Unfinished: A Déjà Rêvé Novel

by A.A. Gupte

Arthur Quinn is standing in front of his home. He is clueless about his sudden appearance in Coral West, the town he’d left behind. Nothing has changed, except Iris is now staying in his former home.

Iris Jaxson is dying. Not to add the fact that she is blind and is slowly losing her other senses too. She decides to spend the two give-or-take months of her life at Coral West. This is her time to be fearless and careless. She doesn’t expect Alec to understand her journey. He doesn’t need to. Because, it’s not his final one.

Alec Sage is never going to accept that his best-friend is dying. This is the hardest lesson of his life. A lesson filled with guilt, anger, love, loss and betrayal. How will Alec cope up with this change? Will his fight to hold on be easier? Or should he let Iris go and allow the moment crush his sanity?

No odds to fight.
No battles to win.
No race against time.
For time is betraying them all.

Genres: Romance

292 pages, Paperback

Published May 31, 2016

About the author

I'm inspired by the uniqueness of people. Their stories, dreams and struggles. My favorite stories involve characters who are reflective. Characters that are willing to push themselves to discover something new about herself/himself. I try to incorporate food, drinks, expressions and music in my writing to define characters and their traits.


for excerpts of my upcoming romance novel.

Reviews

[Pratiksha · Rating 4 out of 5]

“People like us don’t believe that it’s over. We believe in a forever.”

I received an arc copy for review of Unfinished for review.

Unfinished - a tale of two friends, strike that, two soulmates is a gripping novel by the debut author A.A. Gupte.

Iris and Alec, two people brought together by destiny and how they start their journey for life. Best friends for over 15 years, Iris and Alec knew each other by a mere feeling, they were attuned to each other. Iris, a blind well-known artist has always lived her life on her own terms, and her being differently abled has never been a hindrance. Alec, he is Iris’s person. Their friendship reminds of a warm-fuzzy winter afternoon.

“Their memories were flashed in color, Polaroid and black and white photos. Iris never knew why he kept taking her pictures even when she couldn’t see what she looked like in them. But, he always told her that they were for his personal collection.”

Right from the beginning of the book, I was expecting the author (like all the other authors) to take their friendship and show it evolving into love, but I am glad this story is not like many other stories out there. The story evolves to another direction, where the reader is suddenly hit by the fact that Iris is dying and how the girl losses her fate to destiny, and the dilemma that Alec is going to through to save his best friend, to help her live another day, to create another box full of memories with her.

Every character in the book that has witnessed Alec and Iris know that they are inseparable. So, why does Iris, after knowing about her fate, decided to leave for Coral West, no one knows….not even Alec.

Arthur Quinn is one of the most surprising entries in this book. He has a different story except for one common element - Coral West, where he meets Iris again!

Unfinished by A.A. Gupte is a story weaved beautifully together, where we see how friendship is the epitome of all the relationships. The author had my attention gripped right from the beginning. I feel for the characters, especially for Alec. This book is a emotional roller coaster, so keep your tissue box handy and begin reading.

[Veracious Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

*****5 Spectacular Unfinished Stars*****

Spoiler-free review!

'Unfinished' made me think. Seriously think how time is slipping away and how I need to make what's left of it. This is certainly one of those books that takes you high and low and everything in between.

Unfinished is a story about two best-friends and their undying love for each other. This book is going to aim straight for your heart and devour your soul. The story generally focuses on Iris Jaxson, the dying girl with a final wish to fulfill. Alec Sage is her best-friend in-denial and Arthur Quinn, the boy who has been in love with her ever since she walked into the place where he worked.

A twisted tale in which time has the ability to rob your loved ones away from you and you can't do anything about it.

At times, I hated Alec but also understood what he must be going through, just imagining what his life would be without Iris. They're soul mate, best-friends, but not lovers. Surprise, surprise!

Arthur Quinn was a revelation. You get to know all the characters in this book on a deep, moving level and can understand where they are coming from. I loved how everyone around Iris transformed and she is a bad-ass throughout this book to be honest. Nothing has stopped her from achieving whatever she wanted from her life.

The mesmerizing details revolving around Iris, Alec and Arthur make you feel like you are right in the middle of this story. The narration was beautiful and deep. The story I'd remember for a long time.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was provided an ARC for an honest review. I really enjoyed the concept of this story. It was unlike anything I have read before, which is really refreshing as the themes of books tend to follow a trend. The story follows best friends Alec and Iris and what happens between them and those around them when life delivers a low blow. At times I was sad. At times angry. At times hopeful.
I did find some errors that hopefully will be caught by the author/editor before the final publication.