Review: Undone

Title: Undone

Author: Shannon Richard

Date of Publication: July 2, 2013

Formats Available: Paperback, E-book

Buy This Book: Amazon

Synopsis: Things Paige Morrison will never understand about Mirabelle, Florida:

Why wearing red shoes makes a girl a harlot
Why a shop would ever sell something called "buck urine"
Why everywhere she goes, she runs into sexy-and infuriating-Brendan King

After losing her job, her apartment, and her boyfriend, Paige has no choice but to leave Philadelphia and move in with her retired parents. For an artsy outsider like Paige, finding her place in the tightly knit town isn't easy-until she meets Brendan, the hot mechanic who's interested in much more than Paige's car. In no time at all, Brendan helps Paige find a new job, new friends, and a happiness she wasn't sure she'd ever feel again. With Brendan by her side, Paige finally feels like she can call Mirabelle home. But when a new bombshell drops, will the couple survive, or will their love come undone?

My Review:

I went into Undone expecting a cute and fluffy read, and while that's exactly what I got I was expecting something just a little bit more than the same played out story I've heard over and over again. The bulk of the novel focused on nothing more than the routine actions of the characters, with very little variation or excitement to break up the monotony. Though the novel wasn't awful, the lack of any excitement made it hard for me to really get into this one.

The novel started off well enough, with plenty of drama between Paige and the townspeople and her developing relationship with Brendan. However, as the novel started to drag on it quickly became apparent that there was going to be no further excitement than the day to day activities of Paige and Brendan. I can only read about so many so-so make out sessions before I'm bored so after about 30% of this novel I was ready to move on. However, I stuck it out and continued to be rather unimpressed, but not bored enough to completely quit.

Paige and Brendan were the typical romance protagonists; Brendan was (of course) absolutely gorgeous and falls in love with Paige, the misunderstood, but still perfect, heroine. Though I was impressed that the two of them managed to refrain from falling into "insta-love" within the first 10% of the novel that was not the case for the rest of their relationship. Their relationship moves so quickly, and all of their interactions are based so purely on the physical, that I felt like I hardly knew either of them. Brendan especially has such a tough underlying story that I was hoping that during the course of their relationship we would learn a little bit more about him and how his experiences affected him, but unfortunately that was not to be.

Despite it all there were some very entertaining aspects to the novel. I absolutely loved the tension between Paige and the rest of the townsfolk and watching the drama unfold. From snarky gossip columns to flat out rudeness there was never a dull moment when trash talking was involved. I also enjoyed the fast pace at the end of the novel, it was one event after another and while I didn't agree with all of the actions on the part of the characters it still made for a more interesting read than the whole of the rest of the novel.

At the end of the day Undone isn't a terrible novel, just an unmemorable one. Fans of new adult and contemporary romance might enjoy this one but I wouldn't put it at the top of your to read list.

3/5