ARC Review: Unstoppable by Shannon Richard

4 stars

Unstoppable is a very pleasant read. I think this is something you can read in one afternoon when you’re finally done with the laundry and other household chores. The story is simple and easy to dive into. The characters are likeable. The secondary characters even steal the limelight from the main couple! They’re wacky and fun, and more than once I wished I had such a supportive and fun group of friends.

The way Unstoppable is written reminds me of Susan Elizabeth Phillips. She is an expert at writing romances that are set in communities where there are many secondary characters with interesting individual stories. Even though they stand out once in a while, the story doesn’t stray from the main romance. I think Shannon Richard was able to accomplish the same thing!

I haven’t read the first books in this series, so my impressions of Melanie and Bennett are purely built from this story.

Melanie is one of the nicest book characters I’ve ever encountered. She is a high school math teacher who initiated a bookshelf-building drive for the school library. She is a very good friend to Harper, Grace and Paige. Even during her lowest of lows, she can still celebrate the wonderful things going on in her friends’ lives.

I also found Mel to be the princess of the group. Perhaps it’s just because she’s the one who’s exploring a romantic relationship at this point in time, but everyone is really looking out for her. Bennett is one of them.

Bennett is an ex-military who quit after his group had been gunned down in Afghanistan. What he went through was terrible. He was injured himself—and has the scars to show it—and was rescued by the only other man who survived the attack: his commanding officer and now best friend, Danny.

Bennett’s experience may not have been dramatized in the story, but it is actually the main reason why he is so reluctant to make things official between him and Mel. So yes *deep sigh* there’ll be that frustrating I-like-you-but-I-don’t-want-to-love-you moment on Bennett’s part.

We all have scars. Some of them are just more visible than others.

Since the beginning of the story, it was a given that Mel had a crush on Bennett. It was also very obvious to all their friends that Bennett is equally attracted to her. You’ll be amazed at everything this guy had done for her. I won’t go into details anymore, but there’s no denying the EFFORT on Bennett’s part. To think he did all that with NO INTENTION whatsoever of impressing Mel! Goodness, any girl who’s at the receiving end of his attentiveness and thoughtfulness can really fall head over heels with him. With the exception of his bullheadedness near the end, Bennett showed all signs of being the perfect boyfriend/fiancé.

Here is my favorite line in the book (may change in the final version) said by Grace, when Mel said it's okay if she and Bennett won't end up together because they only got together for a short time:

So, I've loved Jax for a longer amount of time, but that doesn't make my love stronger or more powerful than yours. Love is love. It has the strength all its own, a strength that can't be ranked by time. Don't let anyone diminish how you feel, especially yourself.

All in all, I really enjoyed Unstoppable by Shannon Richard! It's a 4-star read for me because although it isn't the type of story that will reduce your heart to shreds and then tape it up again in the end (or not, in some cases LOL), it didn't seem lacking at all for me. It wasn't pretentious or ambitious, and it didn't crash and burn.

I recommend this to anyone who’s looking forward to a light read and sweet things in between!



Thank you very much to the author and Grand Central Publishing for providing me with a copy of the book for review!