Unwrapping Jade is a second-chance small-town romance, which means it combines two of my favorite tropes/genres within the larger romance genre.
It’s the story of Jade and Hayden, who used to date back when they were in high school…and broke up when Hayden left – without much discussion or warning – to join the army. Now he’s back in town and both of them have to deal with all the feelings that have come back. And those feelings aren’t always positive.
There were issues in the past, and the issues have to be solved before they can get back together.
And… yeah, I gotta talk plot here.
Also, I have to give a trigger warning here: discussion of miscarriage. If that’s a trigger for you, this is definitely not the book for you.
When they were teens, Jade and Hayden had an unplanned pregnancy which resulted in a miscarriage. Ultimately, it’s part of why Hayden couldn’t deal and essentially ran away. But it also meant Jade was abandoned.
Unfortunately, they never fully talk through this.
Yes, Hayden discusses it majorly with his therapist. (And serious props to the author for including therapy in the book as a positive.) Yes, he wrote her letters from the army about how he felt.
But I felt cheated when Jade finally read the letters but we didn’t get to. It’s too much off-page character development with too easy forgiveness.
On a lighter note, their families and friends are cheering them on… and even trying to set them up. Including people who know (or guess) they dated in the past and people who don’t.
Throughout this, Jade is appearing on a podcast about love and dating, Hayden is starting a new business training service dogs for vets with PTSD, and both of them have other people who they feel like they should be interested in… but aren’t.
By the way, I really liked the podcast plotline… except for the part where the author seemed to forget how podcasts work. Sometimes it was treated as a radio show and sometimes as a podcast. It was fun at least.
I liked both Jade and Hayden as characters (despite the off-screen character development), and Hayden’s dog Ranger is excellent (dogs usually are).
The friends and families were fun but a bit overwhelming. The smut was well-written. I did like the book.
But between the lack of full resolution, the podcast issues, and lots of little mistakes (primarily word usage and punctuation) that meant a proofreader would’ve been a good idea…
Well, I can’t give this more than
Four Stars
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