Review: Undefeated by Claudia Burgoa (Unexpected #5)
Note: This ARC was provided by Sassy Savvy Fab Promotions in exchange for an honest review.
But the past is there for us to learn from. He is working hard not only to show the family that he has changed, but also that he wants to be one of us. Our family is almost complete; he just has to find his happy ending.
Gah! I'm feeling so torn about the release of Undefeated. Being the Unexpected fangirl that I am, I'm beyond excited that Porter Kendrick finally gets his shot at both redemption and a happily-ever-after. However, this fifth book also signals the end to the series, a series that I've enjoyed from the beginning and I am most definitely going to miss the Colthurst-Decker clan...but I'll amend that statement in my closing paragraph. You'll understand why when you get to it. While this is the end of the Unexpected series, author Claudia Burgoa did exactly what I expected her to: end it on one hell of an incredible high note. Five love stories, eleven unforgettable main characters, and countless memories have made Unexpected one of my all-time favorite series and Claudia Burgoa a go-to author.
Porter Kendrick was just a teenager when Gabe Colthurst and Chris Decker made him part of their family. He became a world-renowned rock star at seventeen and he had the girl he was madly in love with by his side. But the trappings of fame overshadowed the love and security of his home, his family, and AJ Colthurst-Decker and then he lost everything that mattered, including his music. Now thirty-three and clean and sober, Porter lives a quiet life in Portland but when his new neighbor turns out to be twenty-eight-year-old widow Mackenzie Brooke and her two young children, Harper and Finn, he begins to find what's been missing within him for far too long.
If you've followed the series, Port should be a very familiar character, being the foster child of Gabe and Chris and a part of Colthurst-Decker family. You'll also remember that he was battling more than his fair share of demons, majority of which he brought on himself due to his addictions. His failed love story with AJ is just part of the unraveling that occurs and he becomes this lost soul that you can't help but feel sorry for each time he appears in the series. Knowing what he went through in the past is why this fifth and final book was such a must-read for me. Yes, he hurt his family. Yes, he hurt the girl he loved. But here we see that he's turned his life around and did so for himself. This doesn't make him selfish, because had he done it for anyone and everyone else, he probably would have gone back to getting drunk and using drugs. Having gone through rehab successfully now enables him to move forward and make amends to those he hurt and it allows him the possibility of having a new beginning with Mac, Harper, and Finn.
This book can be read as a standalone, but I'm highly recommending that you read the entire series, or at the very least, the first two books--Unlike Any Other and Unsurprisingly Complicated--to get a better idea of the history between Porter and the Colthurst-Decker clan, especially AJ. As I write this review, book one is available for free on Amazon, so this is the perfect opportunity for you to read the novel that started it all.
Now, this is the final book in the series, but Claudia Burgoa's in-book message to readers leaves me feeling happy and hopeful that we haven't seen the last of Gabe and Chris, AJ and Mason, Jacob and Pria, Matthew, Tristan, and Thea, and Porter and Mackenzie and the gaggle of kids that they've brought into the world. So, I refuse to say "goodbye" this cast of characters I love and will leave it at "see you later," whenever "later" may be. Undefeated is tied with Unsurprisingly Complicated as my favorite book in the series and I'm giving it five-plus stars, which has the entire series getting an average of five stars. ♥
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Read my reviews for the Unexpected series:
Unlike Any Other (book one) - 4.5 stars - My Review
Unsurprisingly Complicated (book two) - five-plus stars - My Review
Uncharted (book three) - five stars - My Review
Uncut (book four) - 4.5 stars - My Review
Undefeated (book five) - five-plus stars - My Review (posted above)
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Release Date: 01 April 2016
Date Read: 01 April 2016
Learn more about Claudia Burgoa.
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