Unspoken is Jesi Lee’s first book and the first of an amazing romance trilogy. Written from main character Jane’s point of view, this 219-page book is a page-turner written in an informal style. Lee takes her readers on a melodramatic journey, set in New York City, about the lives of her protagonists Jane and William. Lee set the story up with a typical structure of a novel. From the onset, we see Jane has some emotional issues she believes can be solved by engaging with men who have jagged backgrounds.
The reader needs to be open to a bit of profanity the author uses to distinguish different character’s personalities, such as Gianni, one of Jane’s best friends, who is a free spirit and homosexual, and has an ‘I don’t give a hoot about what others think’ attitude.
Lee also gives a very descriptive account of Elle, her other best friend. Elle is a personal assistant for a wealthy wine business and art gallery. Jane is an artist and she has had very little success selling her work, yet Elle loves her work; therefore, she took the opportunity nd introduced Jane to William, Elle’s boss and owner of the art gallery.
Lee did not hesitate to set up the torrid love affair between married Jane and Elle’s boss, William. The conflict unfolds at the onset of their romance; Jane is too busy having fun to tell William she is in a loveless marriage. Elle is very unhappy with Jane and she urges her to tell William about her husband and break off the relationship. Meanwhile, Gianni is cheering her on.
Though Jane agrees with her friend Elle, she cannot stop herself from having this affair with this wonderful man. She likes the manner in which he loves her and makes love to her, and it reminds her of the man who rescued her the night she was beaten. In the prologue of the book, there is a scene where Jane’s boyfriend, Mike Barrett, beat her and left her for dead. A man rescued her and took her to the hospital, and since then, Jane has been dreaming of her savior. The author uses an interesting plot device, since the audience knows William is her rescuer, but Jane does not have a clue.
Being with William takes away her loneliness and fears. Lee twists the plot three quarters of the way into the book; she tears the loving couple apart so they can deal with their individual issues of worthlessness, which derived from their childhoods. They both wanted to be loved and saved but fear continued to live in their spirits, keeping them in turmoil. Should they be with each other or not?
Also at this time, Jane’s husband recognized there is a problem in their marriage and thinks Jane will leave him. He makes promises to stop drinking, being lazy, and taking Jane for granted. Before Jane can make a decision about a committed relationship, she explores her worth and value as a woman.
The imagery of the book is symbolic and represents the title, Unspoken, but the colors are gloomy and bland. However, do not let that stop you from reading it. Lee uses metaphors beautifully to help the reader move through the story and create tension. The pace moves pretty quickly as Lee throws hints and clues to the conclusion of the affair.
How will it end?
