This morning, I have the first of two book reviews that I will be sharing from this series! Today, you can check out my thoughts on What's No Said by Valerie Taylor--and tomorrow, stop back for my thoughts on What's Not True! Take a few minutes to learn about the author & the series--and enter for a chance to win a prize in the book tour giveaway at the end of this post.
Category: Adult Fiction 18+
Genre: Women's Fiction, Chick Lit
Publisher: She Writes Press, 300 pages
Release date: September 2020
Content Rating: PG-13 + M: has several sex scenes and some bad language.
2020 Canadian Book Club Awards Finalist in Fiction
Chosen as an August 2021 Pulpwood Queens Book Club selection
Featured by the international NoMo Book Club in May 2021
“Taylor’s dialogue is snappy and contemporary . . . A witty and often amusing marriage drama.”
―Kirkus Reviews
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What’s Not Said is a story about Kassie O’Callaghan, a middle-aged woman on a mission to divorce her emotionally abusive husband and start a new life with a younger man she met while on a solo vacation in Venice. When she learns her husband has chronic kidney disease, her plans collapse until she pokes around his pajama drawer and discovers his illness is the least of his deceits.
Then again, Kassie is no angel. The separate lives they lead collide head-on into a tangled web of sex, lies, and DNA. As she helps her husband find an organ donor, Kassie uncovers a secret, forcing her to decide whose life to save: her husband’s or her own.
What's Not Said Shares a Story of Marriage, Infidelity and Life. The author takes a different angle with her story as her characters face marriage realities, falling out of love--yet, holding true to vows and commitments in spite of changing relationships and personal growth.
Don't Expect to Love the Characters. After
a couple of chapters, I realized that I had read this novel once
before! Since I was preparing to read and review the second novel in
the series, I re-read it to refresh myself with the story. It is funny
how life experiences and perspectives change our views and connections
with a written work. When I read the novel the first time--my own
marriage and trust had been recently violently shaken. While I didn't read the perspectives from the same place of anger that I did previously--I couldn't bring myself to "like" any of the characters. Excuses and rationales for affairs and infidelity are still not high on my list of accepted character traits--but, I was able to read the characters' points of views a little more objectively this read through! I still wasn't rooting for happy endings for any of them--but, I could see some deeper motivations and qualities at times.
Would I Recommend What's Not Said by Valerie Taylor? What's
Not Said doesn't offer readers non-stop, instant romance. Instead, the novel tells a larger story of the breakdown
and challenges of a loveless marriage.
While I didn't like the characters much nor the primary "love
triangle,"--I couldn't put the book down. I enjoyed the
author's writing style, character development and the surprising way the stories connected. If you enjoy slightly different life/love stories with human nature and flawed characters--this novel is a good one. I looked forward to continuing their stories with What's Not True and will share my thoughts on that one tomorrow!
Buy the Book
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Category: Adult Fiction 18+
Genre: Women's Fiction, Chick Lit
Publisher: She Writes Press, 321 pages
Release date: August 2021
Content Rating: PG-13 + M What's Not True has several sex scenes and some bad language.
With her court date set for her divorce and her plans with the younger man in the rearview mirror, Kassie O’Callaghan shifts attention to reviving her stalled career. But things get complicated when she unexpectedly rendezvous with her former lover in Paris. After a chance meeting there with a colleague and a stroll along Pont Neuf, Kassie receives two compelling proposals. Can she accept them both?
But Kassie’s decision process screeches to a halt when her soon-to-be ex-husband has a heart attack, forcing her to fly home to Boston. There, she confronts his conniving and deceitful fiancée—a woman who wants not just a ring on her finger but everything that belongs to Kassie. In the ensuing battle to protect what’s legally and rightfully hers, Kassie discovers that sometimes it’s what’s not true that can set you free.
Though a standalone novel, What’s Not True is the sequel to What’s Not Said (September 15, 2020).
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Valerie Taylor was born and raised in Stamford, Connecticut. She earned a B.S. Marketing degree and an MBA from Sacred Heart University, as well as a graduate certificate in health care administration from Simmons University (formerly Simmons College). She had a thirty-year career in the financial services industry as a marketer and writer. Valerie is a published book reviewer with BookTrib.com; and a member of Westport Writers’ Workshop, Independent Book Publishers Association, and Women’s Fiction Writers Association. She enjoys practicing tai chi and being an expert sports spectator.
connect with the author: website ~ twitter ~ facebook ~ instagram ~ goodreads
