Official Review: Unfinished Business - A Taylor Sinclair ...

[S dot Lennon]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Unfinished Business - A Taylor Sinclair Novel" by Wendy Hewlett.]

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Taylor Sinclair has just returned to Toronto, Canada after completing her North American book tour for her best-selling book, Leila’s Locket. She took a leave of absence from her job as a Police Constable with the Toronto Police Service to go on this tour and is grateful to return home and hopefully retreat from the public eye and the media harassment. The last month has been hard for Taylor with the stress of the tour, the flashbacks she experiences because of her psychic abilities and the horrific nightmares that have been causing her to lose sleep. Her boyfriend Cail Worthington, also a Police Constable, is waiting for her at the airport and has made plans for them to retreat to the home of a close friend, Gray Rowan, who lives hours away from the city. Upon leaving the airport their decoy limo that was hired to distract reporters is attacked and Cail and Taylor are presumed dead. Unbeknownst to the public the two are safe and currently in hiding while the police gather subjects that may be involved in the shooting. Could Sarah Johnson, the woman responsible for the abuse Taylor suffered throughout her life and now waiting to undergo a trial, be responsible? Or could DeCosta, a mob boss being investigated by Cail be responsible for the hit?

Unfinished Business is the second novel in the Taylor Sinclair series. Taylor Sinclair grew up on the streets and has undergone much abuse which she talks about in her book. She has become famous because of her relationship with Gray Rowan. Taylor had prevented her from being harmed by a man who had abducted Gray when she was younger. Their friendship helped turn Taylor’s life around. She left the streets and went to the academy to become a Constable. Taylor’s growth as a person is reflected in the cast of characters introduced throughout the story who genuinely care for her and are constantly by her side.

Hewlett attempted to create a complex, emotional, mystery novel with hints of romance, some supernatural elements due to Taylor’s psychic ability, and of course, suspense. Unfortunately, in my opinion, this novel fell flat. This novel had a lot of inconsistencies some of which may stem from the fact that the author did not do a great job explaining how Taylor became the person that she was. Though she constantly repeated that Taylor came from the streets and lived a rough life, she never explained how Taylor went from living that life to becoming a Police Constable. Maybe that’s something that was thoroughly explained in the first novel that needed to be translated to this second novel. Regardless the information wasn’t provided in this book and it hindered the main character’s development.

Taylor wasn’t the only character that lacked in development. Most of the characters needed to be developed more so their motivations would be better understood. Events would happen throughout the novel and I would be completely confused as to why the character would make such a decision, especially when it came to the romantic relationship between characters. The attempt to add complexity and depth simply made the story complicated and anti-climatic. I never became invested in the story because the characters weren’t easy to relate and their journey didn’t seem genuine.

Unfinished Business needed to be simplified and thoroughly developed. Hewlett’s writing wasn’t bad but the novel suffered from too many ideas surfacing at the same time without enough information to support it. I give this novel 2 out of 4 stars. I wanted to like this novel and was excited to read it but found myself disappointed.

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[whewlett]

I think it's a real shame that Stacie_c didn't read the first novel in the Taylor Sinclair series, Saving Grace, before taking on Unfinished Business and writing this review.

[S dot Lennon]

I would have been more than happy to read both if the first had been available. Whether or not I read the first book though, should have no effect on my interpretation of the second. If the chracters in the second novel had been fully developed and explained I would have enjoyed this novel. Regardless of the fact that I wasn't a fan of this novel, I am still grateful I was given the opportunity to read it.

[GKCfan]

Yes, I wrote a review of this book too, and I was given the first book, and I would not have understood the second without the first.

[whewlett]

If you are interested Stacie_C, I would be happy to send you a complimentary copy of Saving Grace. Just let me know what format you prefer (ePub, mobi, etc) and where to send it.

Wendy