Unwritten

As promised, here's a review of my first, finished, for-fun read of 2014.

About the book: 

An actress running from her past finds escape with a man hiding from his future.

When someone wants to be lost, a home tucked among the Ten Thousand Islands off the Florida coast is a good place to live. A couple decent boats, and a deep knowledge of fishing and a man can get by without ever having to talk to another soul. It's a nice enough existence, until the one person who ties him to the world of the living, the reason he's still among them even if only on the fringes, asks him for help.

Father Steady Capri knows quite a bit about helping others. But he is afraid Katie Quinn's problems may be beyond his abilities. Katie is a world-famous actress with an all too familiar story. Fame seems to have driven her to self-destruct. Steady knows the true cause of her desire to end her life is buried too deeply for him to reach. But there is one person who still may be able to save her from herself.

He will show her an alternate escape, a way to write a new life. But Katie still must confront her past before she can find peace. Ultimately, he will need to leave his secluded home and sacrifice the serenity he's found to help her. From the Florida coast, they will travel to the French countryside where they will discover the unwritten story of both their pasts and their future.

About the author:

Charles Martin is a New York Times bestselling author of nine novels, including his most recent book (prior to Unwritten), Thunder and Rain. His work has been translated into seventeen languages. When not writing, his hobbies include bow hunting, working out (a blend of old school stuff and martial arts, called Fight Fit), and Tae Kwon Do, in which he currently has a black belt, though he notes he is "the least flexible person you've ever met." He lives with his wife, Christy, and their three sons in Jacksonville, Florida.



My take:

I ordered Unwritten several months ago because the latest Charles Martin release is always on my must-read list (regardless of the 100 books on my shelf and at least that many on my Kindle that I haven't read yet--yes, I am a hoarder). I have had it sitting on my nightstand in prime to be read pile position for a while. Yet, I just had not gotten to it.

I can't actually tell you when I first started reading the book. I'd read a page or two at a time (don't ask why only a page or two - just go with it), then not pick it up for a few days, so it seemed like it took me a while to get into it. Truth be told, if I had just sat down and read a couple of chapters right off the bat, I would have been all in. I finally decided I was going to put the yarn and crochet hook down after Christmas and read. I read most of New Years Day and didn't want to put the book down. It's been a long time since I've read 100+ pages in a day.

The story is actually as much about "Sunday" as it is about Katie. Both wanted to leave their lives behind and live as someone else because they pain of their own lives were more than they could stand. While on a surface level their lives were really similar, what drove their pain was very different. I think in some way, most everyone can identify with wanting to escape to some degree. That's why you'll get into the characters and anxiously devour the pages as their individual stories unravel and what drives them is revealed.

On another note... On some level, I've always wanted to see Europe, but the author did an excellent job of describing the French scenery, making me really wish I was under the Eiffel Tower along with the characters. The Everglades... not so much. I couldn't handle the mosquitoes.

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