Hungry for Love

by Maya Sacher

Elizabeth, a dentist in her late thirties, doesn’t have it all. She is coping with her husband’s coma, her unresolved grief over her mother’s death, her mixed feelings toward her stepmother, dissatisfaction with her job.

Unexpectedly, she falls in love with a musical zoo curator from Australia. He is divorced, he has a dog and a tween daughter who doesn’t want Elizabeth around.

When her husband wakes up, Elizabeth’s life is thrown into chaos. The choice before her is unbearable because she doesn’t want to hurt anyone, yet she wants to do the right thing, whatever that is. The expectations of her family and her men don’t make it any easier. What should she do? Can she have her cookie and eat it too?

GENRE

Women’s fiction/book club fiction/contemporary romance/family drama

286 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 1, 2018

Reviews

[Ciclochick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Here, supposedly, is a lady with a dilemma. Or does she?

Dentist, Elizabeth’s husband, Jesse, has been in a coma for two very long years. Along comes very handsome Australian zoo curator Aiden, and of course, she falls head-over-heels in love with him. She moves in with Aiden and doesn’t tell him she’s married until, rather predictably, Jesse wakes up. What an inconvenience. Elizabeth then spends the next 75% of the book trying to convince herself and the two men that well, couldn’t the three of them work in a non-ménage-à-trois sort of way. Why couldn’t she just merge them into one perfect man? Really.

I’m afraid I found this situation and Elizabeth very irritating. In fact, I rather wanted to slap her. Let’s remind you, dear: you’re married, and you must have realised that there was every likelihood that your husband (you know the one…in sickness and in health?) might wake up. I disliked her for her infidelity, I disliked her for expecting Jesse to be okay with her infidelity, and I disliked her for continually striving for a three-way set-up. It could work, couldn’t it, alternate weeks with each one? Seriously? I kept hoping that both men would just tell her to get on her bike, but no, she said jump, they said how high?

I found it difficult to feel anything for any of the characters; they were all rather bland and one-dimensional. Aiden came over as an Eastender, rather than an Aussie and had a very irritating habit of saying ‘bout, instead of about. I’m not sure why.

I think I would have rather read ‘bout Jesse and Elizabeth rebuilding their lives after such a life-changing event. This author certainly has the ability and competence to develop these characters. Maybe there’s a sequel I don’t know about!

[Lisa Aiello · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found myself grappling while reading this book. I never really felt the struggle and the angst that I , as the reader, was intended to feel. I didn't connect with Elizabeth (Ellie), nor did I feel a great deal of emotion toward her plight. I was thoroughly pissed off at her that she choose to enter into a relationship with Aidan without telling him the truth about her situation much sooner. How do you move in with a guy and not happen to mention that you have a husband who just happens to be lying in a coma? I also think the relationship with Aidan was much for of a show than a tell, and it would have been more impactful had we seen why she fell in love for him. All in all, the writing itself was well done, but the storytelling promised more than it delivered for me.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can you be in love with two people at the same time, and have it be successful? This is the dilemma that thirty-six-year-old Elizabeth Evans-Klein finds herself in when she can't help but love two men at the same time.

In Hungry For Love, Elizabeth Klein is at a crossroads in her life. Elizabeth's husband Jesse, a fashion designer, has been in a coma for close to two years after a freak accident, leaving her feeling all alone and resentful that she can't move forward with her life. She also is fed up with being a dentist in her father's practice, they have a tense relationship, and what she really wants to do is become a cookie baker. Then there is the trauma of her mother's death due to breast cancer when Elizabeth was seven years old that has her in therapy sessions for hypochondria. Add in the family drama with her younger step-sister Jodie, and Elizabeth's therapist tells her that she needs to make a change in her life, she needs to take a break from everything and do something for herself. Who would have thought that a trip to the local zoo and a chance meeting with Australian zoo curator and divorced dad Aidan Sparks would lead to friendship and love? Just when Elizabeth was beginning to feel loved and happy again, Jesse comes out of the coma ... leaving her with a dilemma: she's in love with two men at the same time! Unable to decide who to choose to give her heart to, Elizabeth thinks that maybe she needs both men to love her because she is just that hungry for love.

Hungry For Love is an intriguing women's fiction story about the complexity of a woman's personal and professional life. Author Maya Sacher takes the reader into the inner workings of Elizabeth's life and the intertwining dilemmas that she faces. From flashbacks to Elizabeth and Jesse's relationship/marriage, to her ongoing family drama with her father, step-mother, and step-sister, to the exciting new relationship with Aidan, the reader goes along for the ride on the emotional roller coaster ride as Elizabeth deals with a variety of life dilemmas, choices, and decisions that not only will affect her but the other people in her life as well.

I really enjoyed reading this multi-layered story. I couldn't help but become intrigued by the love triangle, and how Elizabeth, Jesse, and Aidan each dealt with their emotional relationship arrangement. Add in the intensity of Elizabeth's family drama and the origin of her hypochondria, this is a realistic story that will make you wonder how you would handle these inner life dilemma's if you were in Elizabeth's shoes.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the author in exchange for my honest review.

http://jerseygirlbookreviews.blogspot...

[Amy Ingalls · Rating 1 out of 5]

I won this book in a giveaway.

One star? 2 stars? I guess I will go with 2 because it has been a long time since I hated the characters in a book this much. Like I want to smack them. So it made me feel something, I suppose. I hated Elizabeth, I hated Aiden, I hated her dad and her sister. The only ones I didn't dislike were Carol, Kayla, Archie (the dog), and maybe Jesse. Here's the thing, though-- I didn't hate her for falling for someone else. She was in a horrible situation. I just hated everything about how she did it. If she and Aiden had started out as friends and he knew about Jesse in the coma and was there for her and that developed into something more, I would understand that she was lonely and such. I would understand them falling in love. I would understand her being torn. I would probably empathize. But that is not this book. Here are some reasons why I hate them:

Elizabeth: Husband in coma for 19 months, let me accept a date with a new guy; Ooh, I am going to move in with him but not tell him husband is in coma. Then I will get mad when he is upset about husband in coma. Husband wakes up, but she doesn't go to hospital that first day or leave work when hospital calls. Decides both men should live together; gets mad when husband snaps at her (nevermind that he was in a coma and woke up mentally and physically incapacitated and you moved him in with your boyfriend, who you sleep with and have sex with instead of him. Blame everything on your mom dying when you were 7.

Aiden: Kind of rapey over that ratatouille. Like bend over so I can use you then demand you tell me your secret. Then I will pout forever like an emotionally abusive child. Accepts that you have husband in coma then gets mad when you are emotional when husband wakes up. Like seriously dude, it should have been obvious that she would be happy he was awake. Is everyone in this book selfish?

The thing I didn't get is why these two loved her so much? The author never really made her seem loveable at all. She basically was a hypochondriac and super-selfish. It also didn't seem like she loved anyone. Basically she wanted Jesse as a best-friend and lapdog and Aiden for sex.

Also, why was everyone simpering in this book? Even men. That word was used like 7 times and just bugged me. I know I'm nitpicking but like I said, the characters ticked me off.

I am going to go on record and say I have no problem with open relationships, polyamorous relationships, or whatever configuration makes the people in it happy. This was not that. This was Elizabeth forcing her wants and needs on everyone else involved.

Okay, now that I have written out this review I am taking back that second star. Can't do it.

[Julie Barrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hungry for Love by Maya Sacher
Starts out with Elizabeth Evans and she's watching the flags and knows they symbolize hope and faith.
Her husband Jessie Klein she's visiting at the intensive brain facility. Was such a nonesense accident that left him this way.
She continues to perform dental procedures at her dad's dental practice.
She lost her husband but his body was still living...helped her when she baked cookies.
They had met at a book signing and she noticed his tat on his neck. He knew his fashion and designers.
Story goes back even further to their upbringings, their meeting and their dating.
Loved hearing of the snow leopards and the things the zoo did for their comfort.
Aiden takes her out of her comfort zone and she likes that he pays attention to her. Her sister finds out and is happy she has moved on because Jessie is not there. He wants her to bond with his daughter.
The living mess starts when Jessie wakes up and as she sublet their place he will go live with her and Aiden and the daughter
What struck me at this point is the men aren't having an argument about who gets her for sex and what nights but it riles her as they can't show affection in any form towards one another while the other is in the room.
She's at a crossroads also in her job and wants something different and confronts her father. Her sister is also mixed up in everything....
Lots of twists and turns and unpredictable situations.
Didn't see the ending at all the way it comes out, whoa!
I received this review book from Net Galley and this is my honest opinion.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was a well written book and quick to read too. However, the main character, Elizabeth, grew increasingly more annoying to me. What started out as actions on her part that made me want to face palm just became more and more absurd and I didn't feel sorry for her at all. With that being said, I still thought the writing was good and the story moved along quickly. I definitely wanted to keep reading to see how it would turn out.

[Samantha - Booked with a Gemini]

*ARC was received in exchange for an honest review.

DNF'd pretty quickly. In the first 4% Elizabeth meets Aiden and acts like women and men can't be friends and that Aiden must want something from her all because he asked to get together and have dinner. As someone who's immediate friend group is made up of more men than women I'm over these stories about how it can't be a thing.

[Thalia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books you can choose based on an interesting premise or a stunning, inviting cover. So, here we have a love triangle, not a surprise there, there was one in Twilight, Outlander, and a lot of other places, but this one is different. Elizabeth is having a difficult time because her loving husband is in a coma. And it’s been that way for some years. After all the pain and a devastating notion that her soul mate may never wake up, Elizabeth finds herself, by complete surprise, in a situation where she meets another man, Aidan, maybe her second chance at love. They start a relationship, but what happens when her husband wakes up?

Yes, it didn’t take long for our two main characters, Elizabeth and Aidan, to fall in love, in fact you do wonder if one weekend away in the county is enough, but, you cannot know when the butterflies are going to tickle your belly. Falling in love is cozy, comfortable, the feeling you want to keep forever. These characters make it so easy. They make you feel like you belong there with them, like you are also there, eating breakfast by the stove, warm and happy. Ah… the beginnings… in a lack of a better word, they’re the best. No pain, no doubts, no anger, no hate, no sadness, just… love. I loved how quickly this simple notion made me fall in love with the book, and it didn’t take long for my butterflies to kick in.

As their relationship progresses, these characters are so raw and real. Their relationship isn’t lovey-dovey all the time, they fight and they face their problems head on. I know from experience, that everything can turn around faster than you can say cookie. That rawness drew me in the book even more. It’s wonderful how it depicts real life without the need of extensive fireworks. Sure, fireworks work in a lot of books and they make the story interesting and keep you going, but the beauty of this book is that it does all that on its own, with its depiction of real life just as it is.
These three people are trying to pick up the pieces like we all would in our everyday lives when things aren’t necessarily going the way we had planned. Spoiler alert: no one is a vampire or a werewolf, they are just like us.

“All I’m saying,” Elizabeth continued, resting her chin on her palm, “is that I should have a say in how I live my life, regardless of social conventions.”
Jodie reached for her sister’s hand. “But you’d be hurting people, Lizzie. Yourself too. But, okay, even if you could have your cookie and eat it too, who’s to say your cookies would agree to that?”

It is amazing how life is so full of that wonderful, unexpected, silly little thing we call irony. If things weren’t so damn funny, they would be heart-wrenchingly devastating. But hey, sometimes you just got to laugh, there’s really no need to be sad or cry, why? Life has a funny way of teaching us, evoking sympathy and love, that’s what irony is for. And Ms. Sacher shows us that perfectly, it’s sort of her motive throughout the book. And it’s lovely.

At times the book made me smile, at times it made my chin and mouth shiver a little and my eyes blurry with tears. And what I loved the most is that every page leaves you wondering who she will choose – her soul mate or the love of her life? So, if you’re looking for a truly heart-warming book, you are definitely in a right place.

[LadyE · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although it looks like a Love triangle at first glance , Hungry for Love runs deeper than just an everlasting need to be loved, pampered and appreciated.
This has nothing to do with the superficial isues of love and sleeping arrangements.
Hungry for Love addresses issues we all have in common : parents and children, mistakes they make and we judge and mistakes we make and expect not to be judged . It is about our struggle to overcome our genes,our vulnerability and inner ambition to surpass our parents and make our own lives ,although always coming back to our roots.
Even when not supporting Elisabeth's decisions, it all come to question:
"Who are we to judge "? How do we know what we would do if it happened to us? Would we be so judgmental to ourselves?
I really like the way the author pictured her pain melting with the cookie igredients :
It wasn’t until she discovered cookies that things started to turn around. Elizabeth couldn’t tell if it was the feel of sticky dough under her fingers, the aromas
of chocolate, orange, cinnamon overflowing the apartment, or the fact that baking kept her busy, but she liked the cookies. Their sweetness was like a dressing on her pain, it couldn’t take it away, but it somehow turned it into something else. Something more bearable.

Feeling much more sympathy for Jesse, I loved the language and subtle erotic air in the scene when Jesse decided to make a dress for Elisabeth:
Soon they were alone again. Jesse had to take one more measurement, from her waistline down to the hem. It tickled when he brushed the side of her knee. Through laugh he told her to stand straight, but their coolness crumbled and scattered over the floor like marbles falling out of a torn sack.
Carol is my favourite , wise Lady character . The progress and change of Elisabeth's relationship with Carol is really maturely described. I love the fact that Elisabeth experiences the same situation with Kayla later.
Finally, my favourite part and my moto - in the long run , whatever we do , we do it out of our subconscious search for Happiness and our need for self-preservation , our pure ambition to stay sane :
She stared at the cover until the letters turned into smudges.When she first started reading to Jesse, she believed she was doing it for him, but over time realized it was for her too, so she wouldn’t have to listen to her thoughts, wouldn’t have to feel.

[Panda · Rating 5 out of 5]

With her beloved husband in a coma for nearly two years, is it really such a horrible thing for Elizabeth to impulsively enter into a relationship with another man?

This is a premise that kicks off the plot of Hungry for Love, raising interesting questions before its characters and readers alike, because you can't help but ponder the situation as you read, trying to decide what's right and wrong and wondering to see what happens next.

Hungry for Love succeeds in making its lead character feel very human and someone we can sympathize with. In fact, the characters in general come across as realistic and are portrayed with care, which is really something that makes or breaks a book like this, and I loved the way it was done here.

There were problems, there was drama, but it was all dosed just right, making it intense and interesting without overdoing it. There are no real villains here, just people. And luckily the author knows that just by letting people be people, you'll get all the conflict you need to build an interesting story.

I loved the flashbacks detailing how Elizabeth and Jesse fell in love, and I loved all the parts with the therapist, and the way Elizabeth's family was depicted. I also liked the unpredictable messiness of Elizabeth's relationship with her sister.

Oh and I actually found Aidan unappealing (with his smoking, and his sulking, and the way he always seemed to devour food, and so on…) He was really well written, though, and I suppose I get why Elizabeth liked the change that he brought. Jesse, on the other hand, I really liked, and I wish we got more scenes with him (before and after coma!) because my interest always spiked when he was in the scene.

I won't comment my thoughts on the ending to avoid spoiling it, but I'll say that the author did a good job of making it impossible to guess how things turn out, keeping me interested throughout the book.

And the best part - while Hungry for Love is a story about a love triangle on its surface, in the end it's really a book about a woman finding her inner peace and gathering courage to face her personal demons. The unusual love triangle is just an interesting catalyst propelling Elizabeth toward a new level of maturity. This, I think, is what ultimately makes Hungry for Love a satisfying and inspiring read.

[Paul Franco · Rating 3 out of 5]

A woman falls in love while her husband is in a coma, and then her husband wakes up. . . of course. The first part consists of this new romance, but once her husband’s setting is introduced, it’s on to flashbacks about how they met.
There’s some good stuff here. Right off the bat I enjoyed the writing, which had a smoothness. The author instantly got on my good side by agreeing with me about Tolkien.
But the more I read, the less I liked. At first I felt sympathy for her, understood what she was going through. That was made even more so by the fact her two blood relatives—her father and her half-sister—are such jerks to her, and the only solace she gets is from her stepmom. But when she didn’t tell her new lover about her husband when she moved in, all sympathy was over. Even worse, the way both men behaved. . . let’s just say neither is much of a prize. Soon Jesse will no longer be allowed to blame the coma for being a jerk. Nor can Aiden blame her not telling him about Jesse; either he forgives her and moves on, or doesn’t and breaks up with her, but his passive-aggressive crap makes it seem like his daughter is the more mature member of the family. Frankly, she would have done better to start over with someone else.
I don’t want to say I was bored, but I certainly wasn’t interested in these people’s lives. I’m sure she was supposed to come across as some kind of great martyr to put up with everything around her, but that’s not how it struck me. I simply got to the point where I no longer cared.
2.5 pushed up to 3/5

[MangaBoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a little pearl of literature. When I got a hold of the novel, I was a little bit skeptical since I’m not a fan of this type of books. Hungry for Love is not a crime thriller or a historical saga, but in the end, I fell in love with it.
The novel starts slow, pulling you in, page by page, introducing the characters one by one, but still missing one of the major ones – the husband in a coma. We get to know him just a little bit through stories and reminiscing before he finally wakes up and joins the storyline in full capacity. At first, I was a little annoyed with the main female character as I found her somewhat whiny, but she grows on you as the novel progresses.
All characters are fabulously written, each with their own unique voice, which you do not see very often these days, as in most books supporting characters are all alike and you cannot distinguish one from the other. This is not the case in Hungry for Love. The three main characters, as well as the supporting characters, such as the sister and the father, each is written so you can tell them apart. Another great thing are the dialogues, which are so vivid as if you’re watching a movie or a play.
The book will appeal mostly to women but it’s not strictly women’s fiction. The topic of love is a universal thing which transcends genres, and Hungry for Love is the perfect example of this. The novel isn’t cheesy and with an interesting ending, it is a must read for every reader who loves a good book.

[Manison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maya Sacher’s ”Hungry for Love” is a dramatic, utterly controversial and enticing read. It’s an excellent portrayal of one woman’s inner world and the dilemmas she’s dealing with in her private and professional life. Elizabeth, the main character of the novel, a very likable and at moments humorous personality, finds herself in a situation in which she is faced with the toughest of questions about the complexity of her relationships, falling in love, the eternal dilemma of letting go or keeping her relationships alive, as well as the feeling of guilt and remorse when dealing with the judgement of her environment. Each of the potential decisions has their consequences. The author shows how unpredictable and fickle our emotions can be. An important question is raised: Is it possible to juggle between two men, getting the best out of each, but also live with the consequences your choice might have?
Even though these questions have been asked many times before, it is still an ongoing topic and the answers are still not clear nor straightforward. It is a grey zone in which each is responsible for their own decisions. In that sense, Maya Sacher’s novel opens up profound moral questions as well. There’s no room for judging nor blaming. And when one is confronted with their inner emotional dilemmas, it is very hard to do “the right move”. Finally, maybe some of us do need two men to love because we are just “that hungry for love”. Definitely, a highly recommendable read!

[Gail L Valtier · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say... this book did not go where I thought it was going to go! I’m not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing! I had expectations of what I would consider a woman finding herself and going to different place, but those aspects of the story were not developed, and for good reason. Or at least for a reason that I now understand helped to develop the story and the ending (which I don’t want to give away, so I’m being vague, LOL).
I will say that I was emotionally “mad” at some of the characters and, to me, that means that the characters are well developed. If they can draw out a legitimate emotional response from the reader, then that is a good sign!
The story takes you through the turmoil of a kind of love triangle, but not in the way you’d expect. Interwoven in the story is Ellie’s struggle with her lovers, were her issues with her past, parents and career. I really enjoyed how the author took you through those topics and showed how they came through in Ellie’s current situation.
Overall, I’d recommend this book, as it is an enjoyable read. It took a few unexpected turns, as I mentioned above, that revealed details of the main character’s views and reactions to her situation. I was intrigued the entire time and couldn’t wait to find out how it ended, which, again, was a turn!

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won an ebook copy of this in a Goodreads giveaway. I finally got around to reading it. I would say it's more of an 1.5 stars than a full 2. The writing was okay, but, the characters were pretty unlikable. I was not emotionally invested in the angst that Ellie was feeling and got pretty tired of the wishy-washy internal struggle. It felt like it took far far far too long to get to any a decision.

[Barb Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book made me angry.

[Chelsey]

I'm extremely excited to read this. I'll update my review when read

[Rebecca]

Although on the surface this story looks like a Love triangle but, Hungry for Love runs deeper than just an overwhelming need to be loved.
It is a story of relationships, mistakes made and life.
This is a premise that kicks off the plot of Hungry for Love, raising interesting questions before its characters and readers alike because you can't help but ponder the situation as you read, trying to decide what's right and wrong and wondering to see what happens next.
Overall this book left me wanting to know more and kept me turning the page.