The Fourth Child

Family Matters #3

by C.J. Carmichael

From the outside Claire Ridgeway looks like she has it all—a handsome, successful husband, three young, healthy daughters, a beautiful home in Toronto and a cottage in Lake Country. But Claire knows there are fissures in her marriage that could threaten everything. Even so, she’s shocked when Kirk announces he’s in love with another woman. Turns out his late nights at work have been spent wining and dining this other woman.

Shattered by Kirk’s revelation, Claire is sure her marriage is over and when Kirk suggests counselling she wonders if there’s any point. But with so much at stake, shouldn’t she at least try? Not just for her and Kirk’s sake, but for their daughters…and the fourth child Kirk doesn’t even know she’s expecting.

Genres: Romance, Second Chance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Harlequin, Marriage, Second Chance Romance

203 pages, ebook

First published May 1, 2000

About the author

USA Today bestselling author C. J. Carmichael has written over 50 novels, including two mystery series, as well as romance and women’s fiction. Three of her novels have been nominated for the Romance Writers of America RITA Award, including A Bramble House Christmas. A film version of A Bramble House Christmas premiered as a Hallmark Mystery movie in 2017.

Married, with two grown daughters and some adorable grandchildren, C. J. and her husband and their Welsh Springer Jazz divide their time between their home in Calgary, Alberta and the family cottage on Flathead Lake, Montana. C.J. enjoys giving workshops to aspiring authors--her talk on writing a Christmas story is a favorite.

Visit C.J.'s website at http://CJCarmichael.com

For information on C. J.’s new releases and giveaways please sign up for her newsletter.
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Reviews

[Geri Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-read it today and I loved it even more. So it's no surprise this book has become one of my favorites. And guess what?? It's now available in Kindle format. Yay!!

So if you're in the mood for some marriage-in-trouble trope, I'd recommend this one. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L...

4.5 solid stars!!

What would you do if your husband comes home from work one day and tells you he's in love with someone else?

Claire Ridgeway has everything. A seemingly perfect marriage, a successful and handsome husband, three gorgeous kids and a beautiful home. Everything is where it should be until her husband came home and told her he's in love with someone else. And to add insult to injury, Claire just found out she's pregnant with their fourth child and was about to tell her husband the news.

Talk about getting the rug pulled out from under you.

I was prepared to hate Kirk just by reading the blurb alone. I mean, the man had an affair with his co-worker while his wife was pregnant although he didn't know it at that time. I mean, how could he, right? Surprisingly, I didn't hate Kirk. I actually liked his character, flaws and all.

Unlike most cheating books, this one, at least for me, took a frank look at how cheating affects a marriage. Kudos to C.J. Carmichael for keeping this realistic and shall I say, mature portrayal of this touchy subject. I say mature because cheating wasn't swept under a rug or magnified or glorified for that matter, it was discussed and dealt with in an honest albeit emotionally painful, manner.

It was painful to watch Claire and Kirk dealing with the aftermath of his revelation. I was a wreck reading this book but in a good way because this was done so well. As I mentioned before, I really didn't hate Kirk's character at all. In spite of his feelings, he was mature enough to realize that he wanted to make his marriage work. He did jump through the hoops to get Claire back. He wasn't always successful but as a reader, I actually ended up rooting for him.

Claire was also a great character. You feel her pain. She was, understandably, more reluctant to give her marriage a try. As the book progresses, we find out that even before Kirk's revelation, things aren't quite as perfect as people believed their marriage to be. Kirk's revelation only brought everything to the surface.

I know cheating isn't everybody's cup of tea but if you are to, at least try to read one, this book is it. Great characters, well written and realistic. Of course, Kirk and Claire did have their HEA and it was a convincing one too, IMO.

By the way, Kirk didn't sleep with the other woman but they made out, went to dinners together and spent time together. It was, in every sense of the word, an extra-marital affair.

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Infidelity whether it's physical or emotional is a very complex problem. It's a betrayal of trust which is very hard to explore effectively in the constraints of the category romance. The publishing rules make it difficult because the author has to end on a upbeat HEA. This is part of the Harlequin branding, it's a decades long contract between the company and their readers. When one buys a romance novel there are certain expectations which the reader brings to the experience.

It's same with Superheroes, mysteries and every other genre. The reader and the publishers have that unspoken agreement that certain rules exist. Batman isn't going to have a crisis of faith and turn to the dark side and work with the Legion of Doom. He isn't gong to come to the Justice League meeting and say "hey you know what guys, I think the Joker might be right, why are we doing this again? Humanity doesn't even appreciate us"

In this story Kirk comes home to tell his wife this "The thing is, Claire, I've fallen in love with someone else" This is unequivocal. He's not telling her he's feeling unhappy or restless, he's already mentally checked out.

Claire meanwhile is the traditional housewife with three kids who also just learned she's pregnant. Oooops.

This is where this story tries to be both the fantasy (which is what these stories are) and explore some really really painful topics. With those words ,in the real world, Kirk has changed his relationship with Claire and his children forever. You can't rebuild trust to what it used to be even if you can evolve the relationship to the point of forgiveness and even going forward together. However, once one party hears from the other such stark words, it's not going to ever go away.

However, because this takes place within a genre with clear restrictions the real fallout can't be explored.

We end back on some real outdated, even for 2000, cliches. I think it's well past time that we stop expecting stay at home moms to be all things for all people. They are raising fellow HUMAN BEINGS. The spouse who works outside the home is an adult and has no excuse in not understanding the demands young kids put on you. It isn't the stay at home spouse's responsibility to take care of the spouse who gets appreciation and compensation in terms of salary, glowing reviews, and the personal satisfaction of meeting goals.

Parenthood isn't like that, as those of us who raised or are raising kids know. It's never ending and gets very little respect from society.

So when Kirk was whining about how hard he works and how she doesn't appreciate what he does, and the minute he walks through the door he gets upset that he's made to feel guilty for missing a child's recital? Boo Hoo Kirk.

You're an adult not a sullen teenager. Immediately sit down with your spouse and explain your side. Explain that the lifestyle you are all living is predicated on the number of hours you work. While the spouse can tell you how sad the kids are that you weren't there to see them do whatever, and explain why this is so important. This then opens the door to discuss priorities.

Kirk and Claire are financially living a good life. Does he want to be part of his daughters' childhood triumphs and experiences? If the answer is yes, then sit down and budget out what will have to change if he reduces hours. Do you need to move in to a smaller house? Do you need to drive less expensive cars? Is downsizing their lives worth spending more time with the family?

This is also a conversation that could have taken place in the therapist office (that's another problem, the therapist felt more like a narrator trying to explain to the reader why we should root for them to stay together).

What I felt needed to happen was some indication that both Claire and Kirk understood things would have to change in the marriage. Another difficult question that wasn't even raised was this unplanned pregnancy. Again, because of the genre it's published in, Claire isn't allowed to ask what many women in her place would.

When Kirk said he was in love with another woman, she knows she's pregnant, it's very difficult for me to believe that she wouldn't think about termination. Conveniently she finds out as she's ending her first trimester but that doesn't mean she wouldn't question exactly how many months and if she's still is in the window of that being a possibility. The marriage is in crisis, they have three kids, is it fair to bring in another in to this mess? This is another thing I felt should have been addressed in that therapist's office. Kirk's rage at finding out was again, ridiculous. Dude. You came home to tell your wife that you LOVE somebody else, and have been dating her and making out with her, you lost the right for moral superiority.

Claire should have also worked on her own plans for survival going forward. Can she support herself? I'd have liked to see her become more independent and self sufficient even as they work to repair the damage.

Claire's regrets at not ending up with Grady was another plot point not given it's due. Conveniently Grady is in love with somebody else so there is no real danger that Claire will really leave.

Kirk's attitude toward Grady in that one scene was just bizarre. He throws a jealous fit out of nowhere. Uh. Hypocrisy Kirk isn't very attractive.

Meanwhile Grady's and Claire's conversation seemed to be lifted from a 1950s "how to understand your man" text. 2000 wasn't so long ago that that attitude can excused. Sidebar? We have to teach our boys, just as we do our girls, women aren't here for the male ego. There is a vein of blaming the victim in the conversation between those two which made me very uncomfortable.

I couldn't help but wonder what the attitude would have been if Claire had been the one lying, meeting up for drinks and make out sessions? Would Kirk get the same type of counseling she did? I have my doubts.

In general it is set up that Claire has very limited options and the expectation is she should forgive.

I think they should have separated for a bit before the resolution. Kirk would have to deal with his children in ways he hasn't before because Claire did all the heavy lifting and maybe he'd have a better understanding of how easy she made his life. Meanwhile if Claire worked outside the home, it would have helped her find herself and realize that she doesn't *need* to stay with Kirk but maybe she wants to. Maybe all the years together and the children they share are enough to work beyond this.

Claire thought at one point "She would willingly trade some of that success for his spending more time with the children. But that choice was Kirk's to make"

Yes, but then if he chooses NOT to trade in that success? He has to take personal responsibility for that choice and accept that he's going to lose his family and stop whining that Claire doesn't understand how hard he works, because clearly she isn't invested in all the material goods that said success brings. Meanwhile Claire needs to stop crying victim that he's not there for the family because that isn't his priority.

How do they resolve this disconnect? Do we see the changes they both have to make in the marriage? Do they cut back on the material goods? Do they share both the financial and child-rearing responsibilities?

I understand staying in the marriage after something like this. However it's not ever going to be the happy ever after the way it's presented here. She wondered who he was talking to that one time and he got all upset? Well that is going to happen for a long time Kirk, maybe it'll be in the back of her mind for years before she stops wondering. Same with his calling to say he has a business dinner. Just because Janice (the other woman) leaves doesn't mean there won't be other woman and other opportunities.

This isn't a problem which can be fixed in months and a few sessions of therapy to end with unconditional love and trust. Stories like this can't end with the traditional hearts and flowers HEA, it's so much more complex and open ended.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

TORONTO the year 2000
Kirk and Claire were a couple in their late thirties. They had been married for twelve years.
Kirk was a successful Broker and Claire was a school teacher, but she'd given up the previous year to spend more time with the family. The couple had three girls under ten.

Kirk's number one priority was his career, while Claire wanted a family guy. He did not prioritise their family life, leaving Claire to do all the heavy lifting.
She was raising their daughters virtually on her own while Kirk was whining that Claire did not understand how hard he worked.

That particular morning Claire drove the girls to school, and back home received a phone call from her Doctor. Claire's test results were in, she was pregnant with the fourth child.
A few minutes later Kirk walked into the room. He said: "Sometimes, Claire, new situations arise, circumstances can change. The think is, l've fallen in love with someone else "
Claire felt as if her whole world was crushing down right in front of her.
"Who is she?"
"Janice, from work "
"We had her to dinner last fall. Didn't she just separated from her husband?"
"They are divorced now. She went through a rough period when they decided to split. She needed someone to talk to, and l was handy. We began going out for lunch every now and then, and...we haven't been sleeping together "
"How honourable! What about the kids, Kirk? Did you ever think of them when you were having your lovely romantic evenings?"
"What do you want? I'll do whatever you say"
"Leave, the sooner the better "
"And tonight?"
"I don’t care where you stay. Just not here"

Claire thought about her children. How would they feel about their father beginning a new life with someone else? And the poor unborn child! Why this was happening to her family?
She thought that she was a woman who had it all. Beautiful children, a successful, handsome husband, a lovely home, a luxurious cottage by the lake in Muskoka for the Summer holidays.
She thought that at least the school year was ending in a week's time. They'd have the Summer to sort through everything.

MILD SPOILERS
Kirk's thoughts about Janice: "Their relationship had started with the occasional innocent lunch. Janice had been very upset after her divorce. Those lunches became more frequent, open meetings evolved into secret rendezvous. At some point he knew he was falling in love, and Janice told him she wanted more. To this point they only had kisses and make out sessions, but now she wanted to make love with him. Excitement, longing, guilt and self-doubt filled him. They've been building up to this for the last few months. But it wasn't that simple. He thought of a different woman, two rings, a spoken vow. He told Janice that he needed to talk to Claire first.
He thought about Claire who was in love with her High school boyfriend Grady when he dumped her to marry someone else. Grady and Claire continued to be friends to this day and Kirk always felt second best with her. She compared the two and he came up short. She was obsessed with Grady for the last twenty years."

The next day Kirk went by the house to pick up some clothes.
Claire asked him: "What are you going to do Kirk? Are you going to move in with her? Marry her? Have children with her?
"I don't know. I certainly haven't made any plans. How can l when you and me..."
"Do you want a divorce?"
"I don't know, l am quite confused "
"I've told the girls you're away on a business trip. That'll give us a few days to decide what to say to them and how"

On the last day of school Kirk told Claire that he phoned a family counsellor that told him that until they resolve the issues between them, they should try to keep things as normal as possible for the sake of the children.
"In other words Kirk, you want to stay married but continue to see your girlfriend "
"All l am asking is that we protect the kids while we are working this out"

The next day Claire drove herself and the kids to their holiday cottage by the lake and Kirk was supposed to visit on the weekends.
On his first weekend visit he insisted on them visiting a family counsellor, and Claire reluctantly agreed.
She asked him what were the chances they could save the marriage when he was in love with someone else.
"I've been doing a lot of thinking Claire. Since you and the girls left, l've missed all of you. If you agree to come to counselling with me, l'll stop seeing Janice outside of work until we sort this out"
"I keep thinking back Kirk, to all the times you called to say you'd be working late, and wondering how many times it was true. Why should l believe you now?"
"Okay l deserved that. I am telling the truth now. I am making an effort to do the right thing. I've got to know if we can fix our marriage "

Does therapy really save a marriage?
At the counsellor's Kirk and Claire vocalised the emotions they held inside for a long time.
"Janice and l had an emotional connection that Claire and l have been missing. We never had the marriage we ought to have had. Something always been missing "
"Why are we here Kirk if you were never happy, why bother trying to fix things at this late stage? If only you'd come to me about the problems in our marriage before you turned to someone else "
"It happened so gradually. I didn't realise what was missing in our marriage until l found it with her"

And in the heat of the therapy session Claire blurted out she was pregnant.
Did one unborn child count for more than three existing ones?
"Do you love your wife, Kirk?"
"No question about it"
"Then you've got to earn her trust "
"How?"
"By being trustworthy "

This is a case study on how infidelity affects a marriage, deals with the betrayal of trust and it's aftermath and how to work to repair the damage.
This couple tried to salvage their marriage, figure out what went wrong, instead of throwing it away.

[KristenReviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

3–Realistic–Stars



I normally don't read books about infidelity but I was curious to see how an author would tackle the devastating affect this situation brings to an established family.

The Fourth Child is about a woman's emotional journey to try and save her marriage and family due to infidelity. I really liked the concept, but I would have preferred more focus on the couple rather than on the heroine and her struggle to deal with her husband's betrayal. Simply put, I became bored during parts of this book because of that.

Still, this is a realistic portrayal of the heartache, devastation, havoc, and trust issues caused by forms of infidelity. It also showcased that healing is possible and a relationship and family can survive with communication. hard work, and, of course, forgiveness.

[reeder (reviews) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want to review this book based on what the author is attempting to do (using infidelity as a catalyst for recognizing a marriage is in decline and repairing it), but I can’t because the author’s narrative choices combined with the characters’ actions give me rage.

We’re introduced to the husband in the midst of lying to his wife about working late so he can spend quality time with his girlfriend. There’s a faint thread of “how did I become this guy” running through his internal monologue, but it’s drowned out by how excited he is about this new relationship. A lot of attention is given to how attractive, slender, perky-boobed and great-smelling the OW is. I suppose this scene exists to generate anxiety in the reader and show what the cheating spouse is getting out of the relationship that might drive a man to put his marriage in jeopardy, but I could never stop seeing this guy as a liar attracted to a younger, perkier woman while the old model was at home raising his children.

He drops the bomb on his wife and simultaneously tries to present himself in the good guy role by informing her that he hasn’t slept with the other woman yet, and right now in this moment he’ll do whatever his wife wants him to. I’m assuming that offer doesn’t actually extend to dumping the OW and grovelling for a full year. Rather, it’s a version of how do YOU want to handle the damage I just dealt you? This offer strikes me exactly the wrong way. Dude, you had time to prepare. She’s been blindsided.

The Other Woman. The narrative drops a ton of hints that she’s a woman we could love to hate (she had been a guest at the heroine’s dinner table; she apparently can’t live without a man, since she went straight from her divorce to dating the married H; she’s pushing for their relationship to advance into sexual intimacy; she leaves her lipstick in the hero’s car to be discovered by the wife), but Carmichael coyly deprives the reader of that satisfaction because blaming a third party for the problems in a marriage deflects from the real problems in the marriage. The OW is just a prop, to be picked up or forgotten as needed, and this is abundantly clear in the way the H supposedly pauses his relationship with the OW immediately after telling his wife about the affair. What are the promises he made to the OW when he put her on ice? We don’t see those conversations because they’re black marks against the husband, and that’s not what the author wants us to focus on. Unfortunately, the sleight of hand doesn’t work. I’m obsessed with the missing scenes between the husband and the OW.

By page 131, maybe six weeks after revealing it to his wife, he announces that the affair is over. It was just an infatuation. He loves his wife and family and is committed to making his marriage work. And I’m pissed because he couldn’t have thought this through before telling his wife he was in love with another woman? The slide into the affair was presented as something organic and unexpected, but he erected a barrier before sleeping with the other woman, so we’re led to believe some reflection went into the decision to tell his wife. Nowhere in that reflection did he assess his feelings, probable outcomes, perhaps consider counseling for himself (since he was so eager to suggest it to his wife)?

He has the audacity to get angry because his wife now has trust issues. Are. You. Kidding. Me?

The author attempts to balance their marital discontent: he’s professionally ambitious and feels she doesn’t value his success at work; she is vocally disappointed that he doesn’t prioritize their family life, particularly time with their three daughters. I think his issue is a genuine source of concern in a marriage. Work is largely how he defines himself, and the message she’s sending is she doesn’t care about his accomplishments. We all want to be praised and admired, yes? The problem for me is that she’s verbalizing her issue and is disrespectfully being labelled a nag, while he doesn’t communicate his issue at all until after he betrays her.

This is the killer for me: the wife’s dissatisfaction with the marriage is that her husband is too focused on work and doesn’t spend enough time with his family. He...takes that time to have an affair. WTF. The heroine expresses her bitterness about this at their first couples’ therapy session, and I don’t think the hero ever addressed it with any remorse.

Their couples therapy. First, I can’t figure out why he asked for it. Was that his objective in revealing the affair? Or was this another “I’m a good guy” move, pretending he was willing to work on the marriage he had just torpedoed? Second, it bugs me that he spoke privately to the therapist when he set up the appointment and again when he arrived at the first session before his wife, but the heroine was expected to speak to the therapist for the first time in the presence of her husband.

...this is all pretty heavily anti-hero. The other reason the book doesn’t work for me is that I didn’t find the wife a particularly appealing character either. Her desire to keep the sorta-OM as a boyfriend option extended to pettiness about the woman he is trying to build a relationship with, and that whole scenario tarnished the heroine for me.

[StMargarets · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cheating story. The story opens with the hero lying to his wife about staying at work late and then anticipating seeing the OW. The OW is a work colleague who has used the hero as an emotional prop after her divorce. She wants to take their emotional affair to the next level and make it physical. The hero balks at this and the next scene is the ambivalent hero telling his pregnant wife (he doesn't know this yet) and mother of his three children that he has fallen in love with someone else.


It does not go well, as you can imagine.

The rest of the story is the hero coming to his senses, and trying to make up again as the heroine takes the three girls to their lakeside cottage for the short Ontario summer. The hero joins them on weekends, so the heroine has plenty of time to lick her wounds and gestate baby #4.

reeder has written a great review about why this hero and his actions are so problematic. I'll add to her points by saying I hated how he made the heroine responsible for his emotions. He couldn't deal with the temptation and he just had to tell the heroine so she could talk him out of it. Why else would he say such a thing and then expect to talk about it? Was he waiting for permission to cheat? Was he trying to hurt the heroine, couched in passive-aggressive terms? I think he was trying to hurt her and this was a power move on his part.


So his refrain throughout - we have to talk - felt like bullying to me. He wanted her pain and emotions on a platter for some weird reason.* And this is where the marriage counselling scenes went flat. All the marriage counselor did was assure the heroine that many relationships can become stronger after cheating when trust is restored. This is about as helpful as this statement: 4 out of 5 dentists recommend Trident for their patients who chew gum.

*The weird reason the hero wants his pound of flesh from the heroine is that he has always felt second best with her. She was madly in love with her high school boyfriend who dumped her to marry the girl he got pregnant. Twenty years later she is still carrying a torch for him and she sees him on a *daily basis* when she is at the lake. This never comes out in counseling - the H/h don't address this directly. It's an elephant in the room the author skirts around .

But don't feel bad for the heroine. She is just as selfish as the hero in her emotions/thoughts/actions. For instance, she is jealous of her old flame's new girlfriend who is on the run from an abusive husband - really heroine? You're a monster.

So why three stars?

While the author never resolves their marital differences, she does change the focus. She shifts the focus from the marital drama to the idyllic life of 8 short weeks on the Muskoka lakes. (This is old money territory. These people are seriously well off)

While I didn't grow up in Canada, my son did. The school year here is long. You are only free from school on June 30 and you are back after Labor Day. That's it - that's all you get - 8 weeks. And that's what resonated with me in this story. The H/h resolve their differences because they both love their kids, they know that time is short, and they have one more on the way.

It's ironic that I read this during our Canadian Thanksgiving three-day weekend. The last scene of the story is Thanksgiving which takes place in early October - not late November like in the US. Many people celebrate out at their lake houses on this day (like the characters) because it's a good time to close up for the winter. The change of seasons. Watching your children grow (all those water skiing scenes). There is a certain poignancy and comfort in focusing on the home fires.

So author changed the focus on a less-than-perfect relationship and made it feel like a happy-enough ending.

After I read this, I returned to Michelle Reid's The Ultimate Betrayal, one of the best cheating stories I've ever read. The H/h actually dealt with their issues and the love the hero had for the heroine was never in doubt (unlike this story). So read that one if you enjoy a cheating story that makes sense.

[boogenhagen · Rating 2 out of 5]

My issues with this book are that I was actually on the husband's side instead of the wife. She deserved to get dumped in my honest opinion.

A lot of attention goes to the husband starting a relationship with another woman, while his wife 'languishes' at home. I wasn't seeing that at all. What I saw was a woman irked because the man she really wanted did not want her, so she settled for TWELVE YEARS for a man who could provide her with the lifestyle she wanted.

She CONTINUALLY rubbed it in his face that her dream beau was so much more than her husband was and then she whines when he tells her he is interested in someone else, but they have kids so he will try to make things work with her.

Which is brutal and harsh, but so much less than the skillet to the head I would have given the bovine snot licking nematode woman that I couldn't feel bad for her. Honestly, had the roles been reversed and it was the heroine in the hero's position, the calls would be long and loud for the heroine to dump the marriage and move on.

The wife is sooo OTT in her twenty year obsession that she even tries to break up her dream beau's new relationship, because then he won't be available to help her out and fantasize over.

I am not against a little happy daydream every once in a while - Viggo Mortenson as Aragon is a total happy moment for me, as is Vin Diesel as Riddick- but really, this woman was emotionally cheating for TWELVE YEARS and then wonders why a man she treated like a lap dog is ready to dump her sorry hiney.

He should have done it, he would be much better off without her lame attempts at reconciliation and I shudder to think what kind of women their girls are going to be when they are adults. There was no real resolution either, more a 'we must stay together for the kid's sake'. But I don't believe this relationship will go the distance and I foresee a divorce in about 10 years.

Hopefully the husband can find a woman who really loves him and this wife gets sloughed off with the minimum in alimony and is left to her sordid fantasy life all alone.

[Lu Bielefeld · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Liked it!
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♥♥♥♥Rereading in 2024♥♥♥♥♥
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Relido em 28 de novembro de 2021
Re-read in December 2017 = added highlights and my feelings...
Re-read in March 2015 = Added one more star

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A very well written story that engages the reader from beginning to end.
But I would not take the cheater back, he was a son of a bitch.
And Janice was a bitch who knew the man was married.
He was loving the attention of a younger woman who fed his ego.
While the two had dates and dinners while pretending to work late, he did not remember his wife taking care of her three daughters at home alone.
And he spoke openly in the face of his wife who was in love with another woman and did not even remember her feelings or how his attitude would affect her daughters.
And he admitted that he kissed Janice and she even left a lipstick on the glove compartment of his car. Real evidence of the cheating left by Janice for his wife to find out.
Saying that he did not have sex with Janice did not convince me, I got the impression that something more intimate happened between them.

Already the place had the hollow, muted atmosphere he associated with afterhours and weekends.
And Janice.

Occasional lunches became more frequent; open meetings evolved into secret rendezvous. At what point had he known he was falling in love? Kirk still wasn't sure. But he did know the time had come to do something about it. Last week at dinner, Janice had told him she wanted more. He couldn't pretend not to understand what she meant.

"What about here, Kirk? What about now? The place is deserted. I've locked the door."

He groaned. God, he couldn't believe it. She was offering him his ultimate fantasy. How many nights had he lain awake thinking of something just like this? Now he swallowed, his gaze automatically settling on the hint of cleavage between the parted layers of silky blouse.

"If I kiss you, this time I won't be able to stop there."

"But that's okay," Janice said, leaning in toward him. "That's what I've been trying to tell you."

"The thing is, Claire, I've fallen in love with someone else."

Kirk always worked long hours, and lately they'd been even longer than usual. Had there been other signs she'd missed? They'd been making love less frequently. And saying I love you even less.

Regardless of whether Kirk had slept with Janice, he'd broken his wedding vow to Claire. He was in love with the other woman, and how could Claire compete? She was ten years older, overweight— and pregnant on top of everything!

Add 2021

“Looks like I'll be working late again tonight." The lie came so easily Kirk Ridgeway almost believed it himself.

"Tell the kids I love them, and don't bother waiting up."

Already the place had the hollow, muted atmosphere he associated with afterhours and weekends. And Janice.

Six months earlier he would have said he and Janice were just friends.

Their relationship had started with the occasional innocent lunch—Janice had been very upset after her divorce.

Occasional lunches became more frequent; open meetings evolved into secret rendezvous. At what point had he known he was falling in love? Kirk still wasn't sure.

"What about here, Kirk? What about now? The place is deserted. I've locked the door."

She was offering him his ultimate fantasy.

"If I kiss you, this time I won't be able to stop there."

"There's something I've been meaning to talk to you about," Kirk said. "And I didn't want the girls around."

He still wouldn't look at her. "I know I haven't been around much these past few months…"

"The thing is, Claire, I've fallen in love with someone else."

Kirk always worked long hours, and lately they'd been even longer than usual. Had there been other signs she'd missed? They'd been making love less frequently. And saying / love you even less.

"Who is she?"

"Janice. From work." Claire knew the name. Knew the woman. "We had her to dinner last fall."

Janice was a brokerage assistant, almost ten years younger than Claire. A fine-boned, slender young woman, with large, light brown eyes and a wide, generous smile.

"So that's where you've been these past few months when you said you were working late."

"What about the kids?" Claire straightened and glared at him. "Yes, what about the kids, Kirk? Did you ever mink of them when you were having your lovely romantic evenings?"

"Leave." She closed the dishwasher door, unable to bear looking at him. He was a liar, a traitor. Maybe he'd never even loved her. "The sooner the better."

Claire smoothed the cotton shirt that lay over her belly, already feeling the swelling that was her baby. And Kirk hadn't even noticed…

"What are you going to do, Kirk? Are you going to move in with her? Marry her? Have children with her?" He closed his eyes briefly. "I don't know. I certainly haven't made any plans. How can I when you and I—" "Do you want a divorce?"

"In other words, you want to stay married but continue to see your girlfriend."

"What about Janice? How does she feel about you sleeping at the house with me?" "Janice knows I'm married."

"He's fallen in love with another woman." "No." Mallory's body went rigid. "Are you sure?" Claire felt the tears begin to gather again. "He told me himself."

"Kirk, what's the chance we can save this marriage when you're in love with someone else?"

"I'll admit there were times when I stretched the truth—stretched it terribly. Usually, at least some work was involved."

"I guess mere's more than one way to deceive your wife."

Regardless of whether Kirk had slept with Janice, he'd broken his wedding vow to Claire. He was in love with the other woman, and how could Claire compete? She was ten years older, overweight— and pregnant on top of everything!

"Janice and I had an emotional connection that Claire and I have been missing for a long time. That's true."

"Well, it's pretty hard to have an emotional connection with a man who's never home."

"For months he told me lies, neglected our kids, spent all his free time with her. So what if they didn't actually have sex? And so what if guilt finally made him admit the truth to me? He should never have let the relationship progress as far as it did."

"God, Kirk, I'm three months pregnant and you haven't been around enough to notice!"

He spent almost all his time at work, and when he was home, he was hardly accessible. At least not emotionally.

"Why are we here?" Claire's hands trembled. "If you were never happy, why bother trying to fix things at this late stage?"

"But it happened so gradually. I didn't realize what was missing in our marriage until I found it—with her."

No, Janice was an intelligent, attractive woman who was interested in a genuine, long-term, full relationship. That was what had brought this whole situation to a head.

"You said you never made love to her. But did you kiss her? Did you touch her?" Kirk's arms were wrapped around his bare chest. He looked confused, befuddled. "Let's not talk about that now, Claire. Please…" ''You did, didn't you? You kissed her…" God, this hurt, maybe more than anything else so far.

He'd kissed Janice but had gone no further. In real life. But how about fantasy? If he'd been in love with Janice, he must have thought about her. Maybe even when he was making love with his wife. Maybe even this time…

No tissues. But something else was in there, something small, shiny, cool to the touch. She curled her fingers around it and pulled it out. A tube of lipstick. And it wasn't hers.

Finding that lipstick in Kirk's glove compartment should have been such a little thing. After all, it didn't change a single thing she already knew about Janice and Kirk. Yet that slender metal tube had put an image in her head that she just could not shake.

Janice in the car next to Kirk. Gliding on her lipstick as she anticipated their dinner together. And at the end of the evening…a kiss. That woman had kissed her husband.

"You aren't over her, are you?" "No, I'm not," he agreed.

"I know you said things had to change between us. But what about our friendship? I've come to really count on you, Kirk. And I miss our time together." "We can't be friends anymore, Janice. It wouldn't be right." "But why?"

"Claire has to come first. She's my wife, after all. I wouldn't blame her for being angry at seeing us together."

"You are a heartless bastard." The feeling behind the words gave him a quiver of conscience. He hadn't meant to hurt Janice.

[Vintage · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, I changed my mind and ended up reading this. Yay me. No. Not really. The other GR reviewers have already nailed it.

Total downer. I guess it's a well done for a second chance, emotional cheating story (hint: equal opportunity emotionally cheating), it just wasn't enjoyable.

The husband admits to "falling" in love with a co-worker. No adultery at this point. He's weepiness and mea culpas were actually as annoying as his confession, and they go on forever.

The heroine is pretty strong about the whole situation, but when you take into account her incredibly fond memories for her first boyfriend who just happens to live near the old lake house she and her daughters visit every summer , her ability to bounce back is in question.

Essentially flawed characters trapped in a typical marriage meltdown.

Too much realism for me.

Best thing of the book is the cover, and it's not even accurate.

[Debbie DiFiore · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just reread this again and I am so mad at myself. I read some reviews and I thought maybe give it a chance and I am so mad at me. Bad Decision. I cried so hard. The scene where they have sex and then she says did you kiss her? Did you touch her? And he said yes and she broke down sobbing her heart out and my heart hurt so much for her. Then she found the lipstick in the glovebox (the other woman planted it for sure, the HO) and she was devastated. Then BAM! Wait for it... He NOW KNOWS he really loves his wife and he never loved the other woman at all. And that all came out after she tells him she was pregnant. WTH? What a loser scumbag cheater!!! I would have nailed him with a baseball bat while he was sleeping. I still want to and I just don't buy the HEA. I think he will cheat again and leave her and marry a younger woman just like his Father did. Just a total douche canoe and I hope I never try and give it another chance. I put myself in the corner for that decision. I should have spanked myself too. Bad Debbie Bad Debbie. Will be looking for some Old Garwoods and a nice chianti to get over this one.

[Raffaella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely a no-no for me.
The hero is a married man and a father of three children who has an affair with a younger woman.
No, they don't have sex but still he falls in love and in lust with her and is so idiot as to tell his wife he's in love with ow.
The poor wife has just found out she's pregnant again.
The idiot man asks her what do they do.
I was really throwing up.
This is the kind of man who is weak, coward and blames the vitcim for his cheating.
It was disgusting to know how he was lusting after ow and how he has been dreaming to have sex with her for months, and this made me wonder, since he had sex with his wife until one month before, if he thought of ow while boinking his wife and making another baby.
This would be really gross.
He asks his wife to go counseling and this is the only thing I appreciated about the book, and he told her he always felt as something has been missing from his marriage and ow was making him feel it. So the cheating was her fault.
I felt nauseous.
All this because the wife failed to fawn after him and his success as a businessman.
A wife who was raising his children while he wined and dined and made out with ow.
A wife who was also his perfect hostess.
A wife he keeps on knocking up while making out with another woman.
I have no words.
A loser if ever I saw one.
She leaves for their holiday house where she stays with all her friends. The idiot goes there to see his daughter in the weekend.
I didn't like this book at all.
I couldn't really believe he loved his wife.
He realized he loved her only after he started panicking about the mess his life would be if he left his family, with a pregnant wife and three daughters and all that.
No, this was not love.
This was him being a coward and a loser and chosing the easy way out.
The part where he tells her he always felt second best because her first boyfriend married ow and she basically settled for him was pitiful.
Nope.
She wasn't on the rebound when she met him.
Several years had passed and she was an adult.
They had three children together.
He was the worthless one.
And I don't feel any love between them.
He behaved as a coward also with ow, who wasn't the usual evil one, she was a divorcee maybe on the rebound who thought she had found a better man. Even if I don't understand how a woman who has just divorced a husband would want a married man.
The idiot hero tells her to get lost and he even refuses to be her friend anymore, because he would hurt his wife.
This man has no shame.
What is worse is that he was traumatized as a child because his father did the same thing.
He left his mother for a younger woman who left him after cleaning his bank account.
And he hurt his mother and him.
Obviously he didn't learn anything.
I don't believe in this HEA, I think a man like that will cheat again and will blame his wife- again.
The heroine wasn't my favourite person too, she refused any help with the house and her children, and then blamed her husband because he was never home and had to work.
She should have accepted some help, for herself, surely not for her husband.
OM drama was not believable at all. The heroine never lusted after him and she only felt a lingering fondness for her first love, that's all. Blaming her because he felt second best was low.

[Elle Markov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Claire has been married to Kirk for 12 years, they have 3 daughters and Claire has just learned there is fourth on the way. On the day Claire is about to tell Kirk, the slime ball blindsides her by saying he's in love with someone else, a woman that works at this office [not his secretary], Claire is pissed and tells him to leave.

Later Kirk suggest they try counseling because he has some epiphany and realizes what he's doing is what his Dad did to him and his mom. But, and this is rich he actually tells Claire, I will stop seeing the other woman if you agree to counseling; like WTF, how about just divorcing his lying, cheating ass.

While Claire is at home, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, and taking care of the kids, Kirk relaxes by wining and dining some skank instead of his wife. Kirk actually tells Claire that he feels she doesn't appreciate him, that she is always nagging him to help with the kids, to come home earlier, to spend more time with them. So, instead of saying "hey, wife lets go to dinner", no he takes the office girl. Perhaps the only silver lining is that he never slept with the other woman, he only had an emotional affair and the occasional make-out session.

Even though counseling helps and Claire and Kirk eventually reconcile, I still think Kirk is an ass. Instead of putting so much effort into having his emotional affair, he should have put the effort into being with his family and if he felt that his wife didn't give him enough attention or he felt neglected, he should have talked to her first, not the other woman. As for the other woman, she knew he was married, that he had a family, what she did was just low, getting involved with a married man and nearly ruining a family just because her marriage didn't work out.

I would have liked the book better if there had been a confrontation between Claire and the other woman. I didn't like the topic of the book, but the fact that it got me raving gives it a decent score.

Rating 3 out of 5
Read@Book

[Tmstprc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rereading 2/12/2021

I'm half way through a reread. I know this is a perennial favorite of cheating readers.

Keeping this at 3 stars, but not because I like it.

Going against the cheater reader grain here and admitting, yeah, no, this one doesn't really work for me.

1. He has spent months emotionally cheating on his wife and family. Prior to that he was a workaholic not really available to the family.
2. Being the "decent" guy he considers himself, he announces to his wife he's in love with another woman, but hey, they haven't had sex yet, thought you should know before hand.
3. Wife confirms she's pregnant with baby #4 5 minutes before the said "decent" guy dumps all this crap on her.
4. She's shocked, she's hurt, she internalizes anger, she tells him to leave and he does for a few days.
5. He comes home and announces he'll stop seeing the OW and is willing to try marriage counseling. Decent guy, right? He's willing, big of him after the fact.
6. She announces great, but she and the kids are leaving for the lake house the next day.
7. Decent Guy convinces her to go for counseling.
8. During the first session he's all about "fixing" things and he's not really that bad, and they weren't really that happy before his indiscretion, but he's not that inattentive to her and their kids. Oh yeah, decent guy, guess what? Your wife is 3 months pregnant you had no clue. That's how attentive you are. BEST scene in the book.
9. Decent Guy spends weekends with the family at the Lake House, and admits he's been an idiot and shouldn't have risked his marriage and his family (something his father also did), but honestly, for me it feels like lip service.

"...I've learned something, at least. How important my family is to me." That's it in a nutshell. Next he says "I love you, Claire. Is there any way I can make these past few months up to you?"

And her first thought... 'he hadn't seemed to remember he loved her before he found out she was pregnant'.

As a reader, I don't think we ever really get past this point. The rest of the books is filler until she forgives him and they move on. All the right things are done. There's lots of regrets and apologies and I'm sorries (I know it's not a word), but for me it rings false.

And not just him, he comes across as more resigned than sorry; but she feels shut down. We have the great scene at the marriage counselor and another where she drives off in the middle of the night. But she at times comes across as just lost, tired and cold, you don't feel her cycling through the process, sad, but not that sad, angry, but not that angry, and tired, tired of dealing with him.

I've probably read this 5 times, and I come away feeling the exact same way each time. That's probably why I've never written a review before. Maybe I'm not getting it, maybe it's me.

2 stars for the story, 1 star for her 2 good scenes.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 🌟 Stars
So I've been on a cheating marriage in trouble / cheating husband reading marathon lately. These books have different outcomes either there is either a choice to leave or marriage reconciliation. This book deals with the latter situation.

My first question whole reading is: Are the MMCs actions redeemable or should the fmc throw the whole man in the trash and start anew?

This book involved a husband and and wife with three children. The man comes home one day and tells his wife he's in love with someone else and plans on leaving her for the other woman on the same day that she finds out she's pregnant with their fourth child.

The rest of the book deals with the wife completely devastated with their family being broken up amd the husband groveling.

This book is from 2000
and I'd say ot was common at that time to leave a lot of the story in shades of grey instead of being black and white.

Also the third person storytelling leaves a lot out about what is going on with both the mmc and fmc emotionally.

You see a lot more of the fmcs feelings though. She doesnt see a way forward and the mmc is trying but floundering to convince her that he wants to be a family.

In my humble opinion this story isn't about staying together as a married couple because they love eachother. It's about staying together for the children ( especially for the new baby). Also staying together for appearance of a strong family unit.

The fmc still idolized her former high school boyfriend who she thinks dumped her to marry his pregnant ex but in the end he did n t choose her. He's with someone new and has shown no signs that he cares for the fmc beyond friendship.

The fmc is emotionally distant and the mmc says he didn't physically cheat but that's also a grey area given the information on the 1st chapter.

To me, it sure didn't seem like just an emotional cheating situation. The MMC took the Other Woman on dates and they talked about getting intimate in his office while he is supposed to be ' working late'.

It's a harlequin book from over 20 years ago so I think the grey area of cheating is there so the reader didn't chuck the book in the trash immediately after reading the first two chapters.

He was also emotionally and physically distant. It's not clear, beyond his children why he would even want to reconcile. Also for the fmc, beyond her children, what is tying her down to the mmc?

[Nikki ღ Navareus · Rating 5 out of 5]

***FIVE STARS***

Holy hell! I've been overloaded with reading angsty stories this past week while my hubby was working out of town, and I have loved it! This one was just the icing on the cake. What a ride. I loved the entire story, except I hated the therapist so much. Everything that came out of her mouth pissed me off.

Yep, pretty much. I didn't have much faith in therapists to begin with, but this one sealed the deal against seeing one if I should ever need to in the future. lol

Anyhow, this was a heartbreaking story of a marriage fractured by the husband telling his wife he wants to leave her for another woman that he's fallen in love with, then after finding out his wife is pregnant, trying to repair the damage that was now between them. It wasn't an easy journey and there were many tears. I loved every second of it.

[Debbie "Buried in Her TBR Pile" · Rating 4 out of 5]

Own in: Family Matters, an Anthology.

This one is a good marriage-in-trouble. I have the paperback and read it a couple of times over the years. I was fortunate to see the series anthology (different couples) on sale and picked it up for a re-read. H slowly slides down a slippery slope with a co-worker and tells his wife (h) that he has fallen in love with someone else after 12 years of marriage and 3 children. The h has just found out she is pregnant with their 4th child when H delivers his news. She doesn't disclose at the time and kicks him out. H suggests counseling and they live separately for a while with H visiting on weekends while H/h figure out how to tell the kids and if the marriage can be saved. 4 stars.

[MBR · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been in a kind of restless place lately wanting to get my hands on something unusual to read. I started with 2 books yesterday which I gave up reading after around half way through because the stories somehow didn't end up being what I was looking for. And so not to give up on my quest to find something different, I turned to this little number in my TBR pile, a paperback I acquired a couple of weeks back because of its unusual theme.

The Fourth Child delves into a topic that we come across rarely in romance novels. Because lets face it, no one wants to read about infidelity that involves either the hero or heroine, wanting our time out from the real world to be as picture perfect as possible. This book begins into the twelfth year of marriage between Kirk and Claire, whose life seems to be just about perfect to someone viewing it from the other side.

Well into her 30's, Claire is the mother of three beautiful daughters with the news of a fourth child on the way when mere ten minutes later her husband Kirk drops the bombshell that he is in love with someone else. Kirk's involvement with Janice begins innocently enough until six months later Kirk is forced to admit that their seemingly innocent get togethers have certainly turned into something of the more intimate variety which has Kirk questioning himself on whether he is ready to give up Claire and his girls for a few moments of guilty pleasure.

Claire feels as if her whole world is crashing down right in front of her upon receiving Kirk's admission of his feelings towards another woman. Betrayal, anger, jealousy and a whole riot of emotions swirl through Claire making her want to curl up into a ball and vent out all the emotions that seems to be suffocating her. And when Kirk tells her that he wants a shot at making things work in their marriage, though Claire is clearly hesitant to agree to it, she finds herself embarking on unchartered waters trying to find the right path on which they could both heal and learn to find the love that had drawn them together in the first place.

This was an interesting piece of work because it takes the reader through a journey of discovery between two people who earlier had found reasons to tie the holy knot of matrimony, who had embarked on a life together and made a home together to suddenly find out that they have been drifting apart for the last couple of months. The jolt that wakes them up, hurtful as it may be serves to be the point where both Kirk and Claire have to try to work things out, not only for the sake of their children but for themselves as well.

Though Kirk was the one to stray from his vows, I found myself admiring him because he had the guts to come out with the truth and let his wife know before things had proceeded to a point of no return. The challenges that Kirk and Claire face separately and together as they work things out all seem to be well thought out, with Claire and Kirk both facing some hard truths about themselves before they can finally reach a place where they are able to move forward and not look back. A well rounded tale that is certainly different from your average romance, a tale of family life, friendships that help you through the toughest times and a story of love and second chances that certainly had me racing towards the finish line without giving up - just to see how things turned out in the end.

Recommended for readers like myself who want something a little bit different in their world of romance now and then.

Rating=3.75/5

Original Review Posted at: Link to MBR's World of Romance

[Lidia's Romance · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Stars

Reread: April 2022
Excellent second chance romance. At 179 pages, it’s quick and still very much enjoyable. The angst will keep me coming back for more.

*****Original Review*****
Wow, that was surprisingly completely satisfying. And the sex scenes were fade to black. Huh, go figure.

Another Harlequin hit.
Check out 'Geri Reads' review. What she said!

[Danny Lea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this, but I think the book is improperly named. It's feels foreboding. Like the child is going to be a little demon or something 🤣🤣. Anyway, it's your typical marriage in trouble, emotional cheating story. Well written with a few grammatical errors I didn't care about. HEA with a very redeemable H as the tables were turned on h to look deep inside about her possible feelings she still had for her first love that the H felt unconsciously threatened about. Until shit hit the fan. Actually, kind of sad they wasted some good years not properly opening up to one another.

[Cheryl · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dragged and Boring

I'm not sure how everyone likes this. When the husband stated he was in love with another woman you'd think there would be a confrontation, but no! Nothing!

The book basically just drags on with a bunch of nothing to be honest. I had to skim a lot and still never finished, decided it wasn't worth anymore of my time.

To each their own!

[maddy · Rating 1 out of 5]

.

Unsatisfying remorse and resolution.

I never ever condone cheating but sometimes I'm in the mood to read heavy, morally questionable and controversial plots. And just hope that the road to the ending can justify the outcome whether it's HEA with reconciled couple or not.

If anything, this book actually hits close to reality of many if not majority of marriages tainted with infidelity.
The children's heartache over the idea of a broken family makes the choice to keep the family together matters more than the parent's personal struggle of being cheated on.
Well, I hope cheaters think of their children too before they betray their family and partner.


The OW leaving, and Kirk not giving a damn about it/her was a quick trust score and I'm not buying it because it was months of regular flirting and steady secret relationship. Sure they haven't slept together yet but they spent half a year of slow burn emotional affair, not just some meaningless past-time. It takes a certain level of trust and care to be that connected to someone.
How long the affair would've lasted if the OW did not insist on making it physical(sex)? Years? Coward asshat! His "no physical cheating" self-imposed rule bit the dust the moment he and OW kissed and groped each other!🤢

For a married possessive husband, would he consider it as "not physically cheating" if his wife kisses/flirts/touches another man?? Jeez. His possessive a$s might have an aneurysm on that scenario!
I would've rated this higher if the h tried to move on for a little while and gave her cheater hubs a lil dose of his own medicine. Not necessarily a new man, just live in a place for a year or two without H's shadow. The pregnancy would've been a chance for h to show her cheater hubs that she can go through it, can take care of herself, can be a mother, can truly live life without H.


For me, the Grady story was just the writer's way to even out hypocrite Kirk's cheating. Pfft. What ever. 🙄

〰️〰️

Safe?
▪️ Cheating H/OW on h. More on emotional, and some kisses and touches. Not much scenes as the story starts post-cheating.
▪️ Explicit scenes H/h only.

〰️

[Booklover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely Fabulous book,they way author handled Infedility-The Hubby does'nt sleeps with other woman,though he informs his wife he is leaving ,she throws himout,how the wife handles everything n how the hubby comes back eventually

Liked they way author has handled this situation n how it affects children,way hubby wins trust back n how family comes together again

Loved it
Recommend it

[Deserie williams]

note: cheater husband (he doesn't actually sleep with other woman ) lol but he takes her out and makes out with her! No thank you!

[Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love cheating books. I love the angst, the resentment, the grovel, the forgiveness, if and when its warranted. Just love it.

But I really hated this book.

The hero and heroine met a few years ago when she just broke up with the love of her life because his ex was pregnant so he did the right thing and married his ex. The heroine after this break up, met the hero and because her ex (who she put on a pedestal) was already taken she made the best of it with the hero. But her family is still good friends with her exes family(spend vacations together), so she still keeps in touch. For the heroine family is the number one priority which is good. For the hero the number one priority is his carrier and the family second, so he is not as involved at home. The hero, before he married the heroine told her this, he was honest about it: this is who I am and this is what you’re getting. She married him anyways and said it was oke, but now, a few years down the road, not so much.

So, the husband goes out with the other woman, who is a coworker, for a time and even considers to cheat but doesn’t and instead confesses everything to his wife and suggest marriage counseling. He really wanted the marriage to work. The heroine wasn’t really sure she could forgive him so she packs up her kids and goes to the vacation home. Her ex-boyfriend, who is still on the pedestal, is their neighbor there.

They go to marriage counseling to talk about their problems and I got it. First book ever where I thought that, yes!!!! Under those circumstances anyone would cheat! Granted I would have divorced that wife YEARRSSS ago, but still, they had kids and it was obvious that HE was the party working to make the marriage work and SHE the party resenting everything he did.
The ex-boyfriend on the pedestal got divorced a few years ago so now every time the hero does something he gets compared to the ex and he ALWAYS comes up short!!
The ex is a hands on family guy, and the hero is a carrier man. The heroine wanted a family guy. So I felt that emotionally and mentally she checked out way before he did. Every other page I had to read what a perfect guy the ex was and how he handles everything so differently compared to the hero.

I felt bad for the husband!! He deserved better! He deserved someone that appreciated and valued him for who he was, for who he wanted to be. Not this nagging wife that was so self-centered that she couldn’t let go of a dream ex in all those years.

He should have left her. I couldn’t believe in this HEA and I hated the heroine. The hero had an emotional affair for a few weeks that almost got physical, but she has been having an one-sided emotional affair with her ex for years! When she found out about her husband’s affair she went to stay near where the ex was, and had jealous thoughts about the exes new girlfriend. I feel like the only reason she forgave the husband was for the same reason they got married in the first place: her dream man, who she put on a pedestal, and can do no wrong in her eyes, is already taken, so she will suck it up and make the best of it with this guy, her husband.

No. hate this book

[Adensanti · Rating 3 out of 5]

hhmmm......

this is a book about how a "Trouble" family w/basic "problem" being hit by the third party. thing that i dont like, kirk put the OW in a very high position, i mean, he view her as someone who "purely" innocent. he even said that this ow that he falling in love with, is someone who is serious, dedicated, and doesnt want an affair. he said (in his mind), that this ow, is someone that wants to make his n her relationship into another "pure" level. did kirk has a tumour in his brain?? the heck??? this so called "amazing" ow is someone that he once brought to his home, eating lunch w/his wife and his children. this ow know exactly that kirk has been married for years, having 3 kids. yet, this ow also the one that "push" kirk to take their affair into another intimate relationship. yes, im talking about how this ow seduced him to hv sex w/her IN HIS OFFICE. yet, kirk has viewed her as someone who DOESNT WANT HAVING AN AFFAIR. ARE YOU F-ING KIDDING MEEEEE ???????????
im lost... evrything in this book is actually kinda make sense and can happened in real life. only the thought about kirk to his new love is irritated me. he's smart, yet he cant even saw her as a slut who wants to snatched away someone else's husband with 3 kids??????? yeah... right..

i do hope though, kirk's wife is more...angrier, im an emotional person, i kinda want kirk got slapped 2 or 3 times. a hard slap! and i meant it! and God, please forgive me, but i kinda felt anoying to andy. their daughter. i mean, i get it that she wants peace between her parents, and that she start to sense something "suspicious" between her parent. but why she only looking "what in the hell that you did, mom???" to claire? for god sake, she knws her mom working her ass out to provide her and her 2 other sisters a neat tidy home, and it was her dad that start to go home late and go away more. why would she stare her mom like that? and she clingly to her dad as if her dad is the most pefect dad ever??? grrr.... i wonder, if andy didnt put her self in defence like that to claire, wht will claire n kirk's relationship going from then. i mean, they barely can shout to each other, where i think claire deserved to shout tons of insult and anger to kirk. but claire cant. coz, again, she afraid of her kids to knw, esp andy. ughh...
hw i wish, janice isnt also on her holiday, so both 3 can put in to the "intense" everyday situation, and i want a face to face conversation. seriously. i want an adult way of solving problem ( a wrecked one, where it involve something sharp *grin), no, what i want, hw does kirk felt IF he hv to see janice evryday in his office while he start to "solve" his family situation.

guys, is there any novel where the cheating husband grovel the hell out of his living soul toward his wife? and the wife give him one heck of a hell to him. no ??

[Kace | The Booknerd · Rating 4 out of 5]

An affair doesn't have to mean the end of a marriage.

If someone told me that before I've read this, I might say, "Are you fuvcking serious? Get real!" Then probably slap her or something. But after reading The Fourth Child I began to understand what the author meant by that. Though I've never been married or experienced this kind of betrayal, I still understand it.

As I said before, cheating is a big no-no for me, that it's not my cup of tea! So when I read the blurb, I almost deleted it, but my curiosity got the better of me, so I decided to give it a chance. And I was surprised that I liked it! Because, unlike most cheating books, this one showed the readers how cheating affects marriage and the relationship between the couple and the entire family.

Honestly, I was not too fond of Kirk at first. And I thought that there was no way I would like him. But then, as the story progressed, I found myself admiring him because he had the guts to tell Claire the truth and was mature enough to fight and make their marriage work. He did his best to make Claire trust him and pushed her to believe that she was the only woman for him and he was in it for the long haul. Can you believe that I was rooting for him?

My heart broke for Claire. I loved how the author portrayed Claire's character. She's very relatable. You can feel her pain. She's hurt and having a hard time forgiving Kirk and trusting him again. And the question now is, can you rebuild a relationship once trust has been broken?

I loved how the author showed us the answer through Claire and Kirk. Yes, trust can be rebuild, and the relationship can be better than ever. But it takes work and doesn't come quickly. And that is what exactly happened to them. I loved that Kirk realized that just because he decided to go home, they would put their problems away in a vault and lock it up. I loved how the author let him understand what Claire had felt and experienced when he told her that he's fallen in love with someone else. The scene where Claire finally broke down broke my heart, and I was crying along with her.

I'm not agreeing, but I can say that an affair doesn't have to lead to divorce or breakup, especially if the two people involved were committed to staying in, staying strong, and working on it together.

Overall, The Fourth Child was an emotional, gut-wrenching, tear-jerker, and heartwarming story about a second chance. I highly recommend this to everyone, especially to married ones.

[Steph · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had the potential to be a really good book but fell way short of even bring remotely riveting. A husband and wife that I can't even mind their names now a few hours after reading it lol..anyway he says he's fell in love with someone else and wife is devastated and even more so as she's just discovered she is pregnant with their 4th child. Very quickly hubbie decides he doesn't want this other woman and never loved her he wants his wife oh Claire is her name I think.
He turns on the charm n she falls into his arms, they seek couples therapy n have a few stumbling blocks n hardships but she is so pathetic I want to punch her!
Throw in a few of the wife's old friends,one being her first love and you know she still harbours some feelings for him and is comparing him to her workaholic husband but then she realises that no she doesn't love him,her husband is the man for her.
Yes it's all for showing you marriages can survive affairs but I'm not someone that could so I just found this book sad and boring with even worse people in it.

[JG · Rating 5 out of 5]

An affair doesn't have to mean the end of a marriage.

A few hours ago I would have said bullcrap.

The Fourth Child is...a great book, actually. I think every couple should read it. It's not about a cheating, grovelling bastard- it's about a couple trying to salvage their marriage, it's about trying to figure out what went wrong. I don't think I can explain this properly. All I can say is, it showed how love works in mysterious ways.

When marriages takes turn for the worst- this book shows what happens when couple tries to fix it instead of throwing it away (there would be lower divorce rate, i give you that), the marriage becomes stronger than ever before. I seriously believe that! Can you see why I just adore this book?

It's not about getting even and who's punishing who, it's about communication, forgiveness, self-reflection, and love.

[KathyB · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I would have enjoyed this more if I would have read the other books in the series. It was okay, but not a favorite. I loved the beginning, unfortunately the heroine got on my nerves about halfway through. The ending was also a little disappointing, I would have liked a better epilogue and look further into the future.

This was good, not great. I'd still recommend for those who like marriage in trouble stories, it's a quick read with good drama. - 3.5 Stars.

Triggers -Hero is having a mostly emotional affair with a coworker. He's kissed and touched her, but didn't go further because of guilt.

[Jac K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clair and Kirk are struggling to make their marriage work after Kirk confesses he's in love with another woman. The situation is made more difficult when Clair realizes she's pregnant the same day Kirk drops his bomb.

I think the book was very relatable and relevant to many couples struggling to raise children while prioritizing their marriage. I understand it is always an effort to balance creating drama (hubs behaving badly) but not hating him so you as the reader are invested in their journey. I felt this balance was a bit off. Kirk is portrayed as having an "emotional affair" because they didn't have sex. Much of the book is made up of Clair struggling to forgive, but they never really got down to the tough stuff. I believe she ask him if other stuff went on (touching) which he acknowledges, but that's it. I feel like the author missed the opportunity for deeper more emotional read by glazing over this. I wish they would have hashed out everything...Christina and Owen style is Grey's. The journey would have been the same, but it should have been an uglier, more real trip.