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A review by selbs2004
When You Least Expect It by Haley Cass
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This story is the definition of well-structured, and that may sound like I'm hinting at this being formulaic, but it's quite the opposite.
The novel's pacing is incredibly well thought out, leaving us so much time to understand the growing attraction the characters have for each other as well as the characters as individuals.
Something that truly stood out to me is that Cass puts real effort into showing instead of telling when it comes to not only convincing the reader about how deeply Caroline and Hannah love each other but each of the individual reasons why they do with evidence to back it up. I feel like where a lot of contemporary romances go wrong is that at the moment of their confession of devotion and love, they simply tell us why they love each other without allowing the story to tell us instead and this book does the exact opposite.
The yearning and growth of attraction between the characters felt very honest and organic, and the moment where they finally let go and make love feels like two people who truly fought to love each other and to feel each other in one of the most intimate ways a person can feel another. I found that all the conflict (Michael and the divorce specifically) Caroline's passion for her work, and integrating a person into a family with a single parent and child all added to their love story in a way that I wasn't expecting and was very well done
Caroline, as an individual, is such an incredibly well-woven character, and Cass gives us such time to truly understand her and her motivations at the Caroline feels like truly fleshed out character outside of her relationship to Hannah without it taking away from the romance. She is so emotionally mature and kind in a way that is believable and relatable and watching her grow and fight to be better for Hannah, even if she thought she would never end up her was very emotionally impactful.
Hannah is a character that is also (as Caroline mentioned a lot throughout this book) difficult to not fall in love with. The way she is portrayed through Caroline's perspective still leaves her character feeling whole and usually, I would prefer romances to be dual perspectives, but this one was perfect in shaping both our protagonists.
And Abby has my whole heart in her hands and she deserves the entire world just for being her.
My only wish is that we had longer with Caroline to see her truly handle the conflict she has with some family members regarding her job and her relationship status. I wanted to have her finally break and communicate how hard she works to love her family with everything she has and her brother and her family members have no right to make her feel bad for focusing on her work as well but hopefully we will see more of that in book 2.
And as said above my only wish is that this book was longer because I adored Caroline's POV but I am so excited to read the second book to just get more of them in general.
Overall 5 stars (10 stars if I could lol)
The novel's pacing is incredibly well thought out, leaving us so much time to understand the growing attraction the characters have for each other as well as the characters as individuals.
Something that truly stood out to me is that Cass puts real effort into showing instead of telling when it comes to not only convincing the reader about how deeply Caroline and Hannah love each other but each of the individual reasons why they do with evidence to back it up. I feel like where a lot of contemporary romances go wrong is that at the moment of their confession of devotion and love, they simply tell us why they love each other without allowing the story to tell us instead and this book does the exact opposite.
The yearning and growth of attraction between the characters felt very honest and organic, and the moment where they finally let go and make love feels like two people who truly fought to love each other and to feel each other in one of the most intimate ways a person can feel another. I found that all the conflict (Michael and the divorce specifically) Caroline's passion for her work, and integrating a person into a family with a single parent and child all added to their love story in a way that I wasn't expecting and was very well done
Caroline, as an individual, is such an incredibly well-woven character, and Cass gives us such time to truly understand her and her motivations at the Caroline feels like truly fleshed out character outside of her relationship to Hannah without it taking away from the romance. She is so emotionally mature and kind in a way that is believable and relatable and watching her grow and fight to be better for Hannah, even if she thought she would never end up her was very emotionally impactful.
Hannah is a character that is also (as Caroline mentioned a lot throughout this book) difficult to not fall in love with. The way she is portrayed through Caroline's perspective still leaves her character feeling whole and usually, I would prefer romances to be dual perspectives, but this one was perfect in shaping both our protagonists.
And Abby has my whole heart in her hands and she deserves the entire world just for being her.
My only wish is that we had longer with Caroline to see her truly handle the conflict she has with some family members regarding her job and her relationship status. I wanted to have her finally break and communicate how hard she works to love her family with everything she has and her brother and her family members have no right to make her feel bad for focusing on her work as well but hopefully we will see more of that in book 2.
And as said above my only wish is that this book was longer because I adored Caroline's POV but I am so excited to read the second book to just get more of them in general.
Overall 5 stars (10 stars if I could lol)