When I set out to read The Other Side of Disappearing, I dreaded its women’s fiction vibe (I mean sisters) and thought, another one bites the dust (miss you, Sarah Morgan). But I’ve loved Clayborn’s romances and was willing to give her, and every traitorous 😉 romance author I love, one chance to see what she can do (kudos to Molly O’Keefe). I’m happy to report the women’s fic vibe waxxed and waned, but, in the end, the romance dominated. On the other hand, maybe we can agree that a “romance” with requisite HEA met can be a good novel. Isn’t that what good romances are, in the end? (This is MBRR’s 800th post; given the blog’s mission, it couldn’t be a more perfect choice.)
The Other Side of Disappearing has a hell of a lot of threads and the first chapters wobbled setting them up and keeping them together. As the story leaned toward romance and characters were freed from set-up constraints, Clayborn’s novel got better and better, especially as the focus narrowed to Jess Greene and Adam Hawkins’s romance. What’s this baby about? I’m going to let the publisher’s blurb do some work here because it’s complicated:
Hairstylist Jess Greene has spent the last decade raising her younger half-sister, Tegan—and keeping a shocking secret. Ever since their reckless mother ran off with a boyfriend she’d known only a few months, Jess has been aware that he’s the same accomplished con man who was the subject of a wildly popular podcast, The Last Con of Lynton Baltimore.
Now thirty-one, Jess didn’t bargain on Tegan eventually piecing together the connection for herself. But Tegan plans to do exactly what Jess has always feared—leave their safe, stable home to search for their mother—and she’ll be accompanied by the prying podcast host and her watchful, handsome producer, Adam Hawkins. Unwilling to let the sister she’s spent so much of her life protecting go it alone, Jess reluctantly joins them.
Together, the four make their way across the country, unraveling the mystery of where the couple disappeared to and why. But soon Jess is discovering other things too. Like a renewed sense of vulnerability and curiosity, and a willingness to expand beyond the walls she’s so carefully built. And in Adam, she finds an unexpected connection she didn’t even know was missing, if only she can let go and let him in . . .
Hmm, yes, this sums it up and points to Clayborn’s strengths: characterization, dialogue, characters’ inner monologues, and her greatest strength, writing eloquently about emotional fragility, especially in stoics like Adam and vaults like Jess. (more…)