To Kate, James is the one man who would never betray her—until the day she learns he already has.
James knows he’s made the worst mistake of his life—throwing away the love of his soulmate for a fleeting moment of emptiness. Consumed by self-loathing and desperate for forgiveness, he’s willing to grovel, sacrifice, and rebuild himself if it means earning a second chance with Kate.
The Hotel His Broken Vows is a heart-wrenching journey of betrayal and redemption. Can James prove he’s the man Kate deserves, or will his devastating choice cost him everything?
This is a book containing cheating and where the heroine takes back the cheater. My one star though, is not because of the cheating, I knew there was some, but for other reasons. - if you look for the angst, there is plenty, and then some. The heroine and the hero are one and only, married at 18 because she’s pregnant and she’s a SAH wife. Sixteen years later hero decides he should at least try to sample the lady buffet he gave up and he could never taste, so he download an app for ONS, I suppose like tinder, and he sign in, agrees with a woman to have a ONS and lies to his wife telling her it’s a job thing. The heroine, feeling he’s distant, decides to surprise him and waist for him in his hotel room where of course she finds him having sex with the random. So, there’s a lot of angst because she really is shattered, imagine seeing your one and only for almost two decades pumping in earnest inside another woman, imagine hearing him say it’s just sex, and imagine hearing him throw in her face that he’s the breadwinner and he deserves some pastime entertainment. Yeah, just that. And imagine that she finds out, just days after it all crumbled, that she’s pregnant again. Yeah the angst is great. But some things were off. - he grovels when he realizes what he’s done. At first he doesn’t understand why she can’t suck it up and forgive him. I wonder why the heroine never told him how would he feel if she did the same. Because the man seemed quite idiot, not seeing that he made the heroine feel like she trapped him in a marriage he didn’t want, since he regrets not being with other women beside her. - the reasons for his cheating, that he understands when he goes to therapy. Oh, he didn’t know who he was outside his roles of husband and father so he cheated. Ok, just. Really? Are you serious. No, just no. An identity crisis is not reason enough to decide that he has to have sex with other women. He could have tried doing something for himself, like every normal person usually does, that is, try tennis, or golf, or hiking, or some other thing he does and he likes doing that he’s good at. Must it be just having sex and then betraying his wife and his vows? This was a ridiculous thing to say. - the resolution of his crisis, he is a husband and a father, and this is all he is and he wants to be. Wrong. It’s not necessary to be only one or two roles, in your life you can e a husband, a father, a lawyer, a sibling, a son, a biker, a friend. All roles make what we are, not just one or two. And it’s not necessary that he’s happy just being a husband and a father. It would have been better if he wanted to be a good husband and a good father instead of a cheater, then he could have tried other things, other passions that didn’t involve him being a cheating husband. He cheated because he was weak, selfish and needed attention. Because he was dishonest and self centered. I didn’t care if they were one and only, this was just something they happened to be, it would have been enough that he was faithful and loyal to her, and that he had talked with her about his doubts. - the heroine never had a chance. She was a woman who didn’t really grew up after the cheating. She stayed because of the kids and because she was pregnant. She never changed. She didn’t have a job and didn’t even tried after the cheating because of her pregnancy. To me it’s as if she stayed because she couldn’t leave and because the option of starting over with three children and without a job was too much for her, so she kept her cheating asshole. - sometimes the author tries to persuade the readers that taking back the cheater is good and fair. Some remarks, as : was she weak to forgive him? Was she weak to take him back? No, she was strong. Are honestly disturbing and wrong. It’s not a matter of being weak or strong, there are situations and situations. It depends on what a person wants and expects in a relationship. You can forgive almost anything but the matter is, are you ok with living and staying with someone who did this. So it’s not a matter of strong people forgive cheating, and the heroine cuddling her cheating husband and thinking fondly that he was not perfect and he was quite dumb but he was her dumb cheater, well made me feel queasy. - the hero’s bff who in the beginning was always taunting him about how he could have sex always with the same woman and never sample some other lady, after the hero cheats becomes worse than a preacher, berating him angrily about how he could ruin a perfect marriage he has always been jealous of. wtf? Really? He was the one basically pushing him to cheat, not that the hero was not to blame, but he was always saying how good it was with other women, and then, after the hero did it, he was outraged and angry and it was all a how could you. Not consistent at all. - repetitive. Too much inner monologue. Too much how sorry he was, how he loved her and that silly reason that he didn’t know who he was so he fucked a random. Jeez. I think that now we know who he is, a sad, pathetic, coward cheater. In the end, I found it very lacking, and despite the angst, and the grovel, I couldn’t enjoy it.
I really appreciate that this author writes about second chance romance with infidelity and OW drama. Us angst lovers don't get many books that deal with these controversial tropes and themes. Which is why I tend to be generous when rating these books. I just couldn't finish 'The Hotel Room.' I wasn't feeling it at all. It felt like I was reading recycled material from her first and second book. However, I did notice she significantly reduced the inner monologues and added more dialogue. The constant, repetitive inner monologues were a major issue in the previous book (didn't bother me, tho), but that improved here. Note: I DNFed @ 47%.
The angst wasn't there for me. Maybe because it was too much like the previous books, so it was very predictable. I don't know, but there was no anticipation. I was bored and didn't care about these characters. I will continue to look forward to her books...hopefully I'll enjoy the next one the way I enjoyed her previous book, His Wife's Secretary: A Husband's Betrayal. Despite some flaws, it worked exceedingly well for me (rated it 4.5 Stars; generously rounded up for support).
James and Kate met as teens and were married at 18 when she got pregnant.
Now, after 17 years, and two healthy children later, they share a lovely home and life together, but James wonders what it would feel like to have sex with someone else. Real sweet. His friend Nick is single and living it up, it looks appealing to James.
Kate and James had a really good relationship, they are great parents and shared a home with safety and love. They shared laughter and had what appeared to be a really healthy relationship.
But James planned a hook up, he downloaded the app his friend Nick raved about, he arranged a meeting with a random woman when he was away on a business trip. There was no impulse, it was very calculated. He felt he deserved to try to be with someone else after 17 years.❤️🩹
However Kate planned to surprise and seduce him that night at the hotel he was staying at. And boy does she get a show. She was hiding in the bathroom in lingerie, when James and his hook up are already going for it. She sees everything.
However that was not even the worst betrayal, the worst betrayal was he literally thought she was overreacting, he was just being curious!
Kate was strong and she left him, she took their two teenagers to her sister’s house. However they are not happy and they didn’t really understand what was going on due to James telling them that Kate was overreacting. The children slowly start to blame Kate for the disruption in the family because she wouldn’t tell them what their father did.
James was the breadwinner in the family and he tried to control and manipulate her to stay with him. He payed for everything, and Kate was completely financially dependent on him, he is panicking and extremely selfish and he thought she would never leave him because she needs his financial support.
It was one mistake, he keeps saying. But he is really just sorry he was caught. Desperately trying to control the damage. Not the problem
“You think I am trapped here just because I am a stay at home mom” she asks, because he wants to trap her into staying because he makes the money, diminishing her role as a homemaker. This was an even bigger betrayal for me, they had planned their life together and how they wanted to navigate it, and now he is using it against her. I did like that the author brought this up, as I think a lot of young married woman can feel this way, even in today’s world.
He says it wasn’t like he was in love with the other woman, it was just sex. We have been married since we were 18, is it really so crazy that I was curious? YES IT REALLY IS.
“Any guy would feel this way after only having had sex with 1 woman in 17 years. “
He says this🤮
“I made a mistake and you need to get over it.” I swear he keeps saying these little nuggets.
James’ childhood friend Nick is flabbergasted when James tells him what has happened. He is not impressed with James and does not agree with his actions or lack of remorse. He highly recommends therapy if he wants to save his marriage. James starts therapy.
Kate does not want James back, but she is pregnant again…
Honestly there is something intriguing about this story, but something was missing and I can’t exactly pin point it. It went from going a 100 km/ph to 10 km/ph.
Should you read it? Yes/ maybe.
The first 50% was 4 ⭐️ The last 50 % was 3 ⭐️ it was too repetitive and the writing is a little simple. James’ friend Nick is a little too obvious of a plot device, to move James’ personal evolvement.
I did like the therapy aspect of it, I have been in a lot of therapy and I find it immensely good for the soul to search and find real answers to hard questions. I believe if you are to solve big problems, you have to be able to have insight into your own patterns. And I like that he really worked on himself instead of finding the solution by random chance.
Ugh, giving this 5 star support rating, but.................... I seriously appreciate authors who are trying to give us, angst/cheater fiction lovers, a book we can enjoy. We're certainly not after high brow, change your life fiction. We're after fun, angsty kick you in your teeth/stomach/heart cheater hero's. And this is our right, lol, because we like it. Unfortunately this book isn't that. The author needs to practice her craft a bit more. I don't give 1 stars to books that are trying to be what I want to read, I want to encourage the author to write more. I'll just warn ppl with a real review. We have way too many ppl who want to stamp out books these days, so I'll put my rating where my choices are and try to be positive. This is where my ratings have changed, but I'm very honest about that on my profile page. I tried to update my ratings and reviews, but like I stated there, it's a boring, time consuming objective and I have much better things to do. So, take with a grain of salt if I've, in an earlier review, eviscerated an author bc of writing style. I'll update as I come across them. ;)
This is not a safe book if you are bothered/triggered by cheating. I realize that some people are going to simply eviscerate this book BECAUSE it's a cheating romance, probably not having read at all, but we can still hope that trolling/cancel culture stops. I know, silly me.
I am 39% into the book and I really don’t care if I read the ending or not. She is such a doormat. A couple weeks after he fucked that random woman FROM A DATING APP 🤢 she’s already softening towards him. I don’t care that she’s pregnant. She is not making him suffer at all. I honestly don’t know if I can finish. Call me a petty bitch but I would go out and fuck the first decent guy I saw to get back at him. That way they’ve both been with someone else!!! See how he likes that. 😈
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I don’t know…33% in and it feels like the last book.
H fucks an OW, h witnesses it. H goes to therapy to figure it all out. Except an oops baby (H/h) makes her feel trapped.
DNF 64%
This just felt like a rinse and repeat of His Broken Words. Slightly different set of circumstances, more mid-life crisis, but in the end, it felt the same.
This probably isn’t a 3 star story, but I like that this author must have a checklist of what a cheating husband needs to do to attempt redemption. It’s also more angsty than her other books which have moments of angst, this one is more elevated for a good chunk of the story.
What’s the point of this story when she is such a doormat and will forgive his lame excuse for cheating? No real angst because she’s pretty much caving from the get go.
I really enjoyed this story, I mean as much as you can enjoy a story where the husband cheats on a perfectly beautiful wife and life. The cheating on page was gut wrenching. Which is what this angst driven reader loves. Most of the book is the grovel and redemption. The gut punch happens around the 10 percent mark of the story.
Basically Kate and James have been married for about 18 years. They were high school sweethearts and each others firsts in everything. She got pregnant at 18 and they happily married. They are now the parents of 2 children. The author doesn’t delve into too much of Kate and James love story as teens and focuses on their current lives. The book opens and it looks like they are loving, still attracted to each other, and basically have a great life. She has taken care of the home, while he works. His work often has him traveling(uh oh, you know) He has dinner with his long term bachelor friend Nick who loves telling the H all about his hook ups and asks the H if he ever regrets not having the freedom to explore. At this point, and I don’t care what Nick says later in the book, I felt his conversation with the H was inappropriate..It really felt like he was egging the H on. Doesn’t excuse what the H does.
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS🛑🛑🛑STOP READING NOW IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW
So this is a cheating story. I knew what I signed up for. I think the author has been doing a good job with these stories. She has the gut punch down to a science. I feel like the hero was able to redeem himself. I don’t think he will cheat down the line. I am sad that he went “there” with someone else, when what Kate and him had was so special. However, I am glad that the h didn’t have revenge sex with someone. In this case, it wouldn’t had worked for me. There are some books that I do get angry when the h doesn’t go out and get her some in return. I will agree with some other reviewers that at times, I felt like thoughts and phrases were repeated too much. At one point I was like, Didn’t I already read this? Thinking I accidentally hit the scrolling bar on my kindle. But nope, it was just a rehash of thoughts and words we already heard. Now, I do understand part of this were the characters trying to work out their motives and feelings, but at times it was redundant.
Something else that bothered me(so very minor) was the portrayal of Lily, the daughter. I am pretty sure it said that she was being dropped off at middle school and she acted middle school like in the beginning. As the story progressed, Lily’s actions and words were more like that of an elementary age child (8-10 yrs). Her age was never actually stated, but she was using mommy and daddy, coloring with crayons, and other things that made her seem younger than the beginning. I am basing most of this on my own experience as a teacher for ages 7-13. Again, minor and I just readjusted my thoughts of her and made her younger in my head.
This is the 2nd book I have read by this author(I still need to write a review for His Wife’s Secretary) I am now following her on Amazon, and I actually bought this book as opposed to just using the KU. Therefore, I will definitely be looking for more books like this, and I somewhat hope she stays with betrayal theme. Although there may be a time her characters need to find an alternate mmc.
The H decides to cheat to see what it’s like to be with another woman. The couple have been married since teen pregnancy - 15 years. This guy has an immature thought process. I didn’t like that the fmc stayed living with him because she was a house wife.
Ok so I say that because it started off good and then boom the book goes no where until the last chapter. It repeats the same inner monologue over and over and over. This book was like 200 pages too long! He's sorry blah blah blah, she's hurt agree for 30 something chapters.
Only reason I gave it 3 stars is because I like what the book was about just not the way it was delivered.
The storyline was heartbreaking and compelling, the couple has been married for seventeen years. The husband decided to cheat on his wife, it continued with the wife finding out his intentions. The ending had the husband trying to resolve his marriage difficulties.
This was exactly what I was looking for in a marriage in trouble because of a cheating bellend trope.
The angst, the gut punches, the rage I raged, the self absorbed prat of a H, their journey back to each other, his total and absolute remorse was epic and I ate this up with a spoon!
I really enjoyed this story—it was heartfelt and felt genuinely honest. However, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing.
The couple had been childhood sweethearts, married young, and had two kids. Then, he suddenly decides he’s missing out on experiences, since they’ve only ever been with each other. What follows is truly heartbreaking—he sleeps with another woman while his wife is in the bathroom, overhearing everything.
While he does grovel and eventually seeks therapy, his behavior at the beginning was frustrating, and I didn’t feel like therapy alone was enough to redeem him.
I also would have preferred a different ending—maybe a period of separation where she has the chance to explore life without him, or even meet someone new. Something just felt incomplete, and I was left wanting more.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
She shoulda got him back exactly the way he did her and I stand by that 100%. I get what this was trying to do but it just wasn’t for me. I didn’t really like the writing style, everything was so choppy and the constant line repetitions and single word sentences just aren’t what I like. I also found it so insanely repetitive!
I enjoyed this marriage in trouble / husband cheated book. The first 70 percent was really good . There was therapy, there was reconciliation and groveling that included actions as well as words.
I did think some of the chapters were repetitive and the book could have cut some of the rating scenes that went nowhere ( like James and Nick at the bar- repeating the same conversation).
I do think James managed to figure out the why of his cheating and was believed their marriage had a chance of surviving.
More balanced than the authors previous betrayal stories.
Cheating books are hard to read. They evoke such emotion and angst. I found this story more balanced. It was very in-depth into the feelings, but also had dialogue that supported those feelings.
The act of the betrayal itself was quicker than the previous books. The way it concentrated on him recognising his feelings of selfishness (once he got to that point that is!), made it a better balanced book. If he’d loved his wife in the right way and was thinking of her rather than his own selfishness then it wouldn’t have happened. His selfishness convinced himself it was ok and justified. I felt that him recognising that in himself as slowly as he did felt realistic, if he’d recognised it too quickly then it wouldn’t have made sense why he did it in the first place.
The parts that were missing for me was Kate blasting him away for the planning behind it. I felt more of an explosive conversation could’ve been had about the thought that went into the actual logistics and the planning of it occurring. It wasn’t just a spare of the moment thing, he’d planned it to the letter. Also I would have liked for him to have put himself in her position. It was never mentioned how he would’ve felt if she had done it to him, how he would’ve felt if she’d been with someone else. I didn’t need to her to do so as it didn’t fit the story, but the acknowledgment of it would’ve gone a long way.
Would I have stayed…definitely not, but as with cheating stories I’ve read it’s the characters story, not mine.
I stopped reading at about 30%. This guy cheats on his wife and basically tells her she has no right to be upset and angry at him, doesn’t accept responsibility for his actions. Wonder how he would feel if roles were reversed. And her son treating her terribly. Ahhhh.
Why did I put myself through that? This man actively fantasising about cheating on his wife and planning it was as bad as it sounds. Disgusting. I hated him from start to finish.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I think why I really enjoyed this cheating book is bc it really showed you a slice of life how it effected they’re entire family cheating is wrong we know this but I’m not ignorant or naive enough to believe it doesn’t happen and that you walk away especially if you still love eachother and have a family together
I appreciate that it wasn’t just bc of lust or something the hero wanted to do you cheat for a reason you go looking els where when there’s a problem w you not the person your cheating on and this story really goes into detail abt that and the husbands regrets & remorse
We see the wife’s pain her heartache they’re sons confusion hurt anger then acceptance that his father is a person who mess up and make mistakes and it was great that his parents tell & show him everyone makes Mistakes but it’s what you do after you make them that matters how you go forward I loved their family I can’t lie it was the best part of the book that made me emotional and the husbands fear of loosing his wife & family he really did love them but he took his wife for granted
I loved his wife she’s one of the more quieter heroines & some might see her as weak but I thought she was strong as hell holding her family down while drowning in her pain that right there is queen behavior to me she was so sweet a real angel of a woman who I hated her husband for putting her through that and she let her bitterness show to him like girl yes don’t hold back let him know he hurt you
Ppl who read cheating romance books want the heroine to leave him ofc but for me when I read them I need to understand what or why is the FMC willing to stay or forgive him? You gotta show me why you really think you guys can work it out and make me believe he would stay faithful to her .. this book showed me that he really did love her but like real life you get lost along the way and as years go by bitterness comes and we let it fester in our minds thinking we’re right or entitled to hurt other bc of our own insecurities it happens as much as we want to believe it doesn’t no one is perfect and you hurt the ones you love but if your willing to actually show that person that your worthy of forgiveness & genuinely love them you put the work in and damn this guy did it really didn’t think I could forgive him butttt he got me near the end fuck him that bastard 🫠
It wasn't that bad of a book, I'm a sucker for groveling males and cheating troupes. Which is why im giving the 3 stars. I did like the starting story line but the further I read the more it went no where, the same things were said and done over and over and over again. I got so bored with reading the same things that I was skipping paragraphs and pages. Not likely to read anything else from this writer.
This was a hard topic for this author to tackle. I think she did a great job covering all the emotions of everyone involved in this mess. 3 stars only because the main guy was an utter a$$hole for the first part of the book and I think he could have been written a little better. Thank god he got therapy.
Heartbreaking, beautiful, raw, open, honest, positively tragic - the story of betrayal and renewal was written in an extraordinary way. I was immediately invested in the characters and the build up to the betrayal made me anxious and protective of Kate. It's a beautiful book
The possibility with this book was great - unfortunately too much inner monologue and the repetition is overwhelming. Would make a good novella. One thing the author made a mistake with is being inconsistent of the age for the daughter. She allegedly was in middle school but spoke and acted as if in low elementary school age. My only opinion is disagreement with the expectation of the FMC with the work situation with her husband.
Love, cheating not really two words that you would think, go together. In this book those words work together for a great story. It reminds you that love isn't always perfect, a ray of sunshine, sometimes love is painful and ugly, the goodness of love is somehow it's healing and gives forgiveness. This book is all those things. Shirley