The Things We Leave Unfinished

Starred review from January 11, 2021
Yarros (Great and Precious Things) masterfully weaves two love stories—one in the present day and one during WWII—into an ambitious story of family, sacrifice, and trust. Following a high-profile divorce, Georgia Stanton returns to Poplar Grove, Colo., to take over the estate of her late great-grandmother, Scarlett Stanton, an immensely successful romance novelist and owner of Poplar Grove’s beloved bookstore. In an unguarded interaction with a bookstore customer, Georgia dismisses the works of popular author Noah Harrison as “boy meets girl, they fall in love, tragedy strikes, someone dies.” Of course it turns out that she’s speaking to Noah himself—and he’s in town to negotiate the rights to complete Scarlett’s unfinished masterpiece, a romance based on her own great love. Scarlett met American pilot Jameson Stanton while working for the British Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. Their love story unfolds in Scarlett’s drafted manuscript and through a collection of love letters that Noah hopes to use as source material. Noah persuades Georgia to trust him to craft a happy ending worthy of her great-grandmother’s legacy, but will they be able to find one of their own? Yarros’s characters are vibrant and her story gripping. Readers will be wowed. Agent: Louise Fury, the Bent Agency.