Book: Fortnight in the Valley by Sedona Li
Reviewed by CozyingUp.com
Rating: 3/5
Through BookThreads, I've recently made contact with some authors, publishers, and PR firms. The Cruel Chef was the first ARC I received from those new contacts and Fortnight in the Valley by Sedona Li was the next one. When I saw the cover, I had to admit that I was wondering what I had got myself into with this one. I have read romances before, but never one set in Thailand. My only knowledge of Thai culture was from my childhood doctor being Thai and pork Pad Thai at a local restaurant.
Fortnight opens in Bangkok in 2005 as Liliana Marsh is heading to the reading of her uncle Somboon's will. We learn that it's 2005 through subtle clues: Liliana's phone is a Motorola Razr, the will was written in October of that year, 1996 plus 9 equals 2005... The chapter one surprise is that her uncle has left his estate in northern Thailand to both Liliana and his mentee Henry Rhodes. But there's a caveat: they both have to stay at the estate for fourteen consecutive days. If either of them are gone for more than twelve hours, the estate goes to an heritage trust. The problem? Henry disappeared nine years ago and Liliana has hated him ever since.
It took me a while to get into Fortnight . At first, I thought it was all of the business and accounting terms that were unfamiliar. Then, I realized that the plot is patient and disciplined. Purposeful. Much like the books I read about Buddhism. Aha! Liliana doesn't act on impulse and neither does the writing of the book.
There is an epilogue that replays many of the important events from Henry's point of view. I wish they had been incorporated into the main plot instead of tacked on at the end. We needed that information to understand and care about both Liliana and Henry sooner rather than later.
This is the first book I've encountered that opens with a playlist. It's available on Spotify or if you're an Apple Music user like me, I made a public playlist there to listen to while writing this review: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/fortnight-in-the-valley/pl.u-9o2psy34D4 There are thirteen songs and six of them are from Taylor Swift.
Though it was not my usual reading material, I'm going to be thinking about this book. I even looked up images of teak forests in northern Thailand to see if what I was imagining was close to the reality (yes and no). I was glad I read it.
3 lattes out of 5
Disclaimer: This eARC was provided by Literary Loft PR in exchange for an honest review.