Book Review: Novel intertwines family love stories

Emotional roller coasters could be the definition of most love stories.

In The Things We Leave Unfinished (Entangled Publishing, 2021) author Rebecca Yarros weaves the tale of two love stories into one book.

Sometimes you just need a read that keeps your attention, but isn’t about anything real. Though, one can easily argue relationships are about as real as it gets. But when it’s fictional people, well, it’s pure make believe.

But any good writer will make you care about the people on the pages whether they were made up or not. Yarros does just that.

Part of the book is about two people who find each other during World War II, one half of the other couple is their great-granddaughter. Chapters go back and forth between wartime and essentially present day. It’s easy to follow and the integration makes sense early on.

Most of the time I was eager to get back to listening to the book. It was full of hope, despair, love, reality, anger, fear, strife, heartache and more love.

Toward the end, though, I felt like it was getting a bit repetitive, that it was time for Yarros to wrap this up. Keep reading or listening, I didn’t see the ending coming. Sometimes it’s easier to tell the truth from the grave. Read the book and that last sentence will make sense.