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When My Husband Chose the Office

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When My Husband Chose the OfficeSome betrayals happen in the heart long before they reach the body.

Arista

I thought we had it all. The successful careers, the beautiful home, the marriage everyone envied. But somewhere between building our empire and living our dream, my husband stopped seeing me.

And then I found the journal about his "work wife" and now I don't know if I can ever trust him again.

Wesley

I destroyed the best thing in my life, and I didn't even realize I was doing it.

Arista was always there—constant, steady, perfect. So perfect that I stopped trying. Stopped seeing her. Stopped making her feel like she mattered.

And when Carrie made me feel seen, feel needed, feel like I was more than just a paycheck and a last name—I let myself fall into something I never should have started.

Now Arista is living in our guest house and I don't know if she'll ever let me close enough to fix this.

But I'll spend the rest of my life trying.

Because losing her isn't an option.

A story of betrayal, redemption, and the long road back to trust. This is a dual POV, emotionally intense romance with explicit sexual content and a hard-earned HEA.

130 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 9, 2026

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Poe Emerson

32 books10 followers

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
Profile Image for dropitlikeitshotx.
178 reviews24 followers
March 21, 2026
Shallow, vapid “Grovel” novel about a husband who loves his wife to bits but feels “unseen” so he decides to seek validation and excitement with his exciting co-worker, only to have his lies exposed through his diary. Heavy spoilers ahead.

So Arista (h) and Wesley (H) have been married for 12 years and they have it ALL. they’re both successful and have the nice house, everyone adores their relationship. Arista needs to find the warranty for their coffee machine, as caffeine obviously fuels their success. She notices a journal left on her hubby’s desk completely out in the open. Takes a look and it’s a literal line by line journal entry of his “emotional affair”. Literally Dear diary, today I met Carrie and she was so nice and fun to talk to. Dear Diary, today Carrie and I went to lunch and we had so much fun talking to each other opening about her divorce and my marriage. Dear Diary, today Carrie and I almost kissed 🤢 . Now all the late nights are making sense.

So she sees all this crap, is rightly shocked and pissed off. Wesley comes home and starts looking for his “honey”, only to realize his whole world just burnt down and he’s fucked. She kicks him out, he tries to insist there was no sex and he can explain. And she’s like my dude, I just read the whole explanation gtfo. She goes to sleep in the guest house and gives him a day to pack his shit and get out. Doesn’t matter where.

He’s instantly regretful. But he was presumably also with Carrie earlier that day. He knows he fucked up so bad. Texts Carrie his wife knows and it’s over between them. He blocks her. He calls his brother and brother wants to know what happened because Arista called the night before and told him some stuff while crying. He says he fucked up and got close to a woman at work BUT NO SEX lol. His brother tells him to come stay with him because he doesn’t trust him to be alone rn. What if he calls Carrie when he gets lonely LMFAO. 😂

So a few days pass. Arista decides after talking to her BFF, she needs the whole story before making a decision. She tells Wesley to meet her at a coffe shop. She wants the full timeline, why it happened, EVERYTHING. He agrees to tell her. Says that he loves her but they got so comfortable and stuck in a routine, it felt like they were roommates. He stopped feeling seen. Then he clicked with this girl at work and she felt exciting, and like she noticed him. They started spending more time together. Working late, lunches alone. HE kissed her! Then says they couldn’t do that again and crossed a line, but he continues to see her. Not as friends but not as full on lovers either. It’s very apparent they have feelings for each other. Despite this paper thin “boundary”, he ends up making out with her AGAIN. But he never wanted to leave Arista. He think he may have unintentionally left the diary out because it would be easier than telling her the truth lmfao. He claims he THOUGHT he was in love with Carrie but not like he is with Arista, realizes through therapy he may have just loved how Carrie’s attention made him feel.

Speaking of which I don’t know why all the reviews and even the author are calling this an “emotional affair”. He definitely kissed her twice. The first time was a “peck” initiated by him. And the second time was a full on makeout season in her car in the parking garage, after she started crying about her divorce. So obviously he tries to comfort his gf and this results in him groping her boob under her shirt and she was groping his dick. He even admits to his diary they almost had sex. He only stopped because he claims not to be able to cross that line and do that to his wife LMFAOO. This is only two weeks before Arista reads the diary and finds out. He continues seeing her even after this, so like wtf is even the point? This was clearly not a man about to stop. I consider that physical cheating. It’s hilarious that Arista admonishes him every time he claims it wasn’t actually cheating/affair since he didn’t have sex with her. But then the author is essentially also diminishing his betrayal by relegating his makeout session and grouping to two kisses, which is only considered an “emotional affair”. Like they just about had sex with clothes on, but I digress.

So anyways Arista says she wants her own time to decide what to do. She doesn’t know if she wants to stay or what. She tells him what she might need to consider it and he claims to be willing to do anything. She tells him he can never see Carrie again and that she better be blocked. He needs to quit his job and find a new one. Which really sucks for him because he was partner at his job. Now she gets a broke cheater. Then she needs fully transparency, location , email and the stuff. Lastly, he has to agree to therapy both joint and individual.

She does the whole charade of seeing a divorce lawyer to see what life might be like. But then agrees to therapy with Wesley to decide if she might be able to forgive him. They have two individual sessions, then a joint session. They have to write each other a letter. Wesley explaining why he wants to fight for their marriage and Arista needs to explain what she needs to feel safe in the marriage, what forgiveness might look like eventually. Honestly it was decently written till here and then the whole thing fell apart.

After they have their initial sessions, author just starts randomly skipping months ahead to show progress. We get a great look at Arista’s anger and then she simmers out within literally three paragraphs once the time slips start, it cheapened the whole novel and made the grovel feels so shallow since it ALL pretty much happens off page lol.

Honestly I didnt find Wesley’s grovel or apologizes to be sincere. It felt like he was just a caught man thumping his accountability bible against his chest and reciting memorized words of affirmation and accountability in therapy. I’ll tell you why. Foremost, he tells Arista he didn’t feel seen, but instead of telling her that, he keeps it to himself and thrives of OW’s attention. And not to mention, he’s just as guilty of all the things he said Arista did that pushed him to OW. He also stopped paying attention, and having convos with her. He was also boring and robotic during sex. Second, even after he’s crossed the boundary twice, he keeps on seeing Carrie lol. wtf, how the hell is this guy trying to convince us and his wife he loved her all along and chose not to “physically” cheat on her? That he’d never do that to her? Lmfao it was clearly a matter of time if he was already making out with and groping her, feeling guilty, then still spending time with her. Anyways. It’s complete BS. The fact that it took being CAUGHT for him to even consider cutting Carrie off. And his message is just my wife found out, bye lmfao. It’s actually so traumatizing how he’s carrying on with this hoe at work and coming home to his wife like he’s in love, justifying to himself that he’s not cheating. He was clearly not about to stop. Arista finding out and kicking him out, is what triggered his remorse. Lastly, they were apparently trying for a baby before all this. Holy hell, they were trying for a baby and he launched into an affair with OW. That’s pretty irredeemable to me. How the hell do you ever trust a guy that was gonna convince you to have a baby when he was already lining up a side piece because you didn’t give him enough attention? A baby is a literal black hole for attention and energy. We know exactly what that would have lead to with this manchild.

Yeah so the novel ends with them continuing therapy. You know the grovel novel special, magical healing therapy! After a few months, they’re just constantly having sex in all the chapters. Yay! He tells her he wants a baby again. Also that they should renew their vows because he wants to make new promises he actually keeps lmao. This is a great idea! Since I’m pretty sure Arista believed him the first time he said he’d love her, cherish her, and forsake all others. Then he went and cheated anyways. So they should absolutely renew their vows for their 15th anniversary and then let him baby trap her, so she can’t leave during his next full blown affair. 🙄

Also there’s a bonus scene 6 months after affair D-Day where Arista confronts Carrie at a coffee shop lol. And it is SO WEIRD. I do think OW should get their karma but this was just plain ODD. On one hand she admonishes her husband for cheating and calls Carrie out for being pathetic and pursuing a married man. But then she’s all HE CHOSE ME!! And brandished Wesley around like he’s the prize. Sweetie please take a Xanax and sit down, you’re literally trying to show off a cheater, it’s as embarrassing as a pursuing a married man.
Profile Image for Debbie DiFiore.
3,085 reviews326 followers
March 20, 2026
So hard to.read

I just was sick reading this. His journal broke me. I felt his betrayal. My husband rid this to me before we were married but after we swore to.be faithful to each other. I was gone one week.before he slept with someone else. He lied to me. I was wearing his promise ring and thought I was the luckiest girl alive. Then I realized he was never faithful to me. I was 17 when we started dating and 18 when I gave him the v card.we had been dating for 5 months but I had to go home before curfew and he had his own apartment. When I went go.see.him.at work one night he had his arm around one of his employees. I blew it off and then.I finally.decided to do the deed because I was afraid to lose him. I went with him to a club after that And all these girls were touching him. He was very pretty. But I loved him and I wanted to believe but I was so naive. This book made me relive these memories. We have been married 48 years but I still remember and I still grieve. He gets mad when I mention it but I still feel like the wife did in this book. It hurts. I understand her confrontation with the OW at the end. I went to a high school reunion and she was there but she lied to me and was like I don't remember but I looked in her eyes and she knew. I was gloating because we had been married 20 years but I then remembered she had slept with him too and I was still that 18 year old girl that trusted him. I don't anymore but I love him. It makes me laugh until I read something like this. And I remember. So three stars because it made me cry and brought back memories. The so called hero in this story just broke my heart and his wife deserved a better man. And Carrie? She deserved nothing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Snafuzled.
178 reviews
April 2, 2026
I love that this author tackles these angsty subjects and they’re always good for a gut punch. This one is pretty brutal. I have conflicted feelings about this book.

First of all, what in the world is this cover?! It does not match the subject matter AT ALL!

I think the book was too short to effectively tackle this subject. We never see this couple loved up. It starts with the betrayal. I didn’t have a reason to want them together.

Frankly, the marriage didn’t seem all that great. The FMC was young, successful, and childless. I would have walked if I was her. This wasn’t a small betrayal. He literally fell ‘in love’ with another woman, while simultaneously giving his wife nothing. Given more time this absolutely would have been a full out sexual affair, and honestly, I think he would have eventually left his wife for the OW. It’s only because he was caught in 5k that he stopped. He stopped because of guilt.

And how are we only calling this an emotional affair?! They literally made out in his car with lots of groping and then held each for an hour. And then in the journal he said it was ‘more intimate than sex ever was with Arista’. 🤯🤯🤯 Like… holy shit! Am I too old? Is this a TikTok thing? Cause in my old brain that is the definition of physically cheating!!! 🤢

Yeah, I absolutely would have Noped out of this marriage.
Profile Image for Tmstprc.
1,416 reviews177 followers
March 20, 2026
Emotionally cheating husband that walks a fine line to avoid blaming his wife. Their marriage counselor also walks that line… basically saying there were cracks in the marriage and both are responsible for the cracks, he’s responsible for the cheating.

No, he’s a d!ck that likes the attention, he’s bored with the marriage and feels “numb”.

The book is short, too short to unpack all his crap.
Profile Image for LaBlue.
1,088 reviews34 followers
Read
March 22, 2026
I’m only 36% in, chapter 3 and I’m not feeling it. It opens right on the discovery of the affair journal and that starts from the first moment that the MMC met the OW. Does that make any sense to anyone? Why does someone who never keeps a journal just randomly starts one on the day he meets the OW, especially as the MMC couldn’t know that she would trigger him enough to stray on his wife for her? To me, it’s like he met her and then knew she was “The ONE” and therefore he was already going to cheat with her from day one. Because otherwise, if it unfolded as the MMC is now saying, that she started treating him in a way that the FMC hadn’t in years, that she made him feel alive again unlike his marriage did. That he was numb with his wife but not with the OW. Based on the slow build of his feelings for her, then the journal should have started from when he knew he first crossed the line, meaning the hand holding or even the kiss. NOT from the first day he met her, as if she was always someone he was interested in, like he was single and not a married man of twelve years.

It comes off like the author is trying to downplay the level of cheating when there is a clear error with the plot time line. Yes, the author has the MMC saying he didn’t “cheat” because he never had sex with OW. And yes, this is clearly going to be the basis for the reconciliation, BUT I call BS. If this was going to be a fluff cheating story then the journal should have started well after the MMC’s affair had started and not on the day they met. Also, it should have played out over a longer period of time than a measly four months from the day they met. Especially as the MMC is claiming it wasn’t an intentional affair.

Since it happened instantly and so fast a bond between the AP characters, this is why it makes no sense. I’m finding this story too fast paced and shallow to do this emotional AND physical affair justice.

FINAL UPDATE

The author’s note at the end of this book is kind of a joke. It states that this book explores the worst type of betrayal, an emotional affair, but it didn’t. We get next to nothing about how and why it happened. It was too short and instant of a situation to have gotten into. The conversations between all characters are too direct and to the point. There’s zero emotional depth to this whole story. The entire recovery time and healing is off page and time jumped ahead to individual milestones reached, like getting back to living together, holding hands, kissing, to having sex again, to talking about having children, to the vow renewal. Just like I broke it down in that sentence is exactly how it felt to read this book. Like bullet points and surface level storytelling.

Lastly, the cover of this book is nice but it doesn’t match this story AT ALL. That cover is a meet cute moment of college aged young adults and what we read of this couple who are twelve years in their married life completely entrenched in their individual careers who are bored with each other. See how that doesn’t match the innocent wide eyed optimism of that cover pic?

Honestly, this book was kind of a waste of time and money. If I could get a refund I would. But as it stands I won’t read this author again. There was nothing new or original or heartfelt or heartbreaking in this book worth reading let alone paying for. Good luck.
Profile Image for Mona.
639 reviews9 followers
Did Not Finish
March 20, 2026
Can’t- calling it - I’m out! The gut punches from reading the journal was ouch but then rest of book is just therapy sessions. No thx Dnf
11 reviews
March 20, 2026
Bad AI Generated

The thing about AI is it can write the words but it can't convey feelings and can't articulate human relationships well.
237 reviews8 followers
July 11, 2026
(AI author don’t read)


There was lots of good clap back points in this book from the FMC to both the MMC and OW/AP that were *chefs kiss* 👌

I liked the FMC and the story, didn’t like how the MMC thought that because he didn’t put his dick in the OW that it wasn’t *fully* cheating and he didn’t go that far with his affair partner because then the FMC would never forgive him…sorry what? The fact you’re sharing time with another woman and lying to your wife is enough grounds for divorce in my humble petty opinion. And I wish the FMC left her cheating husband and found herself another man to get with for a while and let the MMC rot in his self pity.

Book is just a little boring, loads of therapy yadayadayada. Reads more of a How To Guide for surviving a marriage in crisis/emotional & physical affair
420 reviews6 followers
March 27, 2026
Bad road to be in

So here's another book by this author that I've read. This author is on a slippery slope to nowhere if she doesn't make her writing authentic. We've all heard the saying, " If you've watched one Elvis movie, you've watched them all." Sorry Elvis fans, you know it's true. This author has a pretty much identical book that she wrote. In her notes section she states she wanted to write a story...well, she already did. Just change some names, locations, jobs. Pretty easy to cut and paste those in. Same verbiage. Same cookie cutter timeline. I will know that I don't have to read another of her books because... they're all the same.
I did like the confrontation at the end with the OW. It had a bit more depth with actually calling out the OWs role in the affair. And I liked how she had the wife state she wanted to go find another guy to show the husband how it felt. Only thing missing was having him contemplate how that would make him feel. Hope this author is not using AI. Hope she can write from her gut and give us new stories that give us a new experience and not a been there done that kinda read. That is why I gave this a one star.
Profile Image for Jen.
665 reviews4 followers
March 28, 2026
Flat and Detached

Very one dimensional. It read like an itinerary. I today he cheated on me, week later hired a lawyer, a week later went to counseling, a week later, we talked months later he moved back in, months later we kiss, few more weeks later we have sex… so on and so forth. It was just boring, uneventful, unfeeling and bland.
114 reviews
March 21, 2026
Unreal

Anyone is doesn't consider touching and kissing as cheating, this books for you. I love a good redemption story but to down play any sexual act as not cheating unless there is actual penatration is nuts. It ate at me the entire book so I couldn't enjoy it.
Profile Image for Nicolina.
292 reviews
April 3, 2026
2 stars in the cheating genre.

I think the start was strong, and the journal reveal was an absolute gut punch, I loved that part. But the resolution felt deeply unsatisfactory.

Summary: The husband (MMC) keeps a journal where he writes about his coworker, the OW, whom he met around four months ago. The FMC finds it, and everything unravels from there.

My biggest issue is that while the journal entries were devastating (in the best way), they were ultimately brushed off during the healing phase.

In the journal, the MMC admits that he wanted the OW. They kissed twice, and each time he wanted more. But the worst moment was when they almost had sex in the car, he stopped it, and instead they cried together about their “lost love,” holding each other. He even says, “being in each other’s arms felt more intimate than it has ever felt having sex with Arista.”

After 12 years together, countless intimate moments, and a shared life, that is what he writes? That’s heartbreaking.

The FMC wasn’t a doormat, but I didn’t feel that her emotional response matched the devastation of what she read. The journal set the bar so high in terms of pain and betrayal, and the aftermath just didn’t meet it.

Personally, I would have needed to see much more questioning, of his love for the OW, of his feelings in general. How does a four-month connection feel more intimate than years of marriage? That’s not something you just move past. I would be questioning his love for me and the OW for years.

They were essentially back together within two months and having sex again by the third. It all felt too easy, too light. The FMC handled everything in a very mature, step-by-step way, but that perfection actually made it feel less real.

What I wanted was messiness. I wanted backlash. Anger. Confusion. Maybe bad decisions, going out, getting drunk, a rebound, guilt, more anger. A cycle of emotions that reflects the weight of that betrayal.

Instead, the emotional progression felt flat, especially given how powerful the setup was.

I also would have preferred a longer separation, or even a divorce, just to give the story space to explore those emotions more deeply and realistically.
318 reviews2 followers
March 29, 2026
So good

Wesley...I wanted to hate him. He makes horrible choices and his reasons are so incredibly selfish. He really doesn't deserve his wife. Arista is a strong h who faces Wesley's betrayal head on and works hard to figure out if he and their marriage are worth fighting for. This had all the feels and I found myself rooting for them. This is a new to me author and I'm off to find what else I can read by them.
Profile Image for SAE.
146 reviews
April 6, 2026
Follows the same template as the majority of her books, unoriginal, changing names and a few key details does not make the book exciting or even interesting... same, same but different!!!!
149 reviews1 follower
March 22, 2026
This is AI. I have no doubts. Same book different names over and over again.
Profile Image for Libby.
539 reviews26 followers
March 22, 2026
See previous wash, rinse and repeat review.
20 reviews3 followers
July 19, 2026
Okay the gist of this is that the Zero cheated, emotionally and PHYSICALLY. He had an affair that lasted 4 months. He wrote all about it and how he felt, and the h read it. The h reacts, as you would after reading glowing things he wrote about the OW and how she made him feel. The h is broken, they were going along in the relationship, she agreed that it was probably boring , BUT he never said anything to her, that he felt unseen. She said that for years he would come home from work and have dinner watch tv, and if the rare times they had sex she said it was mechanical. But she said that she was there she was the one who was invisable to him. They went to marriage councilling, She should have kicked him to the curb. One of the conditions of heroine going to MC was that he wasn't to have any contact with the OW, which he sort of did, even though when he was leaving his job for the h because the h worked with him, she came up to talk to him and he did talk to her. But the second condition he was to tell her the truth about everything not a little lie, he had to be honest or that was it. She asked him if he loved the OW he said NO it was more infatuation, that he liked how she made him feel. BUT in the last of the book he told the MC that he felt like he was falling in love with OW (I can't remember exactly what was said. This made me so angry as what he did was unforgiveable. OW also said that things weren't good with heroine/home. He didn't like to call it an affair but what is 4 months? He didn't also like calling it an emotional affair, buddy you have kissing sessions in the car with ow you touch her bare breast that is beyond emotional affair that is an Physical affair as well. You should be doomed to have no hands and no lips. There was a showdown in a cafe with the h and OW and the h was trying/author to be smart but the words were pathetic. I disliked the OW because she knew he was married even if he said that things weren't good at home. The H tells her that she knew he was married and yet she encouraged him, I dislike the OW for it but buddy the whole blame lands on your shoulders. You are so F lucky the h gives you the time of day. I get emotional about the diary you wrote about the OW and the h had to read that, and yet she gave you a chance. This book was a piece of crap I didn't enjoy it, it made me angsty, which it is supposed to do. BUT I didn't believe in the HEA, all I saw was the pain the h was in. I will say that maybe the MC was okay, her counciling was good, but she had the duty of care to tell the h that the H lied and that he said the did love the OW or something like that,if I find it I will put it in bold letters in this review.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Kiley.
2,161 reviews64 followers
April 7, 2026
When My Husband Chose the Office was about Arista, an attorney and senior partner at a law firm, and Wesley, an architect. (Their ages were never given, although since they were both established partners in their respective careers, one would surmise that they were in their mid-to-late 30's .)

After being married for 12 years, Arista found a journal in Wesley's office that was all about his affair, both emotional and slightly physical (heavy petting) with another woman from work. She confronted him when he got home, and then told him to leave the following morning to give her space. A few days later, they met in a coffee shop where she told him the first thing she needed from him was for him to choose her/their marriage, and that started with him not only blocking the other woman from calls/texts, but quitting his job and having zero contact with her.

The same night she learned about the affair, Arista moved into the guest house, even though she had kicked him out. However, she told him she couldn't be in the same house where all of their memories were. A few weeks later, after he quit his job of 8 years, they began both individual and couple counseling.

If only all affairs, emotional or physical, could have such an outcome. A four-month emotional/physical affair that, upon the FMC's discovery of the MMC's journal, led to them doing everything they could to fix the problems in their marriage so that neither of them would ever look elsewhere again for what they could get from each other.

Not only did the book have plenty of angst, drama, spiciness, the usual emotional rollercoaster, and the conflict with the other woman, but it also had closure, with the FMC getting to confront that other woman. It allowed her to say what she needed to so that she could move on and never look back.

While both of the main characters were well-developed, they seemed to have been emotionally stunted at some point in their marriage, which was what led to the MMC's affair. Although they got therapy together and separately, the growth wasn't always shown to the reader because it was usually done off-page and only mentioned in passing.

I gave this a three-star rating because, while it was good, it could have been better. It just needed some tweaking.
Profile Image for Raffaella.
2,013 reviews322 followers
April 14, 2026
Shallow writing. Poor psychological insight.
Lack of inner thoughts, so we don’t actually know the whys and the hows.
Hero has an affair with his new colleague. Except sleeping with her he does everything else, so it’s not just emotional.
He starts with feeling attracted to her, feeling a connection.
He kisses her, then regrets it, but keeps having lunches with her and has feelings.
Compares his wife with ow, and wife ends poorly both on the emotional side and on the physical side.
He almost has sex with ow in his car, kisses and touches her, second base, he stops because he feels guilty not because he doesn’t want ow.
He wants ow alright.
Heroine the wife finds out because the idiot wrote all the affairs in his personal journal, and she dumps his ass, but it’s very short.
She doesn’t really want to divorce him, he doesn’t really explain why it happened, and even then he admits he had feelings for ow.
He didn’t want to divorce his wife but after all the affair was just four months so I suppose that hadnt the heroine found out he was having an affair in another four or five months he would have divorced his wife.
He ended the affair because he was caught and not because he realized he didn’t want ow.
Until the end we have him admitting that maybe he loved ow.
The reasons? He felt bored, his marriage was not exciting anymore.
Very good to know.
They go counseling and father some months they reconnect.
The book left me cold, it was too short and not very well put on the psychological and emotional side.
The hero’s pov is never explained, we don’t actually understand if he broke up with ow because he was caught and was afraid to lose his comfort zone or because he loved his wife, I don’t feel a lot of love from his side.
I don’t know if I’ll read other books by this author, but this one didn’t leave me impressed
Profile Image for Nikki ღ Navareus.
1,156 reviews95 followers
April 1, 2026

Whew! For as short as this story is, it's pretty dang angsty. Heroine accidentally comes across a journal written by her Husband, and he's explaining how he's falling in love with a woman he works with. They've kissed and held hands, and he tells this woman how he feels so much more for her than his own wife. The journal experience was pretty devastating.

Hero comes home to find his wife with his journal in hand, and realized he's epically fucked up. He swears he never screwed this asshole OW, but the feelings he had expressed for her in his journal, shows that he was slowly falling in love with her.

This story could have been truly epic if it was a little longer and a lot more fleshed out, especially if the OW had refused to give up so easily. This story was so close to actual cheating because he had made moves on the OW touching her, kissing her, and they both touched each other in private places. He'd have fucked her in a heartbeat more if his wife hadn't found his journal. NO DOUBT ABOUT IT.

That being said, I liked how the Hero pulled his head out of his ass, cut off all connections with the OW despite her not wanting to, and he did the work to get his wife back again. For a short story, this story created a lot of feels, and pissed off the trigger chicks all in one go! I'd read it again.
Profile Image for Tonita Spillers.
280 reviews
April 2, 2026
tough read

So o think this was well written but I dislike that we are only calling this an emotional affair. It was physical. You don’t have to have penetrative sex for it to be physical. The second their lips touched. The second he was holding hands with her, it was a physical affair. And we all know that had Arista not “discovered” the affair when she did, it would have eventually resulted in full penetrative sex because each occurrence escalated further. Yes it was an emotional affair but it was also physical. She was rubbing on his dck, he was feeling on her tits UNDER the bra, their lips were touching along with their tongues. That is 100% physical. And intent matters. He pursued this. Put himself in position to be alone with her so he gets no points for pulling back the second time they kissed when he should never have been alone in a car making out in the first place.

Arista is a much better person than I. I could not have moved past this. The physical part was bad enough but the emotional damage. The things he was saying about his wife to this woman. The time and attention and emotional investment…unforgivable for me. She’s made of tougher stuff because it could not have been me.
Profile Image for Stacey.
692 reviews1 follower
April 14, 2026
I usually don't do cheating books, but then I read Silent Flames and it was so well written, I decided to try this one.
This book is no Silent Flames or even Truth and Tinsel: A Marriage In Crisis Romance!
I couldn't root for the H because he was just so weak. And I didn't like h either.
Then I really started to get annoyed with the chapter titles and subtitles. Put that info in the paragraph! I did not need to know the dang time and place for each chapter.
Example:
Chapter 9
h's name
Counselor
Chapter 10
H's name
Counselor's office 2 hours later
(I am so serious)

H had an emotional AND physical affair. He kissed the OW. They got to bases they shouldn't have gotten to.
And he is no Adrian. I was not rooting for him. I was rooting for h to leave him.
So I skipped to the end where h confronts the OW and that was just awkward. Like h was saying OW was responsible for going after a married man. He's the one who stayed late, honey.
IMO, not the best book in this genre.
467 reviews3 followers
April 17, 2026
Unforgivable MMC

There is no coming back from this. There have been a few books that I’ve read where a cheating spouse can redeem themselves. But there has to be extenuating circumstances. There has to be alcohol involved. There has to be lies, perceived cheating lots of things have to exist for it to be OK. There was nothing that existed that explains why she forgave him. Absolutely none. This was a man who just chose to cheat on his wife. Who wrote about the other woman like she was everything and he truly did love her it is clear that he loved the other woman. Once you crossed that boundary not just physically but emotionally, there’s nothing rectify. This book would’ve had to have been 500 pages long and covered seven years of the wife leaving dating other people being with other people and then choosing to come back. There is no way this was a redeemable offense. Really disappointed. Again I think these are written by AI I’m not sure, but this author has turned out too many to not have AI assistance which clearly Amazon doesn’t care about.
Profile Image for MiSsE.
255 reviews5 followers
May 28, 2026
Reads Like 🤖

Hmmm… I’m not sure how to feel about this story. Like I’m not sure how all readers brains work when they read, but for me, my brain will picture the words in my head, like a live movie, and will hear the words being spoken, so when I’m reading an AI story, my brain automatically starts reading it robotically if that makes any sense? This didn’t flow like authors that truly write for a living. It took me FOREVER to finish this novella because of this. The formatting was all off as well which made it difficult to follow.

The repeat of sentences became redundant. “This doesn’t mean I forgive you” or “This doesn’t mean everything is fixed” was said so many times it no longer held any weight. I usually love me a good affair and redemption book, this one just wasn’t it for me.
58 reviews
March 29, 2026
it’s a good quick read

First and foremost let me say if you like a quick read of the cheating trope where the MMC grovels and works on himself and the FMC that eventually forgives and they have a HEA in the end then this is for you. It was a good read BUT it is exactly the same as her book Betrayed by the People Who Promised Forever I read that book before this one so while reading When My Husband Chose the Office I’m thinking I read this already but with different characters. This book came out first and the other book came out a couple weeks later. When I say it’s exactly the same it is, the only difference is the OW in the other book is a Bestfriend of the FMC so that’s why I’m giving it 2 stars.
Profile Image for Linda.
1,367 reviews29 followers
March 18, 2026
Well written story of a marriage in trouble. First a disclaimer: I abhore the term 'work wife/husband' and strongly berrated a family member for referring to my husband as her work husband. She got the point, he was embarrassed and things healed. It is almost a strong belief that emotional affairs are so much more destructive than physical ones as they touch on feelings and hurt to the soul. They also give those involved the false impression that since sex was not involved, it is not a true affair. Yeah right.

The author does a great job in describing both sides of the situation and addresses the hard to handle parts very well.
916 reviews10 followers
March 20, 2026
2 1/2 stars. A bare bones kind of short story. The h comes across the H's journal and reads entries that describe his growing attraction to a co-worker. She confronts him and he promises to do whatever it takes to make it up to her. The story uses many cliched components, therapy, writing a letter to each other, "I need space and time". They have been married for twelve years and there is no indication of why they decided to wait to have children. There's no family mentioned to add context to the relationship. It also would be helpful to have descriptions of daily life and/or events to compare before and after the changed behavior.
Profile Image for K..
78 reviews7 followers
March 26, 2026
repetitive

This author has written many books on the emotional affair. Only problem is that every book is the same. She changes the names and the careers but the short story is the same. Like, she’s just copy/pasting the whole book. Minor mistakes here and there but no real story to it. Not when you realize she’s written dozens of these.

Storyline follows as such:
He gets caught. They do therapy. They renew their vows. As a bonus the FMC confronts the OW. Every time it’s a coffee shop. Every time the verbiage is the same.
Profile Image for Sam Domingo.
409 reviews12 followers
April 3, 2026
Marriage in crisis

This hits the spot. It ahs betrayal, grovel, and forgiveness. And it's short! So if you're looking for that quick hit of angst, this is a good book for it.

PS. I just wish we didn't get that bonus scene of Arista. I know she said that she blames Wesley too but those parting shots at Carrie are too much imo. Carrie is to blame for part of it, but there was no need to tell her to stay away because in no way was it mentioned that she ever tried to contact or see Wesley since he resigned from work. Focus on Wesley dude
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