I don’t like writing bad reviews for anything because I feel bad talking about someones work like that. When it comes to Whats Left Unsaid by Emily Bleeker I had to make an exception.

I’m one of those people that enjoy being shown what is happening in a book instead of being told about what is happening. Emily Bleeker is obviously the kind of author that enjoys telling the reader what is going on in great drawn out detail. There was more than point while reading the book I wanted to scream at her to get to the point already.

It is obvious in the way the story is told, that the author doesn’t know much about the South and may have never even stepped foot in Mississippi. The story has a very stereotypical view of what someone from Chicago would assume life is like in Mississippi and Tennessee, not so much a realistic glimpse of what southern life is like.

While we are on the topic of the the author not knowing much about what she chooses to write about, the way depression is protrayed throughout the novel is mildly infuriating. There is so much potential to make the main character, whats her name, deep and layered and relatable yet she is seriously the most boring main character I have ever had the struggle through reading about.

The story has the potential to be such a captivating story with a twist you really don’t expect but its overshadowed by the wokeness and the sheer amount of social issues packed into one novel. I’m not a fan of having social issues shoved down my throat in books as reading is an escape for me but if one must include them could we maybe stick to one issue per story?

***Do Not Read Further If You Don’t Want To See Spoilers***

The first couple chapters are painfully slow.

The main character, what was her name again? is obsessed with her ex boyfriend Alex. He honestly seems like a super douche from the beginning and once you meet him later in the book it’s confirmed that he is. After trying to kill herself because Alex cheated on her with some chick he’s now engaged to, she moves to Mississippi to help take care of her Grandma.

While in Mississippi she fairly regularly stalks Alex’s Facebook and whines about how much she misses him and her life sucks with out him. Seriously. Home girl. LET IT GO ALREADY.

She meets a couple of dudes that would make great hometown hottie love interests.

Theres Guy, a single dad, who is black. And Emily Bleeker wants to make sure at every point in the book you realize that Guy is black. A black guy in the south. If for one second you thought racism wasn’t going to be a focal point in this book for no real reason she makes sure that is out of your brain quick fast and in a hurry.

And then there is the dude, who’s name I also can not remember, who is running for governor  (?) of Tennessee and his dad is running for president. This dude is pretty funny and flirty in an arrogant kind of way, and if I were rewriting the story I would make him the main love interest. But I’m messy like that.

The Evelyn part of the story.

I almost forgot we were on a journalistic search for what happened to Evelyn, the author of the letters what’s her face finds in the basement of the paper she works at. There are even more social issues packed into the story of trying to find out who shot Evelyn.

This part of the story is the kind of reading I’m all about especially the twists at the end finding out who Evelyns secret baby turned out to be. SUPER SPOILER ALERT** It was grandma. Which made what’s her face and the governor dude second cousins. And that is 100% why I would have written him to be the love interest over Guy because the more jacked up the books are the better I love them. (V.C. Andrews – I blame you.)

The Love story part of Whats Left Unsaid

Like I said it could have been really messy and crazy which would have made up for the preachy and political parts. HOWEVER, it was not that way. It was so slow and so unrealistic I almost didn’t even mention it in the review. Whats her face and Guy end up together a YEAR after their one kiss.

There was so much more Emily Bleeker could have done to show readers the depth of her characters and made them feel the racism issues she obviously wanted noticed. She really let the characters down.

Whats Left Unsaid had the potential to be such a captivating story.

This story could have been a book so good people couldn’t stop talking about it. There are two huge twists in the story both with Grandmas birth parents and the fact that Evelyn shot herself but ultimately I don’t feel bad spoiling the story because the rest of the book to get to that part was just so incredibly slow and awful it isn’t worth your time.

If you like the honesty in my review and want to talk about more books with me be sure to check out my book club.