What was she doing here? Hyattown had changed very little in the years Vanessa Sexton had been away. In some ways her high school sweetheart, Brady Tucker, hadn’t changed much either—he was still lean, athletic, rugged…But the once reckless boy had become a solid, dependable man. He’d stood her up on the most important night of her life; could she ever trust him again?
So Vanessa had finally come home, Brady thought. She could still turn him inside out with one of her sultry looks. He couldn’t believe she hadn’t forgiven him for that night twelve years ago—but he’d had his reasons for not showing up. He’d let her leave town then—but he wasn’t going to let her get away this time…
4 Drink Me Potions
Unfinished Business is the perfect summer read with the sweet re-blossoming of love in two childhood sweethearts. I like Nora Robert’s mysteries, they can be quite entertaining, but her contemporary romance stories have just as much heart in it, in a different way.
In this novel, Vanessa has a lot of baggage that she’s bringing back with her to her hometown. Estranged from her mother for the last 12 years and stressed from her career as a concert pianist, hometown life seemed to be a good pace for her to rest. Of course, things get a little crazier than she imagined with the presence of her high school boyfriend there with unresolved issues left between them. I’m glad that the story doesn’t focus on that moment where Brady stood her up, but that the problems were more due to their current adult lifestyles and reconciling that things have changed in some ways after 12 years.
Vanessa had to discover who she was before she could really be what Brady may want from her. I liked the pacing. Things slowly built onto each other as she came face-to-face with the things she kept denying to herself, and the questions she couldn’t ask before. And at the heart of it all is a love story between two people that greatly cared for each other in their teens but have found a second chance for a more mature relationship.
Overall Recommendation:
Unfinished Business is as the title suggests, a story of two people separated by the years with unresolved issues. Vanessa definitely brought a lot of baggage back with her to her hometown, but slowly, she learned to rediscover who she was and not how external circumstances had molded her. This love story is sweet and filled with promise. It’s a different kind of story from Nora Robert’s mysteries, but it’s just as poignant and well done.
Down the Rabbit Hole 