The Things We Leave Unfinished

Starred review from January 11, 2021
Yarros (Great and Precious Things) masterfully weaves two love stories—one in the present day and one during WWII—into an ambitious story of family, sacrifice, and trust. Following a high-profile divorce, Georgia Stanton returns to Poplar Grove, Colo., to take over the estate of her late great-grandmother, Scarlett Stanton, an immensely successful romance novelist and owner of Poplar Grove’s beloved bookstore. In an unguarded interaction with a bookstore customer, Georgia dismisses the works of popular author Noah Harrison as “boy meets girl, they fall in love, tragedy strikes, someone dies.” Of course it turns out that she’s speaking to Noah himself—and he’s in town to negotiate the rights to complete Scarlett’s unfinished masterpiece, a romance based on her own great love. Scarlett met American pilot Jameson Stanton while working for the British Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. Their love story unfolds in Scarlett’s drafted manuscript and through a collection of love letters that Noah hopes to use as source material. Noah persuades Georgia to trust him to craft a happy ending worthy of her great-grandmother’s legacy, but will they be able to find one of their own? Yarros’s characters are vibrant and her story gripping. Readers will be wowed. Agent: Louise Fury, the Bent Agency.

March 1, 2021
In Yarros' latest romance novel, a young woman hires a handsome but infuriating writer to complete her late great-grandmother's half-finished book. After her marriage to a Hollywood producer ends in high-profile divorce, 28-year-old Georgia Stanton returns to her childhood home in Colorado. When she arrives at the house where she was raised by her great-grandma, the famous romance author Scarlett Stanton, she finds her mother, Ava, lying in wait. Georgia is in possession of the only unfinished manuscript that her deceased relative left behind, and her own mom wants her to sell the rights so they can get some cash. Georgia succumbs to the pressure and enters a deal in which another author will finish the book's second half. The manuscript tells Scarlett's life story, including how she found, and lost, her one true love. Georgia feels strongly that the finished novel must reflect the true events of Scarlett's life, as difficult as they may have been. Unfortunately, the publishers hired Noah Harrison, a stubborn writer at the height of his career, who has his own fictional vision for the novel's ending. As Noah and Georgia butt heads, each of them researches Scarlett's history in England during World War II. As they learn more about Scarlett and Jameson Stanton, the fighter pilot she loved, Georgia and Noah must navigate their own increasingly complicated relationship. With two equally engrossing storylines, this book will draw in even seasoned romance readers. As the story jumps between past and present, the author also alternates present-day perspectives between Georgia and Noah, moving deftly between her characters' distinct voices. The relationships are well developed, and the love that Scarlett felt for Jameson is especially palpable. Along with the sweetly romantic themes, the book explores several heftier topics, including personal ambition, grief, family discord, and self-esteem. The story has a few digressions that do little to advance the plot, but the main characters are sufficiently engrossing that readers will want to stick with them to the end. A charming dual-timeline romance about learning from past mistakes.

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