Review: Unexpected by Faith Sullivan

Title: Unexpected

Author: Faith Sullivan

Publication Date: April 2, 2013

Synopsis:

One day forever changes the destiny of college overachiever, Michelle Rhodes.

Shattered, confused and alone, no one understands the trauma consuming her until she meets Connor Donnelly.

A native New Yorker, he believes he can aid in getting her life back on track. But what if he's even more broken inside?

Offering her a chance at a fresh start, Connor convinces Michelle to move in with him. Hiring her to waitress at his bar, their mutual attraction only complicates matters.

As more details surrounding Connor's past emerge, Michelle uncovers the full magnitude of the loss he's trying to hide. Refusing to let her feelings for him hinder his recovery, she makes a decision that winds up hurting them both.

By sacrificing her heart, Michelle thinks she is helping Connor come to terms with his grief. Little does she know, Connor is gambling everything for the sake of having a future with her.

What happens is truly unexpected.

My Thoughts:

Everyone has their own story when it comes to 9/11. It's something that no matter where you were or what you were doing at the time, you remember every minute of that morning. Unexpected is Michelle Rhodes' story. It's her first year of college and she is living alone in New York City when tragedy strikes. Even though she didn't know anyone who died that day and was a few miles away, she is still having trouble dealing with it. She leaves school and goes home to Pennsylvania to her parents. 

Then she meets Connor Donnelly. He offers her a job and a place to live in order to get her back into the city. He is struggling with 9/11 in his own way and wants to help Michelle get over her fears. But soon Michelle and Connor find themselves in a tangled relationship and she doesn't know where to turn. Is she strong enough to face her fears and help Conner face his?

Michelle's story was one that I understood and connected with immediately. Even though I wasn't in New York on 9/11 and didn't know anyone personally that was killed, it still affected me greatly. In fact, I still get nervous when I see planes flying low to the ground on their way to the air force base nearby. I don't think this will ever change. So even though Michelle wasn't directly involved, I could still understand her fears. 

I admit I had a hard time liking Connor at first. He came off as cocky and demanding and I couldn't understand why Michelle was so attracted to him. Even though he was her boss at the bar, he seemed to think he ruled her life and tried to control her outside of work too. It took me a while to warm up to him, some of the things he did just threw me off. 

Eventually though, I came around and started liking him more as his story came to light. He was hurting just as badly as Michelle, even more so, actually, and he was having a hard time dealing with his loss. Did he make the best decisions? Absolutely not, but I began to understand them. 

Unexpected was a very emotional read with a very heavy topic. What I liked most about this story was that it didn't make me feel like people who weren't immediately affected by the events of 9/11 were wrong to feel the same as those that were. Everyone was affected in their own way and needs to grieve in their own way too. 

Overall, this was a quick, heartfelt story of love, loss and moving forward. I highly recommend Unexpected to anyone and everyone, especially those still dealing with the events of 9/11.

For more about Faith Sullivan and Unexpected, visit her website here.

*Faith Sullivan is donating 50% of all proceeds from Unexpected during the month of September to the 9/11 Memorial Fund*

Purchase:

Amazon

B&N

*I received this book for free in exchange of an honest review. This did not influence my opinion in any way and all views and opinions expressed are 100% my own.