Unbecoming Emma - Kelly Byrne - ★★★

AUTHOR: Kelly Byrne

GENRE: Contemporary Magical Realism.

PUBLICATION DATE: August 9, 2024

RATING: 3 stars.

In a Nutshell: A family-drama with a decent dollop of magical realism. The premise was great, but the execution was a little too longwinded and confusing for me. This writing style doesn’t usually click with me, so take this review with a pinch of salt.

Plot Preview:

After her father passes away, forty-year-old Emma’s life goes topsy-turvy in ways she never expected. Strange letters and flower bouquets keep popping up around her, her father has somehow reincarnated as a willow tree, and even more baffling is the reappearance of her mother Cassie, whom Emma had presumed dead all these years. Cassie is back in town with some mysterious agenda just as Emma’s beloved pet dog Bob is ill with a strange illness. As Emma and Cassie strive to make sense of their new normal while also attempting not to kill each other, many old mysteries and family secrets come tumbling out.

The story comes to us in the first-person perspective of Emma and the third-person perspective of Cassie.

Mixed feelings all the way. Some of the negatives are due to my reading preferences, so they may not be applicable to all readers.

🌷 The plotline is quite interesting. The strange magical occurrences and the antagonism of mother and daughter keep curiosity alive over the 384 pages. There are also many complicated parental relationships.

🍂 The start is very slow and somewhat repetitive, with Emma’s attitude and rambling being a slight turn-off. But a bigger issue for me is that most of the reveals come out through extended conversations. Even the climactic disclosure is through a lengthy infodump, albeit a magical one. This overdependence on conversations never works for me.

🌷 The story is set in a small town named Calypso Springs, so it comes with all the positive small-town vibes of close connections and deep bonds of friendship.

🍂 It also comes with all the small-town trappings such as gossip and inquisitiveness.

🌷 It is a novelty to have a mother not acting in a OTT emotional manner after reuniting with her daughter after almost four decades. Cassie’s character had great potential and it is a challenge to figure out why she is so antagonistic towards everyone.

🍂 The third-person writing keeps her a bit distant from us. Also, her turnaround is not that convincing.

🌷 The magical realism in this book is imaginative, what with a dead man turning into a willow, flowers appearing in various and unexpected forms, and a strange otherworldly talent in some characters.

🍂 The magical realism bits are far and few between, and their cause takes ages to be uncovered. I’d have loved more of the magic coming more consistently throughout the story.

🌷 Every single character harbours multiple secrets. Many of these are intriguing, especially that mysterious indestructible box.

🍂 The quantum of secrets soon goes into overload. Moreover, the secrets are a bit repetitive, involving the same kind of reveal. With so many families harbouring similar secrets but with different people involved, there is a lot of déjà vu. The miscommunication trope is also present in abundance, with characters deliberately delaying the reveal of what they know even after having long-winded conversations.

🌷 There are many complex characters in the book, most of whom are not clearly good or bad. It is tough to decide whom to root for, which adds to the fun of reading.

🍂 Emma never seems or acts forty. I’d have expected her to have some more maturity. Moreover, there are a lot of interconnections across the characters, not just across peers but also in between families and across generations. Combine this with the multitude of secrets, and it became very tricky to remember who was with whom and doing what and why.

🌷 Any dog lover will love Bob. He is an adorable fellow, happy despite his illness.

🍂 It is tough to see him go through pain because of one of the characters.

🌷 There are a few letters in the book, and these are presented in a special handwriting-styled typeface. This makes them look like actual letters.

🍂 It is a bit tough to read this font style on the Kindle!

All in all, this was an interesting indie novel with great family drama and some imaginative magic, but it would have worked better for me if it were tightened a little. There was too much of secret keeping, rambling and miscommunication for my liking. Readers who don’t mind this and are okay with long conversations between characters might click better with the book.

Hitting the midway mark as my feelings are pretty balanced on either side.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author via StoryOrigin. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.