In The Unlikely Event - L.J. Shen

Ramblings of a Bookworm...

Have you ever been on a tilt-a-whirl?  Your body and mind fly left and right, sometimes uncertain which direction you'll end up.  There's a new surprise waiting at every turn, ready to knock your world on its axis with a vengeance.  That, ladies and gentlemen, is how I have felt over the past 48 hours (damn day job, interfering with precious reading time...)

Prepare yourselves for the tangled web of Aurora (Rory) Belle Jenkins, the creative, punk photographer from America, and Malachy (Mal) Doherty, the talented, sexy Irishman with the mysterious violet eyes and quick wit.  With perspective flipping between the two (along with a few... unlikely surprises thrown in), as well as flashbacks to eight years prior when they agreed to put their futures in the hands of fate, I now have a very unfair cramp I need to live with due to the amount of laughter the words ripped out of me.

However, don't let this fact deceive you.  L.J. Shen not only delivers a hefty amount of humour into this 366 page masterpiece (yes - I said masterpiece), but also with an underlying plot of seriousness and heart-wrenching reality, which (in my opinion) maintained thinly veiled behind the sarcasm and sharp tongue of the main characters, as well as the unexpected perspective twists, until the bittersweet end.

Through years filled with lies, deceit, loss, and unexpected turns, can a contract written on a napkin by two young strangers possibly prevail?  I could tell you, but then you wouldn't feel nearly as inclined to read this story which is an "enigma of epic proportions" as I informed my sister.

Find In The Unlikely Event by L.J. Shen through Amazon, via Kindle Unlimited (if KU is your cup of coffee - because in our opinion it's better than tea.), and audiobook.

Rating
Book Boyfriend: 9/10 (What can I say - he has flaws in a beautifully human way) 
Flow: 10 /10
Plot: 10/10
Overall: 10/10 

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?