talk to you
about this tonight,” she says fiercely. I reach for the remote and pause her show. “Huh. You know,
I could almost have guessed that myself.” “It’s not fair to dump this on you tonight after the
Warwick thing,” Abby exclaims. “Dump what on—” “Luca is making me tell you and I want you to know that
before I even…you know—” she exhales in frustration “—tell
you.” “Okay,” I say, softening my tone. “This is all Luca’s
fault, got it. Now what is ‘this’?” Abby squeezes her eyes shut very tight and draws in a deep
breath. When she finally speaks, her words tumble out so
close to one another it sounds like she’s saying one
ridiculously long word. “I’ve-decided-to-have-a-baby-on-my-own-and-today-I-asked-
Luca-if-he-would-be-my-sperm-donor. I know this might seem
sudden, but I want you to trust me when I say that this is
what I need to do. And that’s final.” When she opens her eyes again, a moment or two has passed,
but I’m still staring at her, slack-jawed at her
announcement. I think I’d have been less surprised if she
told me she was moving to Antarctica or that she’d decided
to shave her head. Abby as a mom? Yes. I can very easily imagine that. I know
that on the bookshelf in her “cave,” she already has a
binder full of information about parenting, complete with
preferred schools for a hypothetical child, and a list of
possible baby names. She’s made no secret of the fact that
she desperately wants kids. Abby as a single mom? Sure. She’s tough, caring and
capable. But Abby choosing to be a single mom, at thirty years old?
Nothing about that makes sense. Abby has that damned binder
on her bookshelf precisely because she is the kind of
person who plans her life carefully and she’s been thinking
about her sickeningly stereotyped nuclear family forever.
It’s not just potential children she’s put an immense
amount of thought into—it’s also her potential future
husband, and the life she wants to build with him. “But…” Even when my voice decides it’s ready to work again,
my brain is still catching up. It doesn’t matter, because
Abby silences me with a fierce wave of her hand. “And it’s not something we’re going to discuss tonight
because you’ve had a tough day, it’s late and I’m feeling
very emotional about it and I’m not even close to being
ready to explain to you why this is happening. We’ll talk
about it in a few days when Luca has decided if he’s going
to do it. Okay? And don’t you even think about trying to
talk him out of it.” “I’ve never been able to talk Luca in to or out of
anything, not that I’d do that to you, anyway,” I say
slowly. “I just don’t understand. You’ve always known
exactly the life you want for yourself. What happened to
the gamer husband you were going to find? What about the
house in the suburbs where you’re going to settle down?
What about the rescue dog named Charlie? How does…” I’m
struggling to even say the words. “How does Luca’s baby fit
into that picture?” “It won’t be Luca’s baby,” Abby snaps at me, and leaps to
her feet. “This will be my baby. Luca will be the baby’s
annoying uncle, which is exactly what you will be, too. No
one will know any different but me and Luca and… Austin
and…” She groans in frustration. “Now you. End of story.” I’ll respect her decision if she goes ahead with this. I’ll
support her all the way. How could I not? Abby is smart
enough to know what she wants, and strong enough to handle
all the challenges of parenthood, even on her own. It’s just that the more her announcement sinks in, the less
I understand it. Abby is the least impulsive person I know—
if she’s seriously considering this, there’sgot to be
something more to the story. My suspicion is confirmed by
the glint of tears in her eyes. She blinks rapidly, but
it’s quickly apparent that she’s not going to be able to
control her emotions. Her face crumples even as she turns
away from me. “I’m sorry to dump this on you tonight,” she chokes. “It’s
not fair that you have to deal with Warwick and now this…” “Abs,” I say, bewildered. “You aren’t dumping anything on
me. Please sit back down and talk to me, help me understand
—” “I can’t talk to you about this yet,” she whispers. “Please
just respect my decision and I’ll explain when I… I’ll talk
to you about it when I’m ready.” “But…” I rise, too, ready to pull her into my arms, but she shakes
her head and jogs quickly to her bedroom. Before I can even
take a step, her bedroom door slams shut. The sound echoes through the apartment—an undeniable full
stop on
What do you think about this review?
Comments
No comments posted.
Registered users may leave comments.
Log in or register now!
|
© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy