Unlocked is a novella in the Turner Series by Courtney Milan.
Finished on: 18.4.2025

Content Note: bullying

Plot:
Lady Elaine Warren knows that she will never marry. All hopes of that have been bullied out of her by the tonne who teased her mercilessly about her loud laugh and whatever else they took offense with. But she has found a way to deal, and is rather content with her situation. Until Evan Carlton, the Earl of Westfeld, returns to England and starts to pay her attention. Powerful and popular, he was one of her tormentors, and his attention now can only mean that he wants to play with her again. But Elaine is not having it. She will not be cowed again, and Evan will quickly learn that.

Unlocked is short and sweet, as a romance novella should be. I enjoyed it, but I didn’t absolutely love it.

Unlocked is part of the Turner Series – we met Elaine already at the end of Unveiled. But since there is no Turner brother involved, it stands a little outside of main events. I liked Elaine enough though, from what we saw of her already, that I was curious about her story. That being said, I was a little hesitant regarding the plot. I was bullied myself as a kid, and while that experience isn’t really one that haunts me anymore, I still carry enough of a grudge that I really don’t want anything to do with anybody involved back then, no matter how much personal growth they have gone through. I certainly wouldn’t want to fall in love with any of them.

Milan has a good eye for capturing the hurt caused, and I will admit that there were a couple of tears on my face when I read about Elaine’s experience. It was not something to shrug right off. It was not something Elaine could – or should – just rise above. It was something way more insidious and dangerous. And it was important that the book didn’t brush off the past hurt in favor of the current romance.

Evan’s first apology did go a little fast for me, and I was definitely not ready yet to root for them as a couple. But Milan is a good storyteller and she knows that this wasn’t enough. So she goes slow, and lets them become friends first before turning things romantic, and I really appreciated that. And I was able to enjoy them as a couple in the end.

Plus, Unlocked has some excellent autism representation (of course, nobody calls it autism, but it’s not really subtle) to round things off, and I really enjoyed that, too. The novella may not be my favorite, but I liked it a lot.

Summarizing: nice.