From the author of One Pink Line comes a story about letting go of the past and finding bravery in the depths of fear. Set on the sun-soaked beaches of Thailand and the rough waters of the Indian Ocean, The Unimaginable paints a vivid portrait of a young woman on a journey to find herself—and her harrowing fight for survival…
BookSparks’ University Fall Reading Challenge continues with Dana Silver’s The Unimaginable. Our subject for today is Study Abroad: Semester in Thailand.
Looking for adventure, Jessica moves to Thailand to teach at a local school, but when she meets Grant, a man intent on sailing around the world, she quickly falls head over heels for him. Grant and his crew, Quinn, soon become an important part of her life in Phuket and her ticket to traveling and seeing more of the world. However, sailing through the Indian Ocean is fraught with danger, and danger soon finds them.
I don’t want to spoil the book for anyone, but it is pretty clear from the beginning that Jessica and her friends will be attacked by pirates. Sadly, not the Jack Sparrow type of pirate. I was surprised, however, that the kidnapping was only a small part of the story. Jessica is a woman desperate for love and adventure, and she spends most of the first half of the book ogling Grant and asking about joining his crew. The last half of the book covers the kidnapping and Jessica and Grant’s relationship in the aftermath.
The Unimaginable is nothing like I’d imagined it would be. It’s not an inspirational story encouraging readers to seek adventure in far off places. It’s not a page turning thriller that keeps you up late at night with suspense. It’s not a daydream inducing romance that leaves you breathless. It’s a story that plots its own course, plodding through genres and dragging the reader along in its wake. The idea of the story is so good, but this book just wasn’t for me. And, while I found the plot predictable, the main characters uninteresting, and the romance absurd, I feel that I should point out that the book does have a good rating on Goodreads. But, for me, the most interesting part of the book is the note from the author where she writes about the true stories that inspired her novel. The boating community sounds fascinating, and I would love to read more about the people who spend their lives on the water.
This book was sent to me for review and is part of the BookSparks Fall Reading Challenge.