Book #10: Unspoken

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After my string of books about arranged marriages, I decided to get away from the romance category and try out a mystery. I've read this author before, and it's categorized "inspirational fiction," so I knew there'd be some romance, but I figured it wouldn't be the central story. I was wrong. Haha.

I think this is the first of my 30 Before 30 books that I didn't like. It was wayyyy too long. Like 100 pages too long. And while I admire the author's incredible research, it was too much for me. The first few hundred pages were about Bryce and his coin collecting business. Henderson includes tons of details about rare coins and how they're minted, preserved, priced, sold, transported, etc. And then Charlotte comes into the story and it's all about her business and dividends, estates, lawyers, and trusts. I hate to admit it, but it was way over my head. Haha.

And then . . . they had an arranged marriage. Lol. I couldn't believe it. I honestly had no idea that would be a part of this book. Marriages of convenience are not usually a big topic in contemporary fiction, and I really thought this was just going to be a mystery.

It was so unrealistic after that point. I've said before that I'm all for "escape fiction," but there still has to be some element of reality. I have to be able to identify with it. I just didn't buy it in this book.

Throughout the whole story, I kept feeling like there was something I was missing. I didn't understand how certain characters fit together and why their back story wasn't being revealed. Eventually, I realized this is the second book in the series, and I haven't read the first! Argh! That makes me so mad! Why can't publishers label the books so I know they're part of a series?

There also seemed to be a lot of loose ends that weren't wrapped up. I was still confused when the book ended. That probably means the author intends to add another book to the series, but I don't know if I'll even read it as much as I disliked this book.