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The Man She Married
In Cathy Lamb’s gripping and thought-provoking novel, a woman whose memory is shattered must piece together her husband’s secrets—and reevaluate her life, love, and relationships . . .
When Natalie Shelton thinks back to how things were before the car accident, she remembers a great marriage. She and her husband, Zack, seem as strong and dependable together as the houses he builds. They live in Portland, Oregon, and Natalie is co-owner of a successful accounting firm. They’re happy, she’s almost sure of it.
Yet as Natalie lies trapped in a coma, unable to communicate though aware of everything around her, she realizes that her husband is hiding something. Zack has always been reticent about his past, which she attributed to an unhappy childhood. Now the strange calls he’s receiving, the apologies when he thinks she can’t hear him, and her fragmented memories from the morning of the accident suggest a deeper secret.
When she finally awakens, Natalie is determined to find out the truth. Sorting through clues as her brain heals, she realizes she has a rare opportunity—to reexamine the life she’s made and the man she’s made it with. But as answers come to light, she faces surprising, heartrending decisions, as well as a danger that could upend her world once again, as Zack’s past finally catches up with them . . .
When Natalie Shelton thinks back to how things were before the car accident, she remembers a great marriage. She and her husband, Zack, seem as strong and dependable together as the houses he builds. They live in Portland, Oregon, and Natalie is co-owner of a successful accounting firm. They’re happy, she’s almost sure of it.
Yet as Natalie lies trapped in a coma, unable to communicate though aware of everything around her, she realizes that her husband is hiding something. Zack has always been reticent about his past, which she attributed to an unhappy childhood. Now the strange calls he’s receiving, the apologies when he thinks she can’t hear him, and her fragmented memories from the morning of the accident suggest a deeper secret.
When she finally awakens, Natalie is determined to find out the truth. Sorting through clues as her brain heals, she realizes she has a rare opportunity—to reexamine the life she’s made and the man she’s made it with. But as answers come to light, she faces surprising, heartrending decisions, as well as a danger that could upend her world once again, as Zack’s past finally catches up with them . . .
330 pages, Paperback
First published October 30, 2018
502 people are currently reading
3377 people want to read
About the author
Cathy Lamb
24 books1,598 followersCathy Lamb was born in Newport Beach, California. As a child, she mastered the art of skateboarding, catching butterflies in bottles, and riding her bike with no hands. When she was 10, her parents moved her, two sisters, a brother, and two poorly behaved dogs to Oregon before she could fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a surfer bum.
She then embarked on her notable academic career where she earned good grades now and then, spent a great deal of time daydreaming, ran wild with a number of friends, and landed on the newspaper staff in high school. When she saw her byline above an article about people making out in the hallways of the high school, she knew she had found her true calling.
After two years of partying at the University of Oregon, she settled down for the next three years and earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education, and became a fourth grade teacher. It was difficult for her to become proper and conservative but she threw out her red cowboy boots and persevered. She had no choice. She had to eat, and health insurance is expensive.
She met her husband on a blind date. A mutual friend who was an undercover vice cop busting drug dealers set them up. It was love at third sight.
Teaching children about the Oregon Trail and multiplication facts amused her until she became so gigantically pregnant with twins she looked like a small cow and could barely walk. With a three year old at home, she decided it was time to make a graceful exit and waddle on out. She left school one day and never went back. She likes to think her students missed her.
When Cathy was no longer smothered in diapers and pacifiers, she took a turn onto the hazardous road of freelance writing and wrote almost 200 articles on homes, home décor, people and fashion for a local newspaper. As she is not fashionable and can hardly stand to shop, it was an eye opener for her to find that some women actually do obsess about what to wear. She also learned it would probably be more relaxing to slam a hammer against one’s forehead than engage in a large and costly home remodeling project.
Cathy suffers from, “I Would Rather Play Than Work Disease” which prevents her from getting much work done unless she has a threatening deadline. She likes to hang with family and friends, walk, eat chocolate, camp, travel, and is slightly obsessive about the types of books she reads. She also likes to be left alone a lot so she can hear all the odd characters in her head talk to each other and then transfer that oddness to paper. The characters usually don’t start to talk until 10:00 at night, however, so she is often up ‘til 2:00 in the morning with them. That is her excuse for being cranky.
She adores her children and husband, except when he refuses to take his dirty shoes off and walks on the carpet. She will ski because her children insist, but she secretly doesn’t like it at all. Too cold and she falls all the time.
She is currently working on her next book and isn’t sleeping much.
She then embarked on her notable academic career where she earned good grades now and then, spent a great deal of time daydreaming, ran wild with a number of friends, and landed on the newspaper staff in high school. When she saw her byline above an article about people making out in the hallways of the high school, she knew she had found her true calling.
After two years of partying at the University of Oregon, she settled down for the next three years and earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education, and became a fourth grade teacher. It was difficult for her to become proper and conservative but she threw out her red cowboy boots and persevered. She had no choice. She had to eat, and health insurance is expensive.
She met her husband on a blind date. A mutual friend who was an undercover vice cop busting drug dealers set them up. It was love at third sight.
Teaching children about the Oregon Trail and multiplication facts amused her until she became so gigantically pregnant with twins she looked like a small cow and could barely walk. With a three year old at home, she decided it was time to make a graceful exit and waddle on out. She left school one day and never went back. She likes to think her students missed her.
When Cathy was no longer smothered in diapers and pacifiers, she took a turn onto the hazardous road of freelance writing and wrote almost 200 articles on homes, home décor, people and fashion for a local newspaper. As she is not fashionable and can hardly stand to shop, it was an eye opener for her to find that some women actually do obsess about what to wear. She also learned it would probably be more relaxing to slam a hammer against one’s forehead than engage in a large and costly home remodeling project.
Cathy suffers from, “I Would Rather Play Than Work Disease” which prevents her from getting much work done unless she has a threatening deadline. She likes to hang with family and friends, walk, eat chocolate, camp, travel, and is slightly obsessive about the types of books she reads. She also likes to be left alone a lot so she can hear all the odd characters in her head talk to each other and then transfer that oddness to paper. The characters usually don’t start to talk until 10:00 at night, however, so she is often up ‘til 2:00 in the morning with them. That is her excuse for being cranky.
She adores her children and husband, except when he refuses to take his dirty shoes off and walks on the carpet. She will ski because her children insist, but she secretly doesn’t like it at all. Too cold and she falls all the time.
She is currently working on her next book and isn’t sleeping much.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 343 reviews
November 3, 2018
4 signature Cathy Lamb stars! ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Cathy Lamb has her own unique style. Her books are heartwarming, quirky, and always have their share of laugh-out-loud moments. I could not wait to read The Man She Married.
Natalie Shelton suffers a brain injury in a terrible car accident, and she is in a coma. Though she cannot talk, she is aware of her surroundings, and suddenly puts it together that her once happy marriage is in jeopardy because her husband has a secret. She can feel it. He must. His behavior is becoming more apparent because he thinks she can’t hear him, and not only that, she can remember bits and pieces from the morning of the accident that cast further doubt in her mind.
Natalie finally wakes up, and she is on a mission to figure out what is going on. Once things start to unravel, or fall into place, depending on how you look at it, there is a turning point for Natalie and Zack because his past can no longer be denied.
Cathy Lamb gets inside Natalie’s head, and the flow of the writing very much authentically follows the scattered, fragmented thoughts on someone with a brain injury.
Natalie is such a likable and endearing character. I was rooting for her to reclaim her memory and figure out what Zack was hiding. She is a true heroine, and her story inspired me, while also bringing along some Cathy Lamb-style witty entertainment and laughter. There were some other quirky, charming friends along for the ride, and here we have another signature Cathy Lamb book!
Thank you to Kensington Books for the complimentary ARC. All opinions are my own.
My reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com
Cathy Lamb has her own unique style. Her books are heartwarming, quirky, and always have their share of laugh-out-loud moments. I could not wait to read The Man She Married.
Natalie Shelton suffers a brain injury in a terrible car accident, and she is in a coma. Though she cannot talk, she is aware of her surroundings, and suddenly puts it together that her once happy marriage is in jeopardy because her husband has a secret. She can feel it. He must. His behavior is becoming more apparent because he thinks she can’t hear him, and not only that, she can remember bits and pieces from the morning of the accident that cast further doubt in her mind.
Natalie finally wakes up, and she is on a mission to figure out what is going on. Once things start to unravel, or fall into place, depending on how you look at it, there is a turning point for Natalie and Zack because his past can no longer be denied.
Cathy Lamb gets inside Natalie’s head, and the flow of the writing very much authentically follows the scattered, fragmented thoughts on someone with a brain injury.
Natalie is such a likable and endearing character. I was rooting for her to reclaim her memory and figure out what Zack was hiding. She is a true heroine, and her story inspired me, while also bringing along some Cathy Lamb-style witty entertainment and laughter. There were some other quirky, charming friends along for the ride, and here we have another signature Cathy Lamb book!
Thank you to Kensington Books for the complimentary ARC. All opinions are my own.
My reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com
October 24, 2018
The Man She Married was one of those books that I had a hard time deciding whether I even liked it or not. This one is a fictional story of a woman that finds out her husband’s lying only to then lose her memory in a severe crash that results in brain injuries.
As the story in this one began it seemed that Natalie and Zack were very much in love with one another when something happens that brings to light Zack’s deception. Just as the fight between the couple is happening Natalie leaves and has her accident. This leaves readers wondering what the whole truth was and what danger that brings building a bit of suspense.
Now, after a somewhat explosive beginning readers are tossed into a state of confusion as the story continues being told from Natalie’s POV while lying in a coma. This isn’t a bad thing necessarily but it stalls out finding out the reality and Natalie begins a lot of random musings that really don’t mean a lot to the story which also continue after she awakens. The pace really seemed to slow down from the beginning and it became hard to stay engaged at that point.
One could say the author is brilliant showing the scattered thoughts of a accident victim but on the other hand perhaps insane for dragging out the story for those less patient readers such as myself. Some of the ramblings are funny and parts entertaining though so that brought my struggle in is this likable or not leading me to rate down the middle. Perhaps a little shorter version would have been more to my taste but as is I can’t say I fell in love but only that it did have it’s moments.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
For more reviews please visit https://carriesbookreviews.com/
As the story in this one began it seemed that Natalie and Zack were very much in love with one another when something happens that brings to light Zack’s deception. Just as the fight between the couple is happening Natalie leaves and has her accident. This leaves readers wondering what the whole truth was and what danger that brings building a bit of suspense.
Now, after a somewhat explosive beginning readers are tossed into a state of confusion as the story continues being told from Natalie’s POV while lying in a coma. This isn’t a bad thing necessarily but it stalls out finding out the reality and Natalie begins a lot of random musings that really don’t mean a lot to the story which also continue after she awakens. The pace really seemed to slow down from the beginning and it became hard to stay engaged at that point.
One could say the author is brilliant showing the scattered thoughts of a accident victim but on the other hand perhaps insane for dragging out the story for those less patient readers such as myself. Some of the ramblings are funny and parts entertaining though so that brought my struggle in is this likable or not leading me to rate down the middle. Perhaps a little shorter version would have been more to my taste but as is I can’t say I fell in love but only that it did have it’s moments.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
For more reviews please visit https://carriesbookreviews.com/
October 27, 2018
This was my first CL book and I’m sitting here in disbelief that I haven’t read her before now, especially since she has written several books. The best part of that is I don’t have to worry about waiting for her next book because if I need more CL in my life I can work my way through her back list and I feel like everyone needs a bit more of her in their lives.
Don’t you just love being surprised by a book? I’m not talking about being shocked by plot twists, I’m talking about when a book is just slightly different than what you expected, but in a really good way. I guess I thought this would be sorta sad, maybe even a bit depressing, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. It was so funny and humor was the last thing I expected to encounter but I so appreciated it. If her books generally have the same style of good natured fun please let me know because I adored it.
While the plot here was great, it definitely maintained my interest, the star of the show was most certainly the characters. Natalie herself was a little shining star, but every single other character was amazing as well. Her dad, her husband, her two best friends and her mom were all super fun and quirky and totally the type of people you only wish you knew in real life. They were vibrant and full of life and energy, the type you expect to leap from the pages and a few even left an imprint on my heart. Recommended for anyone who needs some laughs and loves to love characters, a super fun read.
The Man She Married in three words: Funny, Sweet and Quirky.
Don’t you just love being surprised by a book? I’m not talking about being shocked by plot twists, I’m talking about when a book is just slightly different than what you expected, but in a really good way. I guess I thought this would be sorta sad, maybe even a bit depressing, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. It was so funny and humor was the last thing I expected to encounter but I so appreciated it. If her books generally have the same style of good natured fun please let me know because I adored it.
While the plot here was great, it definitely maintained my interest, the star of the show was most certainly the characters. Natalie herself was a little shining star, but every single other character was amazing as well. Her dad, her husband, her two best friends and her mom were all super fun and quirky and totally the type of people you only wish you knew in real life. They were vibrant and full of life and energy, the type you expect to leap from the pages and a few even left an imprint on my heart. Recommended for anyone who needs some laughs and loves to love characters, a super fun read.
The Man She Married in three words: Funny, Sweet and Quirky.
October 19, 2018
3.5 stars! I was captivated by the synopsis which is about Natalie who is left in a coma shortly after finding out her husband has lied and he is not who she thought he was. The best part about this novel is it’s filled with lovable characters and many laugh out loud moments. Unfortunately, for me the story line was too predictable and convenient. I’ve heard wonderful comments about Cather Lamb’s novels and plan to read more from her in the future.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an e-arc copy in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an e-arc copy in exchange for an honest review.
September 15, 2018
I love Cathy Lamb's book and this is one of her best. I loved the characters, the plot, the location - I loved it all. It made me laugh and it made me cry and it taught me how life could be after brain damage and how difficult it is to recover.
Natalie is in love with her husband when she finds out that he is keeping a major secret from her. As she drives to work that morning, she is in a tragic car accident and ends up in a coma. The doctors don't think that she'll recover but her husband and father never leave her side. She can hear everything that is said while she is in her coma but is unable to respond. During this part of the book, we learn about her history, her best friends and her marriage to her husband. Once she wakes up, she goes into rehab with other people with brain damage where we meet a whole array of people with brain injuries. Natalie still can't remember what Zack's secret is but she knows there is a problem. Will she ever remember and will it affect her life with Zack?
If you like books with great characters, an intriguing plot, a few laughs and a lot of love - this is the book for you!
Thanks to net galley for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
Natalie is in love with her husband when she finds out that he is keeping a major secret from her. As she drives to work that morning, she is in a tragic car accident and ends up in a coma. The doctors don't think that she'll recover but her husband and father never leave her side. She can hear everything that is said while she is in her coma but is unable to respond. During this part of the book, we learn about her history, her best friends and her marriage to her husband. Once she wakes up, she goes into rehab with other people with brain damage where we meet a whole array of people with brain injuries. Natalie still can't remember what Zack's secret is but she knows there is a problem. Will she ever remember and will it affect her life with Zack?
If you like books with great characters, an intriguing plot, a few laughs and a lot of love - this is the book for you!
Thanks to net galley for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
October 28, 2018
With the signature heart of a Cathy Lamb novel interspersed with adorable humor, loving friendships and quirky family stories, The Man She Married delivers in every way. Even with a comatose protagonist, I was cracking up as she tells herself she’s in a coma coffin and a brain bang unit. Only Cathy can make you laugh while reading these stories and make you love every single character. Definitely another win for Lamb!
Thank you to Kensington Books for an advance copy. All opinions are my own.
Thank you to Kensington Books for an advance copy. All opinions are my own.
October 30, 2018
It is always a great day when a new Cathy Lamb book comes out! In The Man She Married, Lamb tackles the story of a woman who is in a coma after an accident and overhears things that make her think her beloved husband may have a very different past from the one she knew. She awakes to discover the truth, but at what cost?
September 26, 2018
Thank you net galley for the copy!!! I enjoyed it immensely it was one of my favorite types of books highly entertaining i recommend!
November 18, 2018
I always love meeting new to me authors in roundabout ways. Earlier this year I happened to be invited to book blogger week over at Tall Poppy Writers and found an outstanding community of authors who are dedicated to interacting with their audiences.
I have read and reviewed a number of authors from this group, but at the time I didn’t know they were part of this amazing community…..in fact I only just discovered the group a few weeks ago as I mentioned, and I had been reading a number of Poppy Writers for years!
Anyway, so I participated in their book blogger week met a number of new to me authors, one of which was Cathy Lamb, who also happens to live in the Portland, OR area which is about 45 min north of where I live. Small world!
She asked if I would be interested in reading her latest book, The Man She Married, and I was happy to do so. I didn’t really know much about the book or the author, but I was at least willing to support a fellow Oregonian by reading the book…..but was I in store for something that was not only interesting, but also different that I hadn’t been expecting.
I don’t normally read a whole lot of women fiction or contempo lit, as my general review genre is historical fiction, however there are times when I pick up a book that is more contemporary. Which is the case with this book. Though when I skimmed the summary, it almost sounded like it was going to be a thriller or mystery. However, this is truly more of a women’s fiction novel. At least for me it was. I know a lot of people, including Book Bub have classified this book as a psychological thriller, but for me it had a little too much humor to be considered that. For me, it wasn’t a disappointment to read a women’s fiction novel rather than a thriller, but I would say that the summary definitely suggests thriller so if you are expecting a thriller, some readers (though as I said, many consider this a psychological thriller) might be a little disappointed.
As I said, I wasn’t the least bit disappointed reading this one. I loved that it was set in Portland. There are so few novels set in Portland that when I find one that is, I always feel so fortunate!
I also loved that even though this book was an easy read for me, it still packed a lot of emotion into the narrative. It was fast moving and had a lot of comical moments, but there were also enough serious and moving moments that would satisfy readers who were looking for something a little more emotional.
This novel does a great job at telling the story of Natalie in her coma. While most of the book is about her recovery, the coma part for me was the most interesting. I haven’t read any books that tell a story from the POV of the person in the coma. So I thought it was interesting and while the recovery is the meat of the story so to speak, the come part stood out for me.
The characters were well developed, Natalie was interesting and relatable (coma and all) and her dad was really a unique and fun character to get to know. Zack was a little underwhelming for me. He wasn’t a bad character by any means, but he just seemed a little blah for me as a reader for some reason. A little one dimensional perhaps? It’s hard for me to really identify what it is about him that didn’t work for me, but there were just other characters that I liked better.
One thing that I noticed about the prose of the book was that it was unique. I was struggling to put a name to it and then I read another reviewer that described it perfectly—-irreverent. Yes yes yes, such a great word to describe her signature style! It’s a very quirky, but yet recognizable prose. I don’t know that it’s for everyone, but for me it worked. Lamb’s humor and style rang through in this book.
For me this was a solid book. I have’t read anything else by Lamb before, but she has written a lot of other books that sound excellent. I love that I found this author in a roundabout way and now I have a bunch of new books to add to my TBR list!
See my full review here
I have read and reviewed a number of authors from this group, but at the time I didn’t know they were part of this amazing community…..in fact I only just discovered the group a few weeks ago as I mentioned, and I had been reading a number of Poppy Writers for years!
Anyway, so I participated in their book blogger week met a number of new to me authors, one of which was Cathy Lamb, who also happens to live in the Portland, OR area which is about 45 min north of where I live. Small world!
She asked if I would be interested in reading her latest book, The Man She Married, and I was happy to do so. I didn’t really know much about the book or the author, but I was at least willing to support a fellow Oregonian by reading the book…..but was I in store for something that was not only interesting, but also different that I hadn’t been expecting.
I don’t normally read a whole lot of women fiction or contempo lit, as my general review genre is historical fiction, however there are times when I pick up a book that is more contemporary. Which is the case with this book. Though when I skimmed the summary, it almost sounded like it was going to be a thriller or mystery. However, this is truly more of a women’s fiction novel. At least for me it was. I know a lot of people, including Book Bub have classified this book as a psychological thriller, but for me it had a little too much humor to be considered that. For me, it wasn’t a disappointment to read a women’s fiction novel rather than a thriller, but I would say that the summary definitely suggests thriller so if you are expecting a thriller, some readers (though as I said, many consider this a psychological thriller) might be a little disappointed.
As I said, I wasn’t the least bit disappointed reading this one. I loved that it was set in Portland. There are so few novels set in Portland that when I find one that is, I always feel so fortunate!
I also loved that even though this book was an easy read for me, it still packed a lot of emotion into the narrative. It was fast moving and had a lot of comical moments, but there were also enough serious and moving moments that would satisfy readers who were looking for something a little more emotional.
This novel does a great job at telling the story of Natalie in her coma. While most of the book is about her recovery, the coma part for me was the most interesting. I haven’t read any books that tell a story from the POV of the person in the coma. So I thought it was interesting and while the recovery is the meat of the story so to speak, the come part stood out for me.
The characters were well developed, Natalie was interesting and relatable (coma and all) and her dad was really a unique and fun character to get to know. Zack was a little underwhelming for me. He wasn’t a bad character by any means, but he just seemed a little blah for me as a reader for some reason. A little one dimensional perhaps? It’s hard for me to really identify what it is about him that didn’t work for me, but there were just other characters that I liked better.
One thing that I noticed about the prose of the book was that it was unique. I was struggling to put a name to it and then I read another reviewer that described it perfectly—-irreverent. Yes yes yes, such a great word to describe her signature style! It’s a very quirky, but yet recognizable prose. I don’t know that it’s for everyone, but for me it worked. Lamb’s humor and style rang through in this book.
For me this was a solid book. I have’t read anything else by Lamb before, but she has written a lot of other books that sound excellent. I love that I found this author in a roundabout way and now I have a bunch of new books to add to my TBR list!
See my full review here
September 19, 2018
This book. Oh my gosh...it was rough. I NEVER decide half way through to stop reading a book but I just COULD NOT. I read to about 57% and then finally skipped ahead to the end for a spoiler. The first part of the book the main charcter is in a coma....that was painful. The same thing is basically said over and over with a lot of rambling. Then she goes into a rehab center and starts to get better. You read about her struggle and what her friends are doing everyday while she makes necklaces. Every other page you will be immersed in some old story from her childhood that really has no relevance or just a random story really haha. I would skip this one for sure.
November 22, 2018
Natalie wakes up to devastating news from her husband Zack. While running from his truths shes in a terrible hit and run accident. When she 'wakes' from her coma locked in her body that was scary. After really waking up and rehabbing in the Brain Bang Unit while trying to remember the morning of her accident she never gave up and had lots of support from her loved ones.
I experienced a variety of emotions during the reading of The Man She Married. Natalie was actually a funny MC. Especially during her time in the Brain Bang unit. I was sad after Justine told her teenage secret. You could feel her regret and love for Natalie Chick. Chick was always saying something funny about her six kids lol.
While the suspense was there there was plenty of humor and the drama of life going on. I really felt apart of their world while reading. Cathy Lamb did a great job writing this book.
I experienced a variety of emotions during the reading of The Man She Married. Natalie was actually a funny MC. Especially during her time in the Brain Bang unit. I was sad after Justine told her teenage secret. You could feel her regret and love for Natalie Chick. Chick was always saying something funny about her six kids lol.
While the suspense was there there was plenty of humor and the drama of life going on. I really felt apart of their world while reading. Cathy Lamb did a great job writing this book.
October 31, 2018
What a heartwarming, gloriously unique story about secrets, lies, and the true meaning of home. I loved the full cast of quirky characters, the sexy guys, the laugh-out-loud antics of three life-long girlfriends, the monster mommy…and the chilling mystery. This novel made me laugh, cry, and hold my breath. I can't recommend it enough.
September 28, 2018
Natalie, 35 year old accountant in Portland, learns that her husband has lied about his identity and past on the morning she gets into a horrific car crash. She loses all memory of that morning except in nightmares where the man who hit her continues to attempt to murder her. The rest of the novel follows Natalie's recovery, her relationships with friends and family, and the secrets that everyone hides.
I wanted to like this story. I thought it had great potential. Unfortunately, many things in this book just did not work for me. Natalie goes from a professional, adult woman to a traumatic head injury survivor who thinks and talks like a 12 year old. Her husband is obviously lying to her and she knows it, but she just keeps asking herself over and over "Why is he lying? What isn't he telling me?" instead of actually confronting the man, brain injury or no. The other patients who are in the brain trauma rehab center are depicted more as psychiatric patients with the mental capacity of toddlers than brain trauma patients. Zack, her husband, is so one dimensional I wanted to skip over the parts of the book he appeared in. Her father was one of the only redeeming characters. I kept thinking to myself, I just want this book to be over.
I have read many other Cathy Lamb books. I actually normally enjoy her work very much. Everyone can have a miss now and again, and this, unfortunately, was a huge miss for me.
**Thank you netgalley for providing me and ARC of this book***
I wanted to like this story. I thought it had great potential. Unfortunately, many things in this book just did not work for me. Natalie goes from a professional, adult woman to a traumatic head injury survivor who thinks and talks like a 12 year old. Her husband is obviously lying to her and she knows it, but she just keeps asking herself over and over "Why is he lying? What isn't he telling me?" instead of actually confronting the man, brain injury or no. The other patients who are in the brain trauma rehab center are depicted more as psychiatric patients with the mental capacity of toddlers than brain trauma patients. Zack, her husband, is so one dimensional I wanted to skip over the parts of the book he appeared in. Her father was one of the only redeeming characters. I kept thinking to myself, I just want this book to be over.
I have read many other Cathy Lamb books. I actually normally enjoy her work very much. Everyone can have a miss now and again, and this, unfortunately, was a huge miss for me.
**Thank you netgalley for providing me and ARC of this book***
November 7, 2018
I love a Cathy Lamb book, and this latest one, is no exception. Occasionally a reader might be turned off by the sometimes deliciously irreverent tone, but that's just part of her unique writing voice. I do believe I could be read a page of her writing and name it as a Cathy Lamb book. Now you can't recognise a writer's voice with many books, but hers - unique.
Sometimes there is always a little touch of the tall story, I could see that with the story her Grandma Dixie tells of shooting a man, such fun.
Natalie is married to Zack, and they sure do love each other, but... Zack seems to be hiding something and when Natalie meets with an accident and has a bad brain injury slowly all is revealed. (It takes the whole book!) Natalie makes a slow recovery, there is no magic wand that cures her within a chapter. And will Zack and Natalie last with all that has been hidden?
I loved all the characters who filled this story, Natalie has such great friends in Justine and Chick - together since kindergarten they are the Moonshine and Milky Way Maverick girls - which sums up perfectly there fun loving, risk taking, sweet, compassionate selves. Then there are many of the local people, plus the three in rehab who were wonderful too.
Lastly I could not leave without looking at Natalie's mother, she sure is something else! She deserted her child and husband when Natalie was seven and now she is on husband number five. I'm telling you, however she does have a surprise up her sleeve and neither Natalie or I saw it coming.
There is so much I could say, I laughed out loud, I shed tears, I delighted in the antics and hyperbole, and as the friendship, love and compassion shone through I just knew I am so grateful that Cathy Lamb is a writer.
Published by Kensington. 30th October 2018. An e-ARC from the publisher via NetGalley. But... I did buy a paperback copy as well! If you haven't read her, what are you waiting for!
Sometimes there is always a little touch of the tall story, I could see that with the story her Grandma Dixie tells of shooting a man, such fun.
Natalie is married to Zack, and they sure do love each other, but... Zack seems to be hiding something and when Natalie meets with an accident and has a bad brain injury slowly all is revealed. (It takes the whole book!) Natalie makes a slow recovery, there is no magic wand that cures her within a chapter. And will Zack and Natalie last with all that has been hidden?
I loved all the characters who filled this story, Natalie has such great friends in Justine and Chick - together since kindergarten they are the Moonshine and Milky Way Maverick girls - which sums up perfectly there fun loving, risk taking, sweet, compassionate selves. Then there are many of the local people, plus the three in rehab who were wonderful too.
Lastly I could not leave without looking at Natalie's mother, she sure is something else! She deserted her child and husband when Natalie was seven and now she is on husband number five. I'm telling you, however she does have a surprise up her sleeve and neither Natalie or I saw it coming.
There is so much I could say, I laughed out loud, I shed tears, I delighted in the antics and hyperbole, and as the friendship, love and compassion shone through I just knew I am so grateful that Cathy Lamb is a writer.
Published by Kensington. 30th October 2018. An e-ARC from the publisher via NetGalley. But... I did buy a paperback copy as well! If you haven't read her, what are you waiting for!
September 16, 2018
There is always something very special about Cathy Lamb's books, and her new book, The Man She Married, is no exception. Cathy has this amazing talent to write the most interesting characters you will ever read....they are loving, complicated, quirky, original, and, in this book, they are not at all what they seem to be on the outside. Cathy Lamb also has the ability to make me laugh out loud, so many times, with witty dialogue and situations that are funny.....even when the story is serious, even tragic, and tugging on your heartstrings. I'm going to share with you one of the funniest parts of the book...I could read it again and again, and laugh each time. While Natalie is trapped in a coma, one of her visitors is Rosie, the mother of her best friend. Here is Rosie's prayer for Natalie:
“I pray to the good Lord for you every day, Natalie,” Rosie says, a sob catching in her throat. “You are the daughter of my own sweet heart. I will pray for you right now, in fact, the Lord’s Prayer. Are you ready, dear? Our father who is an artist in heaven. Howell be thy name. His kingdom comes, his kingdom goes. On Earth you are to find your own heaven. Give us our daily bread and wine. Not too much wine. And lead us not in to temptation and deliver us from evil men. Amen.” She sighs. “Mary, mother of Jesus, get your feminist, woman-empowered self into this hospital and fix my Natalie, I’m tellin’ you. If you need help, grab Mother Teresa or grab a woman saint. Heck, grab all of the women saints, Mary, mother of Jesus, but do not grab my great-aunt Milly, as she was clearly the devil’s assistant here on Earth. Women unite! Thank you, Jesus.” * *
“I pray to the good Lord for you every day, Natalie,” Rosie says, a sob catching in her throat. “You are the daughter of my own sweet heart. I will pray for you right now, in fact, the Lord’s Prayer. Are you ready, dear? Our father who is an artist in heaven. Howell be thy name. His kingdom comes, his kingdom goes. On Earth you are to find your own heaven. Give us our daily bread and wine. Not too much wine. And lead us not in to temptation and deliver us from evil men. Amen.” She sighs. “Mary, mother of Jesus, get your feminist, woman-empowered self into this hospital and fix my Natalie, I’m tellin’ you. If you need help, grab Mother Teresa or grab a woman saint. Heck, grab all of the women saints, Mary, mother of Jesus, but do not grab my great-aunt Milly, as she was clearly the devil’s assistant here on Earth. Women unite! Thank you, Jesus.” * *
September 17, 2018
Another fantastic book by Cathy Lamb!! Read this through Hurricane Florence and I loved it!! Luckily, we never lost power even though we got about 8" of rain. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
September 29, 2018
Cathy Lamb is one of my top favorite authors and I love her books. The Man She Married is yet another novel of hers that I can now add to that list! It was an easy read but so compelling and emotional. I was very intrigued to find out why Natalie and Zack were targets and I was also absorbed in reading about the lives of all of the characters and their relationships. I felt so bad for Natalie and can’t imagine what she was going through, not only while in the coma, but during the aftermath as well. The love shown to her by her adoring husband, family, and friends definitely kept her motivated and positive. I absolutely love this book!
March 18, 2019
Didn’t make it far. It irks me to no end when an author skirts around writing swears and makes the characters sound like children as a result. I’m not about to clutch my pearls if someone in a book says “fuck you”. Also, I can’t stand the let me look in the mirror and tell you what I look like thing. The main character didn’t sound like an adult to me. She sounded like a teenager. The whole white light and tunnel trope was forced and not one bit of this felt like a thriller. And how many goddamn people are built like tractors?
November 21, 2019
To be fair, I only read 1/2 of this book. It started out interesting and went downhill. I gave it a fair shot, but there are too many other books I want to read. Don't waste your time, I'm sorry I did.
February 16, 2019
Natalie knows her husband, Zack is lying, is in a horrific automobile accident, winds up in a coma, wakes up, semi-recovers and is still being pursued by a giggling fat man with teeth like a fence. Determined to find the truth, she sorts through her fractured brain for clues as to what occurred the day of her accident. During this process, you'll meet her two best friends, her living father, Monster of a Mother and three friends she made in rehab. Lamb's writing makes it possible to laugh through a serious situation when faced with her well drawn characters and situations that are outrageous at best.
October 23, 2018
Thank you to NetGalley, Kensington Publications and Cathy Lamb for a copy of this book in exchange of my honest review.
This book starts out with a huge secret that leaves Natalie in a coma. She calls it her Coma Coffin. Cathy Lamb does a good job of showing what happens to a person while in a coma. It’s quite interesting and done very well. When she goes into rehab though I was disappointed. It was good to see how things went there but it was so repetitive. It seemed to go on and on with the same thing way to much. I continued to read until the very end and loved how things progressed with Natalie, her husband, her dad, her mother(who I ended up liking) and her two best friends. There were subjects touched on that need way more attention, such as mental heath and young pregnancy, adoption, abuse to an extent. I truly wanted to love this book. I had heard so many good things. While I did like it, it was just not what I expected. It held my interest because I wanted to know what happens. Who was after Natalie and Zack. Why her mother was the way she was and what would happen between Natalie and Zack.
I would recommend this book to others but will say there are some parts that will drive you nuts because it seems to say the same thing over and over again. It has wonderful characters and beautiful landscaping scenes that you can actually picture. It had great potential to be a very good thriller but to me just fell short. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it either.
I gave it 3 stars and will read more by this author.
This book starts out with a huge secret that leaves Natalie in a coma. She calls it her Coma Coffin. Cathy Lamb does a good job of showing what happens to a person while in a coma. It’s quite interesting and done very well. When she goes into rehab though I was disappointed. It was good to see how things went there but it was so repetitive. It seemed to go on and on with the same thing way to much. I continued to read until the very end and loved how things progressed with Natalie, her husband, her dad, her mother(who I ended up liking) and her two best friends. There were subjects touched on that need way more attention, such as mental heath and young pregnancy, adoption, abuse to an extent. I truly wanted to love this book. I had heard so many good things. While I did like it, it was just not what I expected. It held my interest because I wanted to know what happens. Who was after Natalie and Zack. Why her mother was the way she was and what would happen between Natalie and Zack.
I would recommend this book to others but will say there are some parts that will drive you nuts because it seems to say the same thing over and over again. It has wonderful characters and beautiful landscaping scenes that you can actually picture. It had great potential to be a very good thriller but to me just fell short. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it either.
I gave it 3 stars and will read more by this author.
October 1, 2018
What if your husband told you his name wasn’t really his name? That’s pretty much how this book started out but as soon as he told her that and then told her they needed to leave, she refused and left for work and then was in an accident. From there she’s in an accident and the first part of the book is her in a come where she’s conscious but only in the coma. No one around her knows she can hear everything going on.
I’ll try to be specific for why I’m rating this book a 2.5. The plot was a really good plot, just the way it was executed didn’t work for me. The biggest problem for me was all the back in time parts about grandma Dixie, Justine, and Chick. It served no purpose and it made the book drag.
You don’t find out who Zach is until the end of the book and that would usually be fine, but with a vast majority of the book being about her upbringing and then about frog lady, soldier, and architect, it just didn’t come through as well as it could.
What I did like about this book was how detailed the author is in showing what it’s like to recover from a traumatic brain injury.
I love a good drama and a psychological thriller because you get lost in them and they are page turners. I wanted to get lost in this book and I wanted it to be a page turner but it just was not.
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.
I’ll try to be specific for why I’m rating this book a 2.5. The plot was a really good plot, just the way it was executed didn’t work for me. The biggest problem for me was all the back in time parts about grandma Dixie, Justine, and Chick. It served no purpose and it made the book drag.
You don’t find out who Zach is until the end of the book and that would usually be fine, but with a vast majority of the book being about her upbringing and then about frog lady, soldier, and architect, it just didn’t come through as well as it could.
What I did like about this book was how detailed the author is in showing what it’s like to recover from a traumatic brain injury.
I love a good drama and a psychological thriller because you get lost in them and they are page turners. I wanted to get lost in this book and I wanted it to be a page turner but it just was not.
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.
October 3, 2018
This is my first Cathy Lamb novel and I loved it!!!!!!!!! I usually love thrillers and this was a nice slow paced change from chasing murderers and trying to figure out who killed who lol. This story has such a human touch to the writing that you feel like you really know these characters and their lives. The writing has such a real feeling to it. Like these characters are some one you really know. Natalie has the perfect life, perfect husband, perfect husband, and support system. Life is great until one day she is in a car accident and falls into a coma. While in said coma she feels that things are off with her husband like he's keeping secrets from her. When she wakes up and recovers it is up to her to figure out what in hades is going on. Why is he lying to her about so many things in their life?? Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington Books for the chance to sink into my first of Cathy Lambs books. This will definitely not be my last by her. Have to read them all now!!!!!
February 12, 2019
This just wasn’t the style for me. It starts with one of my pet peeves, a narrator who is self-deprecating about her looks and complains when they are obviously extraordinary. Natalie has “too big blue eyes” and “too curly long blond hair.” Yes, and just like the Disney princesses with the same problem I’m sure she’ll never find a man.
This was a women’s fiction thriller mashup and it didn’t work. There are these supposed-to-be funny vignettes about people in town which were so simplistic I thought they were parody, the dialogue is stilted, and the “good” characters are unrealistically perfect while the evil ones are caricatures. But the thriller is a letdown because our narrator is just watching the whole thing helplessly in ignorance.
This was a women’s fiction thriller mashup and it didn’t work. There are these supposed-to-be funny vignettes about people in town which were so simplistic I thought they were parody, the dialogue is stilted, and the “good” characters are unrealistically perfect while the evil ones are caricatures. But the thriller is a letdown because our narrator is just watching the whole thing helplessly in ignorance.
January 3, 2020
Not my favorite book. Chic lit style. The first 2/3rds was real slow. I ended up speed reading (something I rarely do because it ruins good books) the last third. Just wanted the general idea. I know some people really like Cathy Lamb as an author. I think this will be my only Lamb book.
October 29, 2018
There are many ways to write about being in a coma, the shock, the helpless entrapment, and the frightening numbness and silence, but then there is Cathy Lamb's way, with bewilderment, with laugh-out loud humor, and with chilling fear of why things have gone wrong.
In The Man She Married, a witty, suspenseful novel, Natalie considers herself a safe woman. She drives a safe blue truck as solid as a tank; she has a safe occupation as an accountant, because numbers tell the truth; she has safe hobbies, reading, going fishing and making necklaces; she has safe friends with whom she bonded as a kid.
Despite being abandoned by her selfish, judgmental, critical mother when she was seven, Natalie built a life with her roofer father and finds happiness with a man she loves, a delicious, strong man called Zack. Except his name is not really Zack.
When a van rams into her truck, Natalie's world crashes and she is trapped in a “Coma Coffin” where she hears her loving father, critical mother, delicious husband, and kind friends, but is unable to communicate. In a vulnerable and devastating moment, she sagely distinguishes between the inconveniences of various problems. “A snake catheter, for example, is an inconvenience; listening recently to two doctors say that I should be 'allowed to die' is a problem.”
And yet more problems snake out to reach Natalie, even after the golden miracle, even during her rehabilitation, even after her release. Who really is her husband who stealthily sells their home and keeps secrets from her? And will she forgive and reconcile with the mother who tightly held her own secrets? Natalie will not be safe until she looks into the past that has defined the people she loves, the past that threatens to kills her again.
Expertly crafted, thrilling, humorous yet frightening, The Man She Married is a literary wonder of family, crime, and romance. It's powerful, it's entertaining, it'll make you laugh and cry.
In The Man She Married, a witty, suspenseful novel, Natalie considers herself a safe woman. She drives a safe blue truck as solid as a tank; she has a safe occupation as an accountant, because numbers tell the truth; she has safe hobbies, reading, going fishing and making necklaces; she has safe friends with whom she bonded as a kid.
Despite being abandoned by her selfish, judgmental, critical mother when she was seven, Natalie built a life with her roofer father and finds happiness with a man she loves, a delicious, strong man called Zack. Except his name is not really Zack.
When a van rams into her truck, Natalie's world crashes and she is trapped in a “Coma Coffin” where she hears her loving father, critical mother, delicious husband, and kind friends, but is unable to communicate. In a vulnerable and devastating moment, she sagely distinguishes between the inconveniences of various problems. “A snake catheter, for example, is an inconvenience; listening recently to two doctors say that I should be 'allowed to die' is a problem.”
And yet more problems snake out to reach Natalie, even after the golden miracle, even during her rehabilitation, even after her release. Who really is her husband who stealthily sells their home and keeps secrets from her? And will she forgive and reconcile with the mother who tightly held her own secrets? Natalie will not be safe until she looks into the past that has defined the people she loves, the past that threatens to kills her again.
Expertly crafted, thrilling, humorous yet frightening, The Man She Married is a literary wonder of family, crime, and romance. It's powerful, it's entertaining, it'll make you laugh and cry.
November 26, 2018
What if your husband told you his name wasn’t really his name and he isn’t who he told you he was and after revealing this information he said you needed to leave right now! That’s how Natalie’s morning started refusing to believe this she gets in her car to take off and leave the man she thought was her husband and out of no where she’s hit by a van and the last thing she remembers is the man in the van smiling at her. Natalie is now in the hospital in a coma. The first part of this book is Natalie in a coma and she’s conscious enough to hear her family and her husband talking. No one is aware she can hear everything. She hears her husband talking angrily on the phone and she hears her father pleading for her to wake up. Natalie doesn’t have any memory of that fateful morning, when she awakens she has to learn to walk her head needs to heal and try to remember what happened. She gets sent a dead bird a man she doesn’t know sneaks into her hospital room and stands over her. She keeps having nightmares of the man who hit her and she knows her husband is hiding something but he won’t tell her what. This book had so many characters and they all flowed together so well. I enjoyed this book and it has you question can you ever fully trust someone once you know they have been lying for years is love ever really unconditional? When everything in your life changes in a blink of an eye can you move on and rebuild your future? This book was released in October 2018
April 25, 2021
This is my 3rd book by this author Cathy Lamb. I am a new fan! Her writing is really full of details and her style is unique.
She creates characters that you can love or not. They feel like people you might know or want to know. Or hate. There’s real suspense as well as so much humor in this book. It’s clever and enjoyable.
I also really enjoyed the sequencing of how she began the story and went forward in a more unusual way. You end up knowing a lot of details up front and it doesn’t spoil a thing. Have fun with this one !
She creates characters that you can love or not. They feel like people you might know or want to know. Or hate. There’s real suspense as well as so much humor in this book. It’s clever and enjoyable.
I also really enjoyed the sequencing of how she began the story and went forward in a more unusual way. You end up knowing a lot of details up front and it doesn’t spoil a thing. Have fun with this one !
February 6, 2021
3.5 Stars
There’s just something about the way Cathy Lamb writes...she’s funky and funny and tells one hell of a story.
There’s just something about the way Cathy Lamb writes...she’s funky and funny and tells one hell of a story.
October 28, 2022
I didn’t love this one as much as her other ones I’ve read, but her characters are always entertaining
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