BOOK REVIEW: WHAT’S NOT LOST BY VALERIE TAYLOR

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

We have reached the end of the What’s Not trilogy. All the books in the series were amazing from start to finish. Valerie Taylor is an exceptional writer.

Brief recap: Mike and Kassie were married, but their relationship was not the greatest. Mike was verbally abusive and controlling. Kassie was having an affair with a younger man, Chris. Mike falls ill and breaks the news to Kassie who was trying to figure out a way to tell Mike she wants a divorce. Chris may or may not be Mike’s son.

Mike and Kassie eventually file for divorce, but nothing is finalized. Mike is now seeing Karen, Chris’s mom. Karen was a donor for Mike, gave him a kidney. Kassie ended things with Chris and is trying to focus on her career. I mean she drowns herself in her work. Somewhere along the line and with a little encouragement she reunites with Chris, overseas. Chris proposes to Kassie in Paris, but before they even celebrate Mike falls back ill. Since Mike and Kassie are still legally married, she rushes back home. Unfortunately, Mike passes away, but not before requesting an autopsy. He is not the father of Chris.

Here we are now, the final book. Chris, as we found out in book two, may have a child on the way. Kassie is now the CEO of Mike’s company, Ricci and Sons, but she does not take the position. Chris’s baby mama arrives in Boston, pregnant with twins. She ends up injuring herself and must stay in Boston. This is where it became a little too much for Kassie. I mean she is in her fifties, no kids, distinguished career, and then bam here comes her finance ex, pregnant ex at that. That’s a lot for anybody.

She heads to Paris to accept the job offer she was trying to get back in the last book. She fits in nicely with the new company and the city. I wouldn’t go as far to say that she’s happy or fulfilled, but she’s living in her moment. Kassie is finally putting Kassie first. I really love that for her. This series was an adventure, an emotional adventure. I am sad to see it come to an end, but I cannot wait to see what she writes next.

Valerie Taylor was born and raised in Stamford, Connecticut. She graduated twice from Sacred Heart University in CT with a B.S. Business Administration and an MBA. She climbed the proverbial ladder in her early years at Xerox and then helped launch Executive Development Associates, a start-up executive education and coaching firm. There she dabbled in writing business communications and newsletters.

Her writing career took off when she joined Optima Group, and then later Clarion Brand Communications, where she focused on branding and crafting dozens of retirement planning programs for banks, mutual fund companies, and insurance companies. Because of her reputation in this niche, Russell Investments recruited her to join the firm in Washington State. During her ten-year tenure there, Valerie led the firm’s defined contribution marketing efforts for both pre- and post-retirement investment programs.

After a Rick Steves’ tour to Venice, Florence, and Rome, Valerie retired and returned home to CT in 2016 where her children have grown up and settled. When she’s not writing, reading, practicing tai chi or cheering for the Boston Red Sox or the New England Patriots, she’s sharing her wisdom and values with her granddaughter, who’s growing up way too fast.

Her debut novel, What’s Not Said, launched in September 2020. The sequel, What’s Not True, was published in August 2021. The final book in the trilogy, What’s Not Lost, was published in February 2023.

https://valerietaylorauthor.com/

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