Thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for an ARC of “Uncommon Relations” by Rosalind Minett.
“Uncommon Relations” follows Terry, a 28 year old man floundering at work and in his relationship with his wife. One day out of the blue, he spots someone who looks exactly like him. Almost identical, you might say. Terry races off to follow this person and discovers a twin, he never knew about. From there Terry struggles to piece together his birth family, finding many members along the way.
I wanted to like this book more than I did. I think Terry, as a character is weak and this stands out more distinctly when he is surrounding by strong characters. His search seems odd and his driving force seems to be unknown even to himself. Terry stumbles into a lot of clues about his past and the answers aren’t very satisfactory.
It’s hard to know who to root for in a book like this. Terry seems to have a crappy friend, crappy wife, and a crappy job. This birth family should be a bright spot to cheer him towards, but honestly his discoveries fall flat.
As for the ending, even that left me feeling strange. I mildly guessed it early on, but I didn’t want that to be what ended up happening. This is the beginning of a series, so maybe things will turn up from there, but I felt like the whole book was kind of meh.
Overall, I give it 2 stars. I think there’s a lot of room for improvement on plot and characters.

Uncommon Relations part 1

3 stars

An intriguing tale of complicated relationships

This book had me both intrigued and a little frustrated at the same time. The slow pace of the book frustrated me, but the plot and the twists hinted at, intrigued me. Finally, as it is part 1 of a 2 part story, I was left with many unanswered questions. I will be reading the second part, if only to satisfy my curiosity.

It tells the tale of an adopted man, Terry and the relationships with his wife, adoptive mum and dad and after a chance encounter, with those members of his birth family he meets. It soon becomes obvious that not everything is as it seems.
On the surface, Terry seems to have a somewhat ordinary life, but it soon becomes obvious that secrets lay beneath the surface of his marriage. This coupled with an obvious dissatisfaction with his life and an unwillingness to be open and honest in any of his relationships, soon threatens to unravel all the relationships he has.

I would have given it more stars as the premise and plot were good. Unfortunately I found the writer's style a little slow and long winded, hence only 3 stars.

A uniquely written love story that is unlike any other.

More of a psychological mystery this story offers intrigue with a well written and powerful storyline that makes you take a step back and look at yourself.

Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

an entertaining twisty turning tale of lives mismanaged! Poor Terry, the main character of this spinning yarn, trying to pull his life from out from his current grey existence into to something better, only to discover an even bigger mess lurking in the shadows. Terry is so happy and amazed when he meets what can only be his identical twin, but covering his own secrets only brings out other darker mishaps… An exciting narrative