The premise of The Unexpected Way of Falling in Love is that Ensley is talked in to a revenge plot by her best friend, Elodie. Elodie wants Ensley to get her twin brother, Cater, to fall in love with her and then break his heart. Elodie is well aware that Ensley has a crush on Carter. Obviously, things get complicated, and Ensley and Carter begin to actually enjoy each other. However, unbeknownst to Ensley, Carter is playing her too. Throw in some terrible rich parents, dark family secrets, kidnappings, mob themes, and hidden crushes, and you get an unsatisfying book.

This wasn’t just a love story. It was surprisingly dark and full of questionable character motives and secrets. It was a lot. And I definitely feel that it could have been executed better. Everything felt forced and as if the author was only writing to get to the cliffhanger. This is the first book, so one can only hope that the second is more flushed out.

It was sort of hard to stay focus because it felt a little unbelievable and ridiculous at times. Again, there was a lot going on and nothing was done to make it feel natural or developed. There was a lot of moving from Point A to Point B without taking time to slow down and show the progression. For example, the romance was instalove and the chemistry was nonexistent because everything happened so quickly without any build up.

I think I would have liked it more if it had only been about Ensley pretending to date Carter. That’s interesting, and there could have been a lot of depth. The author would have had a lot of material to work with. For example, Ensley’s loyalty to her best friend vs. finding love. The expedition of Ensley’s character and deep inner thoughts as she struggled with this conflict could provide an emotional punch as well as great character development.

Granted, there would have had to have been more substances if it was only truly about the relationship between Ensley and Carter. Uneventful conversations and kisses don’t only make a relationship.

Character

The characters were very questionable. Why did Ensley agree to date Carter? Also, why did Elodie ask Ensley to pretend to date her brother when she knew that she had a crush on him? That seemed a little cruel and as if she was setting her friend up for heartbreak.

I felt disconnected with the characters; I was told how I should feel about them. I was never really shown. This was particularly true in regards to Carter.

The book tried to make Carter a misunderstood guy with a heart of gold, instead of the jerk that he was. There were a lot of excuses, and he never really owned up to anything.

Final Analysis

The Unexpected Way of Falling in Love is quite frankly doing too much. Everything felt rushed and undeveloped.