Your rating:
With her signature wit and charm, bestselling author Elizabeth LaBan shows how marriage doesn’t necessarily follow a straight line and unexpected detours might just bring you back to the place you most want to be. When she finds out her husband cheated, Hannah Bent thinks her marriage is over. Isn’t that what happens after an affair? But she’s seen friends divorce, and it’s not pretty. Plus, she and Joel have kids and an otherwise-happy life, and she still loves him, although begrudgingly. Furious and feeling stuck, she suggests having her own affair to even the score. Joel, desperate for forgiveness, agrees. But does she really want to go through with it? And how exactly does a married mother of two get back in the dating pool? Many awkward dates follow until she finds a deep and unexpected connection where she was least looking for it. Just as she thinks she’s made a decision, her journey to happiness is waylaid by storms of doubt. But the important thing is that she’s finally figuring out what she truly wants for herself, and she understands that whatever choice she makes must be hers and hers alone.
Publication Year: 2019
No posts yet
Kick off the convo with a theory, question, musing, or update
Your rating:
Thank you to the publishing house for providing a review copy of this novel. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Lately, I have been reading a lot of Women's Fiction books that surround infidelity and open marriages.
What can I say?
Sometimes women want to fictionally escape (or at least watch the train wreck when fictional people do it).
Beside Herself, is another exploration of a marriage that has gone off the rails, thanks to infidelity.
Hannah is desperate to find out what her husband has planned for her surprise birthday party.
When she hacks into his phone, the surprise isn't what she expected at all.
She finds numerous texts between her husband and another women, who have been meeting at a hotel together.
When confronted, he shares that he had been cheating, but that he would never do it again.
Now that the secret is out he wants them to put the pieces back together with a marriage counselor.
In retaliation, Hannah decides that she will explore online dating and cheat on Joel, to even the score.
As readers, we get to go on one awful date after another with Hannah.
We also get the opportunity to see what brought Joel & Hannah together in the first place.
Guess what? It is absolutely heartwarming!
LaBan builds a realistic plot with a father in the nursing home, a friendship that can't withstand the situation, and an unlikely support person that helps her through this difficult patch in her life.
Fans of, The Arrangement, will love this escape with Hannah as she searches for love in unlikely places.
0Not A Megachurch. (Ignore the first paragraph. ;) ) In this book, LaBan describes the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe - as it is formally known - as a megachurch for those drawn to Disney but still religious enough to go to church while on vacation, and it is *NOT*. I'm an annual passholder at Disney and go there at least every couple of months - and frequently stop by at the outlet mall directly beside this church and know for a fact how empty it tends to be! 1* book! (OK, how do people write serious reviews like that? Get a life!)
But seriously, this book was really, really good. It takes the reader on a ride many have been on in real life and while it may bring back painful memories, it does it in a way that can provide a bit of catharsis - and maybe even hope. Funny yet mostly realistic, this book pulls few punches indeed and at times can be a bit uncomfortable for some because of it. But at the end of the day, an excellent story and very much recommended.
0
© 2024 Pagebound