Word Maze Whiplash

I've been commended and criticized for leading readers to one conclusion they found to be a dead end.

In The Unlived Lives of Shelly Bennett, Shelly decides to be with Lionel in Israel. The story places them there and describes their jobs, relationships, and lives in some detail.

Soon, Shelly is off to a different, unlived life.

There are three reactions to this and similar plot twists:
   - You got me, I like plot twists.
   - A bit complicated, but okay.
   - Reading this gives me whiplash.

Shelly's story, Raymond's before her, and those in Reckoning (spring 2026) are about lives those characters could have lived had they made different choices. An infinite number of unlived lives.

Shouldn't readers reading about lives never lived expect things not to be as they assumed they would be?

Speculative question for today.

Is a predictable life more preferable to one less predictable?