In the Unlikely Event is a standalone book by L.J. Shen.
"Sometimes you meet people who are out of this world, so you make them a part of yours."
So, have any of you ever had a paper cut, put hand sanitizer on then you feel the burn in your skin seeping through your skin? I felt like a sizzling burn the whole time I was reading this book. I felt like I was burnt and it was never letting up. I felt out of breath and I instantly felt lost when I finished the book. You know those witches that casts spells? This was Leigh and this entire book. It was spell-binding and hypnotizing.
"The first flakes of snow fall around us. On my nose. Eyelashes. Shoulders. A storm is brewing inside my snow globe."
We were prepared by Leigh that it was going to come from left field and what we didn't know how far left Leigh was going to take us because I feel out of orbit. This was second chance at romance with a splash of comical situations, a cup of angst, a bag of misunderstandings, a duffle of romance, and a whole lot of steam. We were waiting for this and Leigh absolutely delivered with an explosive bang.
"This guy can move me without touching me, and touch me without laying a finger on me. His grandfather was right. He's trouble."
Malachy Doherty is an Irish poet, songwriter, and singer. He is a talented musician that is absolutely unimpressed with anything money and glamour. He is cocky yet so sweet. He is the epitome of the word sexy. He is a catalyst to trouble, sorrow, and sadness. Yet he is also the most loyal.
"A completely unhinged, typhoon-souled, damaged Romeo who would break your bed, heart, and resolve if you let him."
Aurora Belle Jenkins is an American photographer. She is beautiful, brave, sassy, and just overall wonderful. She has a wild spirit from New Jersey. She is loyal and lovely. An absolutely spitfire.
"He feels like he's never left my side. Like I carried a tiny part of him with me from the moment I was born, and now that he's here, we can fit the part I kept with the rest of him, like finishing a puzzle."
After finally turning of age, Rory decided to journal to Ireland to seek closure from her unknown past. Here she instantly meet Mal. And Mal walked his fine behind into Rory's life like a silent storm and wrecked havoc in his wake. Mal and Rory shared a brief romance and a contract on a napkin. They are across the oceans from each other so a long distance relationship seemed pointless. It was either go all in or not at all.
"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."
A trail of unforgotten memories from a promise years ago is still fresh and will instantly change many lives including but not limited to a cow and a chocolate bar. After many years, the journey of misunderstandings and eventually learning of the past and the present will fly around like a tornado and wreck havoc into Mal and Rory's life.
"Because you're stealing my breath, so you're already halfway there with the killing part."
Eight years is a long time to be apart, but with the power of kismet; that does not matter. However, the reunion is a roller coaster of emotions and new situations. There are a lot of lies, secrets, and betrayals. This becomes a journey of unraveling secrets, seeking answers, and finding forgiveness.
"All is fair in love and war, and I'm certainly prepared for battle."
Mal and Rory have explosive chemistry. They were magical together. They will down right destroy you because they absolutely belong together from the start. Their banter was phenomenal. Their romance was a wild ride. Their sex life was a sexy ride.
"Mine. It is primal and carnal and caveman and stupid, but I never fancied myself a particularly bright person."
This was pure bliss. An ecstasy. Actually, this was euphoria. A force to be reckoned with. Leigh slayed us with this book and I am quite not sure how to bounce back. To be fair, she warned us yet I'm blinking like a fish out of water; gasping to breathe from this book. This was such an emotional turmoil. This was addicting and I hope you take responsibility to my heart. It is currently not beating normally anymore. This was kismet. It was fate that I learned about you Leigh. I can't wait for the next thing you come up with.
"Like a moth to a flame, a junkie to his drug, a girl with daddy issues to a destructive bad boy, I'm hooked again."
In the Unlikely Event
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Star crossed lovers in complex simplicity
Some things are simple. Some things are complicated. Nothing is what it seems. This pretty much sums up my experience reading this all consuming story of Mal and Rory. Their journey is so complicated, showing how fated lovers still face huge obstacles and devastating turmoil from both their own and other people's choices. I was hooked from the start and couldn't put it down. The author somehow guides me through some issues I normally don't like in novels, but somehow it fit so well and was written in a way that made my heart both break and swoon. And in the middle of it all are som really funny bits that had me laughing out loud. The main characters are amazing in every flawed way and the side characters bring so much more to the story. I love how we see several glimpses into other sides of the story. I loved this story and every way it had to evolve to reach it's destination. You will not regret reading it <3
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2019Format: KindleVerified Purchase
I recently said that Penelope Ward puts me through the wringer, and my Ativan prescription gets a work out reading her books. I am highly dread-filled, a true worrywart, I don’t trust authors to give me HEA even when they promise it.
L.J. Shen nearly crippled me for a good portion of In the Unlikely Event.
Young love is a mixture of hormones and inexperience. I’m old; you will have to take my word for it. Rory Jenkins is full of the dewy awakenings of adulthood, not ready to reconcile the death of the dad she never got to meet or know beyond letters. Fresh from high school graduation, she goes AWOL to Dublin to at least see where her kin live. What she finds is a warning about homicidal gray squirrels, a sexy Boheme poet, and a cold welcome that lets her know that Tolka, Ireland is not for her.
Although she stays in Dublin and Tolka only one day and night, it’s long enough for her to realize that the poet who best knew her father is quickly and infinitely dear to her heart, but doomed to break it. Fate has given her a brief few stolen hours with Malachy Doherty. Upon their farewell, the troubadour, and drinky romantic, pens out a vow that in the unlikely event the two lovers should meet again, they will forego all else and claim one another for a lifetime of sublime moments like those that they discovered in Tolka.
It’s the Rory and Mal pre-marriage-proposal proposal written upon a napkin and signed next to a ketchup stain.
An admission that their youthful love will remain pure and will never dim nor die regardless of distance and time
It’s the promise that L.J. Shen was giving me that everything would be alright if I just hung in there.
But humans, both fictional and in reality, exhaust me, and these two lovers in cahoots with their creator were only issuing me a threat that my soul, heart, and nerves would not survive the wreckage that the plot and narrative would surely serve.
And L.J. Shen wrecked me.
She plays the devil with Rory and Mal’s hearts and lives. It’s Shakespearean in its level of tragedy. The wind up is intense, the transition felt rushed, but the reveals along the way were K.O.s that effed me up once and again.
The POV swaps throughout the book from Mal and Rory so you can see the emotional state of both. The story has cute little vignettes between chapters that are ‘notes’ from other characters to readers, giving us peeks into all the shadows and actors that impact the narrative. Although this unique exposition-packed vehicle of confessions has the potential to blowout the story, it doesn’t — the push and pull between all the characters works. The slow-rolling rediscovery of their metaphysical love opens up the world L.J. Shen builds in In The Unlikely Event.
Bravo! You figuratively kicked my dog into the street and made sure it was only struck by lightning rather than traffic.
Now that is ironic.
I loved this book.
I recommend it.
—and It is an excellent read for anyone who enjoys Penelope Ward too.
I voluntarily reviewed an advance complimentary copy of this book.
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Top reviews from other countries
- Preetii MishraReviewed in India on November 25, 2019
Uncommon yet fantastic
Format: KindleVerified Purchase - Lyn, Welsh border.Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 5, 2025
Loved this. A magnetic rollercoaster love story that makes you feel good! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Format: KindleVerified Purchase -
karline05 ( un brin de lecture)Reviewed in France on November 26, 2019
coup de coeur
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase - Anita_booktoread.Reviewed in Australia on December 20, 2019
There’s a bit of mystery, suspense, intrigue, angst and comedy. More than I bargained for.
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
