I am a big fan of Pepper Winter’s. She is an automatic one-click for me. Pepper’s stories are usually twisty, dark, anguished amazing stories that are beyond words. With Unseen Messages, Pepper departs from her usual forte and has amazed me once again. Unseen Messages is a gut-wrenching developing romance between two individuals whom end-up on a deserted island for 4 years along with two children. Estelle is currently one of the hottest singer/songwriters in the world. She has just finished-up tour in the United States and is on her way home. Estelle was thrust into the limelight against her wishes. Normally a quiet, somewhat shy introvert, Estelle only wants to get home so she can enjoy her simple life and get some quiet time. Her best-friend constantly makes fun her predictability. Estelle endures many obstacles before actually even getting onto her flight; after everything that has seemed to have gone wrong in her preparation to fly home, she even wonders if she should board the plane. Her desire to return home outweighs her fears and she boards.
Galloway is trying to make amends and ease his guilt over something he did before returning home to begin restoring himself to his father that has done nothing but support and love him. On his way to Fiji, to work with a non-profit, he is immediately drawn to the beautiful Estelle as she is to him. The air almost crackles between them but neither acts upon their attraction.
Making it through the rough, turbulence filled flight due to a storm, Estelle’s and Galloway’s plane finally lands only to find that there will not be any out-going flights from the small airport that night. Desperate to make the deadline to report to his new “job” Galloway, Estelle, who thinks she should for once, live in the moment, and a family of four excited about starting their vacation find a helicopter pilot that will fly them out that evening-the decision that forever will alter their lives. Galloway, Estelle, Connor, and Pippa survive the crash on the deserted island; the pilot as well as Connor’s and Pippa’s parent don’t. Over the course of the book, the reader lives the happiness, survival, sadness, and developing love of these four individuals.
Unseen Messages is one word: extraordinary. Be prepared for a huge book-hanger. Through Pepper’s writing, I grew to love Galloway, Estelle, Connor, and Pippa. I felt what they felt, lived what they lived, and suffered the way they did. I have a hard time putting into words how amazing I thought Unseen Messages was. It does end in a HEA but if don’t cry at least once while reading this story, you must be made of stone.