In the Unlikely Event Paperback – November 12, 2019

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."

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 timeIt’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.

Wow, just wow! I love it. Too much of emotion and right amount of romance. Beautiful script and important thing is side characters were also given equal weightage

I stayed up all night reading because i just couldn’t let go of this book, all the cliffhangers and the underneath stories, how grand is the power other people exercise over our lives and fates, how devastating and life-wracking some lightheaded decisions might be, how wrong can we be when we believe we are doing the right think for our beloved ones…This book raised series of serious questions like, what would have been if a mother stopped overprotecting her child and take decisions for her, a desperate woman learned to let go, a lifelong friend was completely honest, an in-love man was less stubborn and physically went sourcing his kismet, people would just tell point blank the whole story and not be stopped by loyalty to the wrong person?I’ve saved lots of quotes in this book, but here are some of my favorites:“History and hysteria have more than a few letters in common.”“I didn’t look at men very much, but when I did, they always came with more issues than Vogue.”“I think she is a grand lass, but I don’t fear her capabilities over me. Isn’t that the essence of love? Find someone worth killing for? Someone with the power to ruin you?”“Moral of the story: clutching something desperately doesn’t mean you’re going to keep it. You might just kill it.”“The man whose only fault is being exactly what my mother wished for me. Rich. Powerful. Well-bred. Stable. Sweet. Boring.”“This guy can move me without touching me, and touch me without laying a finger on me. His grandfather was right. He’s trouble.”“Not needing money makes you rich in another way, darling. A better way. The less you depend on it, the less it limits you.”

This book, a tangled web of angst, instant chemistry, just a shear pleasure to read. If only the story could never end, so I could stay in Mal and Rory's little paradise of drama and passion forever!! The characters are realistic, the story completely unique, the writer is talented beyond words!! This book sucked me in instantly as all Leigh Shen's books do. I was hooked right from the start. Grab your copy today!!!

LJ Shen did it again!This book is something more, but still has her touch.I laughed and the angst is everything.

Well, she didn't lied to us when she said this story wasn't her usual. It's not indeed, but this book it's only to prove how good this author is.I felt liked I've been in a roller coaster by the end of this book, it has all the feelings you need to enjoy it and so much happens through this story that you never get stuck in one page. Somehow she managed to put all this characters, twists and POV's into the same book but you don't feel like it was rushed or without proper character development.The romance is beautiful and I really laughed with them. Mal is so HOT and sweet at the same time. The kind of men you wished to be your boyfriend. Rory is far from the boring heroines I usually read in other stories, she's fun, intuitive and very realistic. You belive in them right at the beginning.This is one of those books you won't put down until the end and you're going to wait a few days to star another one just to keep savoring this sweet story. Congratulations Mrs Shen!