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Fall from Grace

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When a marriage of twenty years ends, is there any
going back? Can you regain what's been lost? For heart
surgeon Jack Morgan the answer is yes.

Paralyzed by a stroke, he has no choice but to turn to
his ex-wife, Anne—just as if they were still married.
During the months that follow, they discover that the
memories of their marriage have an unexpected power
to bring forgiveness—and the return of a love that
never really left.

304 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 31, 2007

13 people are currently reading
153 people want to read

About the author

Kristi Gold

352 books84 followers
Kristi Gold has a fondness for beaches, baseball and bridal reality shows. She saw the release of her first book in 2000 and since that time has published over thirty books for Harlequin. She's written for the Desire, Special Edition, Everlasting Love and Superromance Imprints. Kristi has also been a Romantic Times award winner, National Reader's Choice winner and three-time Romance Writer's of America RITA finalist. Kristi loves to network with readers and can be reached though her website at http://kristigold.com or FaceBook.

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5 stars
13 (9%)
4 stars
38 (28%)
3 stars
49 (36%)
2 stars
22 (16%)
1 star
11 (8%)
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
Profile Image for StMargarets.
3,210 reviews631 followers
October 1, 2019
Second chance story that demonstrates just how effective gaslighting can be. The author plays ten different cards to prove how wrong the heroine has been all along.

H/h were married 17 years before labor-and-delivery nurse heroine divorced her surgeon husband for neglecting their marriage and then cheating on her with a ONS with an employee from the hospital. They have a seven-year-old daughter. The story opens when the hero suffers a stroke after a long day of surgery.

The hero’s friends and heroine’s mother guilt the heroine into moving the angry, uncooperative hero into the family home while he recuperates.

So immediately the author plays the (1) physical punishment card to help absolve hero of his many years of neglect and the one night of cheating that was motivated by his need to hurt the heroine.

As the heroine’s mother helpfully points out (2) heroine was cold and shut the hero out when they were having problems. Then mommy plays the every-marriage-has-infidelity card. (3) and confesses that she had a two-month affair when heroine’s father was busy being a surgeon.

Yes, heroine’s father was a surgeon and chief of the hospital when H/h met. Heroine vowed to never marry a surgeon and yet she did after the H/h had broken up for a year. The author explains again and again how the heroine had cold feet/lack of commitment (4) – even the night before the wedding.

The hero then contemplates suicide (5) so the heroine feels even more guilty and begins to sleep in the same bed with him. The hero then accuses her of treating him like an object of pity rather than a man (6) so they begin having sex again.

Meanwhile heroine’s widowed mother is lecturing the heroine about having sex later in life and starting over as she goes to bed with a younger man and then marries him in a Vegas Wedding. Heroine needs to look forward and not back. (7)

Then the hero’s friends tell heroine to let him go if she can’t accept that he will be a surgeon again, since she was always so selfish about his time. (8)

When heroine does let him go, Mommy dearest and hero accuse her of running away again. (9) Also, hero brings up heroine’s ONS with his enemy *after * they were divorced. (10)

Finally, the hero agrees to change his ways (since all day and night surgery was too much for him) and arranges a trip to Italy. All is forgiven then and is still rosy 20 years later in the epilogue where the daughter is a surgeon and the cycle can begin again.

After all of this nonsense and numerous flashbacks of the H/h having hot sex and then hero leaving for work yet again – I can only come to the conclusion that the heroine should never have married the hero in the first place. Their relationship was always unhealthy - they had sex in common and the hero reveled in his power over making the heroine back down again and again and the heroine enjoyed her martyr status for some reason.

And nothing really changed.

Hero didn’t give up surgery for the heroine – the stroke changed his career trajectory. Hero got what he wanted always. His biggest enabler was his mother-in-law and I’m sad to say with a manipulative mother like that, heroine had no chance.

What a depressing story of a weak heroine and gaslighting hero/family. The many, many passages about the hero’s rehab also made the story drag.
Profile Image for Preeti ♥︎ Her Bookshelves.
1,459 reviews18 followers
April 1, 2019
An older divorced couple (48 to her 45 I think) who don't really act/seem that old to me. Could have been a story about 30 somethings too. Especially as they had a child bit late in life - a 7 y.o. daughter.
Anyways, they are a divorced couple as let their marriage (of two decades) fall apart- he, by being highly career driven and she, by being unforgiving and rigid (mostly at the end really, as she's quite supportive through the years).
Now, he's had a stroke and she offers (very grudgingly) to take him back in and help during his recovery and rehab.

The daughter has a minor part considering, but seems the only grown up around at times. The h's mother is a nice cameo, and her 'dear heart'ing and 'my dear/sweet boy' added the otherwise missing sweet!

Annoyances?
*With Spoilers*
Realistic but too much realism (about the daily routine) can make it boring.

The flashbacks begin pretty soon. I got used to them later and I understand the author wants to give a perspective about their past history as well, but I wanted their present interaction and got less of that.

The h is cool and distant. Maybe she has good reason - he did cheat, during the initial separation - but also I could see that he is a good person and a supportive husband except for his single minded passion for his career, but then good, driven, successful surgeons are just like that. It's a miracle how they draw out more than 24 hours worth out of a day!

Worse? She loved him for who and what he is but wanted him to chose between her and his career. Her grouse - Who's his first love? Or who's the love of his life?
That's hardly love. Yes, it's tough living with him but as a nurse herself, she of all people should understand that. She resented taking time off her job when (he comes to stay with them and) her lapses of attention cause mistakes at work and it's pointed out to her. Instead of being repentant, she gets aggressive.
Yes, growing up, her surgeon father too neglected them and she always had issues and so she had doubts about the H right from the beginning. But the good times had outweighed the bad till the later years. She walks out, he cheats, they divorce. While she emotionally cheated by cribbing about him to his bete noire/rival down the years and then she slept with this same man while he remains celibate
after the divorce.
I would have liked him to decide about his work on his own and decrease his workload because he wanted to, not under pressure from her as that's how it seemed in the end. That disappointed me somehow.

So it was realistic till it wasn't so. Because to be really realistic, he should have been an egoistical and domineering d-b, and maybe have cheated all along as well.
Profile Image for Leona.
1,771 reviews18 followers
September 29, 2018
This was a good and entertaining read about love and second chances, one of my most favorite tropes. Annie and Jack have been divorced for two years when he suffers a stroke. Given he is a heart surgeon, there are questions about his ability to return to his career. This becomes a crippling and devastating blow to him.

Annie agrees to take Jack back into her home to help in his recovery. She is a nurse, medically aware of the long road to recovery, and she can offer all the necessary help and support.

It's obvious that these two still love each other, but the road back to a HEA is not so easy. Not only did Jack put his demanding career before his family, there was also Jack's past infidelity that is standing in their way. The author did a great job in building the history of this couple through a set of well timed flashbacks interwoven with their current life. It worked really well.

My reason for giving it 3 versus 5 stars, was due to the annoying interference of family and friends. It was not only irritating, but rather far fetched given both were in their late 40's. Secondly, this just lacked the gripping intensity that I have come to expect in a category romance.

But all in all, a good read. If you like second chances, you might want to give this one a try.
Profile Image for Raffaella.
1,947 reviews299 followers
January 25, 2025
Why I put myself through this kind of self harm, I just don’t know.
I loathed this book with all myself and it really made me sick in some points.
The hero and the heroine have been divorced for two years after several years of neglect and selfishness from his part and an eventual cheating. FY hero.
So, now, karma pays him a visit and he has a stroke.
Fine, good.
Deserved.
No! This author doesn’t know what karma is, it’s the balance of rights and wrongs, so when the heroine is the injured part as in this story, the heroine should be the one who’s hit.
But nope.
The heroine is surrounded by awful people who made of gaslighting and victim blaming a fine art.
Her mother and her own child are the first ones, guilting her into asking him to come back home so she can nurse him to health.
wtf? No, absofuckinglutely no!
He works night and day, so he can afford health care.
But nope, the heroines mother forces her to help him so she takes him back.
The man is obnoxious and I never felt any pity for his suffering, not even once, I admit I hoped he would end very badly but sadly he didn’t.
He recovered completely.
The foolish, loser, weak heroine took him back, since everyone around her, the people close to her, blamed her for his cheating, for his neglect because she was too needy, you know she actually dared to expect that sometimes her husband would be at home with her and her daughter instead of playing hero for the all the people except her and their daughter.
Why he’d daughter is so attached to a father she didn’t see but in pictures, I will never know.
He never apologized for the cheating, blaming her because she was closed, so FY author and FY everyone who thinks this is acceptable.
Another chauvinist, pathetic, sexist story about how a woman is always guilty for everything bad happens in her marriage and men are always innocent and entitled to do whatever they like.
Oh, joy.
And in the end, the wonderful realization that, while she gave her time and even gave up her job for two months to help the fucker recovering, he would have never, ever, taken even one day to help his wife if the situation was reversed.
Pathetic and embarrassing as few books.
The hero had a ONS with a random while married because he felt neglected, boohoo. The heroine had sex with another guy who btw I think was very much better than the hero when she was divorced. But this doesn’t mean they were even.
And the sexism and chauvinism of the author made the hero complain time and again that she was with this other man even if they were divorced, while he was entitled to cheat while they were married.
I’m going to puke again.
Profile Image for Booklover.
645 reviews1 follower
May 29, 2012
Very good read,the story progressed well between flashbacks of past and present,Jack-Anne still loved each other but had issues which they did'nt talked out which led their marriage on rocky part and Jack's one night stand was the last straw,Anne divorced him but then after 2 years Jack suffers a stroke which brings Anne back in his life,its a second chance for them,Jack regrets his mistakes but now has decided to bring his love back in his life,they talk out all the issues also the cheating part.Delia helps them along and they manage to get their HEA.

Overall a good emotional read
Recommend it.
Profile Image for Tmstprc.
1,296 reviews168 followers
October 3, 2019
This is well written but frustrating.

The couple has been divorced for 2 years, a drunken ONS was the straw that broke the camels back for a heroine who was tired of being second best to his medical career. People around them had no issue telling her this should have been expected, he’s a surgeon, but no one calls him on his broken promises of cutting back and being there for his wife and daughter.

Guilt puts them back together short term—he’s suffered a stroke as the result of a ruptured aneurysm and there’s no one else to help him recover.

Did she focus on the negatives of their relationship? Yes, but she wasn’t necessarily wrong in doing so, no one understood her anger, hurt and frustration level, basically telling her she was wrong, and to move on. He mother being the worst offender.

She was not to blame for their marriage falling apart, she shared her feelings and frustrations and he ignored them. It’s only when she’s walking away again that he finally makes changes to avoid losing her again and she acknowledges that despite her anger, he was there for her when she really needed him.

But as readers, we know life isn’t lived during the emergencies, it’s lived in between, day in and day out and they don’t figure this out until 95% and we get an epilogue 20 years later telling us they made it work.
Profile Image for bookjunkie.
168 reviews56 followers
February 26, 2017
Well it was certainly realistic! I was in the mood for some angst, and nothing does harsher angst than a cheating husband...

This book is about an older couple; actually they're middle-aged and divorced after a long and happy marriage because Jack cheated. Anne offers to let Jack move back in with her and their daughter after he has a stroke and suffers physical and mental disabilities, so she can help take care of him. There's a harsh dose of reality for ya. This kind of setup wouldn't have normally appealed to me, but maybe that secondary plotline in The Surprise Of His Life got me subconsciously interested in a situation of an older devoted couple broken up by cheating.

We never do get much detail about the cheating. There are flashbacks of their early lives interwoven throughout the story, but never about the fateful event. It was only a nameless one-night stand, which is not as ignominious as an affair. Somehow, it seems surmountable when weighed against the love between the couple. You definitely get the sense of Jack's yearning for his wife, so by the end it seems there's just no other viable conclusion except to be together for the rest of their lives.

I liked this book, although there was a tiny niggling dissatisfaction because the angst wasn't as extreme as I'd hoped. I mean there was certainly angst, and the love was very deep in a realistic sense as well, but I guess I'd been wanting more drama from this kind of premise.
Profile Image for Tessa.
881 reviews97 followers
August 7, 2021
I enjoyed this book. I will say the hs mom annoyed me somthing fierce and I really wanted the h to snap and say MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS! The original reason she left the H was a valid one and that was before his ONS. They even broke up when they were younger for the same reason. The h never wanted to come second to a career. She knew what is was like growing up with a absentee father and didn't want that in a husband or father for her daughter. He broke to many promises and she was at her whits end.

I do like that the H made the choice on his own( with a little help from his bff) to take a different job with set hours so he could be home more often. All in all a pretty good read.
105 reviews3 followers
September 16, 2018
This book wasn't exactly fun but it was quite realistic and romantic. The book shares a story of an older woman who is divorced from her husband. She works in the same hospital as him as a nurse where he is a famed surgeon.

He overworks himself and suffers a stroke which is where our story starts. The h takes responsibility to care for him at the home she kicked him out of for cheating on her. At first he is stubborn but slowly begins to follow through and grows stronger as he sees this as an opportunity to get his life back with her.
I felt like the book was a great read except I'm not sure why the H cheated. It seems so out of character because he does it once and the rest of the book sees him pining for the h whether in flashback or present day story. It seemed out of place.
The h's tryst with the H's rival received more attention. This wasn't cheating because she had the one night stand with him after her divorce but still felt guilty.
H seemed to have issues with it but not enough to stop pining for her.
Their daughter was a delight and the side story of the h's mom finding love was adorable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
139 reviews8 followers
September 2, 2018
This is a cheating husband book that I actually didn't mind. You could tell that these 2 were really in love with each other.

Although jack cheated for one thing with this book that clinched it was that annie wasn't celibate she actually slept with someone else while they were separated and it just happened on jack and Annie's anniversary. So that was a bonus. I dont mind cheating books but only if the h actually does something about it like leaving his ass and have handr own life. I'm not one who likes to see the h give in to the cheat straight away because that's just not me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for ANTC.
556 reviews83 followers
dnf
July 24, 2023
I hate dual romances. The mom of the heroine is also featured and she has a love story in this too? Ugh...waste of text; there simply aren't enough pages to fit in multiple romances.
149 reviews4 followers
February 25, 2015
first book that i give a full mark of 5 stars. this is such a lovely story. a complete full round of love story between 2 people, from the first time they met, being in love,the proposal, having their first year of marriage, the problems they encountered w/ech year passing by, the plan they had to hv their child, the surprised, the work that finally consumed both of their marriage life, the one mistake of betrayel, the longing. oh.. it's just a full round of beautiful story.
im not used to read a story where the H and the h are both in their middle age of over 45. i love how the story keep flashing back and forward about their past and their current situation, as if it was somekind of strayed memories.

give it a try to read this book, and you will find a really beautiful story of 1 guy who willing to fight his wife back and learn from his mistake. fortunately the cheating only took as a one night stand only with whatever girl, i can work w/that. as long as it wasn a long time affair. i might burn the book.
Profile Image for Kay.
1,934 reviews124 followers
February 24, 2012
4 Stars! ~ The narrator did an awesome job reading this story. The shift between the past and present was done very well, which is a credit to both the author and the narrator. Not once is there a doubt that Jack and Annie love each other deeply and really should be together. The break down of their marriage had been devastating to both of them. Pride and stubbornness are powerful things and often get in the way of honest communication. Ms. Gold created two characters that are far from perfect, and has wrought their journey to a HEA with many obstacles. This heartfelt lovestory is a testimony of the endurance of love.
912 reviews
November 10, 2019
Totally unrealistic. The H is uncommunicative surgeon who didn't have time for his family and compounded it all with infidelity after 17 years of marriage. I don't understand why this entire Everlasting series is so forgiving of betrayals. Since the h a busy RN who had put her career on hold for his has now divorced, instead of moving on why gets involved with him again and helping him recuperate? What true love when the whole marriage is a lie. But the author does a creditable job by humanizing him and redeeming him quite a bit.
Profile Image for Lostintime.
550 reviews17 followers
March 5, 2022
I liked this short second chances contemporary story.

In my opinion the author did a great job in not putting the blame of their marriage’s initial failure only on one of them. They were both responsible of the lack of dialogue and of having given up on them as a couple.

The coming back together was rightly paced with some very emotional moments.

Triggers for attempted suicide
Profile Image for Angela.
Author 2 books11 followers
December 1, 2007
Fall From Grace

Kristi Gold

Harlequin, Everlasting Love



Anne and Jack Morgan’s ended in a bitter divorce, but that hasn’t necessarily severed the ties of the heart.



When Anne first laid eyes on Jack Morgan he was a promising surgeon on the horizon, and therefore the last thing she wanted in a boyfriend let alone a husband. Life as a surgeon’s wife means missed dinners and special occasions, late night phone calls to return to the hospital, and a man with an ego to back it all up. Watching her parent’s marriage unfold with her mother playing the dutiful wife, waiting for her husband to return home from the hospital, Anne knew it wasn’t the life she wanted. Yet, her heart convinced her that she and Jack could do it differently, better, than her parents and she happily agreed to be his wife. .



For Jack their life together was everything he ever dreamed of. A loving wife, a beautiful daughter, and a stellar career as one of the country’s leading surgeons. It was a picture perfect life—until the day he was served with divorce papers. Determined to pour even more energy into his career, Jack puts that ego to great use and works even harder than before in an effort to forget about Anne and the life they shared. .



Then in one fell swoop the surgical career, and the massive ego all become very fragile when Jack suffers a stroke. Now Anne must struggle to decide if she can put aside her personal feelings and nurse Jack back to health. Does she really want him to recover completely when that may mean losing him again to the world of surgery and medicine? Can they overcome their past to find their future? .



Kristi Gold proves, yet again, that she is a wonderful, and talented storyteller with Fall From Grace. A truly touching, inspirational love story you’ll find yourself telling friends about. If you’ve found yourself wondering where the romance and story telling has gone these days, it will just take one chapter of this beautiful book to remind you why you fell in love with romance in the first place. .



Angela Keck



Profile Image for Mareli.
1,034 reviews32 followers
October 3, 2012
I was in the mood for some second chance stories and this one surely fitted the purpose. It was not bad but I felt it very rushed.

I loved the shifting between present and past to let us understand how they got there but the whole story was a bit too short to appreciate it.

A nice short story but it could have been better with more pages...
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