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Un marido infiel
Rachel y Daniel tenían tres hijos y formaban un sólido matrimonio, o al menos eso era lo que Rachel pensaba. Pero su feliz existencia se hizo añicos cuando supo que Daniel tenía una aventura.
Entonces, se dio cuenta de que, a lo largo de los años, sus vidas se habían separado cada vez más. Quería salvar su matrimonio, pero tal vez fuera ya demasiado tarde. Si Daniel había llevado su infidelidad hasta sus últimas consecuencias, ¿podría perdonarlo alguna vez?
Entonces, se dio cuenta de que, a lo largo de los años, sus vidas se habían separado cada vez más. Quería salvar su matrimonio, pero tal vez fuera ya demasiado tarde. Si Daniel había llevado su infidelidad hasta sus últimas consecuencias, ¿podría perdonarlo alguna vez?
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First published January 1, 1995
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About the author
Michelle Reid
387 books637 followersHi, my name is Michelle Reid and I’ve been writing for Harlequin Mills & Boon for the last twenty years, and the crazy part about it is that I only realised it had been twenty years while updating this page!
So, hang on for a minute while I take this huge milestone in....
Twenty years with almost forty books published or in the pipeline ... I know it isn’t a great average when compared with some authors but it sounds pretty good to me!
So what was I doing twenty years ago before I wrote books? Well, I did the all of the usual things, like growing up and attending school, finishing at secretarial college, which I hated, then spent the next several years wandering aimlessly from job to job. Eventually I met my husband, we married and produced two daughters who then grew up and between them presented us with two gorgeous grandsons and one beautiful granddaughter. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Somewhere in between my girls growing up and the grandchildren arriving on the scene, I started writing. To this day I don’t know why, unless it was a natural progression from my never being without a book close by—often several—because books have always been an important part of my life for as far back as I can recall.
So, I started to write, by hand at first, scribbling short stories in notebooks which never saw the light of day. At some point I discovered Mills & Boon Romance books and that was pretty much it for me. I’d found my new love, as in reading romantic fiction and inevitably writing it too.
So twenty years on and almost forty books on, here I am still writing and still loving it!
So, hang on for a minute while I take this huge milestone in....
Twenty years with almost forty books published or in the pipeline ... I know it isn’t a great average when compared with some authors but it sounds pretty good to me!
So what was I doing twenty years ago before I wrote books? Well, I did the all of the usual things, like growing up and attending school, finishing at secretarial college, which I hated, then spent the next several years wandering aimlessly from job to job. Eventually I met my husband, we married and produced two daughters who then grew up and between them presented us with two gorgeous grandsons and one beautiful granddaughter. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Somewhere in between my girls growing up and the grandchildren arriving on the scene, I started writing. To this day I don’t know why, unless it was a natural progression from my never being without a book close by—often several—because books have always been an important part of my life for as far back as I can recall.
So, I started to write, by hand at first, scribbling short stories in notebooks which never saw the light of day. At some point I discovered Mills & Boon Romance books and that was pretty much it for me. I’d found my new love, as in reading romantic fiction and inevitably writing it too.
So twenty years on and almost forty books on, here I am still writing and still loving it!
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January 12, 2022
3.5 stars
Well damn, I didn't expect to be able to relate so strongly to a miserable housewife unhappily married to a cheating husband. I'll tell you another funny fact: I never planned to stay in HPlandia for more than a few derisive laugh-inducing seconds. 🤡
Anyway, back to my favorite pastime: spilling tea, spoilers and shallow gossip.
All the delicious angst along with a fair amount of no less blessed groveling from the hero that had perpetuated this book culminated in the dramatic revelation of a simple fact:
the hero did not actually commit adultery (though some would say: hallo, bitch, emotional cheating still counts). 🤡
Did I enjoy the fact that Daniel (H) was being subjected to harsh treatment throughout the whole book and had to grovel hard to earn his wife's forgiveness?
— Absolutely not. The word *enjoyed* is so irrelevant when I have another perfect verb to describe the bliss I experienced watching him suffer, beg and bulldoze —✨*savored*✨.
All the guy had ever done was have dinner with another woman (doesn't sound shady at all), but the bitter lesson on jealousy he received as a payback?
Another man's vivid interest in his wife made the poor lad so frantic, I thought he would go insane from bitter jealousy. Savor a taste of your own medicine and come back reformed. 😍
Add agonized repentance and longing for something precious he had lost to the mix, and you'll get the beautiful flavor of this story. I reveled in Daniel's misery. I'm not sorry. 😌
On second thought, Daniel is my beloved type of hero: a ruthless, cold business shark with a soft spot for his woman and 3 little children who just needed a little 🤏🏻 dose of reality 👋🏻 to get his head out of his ass.
Well damn, I didn't expect to be able to relate so strongly to a miserable housewife unhappily married to a cheating husband. I'll tell you another funny fact: I never planned to stay in HPlandia for more than a few derisive laugh-inducing seconds. 🤡
Anyway, back to my favorite pastime: spilling tea, spoilers and shallow gossip.
All the delicious angst along with a fair amount of no less blessed groveling from the hero that had perpetuated this book culminated in the dramatic revelation of a simple fact:
the hero did not actually commit adultery (though some would say: hallo, bitch, emotional cheating still counts). 🤡
Did I enjoy the fact that Daniel (H) was being subjected to harsh treatment throughout the whole book and had to grovel hard to earn his wife's forgiveness?
— Absolutely not. The word *enjoyed* is so irrelevant when I have another perfect verb to describe the bliss I experienced watching him suffer, beg and bulldoze —✨*savored*✨.
All the guy had ever done was have dinner with another woman (doesn't sound shady at all), but the bitter lesson on jealousy he received as a payback?
Another man's vivid interest in his wife made the poor lad so frantic, I thought he would go insane from bitter jealousy. Savor a taste of your own medicine and come back reformed. 😍
Add agonized repentance and longing for something precious he had lost to the mix, and you'll get the beautiful flavor of this story. I reveled in Daniel's misery. I'm not sorry. 😌
On second thought, Daniel is my beloved type of hero: a ruthless, cold business shark with a soft spot for his woman and 3 little children who just needed a little 🤏🏻 dose of reality 👋🏻 to get his head out of his ass.
May 4, 2021
4 Stars
I’ve been on a bit of an old school Michelle Reid binge of late…I’ve apparently read this before and didn’t like it…but also couldn’t remember it. This time, it was all the old school HQ angst I was looking for, a true soap opera in 90’s print.
I’ve been on a bit of an old school Michelle Reid binge of late…I’ve apparently read this before and didn’t like it…but also couldn’t remember it. This time, it was all the old school HQ angst I was looking for, a true soap opera in 90’s print.
September 12, 2018
Re The Ulimate Betrayal - Michelle Reid takes on that ubiquitous myth of the "Seven Year Itch".
It isn't only a movie with Marilyn Monroe. It is also a sort of urban legend that says the seventh year of marriage or thereabouts, after people have settled into the 'rut' of the familiarity and routine of marriage, one or the other spouse might stray.
In last century, that was commonly thought to be the male partner of the marriage, as the wives were usually busy with motherhood and house running.
This h, Rachel, is the 24 yr old housewife mum in this situation. The book opens when her last remaining school friend, a London career woman herself, calls her up in the midst of evening kidlet feed and bedtime rituals to let her know her 31 yr old entrepreneur Captain of Industry husband, Daniel, is having an affair.
Rachel is in shock, she met Daniel when she snuck a night out at 17 and fell head over heels in love at first sight. Daniel was 24 and had a solid plan to become a Master of the Business Universe, but his fierce attraction to Rachel kinda threw a wrench in the plans.
It is strongly hinted that Daniel had planned to dump Rachel, mostly because he thought his career goals should be met before he took up a family and marriage, but Rachel's surprise pregnancy with twins put an end to that line of thinking. Daniel and Rachel get married, with Daniel shielding the sheltered Rachel as much as he could, just like her parents did, as he moves on and moves up in the business world.
So Rachel's neat, cozy little world is shattered when Daniel comes home that night and by the look on his face, she knows what her friend said was true. Daniel has been seeing another woman. Daniel tries to explain that Rachel was dealing with sick twins and a fractious new baby, she was feeling ill herself and Daniel was fighting a takeover of his company.
Rachel responds to that in a VERY negative manner, she takes him to task for being a cheater when she was trying to keep the house and home going and Daniel swears it was a mistake and will never happen again. Rachel doesn't care, her trust is shattered and she wants a divorce.
Daniel doesn't leave and there is angry sex that ultimately Rachel can't respond to and more verbal fights and the overriding need to keep this huge chasm of doom from enveloping the kids. Rachel also realizes that while everyone else has been growing and changing, she has stagnated.
Daniel has obviously moved into a more sophisticated world and Rachel wants to stay in their cozy, older, but small house and just be a mum. Rachel figures Daniel never brings business associates home because their lifestyle definitely doesn't reflect his CEO status and she both regrets and resents that Daniel hides them from half of his life.
So it is with a serious sense of resolve that Rachel decides to take herself in hand and get some interests outside her home and family. Part of it is that Daniel doesn't communicate about his life outside their home and Rachel believes that he feels ashamed that he got trapped by a teenager and that he is ashamed of her.
The other part of it is that Rachel gave up the potential for an art career to marry Daniel, she doesn't regret it, cause she really, really loves Daniel and motherhood is her avocation, but she also never got to develop her own inner self and now she feels it is hindering her from making a break from or resolving things with Daniel.
Rachel knows that in order to have any sort of resolution one way or the other, SHE has to grow as person. While Rachel doesn't hold herself responsible for Daniel's affair, she does see how her naivety and blinders might have contributed to the other problems in her marriage.
There is also Rachel's very deep need to make Daniel hurt as much as she does and she flat out tells him she wants to see him bleed. So Rachel cuts her hair, buys a new wardrobe and get a much more updated image,
(It was a funny moment for Rachel, she is doing an image-in-the-mirror inventory and decides she needs a new look. I was highly entertained by her thoughts of dumping the baby in Daniel's arms in his big time office while she took the day off to pamper herself. Sadly, Daniel's very nice mother came to watch the baby.)
Daniel comes home to the change and he does the usual HP inscrutable male act. It is clear that he thinks Rachel's new look is round two in their ongoing war and he offers to take her out. So with her daughter's full fledged six year old encouragement, Rachel dons a daring red dress and sallies forth to battle.
(Daniel also gets a huge lecture from his mother, who is very proud of her single parenting of her successful son. But his mother also makes it clear that she really loves and likes Rachel a lot and that Daniel needs to be very careful cause if Rachel decides to dump his hiney, he will probably be in a world of hurt. )
Daniel gets all dressed up himself to take Rachel out and it isn't to the local Italian family bistro either. He takes her to a very upscale London place and Rachel gets to see the other side of Daniel's life for the first time. She doesn't like it much, especially when they keep meeting people who clearly know about Daniel's ex-girlfriend and assume that Rachel and Daniel are newlyweds.
There is one man in particular that is really flirty with Rachel and Daniel gets super jealous. Rachel thinks it serves him right, he has hidden her and their kids for all this time and she isn't happy about it.
(Tho I kinda got Daniel's reticence about his family. I was married for years before my co-workers figured it out, to their great and everlasting shock. I just always felt that what was personal in my life had no place at work, nor did I want to deal with the gossip that went around like it did with some of my co-workers.)
Daniel tries to explain that he keeps his private life just that, private, but Rachel is humiliated all over again and feeling even more alienated from Daniel. Things go from bad to worse when her school friend shows up while Rachel and Daniel are dancing.
The woman accuses Daniel of cheating on Rachel again and then makes disparaging comments about Rachel herself, all the while making it clear that she resents Daniel for turning her buffet offer down. So we learn that Rachel's friend wasn't really being a friend when she called Rachel, she wanted Daniel for herself and was stirring the pot.
The woman can't see Rachel's face, so she has no idear until Rachel turns around that she just spilled the beans on her whole campaign. Rachel stares her down and the woman fades into the HP mists, but Rachel has some hard questions for Daniel about why he never said anything and he only says he did not want to hurt her feelings.
Rachel is a confused mess still, but she and Daniel do manage a breakthrough on the Purple Passion moments. Rachel isn't feeling as fulfilled as she used to, so she has to wonder if she is ever going to get that back and Daniel takes off again for business.
Rachel resents that he is trying to force her to trust him when she isn't sure, so she decides to take an art class. The teacher happens to be the potential OM she met during their dinner in London. He quickly makes it clear that he isn't adverse to being her partner in a revenge affair and when Daniel sees the OM one night after he gives Rachel a ride home and kisses her, (Rachel pulls away,) he soon learns that turn about is a skillet whack to the head.
Daniel becomes very uncommunicative and probably thinks Rachel is having her own affair. She is not, but the kids start acting up and the atmosphere is hostile. Rachel starts feeling sick and Daniel gets angry because she doesn't call him to come home. But Rachel never has called Daniel at work, not once in seven years.
(MR uses that to highlight the very separate spheres that Daniel and Rachel have fallen into, it is a very stereotypical role assignment. Rachel deals with all the home front stuff and Daniel goes out to hunt for dinner.
Daniel's reaction is meant to show that he does want to participate in the running the homestead, just as his taking her to dinner at a place he is well known at in London can be interpreted as him letting her into his other world, but Rachel can't quite see that yet.)
Rachel keeps going to her class, even in the face of Daniel's disapproval and another big blow up happens when the frustrated wanna be OM gets rejected and throws it in Rachel's face that Daniel's former fling is a hot shot lawyer and Rachel is totally inadequate in the eyes of the world as Daniel's other half.
Daniel freaks out when Rachel gets home and Rachel is so furious she lets him think what she wants. Daniel is very intense when he declares that he only wants Rachel and he demands her trust, but Rachel isn't sure she is ever going to trust him again.
Then Daniel's fling calls the house and Rachel is hurt and furious and so is Daniel. Things are looking decidedly grim and it is almost Christmas and their house is too small for all the visitors and Rachel doesn't want live in help and everything is a huge mess.
There is still boudoir bouncing moments, but even tho Daniel begs for forgiveness, Rachel can't seen to find it in her and she knows she is holding back on the intimacy because she still can't stare into Daniel's eyes during intimate events.
Then Rachel stars worrying that the boudoir bouncing isn't up to Daniel's standards anymore, she had to rearrange a bunch of rooms to get everyone to fit into the house and Daniel flips out. He is apparently EXCEEDINGLY wealthy and he wants to move to a bigger house that reflects that. He is also irked because he and Rachel are going to have to give up their bedroom to her parent's for two nights.
The fight clears the air a little, and Christmas goes well. But Rachel is still worried about how unsatisfactory their formerly spectacular love life is going and she knows that Daniel can now be tempted. She is also still doing lots of sketches and drawings and for some reason, even tho she did not go back to the classes, the sight of her sketch pad makes Daniel very upset.
MR gives us the only POV of Daniel in the story when he mother calls work one day cause Rachel is having a huge crying jag. Daniel rushes home and he thinks maybe the OM did something horrible to to her and he is going to break his face.
(He still believes that Rachel is having an affair with the OM as she hasn't chosen to enlighten him, mainly cause she is irked that he thinks she would stoop to his level. I was really impressed that here is a man who is still determined to hang on to his wife, even if he thinks she is cheating on him.)
Then Rachel announces it is all his fault cause she is preggers and as usual, he failed just like the first two times to 'take care of things,' and Daniel is overjoyed.
(It was a very funny scene. Rachel has a bad reaction to the pill, so every time they have a baby it is Daniel's fault cause he offers to be the one to take care of the birth control and he fails. Rachel tells him he may be able to run a million companies, but he is useless and she will be dead by the time she is thirty at this rate. )
This means they have to move, Rachel has to accept the staff that comes with the house and Daniel is finally getting the material things he wants. Rachel is now determined that they will stay married. She has three kids, soon to be four, Daniel is a good father and she figures if he only strays once every seven years or so, she can tolerate it.
Daniel isn't so accepting tho, he throws down an ultimatum that she either accepts him as he is and starts looking at him in bed or they won't be in bed together anymore.
( Daniel is probably feeling irked because Rachel does no drawings of him and only has one caricature of him as a devil in her sketchbook.)
Rachel feels like Daniel doesn't belong to her or really love her anymore and with that ultimatum that Daniel throws out, she doesn't know what to do.
Then the twins run away after a fraught morning of Rachel trying to pack up a house and the kids making messes trying to help and Rachel is very preggers and she yells at them. Rachel is frantic and then Daniel's secretary calls, the twin's called a taxi to take them to Daniel's office and Rachel rushes over there in leggings, messy hair and an old shirt of Daniels.
When she gets there, she passes out in Daniel's office in sheer relief, while his whole company looks on in surprised wonder that Daniel has such a young and pretty wife with passel of kids to boot and is very solicitous of them, it is quite a change from his usual formidable man in charge demeanor.
When Rachel comes to from her faint, the twins are contrite and Daniel wants to seriously talk. Daniel explains that yes, he was going to break up with Rachel all those years ago. But only because he was obsessed with her, she had a great chance at a good career and he really believed that he was wrong to tie her down and confine her at 17. Then she got pregnant and he was really, really happy cause she had to stay with him and he got to keep her.
(This also probably explains his 100% percent failure on the birth control front, Daniel keeps impregnating her to make her stay with him.)
He also feels guilty cause he took some big risks to build his conglomerate and he also deliberately kept Rachel and his kids out of the business side of life because he wanted them cloistered like they were his seekrit garden retreat.
Then another company tried to take over his firm and Rachel and the kids were ill and he went off the rails when Rachel couldn't be as supportive when he would come home to her and he just went nuts. His fling consisted of taking the woman out around London, but NOT sleeping with her, and then he got drunk one night an ended up at her flat, but he was too drunk to do anything.
(Tho he really did not know that until the OW called the house to stir things up and told him nothing happened while she was hurtling insults at him.)
Daniel explains that the takeover attempt scared him, then Rachel found out about his very bad behavior and even tho he thought she might leave him, he had to hang on for grim life because he loves her beyond reason.
Rachel tells him that nothing more than the kiss Daniel saw ever happened with the OM and she also asks Daniel how does she know he won't go off the rails again. Daniel tells her it did not work the first time and he has a healthy respect for her abilities now.
Rachel lets him know that he needs to ask her what she wants out of life, not assume things, because while she liked art and she thought about a career as a teenager, she really enjoys being a wife and mother and domestic engineering is the career of choice for her.
So while Daniel tells her he mourns the infatuated teenager she used to be, he is also very happy with the strong woman she has grown into. There is also the realization that both of them need to communicate and both of them need to be able to lean on each other, even if it that means stepping into the other's usual sphere to get through tough times, instead of Daniel doing all the protecting and Rachel doing all the home running.
Rachel has never stopped loving him, even when she hated his guts, so she tells him just that. Daniel's sincerity and his re-avowal of love convinces her that they can go on together, happy in love and building a life a on much firmer foundation for the big HEA.
This one is very intense and very, very well done. It is a very good exploration of what can go wrong when two people marry relatively young and don't communicate or share large parts of their lives with each other.
MR also makes it clear that while Daniel did not physically cheat, he still committed a HUGE betrayal. The time Rachel took to recover from that was realistic, as was the transformation of Rachel's character when she took steps to establish her own identity outside of the traditional wife and mother roles.
This is on the HP required reading list. Not only it is a classic angstfest of cultic proportions, it is also a very realistic look at what might occur after the newly wedded HP bliss wears off. Life isn't always little white cottages and roses, even in HPlandia and this book is an excellent, emotional exploration of how a couple can find their HEA once again.
It isn't only a movie with Marilyn Monroe. It is also a sort of urban legend that says the seventh year of marriage or thereabouts, after people have settled into the 'rut' of the familiarity and routine of marriage, one or the other spouse might stray.
In last century, that was commonly thought to be the male partner of the marriage, as the wives were usually busy with motherhood and house running.
This h, Rachel, is the 24 yr old housewife mum in this situation. The book opens when her last remaining school friend, a London career woman herself, calls her up in the midst of evening kidlet feed and bedtime rituals to let her know her 31 yr old entrepreneur Captain of Industry husband, Daniel, is having an affair.
Rachel is in shock, she met Daniel when she snuck a night out at 17 and fell head over heels in love at first sight. Daniel was 24 and had a solid plan to become a Master of the Business Universe, but his fierce attraction to Rachel kinda threw a wrench in the plans.
It is strongly hinted that Daniel had planned to dump Rachel, mostly because he thought his career goals should be met before he took up a family and marriage, but Rachel's surprise pregnancy with twins put an end to that line of thinking. Daniel and Rachel get married, with Daniel shielding the sheltered Rachel as much as he could, just like her parents did, as he moves on and moves up in the business world.
So Rachel's neat, cozy little world is shattered when Daniel comes home that night and by the look on his face, she knows what her friend said was true. Daniel has been seeing another woman. Daniel tries to explain that Rachel was dealing with sick twins and a fractious new baby, she was feeling ill herself and Daniel was fighting a takeover of his company.
Rachel responds to that in a VERY negative manner, she takes him to task for being a cheater when she was trying to keep the house and home going and Daniel swears it was a mistake and will never happen again. Rachel doesn't care, her trust is shattered and she wants a divorce.
Daniel doesn't leave and there is angry sex that ultimately Rachel can't respond to and more verbal fights and the overriding need to keep this huge chasm of doom from enveloping the kids. Rachel also realizes that while everyone else has been growing and changing, she has stagnated.
Daniel has obviously moved into a more sophisticated world and Rachel wants to stay in their cozy, older, but small house and just be a mum. Rachel figures Daniel never brings business associates home because their lifestyle definitely doesn't reflect his CEO status and she both regrets and resents that Daniel hides them from half of his life.
So it is with a serious sense of resolve that Rachel decides to take herself in hand and get some interests outside her home and family. Part of it is that Daniel doesn't communicate about his life outside their home and Rachel believes that he feels ashamed that he got trapped by a teenager and that he is ashamed of her.
The other part of it is that Rachel gave up the potential for an art career to marry Daniel, she doesn't regret it, cause she really, really loves Daniel and motherhood is her avocation, but she also never got to develop her own inner self and now she feels it is hindering her from making a break from or resolving things with Daniel.
Rachel knows that in order to have any sort of resolution one way or the other, SHE has to grow as person. While Rachel doesn't hold herself responsible for Daniel's affair, she does see how her naivety and blinders might have contributed to the other problems in her marriage.
There is also Rachel's very deep need to make Daniel hurt as much as she does and she flat out tells him she wants to see him bleed. So Rachel cuts her hair, buys a new wardrobe and get a much more updated image,
(It was a funny moment for Rachel, she is doing an image-in-the-mirror inventory and decides she needs a new look. I was highly entertained by her thoughts of dumping the baby in Daniel's arms in his big time office while she took the day off to pamper herself. Sadly, Daniel's very nice mother came to watch the baby.)
Daniel comes home to the change and he does the usual HP inscrutable male act. It is clear that he thinks Rachel's new look is round two in their ongoing war and he offers to take her out. So with her daughter's full fledged six year old encouragement, Rachel dons a daring red dress and sallies forth to battle.
(Daniel also gets a huge lecture from his mother, who is very proud of her single parenting of her successful son. But his mother also makes it clear that she really loves and likes Rachel a lot and that Daniel needs to be very careful cause if Rachel decides to dump his hiney, he will probably be in a world of hurt. )
Daniel gets all dressed up himself to take Rachel out and it isn't to the local Italian family bistro either. He takes her to a very upscale London place and Rachel gets to see the other side of Daniel's life for the first time. She doesn't like it much, especially when they keep meeting people who clearly know about Daniel's ex-girlfriend and assume that Rachel and Daniel are newlyweds.
There is one man in particular that is really flirty with Rachel and Daniel gets super jealous. Rachel thinks it serves him right, he has hidden her and their kids for all this time and she isn't happy about it.
(Tho I kinda got Daniel's reticence about his family. I was married for years before my co-workers figured it out, to their great and everlasting shock. I just always felt that what was personal in my life had no place at work, nor did I want to deal with the gossip that went around like it did with some of my co-workers.)
Daniel tries to explain that he keeps his private life just that, private, but Rachel is humiliated all over again and feeling even more alienated from Daniel. Things go from bad to worse when her school friend shows up while Rachel and Daniel are dancing.
The woman accuses Daniel of cheating on Rachel again and then makes disparaging comments about Rachel herself, all the while making it clear that she resents Daniel for turning her buffet offer down. So we learn that Rachel's friend wasn't really being a friend when she called Rachel, she wanted Daniel for herself and was stirring the pot.
The woman can't see Rachel's face, so she has no idear until Rachel turns around that she just spilled the beans on her whole campaign. Rachel stares her down and the woman fades into the HP mists, but Rachel has some hard questions for Daniel about why he never said anything and he only says he did not want to hurt her feelings.
Rachel is a confused mess still, but she and Daniel do manage a breakthrough on the Purple Passion moments. Rachel isn't feeling as fulfilled as she used to, so she has to wonder if she is ever going to get that back and Daniel takes off again for business.
Rachel resents that he is trying to force her to trust him when she isn't sure, so she decides to take an art class. The teacher happens to be the potential OM she met during their dinner in London. He quickly makes it clear that he isn't adverse to being her partner in a revenge affair and when Daniel sees the OM one night after he gives Rachel a ride home and kisses her, (Rachel pulls away,) he soon learns that turn about is a skillet whack to the head.
Daniel becomes very uncommunicative and probably thinks Rachel is having her own affair. She is not, but the kids start acting up and the atmosphere is hostile. Rachel starts feeling sick and Daniel gets angry because she doesn't call him to come home. But Rachel never has called Daniel at work, not once in seven years.
(MR uses that to highlight the very separate spheres that Daniel and Rachel have fallen into, it is a very stereotypical role assignment. Rachel deals with all the home front stuff and Daniel goes out to hunt for dinner.
Daniel's reaction is meant to show that he does want to participate in the running the homestead, just as his taking her to dinner at a place he is well known at in London can be interpreted as him letting her into his other world, but Rachel can't quite see that yet.)
Rachel keeps going to her class, even in the face of Daniel's disapproval and another big blow up happens when the frustrated wanna be OM gets rejected and throws it in Rachel's face that Daniel's former fling is a hot shot lawyer and Rachel is totally inadequate in the eyes of the world as Daniel's other half.
Daniel freaks out when Rachel gets home and Rachel is so furious she lets him think what she wants. Daniel is very intense when he declares that he only wants Rachel and he demands her trust, but Rachel isn't sure she is ever going to trust him again.
Then Daniel's fling calls the house and Rachel is hurt and furious and so is Daniel. Things are looking decidedly grim and it is almost Christmas and their house is too small for all the visitors and Rachel doesn't want live in help and everything is a huge mess.
There is still boudoir bouncing moments, but even tho Daniel begs for forgiveness, Rachel can't seen to find it in her and she knows she is holding back on the intimacy because she still can't stare into Daniel's eyes during intimate events.
Then Rachel stars worrying that the boudoir bouncing isn't up to Daniel's standards anymore, she had to rearrange a bunch of rooms to get everyone to fit into the house and Daniel flips out. He is apparently EXCEEDINGLY wealthy and he wants to move to a bigger house that reflects that. He is also irked because he and Rachel are going to have to give up their bedroom to her parent's for two nights.
The fight clears the air a little, and Christmas goes well. But Rachel is still worried about how unsatisfactory their formerly spectacular love life is going and she knows that Daniel can now be tempted. She is also still doing lots of sketches and drawings and for some reason, even tho she did not go back to the classes, the sight of her sketch pad makes Daniel very upset.
MR gives us the only POV of Daniel in the story when he mother calls work one day cause Rachel is having a huge crying jag. Daniel rushes home and he thinks maybe the OM did something horrible to to her and he is going to break his face.
(He still believes that Rachel is having an affair with the OM as she hasn't chosen to enlighten him, mainly cause she is irked that he thinks she would stoop to his level. I was really impressed that here is a man who is still determined to hang on to his wife, even if he thinks she is cheating on him.)
Then Rachel announces it is all his fault cause she is preggers and as usual, he failed just like the first two times to 'take care of things,' and Daniel is overjoyed.
(It was a very funny scene. Rachel has a bad reaction to the pill, so every time they have a baby it is Daniel's fault cause he offers to be the one to take care of the birth control and he fails. Rachel tells him he may be able to run a million companies, but he is useless and she will be dead by the time she is thirty at this rate. )
This means they have to move, Rachel has to accept the staff that comes with the house and Daniel is finally getting the material things he wants. Rachel is now determined that they will stay married. She has three kids, soon to be four, Daniel is a good father and she figures if he only strays once every seven years or so, she can tolerate it.
Daniel isn't so accepting tho, he throws down an ultimatum that she either accepts him as he is and starts looking at him in bed or they won't be in bed together anymore.
( Daniel is probably feeling irked because Rachel does no drawings of him and only has one caricature of him as a devil in her sketchbook.)
Rachel feels like Daniel doesn't belong to her or really love her anymore and with that ultimatum that Daniel throws out, she doesn't know what to do.
Then the twins run away after a fraught morning of Rachel trying to pack up a house and the kids making messes trying to help and Rachel is very preggers and she yells at them. Rachel is frantic and then Daniel's secretary calls, the twin's called a taxi to take them to Daniel's office and Rachel rushes over there in leggings, messy hair and an old shirt of Daniels.
When she gets there, she passes out in Daniel's office in sheer relief, while his whole company looks on in surprised wonder that Daniel has such a young and pretty wife with passel of kids to boot and is very solicitous of them, it is quite a change from his usual formidable man in charge demeanor.
When Rachel comes to from her faint, the twins are contrite and Daniel wants to seriously talk. Daniel explains that yes, he was going to break up with Rachel all those years ago. But only because he was obsessed with her, she had a great chance at a good career and he really believed that he was wrong to tie her down and confine her at 17. Then she got pregnant and he was really, really happy cause she had to stay with him and he got to keep her.
(This also probably explains his 100% percent failure on the birth control front, Daniel keeps impregnating her to make her stay with him.)
He also feels guilty cause he took some big risks to build his conglomerate and he also deliberately kept Rachel and his kids out of the business side of life because he wanted them cloistered like they were his seekrit garden retreat.
Then another company tried to take over his firm and Rachel and the kids were ill and he went off the rails when Rachel couldn't be as supportive when he would come home to her and he just went nuts. His fling consisted of taking the woman out around London, but NOT sleeping with her, and then he got drunk one night an ended up at her flat, but he was too drunk to do anything.
(Tho he really did not know that until the OW called the house to stir things up and told him nothing happened while she was hurtling insults at him.)
Daniel explains that the takeover attempt scared him, then Rachel found out about his very bad behavior and even tho he thought she might leave him, he had to hang on for grim life because he loves her beyond reason.
Rachel tells him that nothing more than the kiss Daniel saw ever happened with the OM and she also asks Daniel how does she know he won't go off the rails again. Daniel tells her it did not work the first time and he has a healthy respect for her abilities now.
Rachel lets him know that he needs to ask her what she wants out of life, not assume things, because while she liked art and she thought about a career as a teenager, she really enjoys being a wife and mother and domestic engineering is the career of choice for her.
So while Daniel tells her he mourns the infatuated teenager she used to be, he is also very happy with the strong woman she has grown into. There is also the realization that both of them need to communicate and both of them need to be able to lean on each other, even if it that means stepping into the other's usual sphere to get through tough times, instead of Daniel doing all the protecting and Rachel doing all the home running.
Rachel has never stopped loving him, even when she hated his guts, so she tells him just that. Daniel's sincerity and his re-avowal of love convinces her that they can go on together, happy in love and building a life a on much firmer foundation for the big HEA.
This one is very intense and very, very well done. It is a very good exploration of what can go wrong when two people marry relatively young and don't communicate or share large parts of their lives with each other.
MR also makes it clear that while Daniel did not physically cheat, he still committed a HUGE betrayal. The time Rachel took to recover from that was realistic, as was the transformation of Rachel's character when she took steps to establish her own identity outside of the traditional wife and mother roles.
This is on the HP required reading list. Not only it is a classic angstfest of cultic proportions, it is also a very realistic look at what might occur after the newly wedded HP bliss wears off. Life isn't always little white cottages and roses, even in HPlandia and this book is an excellent, emotional exploration of how a couple can find their HEA once again.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 14, 2010
I've read many books where the hero has cheated in the past and the story begins several years later (present day), but this is the first book where the affair is "fresh" so to speak. Daniel & Rachel have been married for 7 years and have 3 small children. While Rachel is home totally content with her role as loving wife and mother, Daniel, a corporate whiz kid, is rapidly rising to the top of the food chain. However, buying and selling businesses is a nerve-wracking, cut-throat profession. So, when his business is on the brink of being destroyed by a fraudulent takeover, the twins have the measles, the baby is colicky and Rachel is too tired for him, Daniel strays.
Rachel's "best friend" informs her of Daniel's affair in the first 2 pages of the book. The affair has just ended at this point so the story is based on 1) Rachel's struggle to understand why, bringing forth feelings of inadequacy, naivety, mistrust, fear, loneliness, and most of all heartbreak, 2)Daniel's battle with extreme remorse, self-loathing and the fear of losing what he loves most in life, and 3) the most important question of whether the marriage will be able to withstand the devastation and endure or has been irrevocably destroyed.
With my heart aching from the very first page, I was totally prepared not to read much past the first chapter. I mean seriously, I read romance for enjoyment and relaxation, not to be on the verge of tears with my blood pressure up, nerves frayed and my heart wrung out. But just like a car accident you come upon, knowing you shouldn't look but you always do, I flew past the first chapter and didn't stop until the end. I became so invested in this couple. Was Rachel an idiot for not picking up on the signs? No, because she loved her husband immensely and trusted him completely. Afterwards, was her confusion with sex realistic? Totally. Normally uninhibited, Rachel could only have sex with Daniel if the lights were out and she closed her eyes. Even then, she couldn't climax because the faceless ghost of the "other woman" always came to mind. (That seemed so real to me). Did I hate Daniel? Surprisingly no, the pain he was in from hurting Rachel was palpable. Of course there is no excuse for what he did,however, I truly believe he suffered as much from remorse as Rachel did from heartache.
Only in an extreme case would I possibly consider adultery as justifiable and this isn't one of them. But the author does an excellent job of laying feelings bare...we do not have to question any motives and therefore can understand how both Daniel and Rachel react and progress.*** I'll give you a hint of a spoiler: the truth of what really happened runs along the same lines as what happened in The Sweet Gum Tree by Katherine Allred. So if you have read TSGT, let that be your small measure of comfort if you read The Ultimate Betrayal.
I gave this book 4.75*** because it was such a touching, emotional read for me and every once in a while I guess I need the jolt of awareness. If you're on the fence about this type of story, besides being a remarkably in-depth study of a relationship, I can also say there is a satisfying, believable HEA; however, if you hate the idea of having a lump in your throat for a few hours and you really don't think you can handle a "cheating hero" premise, then you should probably steer clear of this one.
Rachel's "best friend" informs her of Daniel's affair in the first 2 pages of the book. The affair has just ended at this point so the story is based on 1) Rachel's struggle to understand why, bringing forth feelings of inadequacy, naivety, mistrust, fear, loneliness, and most of all heartbreak, 2)Daniel's battle with extreme remorse, self-loathing and the fear of losing what he loves most in life, and 3) the most important question of whether the marriage will be able to withstand the devastation and endure or has been irrevocably destroyed.
With my heart aching from the very first page, I was totally prepared not to read much past the first chapter. I mean seriously, I read romance for enjoyment and relaxation, not to be on the verge of tears with my blood pressure up, nerves frayed and my heart wrung out. But just like a car accident you come upon, knowing you shouldn't look but you always do, I flew past the first chapter and didn't stop until the end. I became so invested in this couple. Was Rachel an idiot for not picking up on the signs? No, because she loved her husband immensely and trusted him completely. Afterwards, was her confusion with sex realistic? Totally. Normally uninhibited, Rachel could only have sex with Daniel if the lights were out and she closed her eyes. Even then, she couldn't climax because the faceless ghost of the "other woman" always came to mind. (That seemed so real to me). Did I hate Daniel? Surprisingly no, the pain he was in from hurting Rachel was palpable. Of course there is no excuse for what he did,however, I truly believe he suffered as much from remorse as Rachel did from heartache.
Only in an extreme case would I possibly consider adultery as justifiable and this isn't one of them. But the author does an excellent job of laying feelings bare...we do not have to question any motives and therefore can understand how both Daniel and Rachel react and progress.*** I'll give you a hint of a spoiler: the truth of what really happened runs along the same lines as what happened in The Sweet Gum Tree by Katherine Allred. So if you have read TSGT, let that be your small measure of comfort if you read The Ultimate Betrayal.
I gave this book 4.75*** because it was such a touching, emotional read for me and every once in a while I guess I need the jolt of awareness. If you're on the fence about this type of story, besides being a remarkably in-depth study of a relationship, I can also say there is a satisfying, believable HEA; however, if you hate the idea of having a lump in your throat for a few hours and you really don't think you can handle a "cheating hero" premise, then you should probably steer clear of this one.
June 8, 2021
Re-read October 6, 2018. After reading the less than convincing The Fourth Child by CJ Carmichael, I decided to re-read a five star story to see how it compared. Wow. There are lot of similarities, but this H/h were much more likable characters.
The scene that resonated with me on this re-read was the hero accepting the news, at 24, that he had gotten his 17 year-old girlfriend pregnant. He took her on his lap and said they would get married. The heroine, in hindsight, now thinks that she trapped him. But the hero explains (7 years later) that he was relieved that they had an excuse to get married. He knew he should have let her go, but he was too in love to give her up.
First review:
I was afraid to read this because of the cheating allegations that blow their marriage wide-open. It was painful to read the heroine's reaction, but MR kept the action moving along so it wasn't all navel gazing and recriminations. The heroine's focus on her own needs made sense and pointed the way to a believable HEA. A challenging read rather than warm fuzziness.
The scene that resonated with me on this re-read was the hero accepting the news, at 24, that he had gotten his 17 year-old girlfriend pregnant. He took her on his lap and said they would get married. The heroine, in hindsight, now thinks that she trapped him. But the hero explains (7 years later) that he was relieved that they had an excuse to get married. He knew he should have let her go, but he was too in love to give her up.
First review:
I was afraid to read this because of the cheating allegations that blow their marriage wide-open. It was painful to read the heroine's reaction, but MR kept the action moving along so it wasn't all navel gazing and recriminations. The heroine's focus on her own needs made sense and pointed the way to a believable HEA. A challenging read rather than warm fuzziness.
July 26, 2022
3.5 stars
I seem to be in a phase. A phase of reading books with every single deal-breaking trope in existence.
This book happens to be about cheating and miscommunication
Talk about a complete and utter nightmare.
🛑SPOILERS🛑
I know for a fact that more than half of my GR friends absolutely despise cheating in romance. Mainly because of my challenge question. And I completely agree. The green, disgusting jealousy I feel for a fictional man turns me into a person capable of murder.
Then why the hell did I round this book to a whopping 4 stars?
Mainly because Daniel ain't shit, and I didn't feel a drop of the jealousy I usually would. I did however feel pity for Rachel. The poor naive girl that got pregnant at 17 by a man who later sheltered her away, a husband that she only partially knows.
I mean they were married for 7 years and she didn't know he became a millionaire???
The Ultimate Betrayal isn't the usual fairy tale romance type story that I enjoy reading. This is about a troubled marriage based on lack of communication, which for once actually didn't make my blood boil. It was real and portrayed a situation that happens in so many relationships that it kind of stung to read. The reality of the fact that even the people who are completely in love can make the most disgusting choices and hurt each other.
Rachel somehow managed to give into him without giving into him, and it was weirdly satisfying.
They stayed together but she kept him at a firm distance.
They had sex but she was never satisfied.
They tried going on dates but she rebelled at every turn.
Her anger was so apparent and I was rejoicing in it. I loved every single thing she did to spite him or hurt him or make his life harder.
But she herself wasn't a saint either. She never tried to get to know her husband outside of their home, the ruthless business tycoon, the shark who was on the verge of an epic failure.
While he was about to lose everything, his wife was in struggles of her own so they began to distance. He had no one to turn to, so he turned to Lydia.
She didn't know he was married, but we still hate her.
His reasons for cheating in my opinion are worthless, because no reason will ever be an excuse.
Rachel took the news as gracefully as anyone could. If I were her, I'd toss that man out as soon as I heard the name Lydia
But okay she got 3 kids or whatever, so I can understand.
I wasn't sure how to feel about Daniel throughout this book. I never really bought his love.
Sure he got jealous as all hell when he believed Rachel to be getting it on with OM, but that could be possessiveness.
Yes, he tried his hardest to stay and win her back, but they have three kids.
I could see he loves her, but in love? I don't know.
However, my opinion was changed at the end, when they FINALLY sat down and had a conversation about their feelings and everything was revealed. Including the fact that he didn't actually sleep with Lydia
But only went on a few dates with her. I don't know if this was meant to be a SIKE moment of "HA you dumb bitch, he didn't actually cheat"..... But emotional cheating is even worse in my opinion. He didn't have any feelings for Lydia though, at least I think he didn't since he never expressed them.
All in all, I enjoyed their journey but still wish she sent Daniel to hell and ended up with the dude who tried to take him over (the main reason for him cheating, "the pressure")
Lmao that would've been funny.
Some minor things I didn't enjoy:
- The chapters were super long
- 90% of the book takes place in their house. The setting was starting to bore me.
- I wanted to see more of the business shark Daniel instead of the family man Daniel. Frankly Family man Daniel was kind of a slime ball. Meanwhile the shark was exactly the man I usually set my sights for in romance.
Thank you Florence for recommending this one to me💖
I seem to be in a phase. A phase of reading books with every single deal-breaking trope in existence.
This book happens to be about cheating and miscommunication
Talk about a complete and utter nightmare.
🛑SPOILERS🛑
I know for a fact that more than half of my GR friends absolutely despise cheating in romance. Mainly because of my challenge question. And I completely agree. The green, disgusting jealousy I feel for a fictional man turns me into a person capable of murder.
Then why the hell did I round this book to a whopping 4 stars?
Mainly because Daniel ain't shit, and I didn't feel a drop of the jealousy I usually would. I did however feel pity for Rachel. The poor naive girl that got pregnant at 17 by a man who later sheltered her away, a husband that she only partially knows.
I mean they were married for 7 years and she didn't know he became a millionaire???
The Ultimate Betrayal isn't the usual fairy tale romance type story that I enjoy reading. This is about a troubled marriage based on lack of communication, which for once actually didn't make my blood boil. It was real and portrayed a situation that happens in so many relationships that it kind of stung to read. The reality of the fact that even the people who are completely in love can make the most disgusting choices and hurt each other.
Rachel somehow managed to give into him without giving into him, and it was weirdly satisfying.
They stayed together but she kept him at a firm distance.
They had sex but she was never satisfied.
They tried going on dates but she rebelled at every turn.
Her anger was so apparent and I was rejoicing in it. I loved every single thing she did to spite him or hurt him or make his life harder.
But she herself wasn't a saint either. She never tried to get to know her husband outside of their home, the ruthless business tycoon, the shark who was on the verge of an epic failure.
While he was about to lose everything, his wife was in struggles of her own so they began to distance. He had no one to turn to, so he turned to Lydia.
She didn't know he was married, but we still hate her.
His reasons for cheating in my opinion are worthless, because no reason will ever be an excuse.
Rachel took the news as gracefully as anyone could. If I were her, I'd toss that man out as soon as I heard the name Lydia
But okay she got 3 kids or whatever, so I can understand.
I wasn't sure how to feel about Daniel throughout this book. I never really bought his love.
Sure he got jealous as all hell when he believed Rachel to be getting it on with OM, but that could be possessiveness.
Yes, he tried his hardest to stay and win her back, but they have three kids.
I could see he loves her, but in love? I don't know.
However, my opinion was changed at the end, when they FINALLY sat down and had a conversation about their feelings and everything was revealed. Including the fact that he didn't actually sleep with Lydia
But only went on a few dates with her. I don't know if this was meant to be a SIKE moment of "HA you dumb bitch, he didn't actually cheat"..... But emotional cheating is even worse in my opinion. He didn't have any feelings for Lydia though, at least I think he didn't since he never expressed them.
All in all, I enjoyed their journey but still wish she sent Daniel to hell and ended up with the dude who tried to take him over (the main reason for him cheating, "the pressure")
Lmao that would've been funny.
Some minor things I didn't enjoy:
- The chapters were super long
- 90% of the book takes place in their house. The setting was starting to bore me.
- I wanted to see more of the business shark Daniel instead of the family man Daniel. Frankly Family man Daniel was kind of a slime ball. Meanwhile the shark was exactly the man I usually set my sights for in romance.
Thank you Florence for recommending this one to me💖
March 23, 2013
Any way you look at it, cheating is a fast track to ruin a relationship. Trust is a very fragile thing and once broken, it can never regain the same credibility and value as it once held.
In the post Clinton/ Lewinsky era, even physical cheating has found different categories. As a reader when I see the excuse that it never got that far, I question how far the physical infidelity got. When the front of the husband's shirt and even his hair reeks of another woman's perfume, I say it got too far. When he decides to go to another woman's apartment with the full intention of cheating on his wife and children ( when there are children involved, in my book, the adultery is not only against the partner but cheating on their children because their lives are going to suffer as much if not more and the psychological trauma is as bad ) he/she has severed the trust line. When he didn't complete the act because he was too drunk to perform, I say the intentions were all there. The way I look at it, in this story he physically and emotionally cheated on his family.
When there is a long term emotional cheating as it was in this case, the destruction is beyond imaginable and the author did a fantastic job portraying the effect on the mother in law,the children, and the wife. The excuse that we read is the most popular excuse being used in real life, I was not the top priority anymore, and it made the book more realistic. He enjoyed the company of another woman over his exhausted wife and his sick children. I mean who wants to come home to children suffering from measles and a wife who has had a hard pregnancy and is now taking care of 3 sick children while wearing no make up and the same t shirt she put on first when she got up when he can wine and dine and go dancing or to the theater every night with a top female corporate attorney with not a strand of hair out of place and no other care, someone he enjoys talking to and spending every spare of time with. Which is worse?
I love how the person who broke the news of his infidelity was blamed instead of the real guilty party. Isn't that usually the case and the reason many people close their eyes to their acquaintances unfaithfulness?
What made me like this book is that he had to watch another man wanting his wife and kissing her. For few months, every time he tried to be intimate with his wife, his infidelity and the other woman's image stopped his wife cold in his arms and he had to live with no real sexual fulfillment.
Do I believe the lead female character made the right choice? Personally I don't - I would take the 3 kids and walk away with half of his company after I would utterly destroy his reputation, but she wanted to be a mother and have someone to take care of every other aspect of her life. She had no life, no friends outside her cozy home. She had no intrigue or ambition outside the walls she built around herself and her family. Her 6 years old daughter had more courage then she ever did. She didn't care if he ever allowed her to be part of his life outside their home as long as he came home and played the daddy part and made love to her every now and then and took her to the neighborhood restaurant when she didn't have to get dressed up. She wanted certain easy comforts in her life. She was basically the little girl who plays house. It made it realistic because most women who stay in a marriage after infidelity do it for the very same reasons. It is about security of having a certain life style and not losing the dream they had as a little girl, a cozy house, beautiful kids and a husband.
I believe this book was really about how a woman's personality affects her reaction to cheating.
In the post Clinton/ Lewinsky era, even physical cheating has found different categories. As a reader when I see the excuse that it never got that far, I question how far the physical infidelity got. When the front of the husband's shirt and even his hair reeks of another woman's perfume, I say it got too far. When he decides to go to another woman's apartment with the full intention of cheating on his wife and children ( when there are children involved, in my book, the adultery is not only against the partner but cheating on their children because their lives are going to suffer as much if not more and the psychological trauma is as bad ) he/she has severed the trust line. When he didn't complete the act because he was too drunk to perform, I say the intentions were all there. The way I look at it, in this story he physically and emotionally cheated on his family.
When there is a long term emotional cheating as it was in this case, the destruction is beyond imaginable and the author did a fantastic job portraying the effect on the mother in law,the children, and the wife. The excuse that we read is the most popular excuse being used in real life, I was not the top priority anymore, and it made the book more realistic. He enjoyed the company of another woman over his exhausted wife and his sick children. I mean who wants to come home to children suffering from measles and a wife who has had a hard pregnancy and is now taking care of 3 sick children while wearing no make up and the same t shirt she put on first when she got up when he can wine and dine and go dancing or to the theater every night with a top female corporate attorney with not a strand of hair out of place and no other care, someone he enjoys talking to and spending every spare of time with. Which is worse?
I love how the person who broke the news of his infidelity was blamed instead of the real guilty party. Isn't that usually the case and the reason many people close their eyes to their acquaintances unfaithfulness?
What made me like this book is that he had to watch another man wanting his wife and kissing her. For few months, every time he tried to be intimate with his wife, his infidelity and the other woman's image stopped his wife cold in his arms and he had to live with no real sexual fulfillment.
Do I believe the lead female character made the right choice? Personally I don't - I would take the 3 kids and walk away with half of his company after I would utterly destroy his reputation, but she wanted to be a mother and have someone to take care of every other aspect of her life. She had no life, no friends outside her cozy home. She had no intrigue or ambition outside the walls she built around herself and her family. Her 6 years old daughter had more courage then she ever did. She didn't care if he ever allowed her to be part of his life outside their home as long as he came home and played the daddy part and made love to her every now and then and took her to the neighborhood restaurant when she didn't have to get dressed up. She wanted certain easy comforts in her life. She was basically the little girl who plays house. It made it realistic because most women who stay in a marriage after infidelity do it for the very same reasons. It is about security of having a certain life style and not losing the dream they had as a little girl, a cozy house, beautiful kids and a husband.
I believe this book was really about how a woman's personality affects her reaction to cheating.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 4, 2025
Rachel was the only child of elderly parents. She had been seventeen and innocent when she met twenty-four year old Daniel.
He had film star good looks and was very clever and ambitious.
They started dating but that came to a stop when he learnt about her young age.
Rachel was devastated about the break-up, but some weeks later he called her, as he couldn't stay away from her.
He told her that he was poor but his ambition was to own his own company one day.
They were dating for six months when Rachel told him she was pregnant, and what shall we do Daniel?
He said they would just have to get married.
They moved to London in a tiny rental flat. They had hardly any money. Then the twins arrived, a boy and a girl.
Seven years later :
Daniel was now the head of a successful company, one that he'd founded. A mini empire!
The couple had a nice house and were surrounded with luxury.
The twins were six years old and Rachel had just recently gave birth to a baby boy.
Daniel was very busy working long hours, and Rachel knew that he was doing it for them.
It was hard for him, she thought, to scramble his way to the top and support a young family at the same time. Rachel had blind trust in him.
Rachel had only one friend that had kept in touch with from her school days, as she was the only one who lived in London. Her name was Amanda and she and Daniel did not like each other.
One evening Amanda called Rachel on the phone. She told her that she hated telling her this, but Daniel was not always working late. He was out with another woman. He was having an affair and all of London seemed to know about it except for Rachel.
She said that they've been seen around town and coming in and out of the woman's apartment.
The woman's name was Lydia Marsden, and she was a corporate lawyer.
Rachel thought about Daniel's moods lately, and how he haven't made love to her for months, except for a couple of days ago, and even then he said nothing in return when she told him that she loved him.
She remembered the perfume scent on his shirts and the nights he had stayed out all night, blaming it on a mountain of work.
And thinking back, Rachel knew that she had trapped him into marriage because she was pregnant.
Daniel returned home early that evening, and the strain on his face, the guilty look, showed that Amanda already told him what she had done. He had avoided looking directly at Rachel's eyes and his face was pale.
He said: "It is over. I was under pressure at work. My company had been on the brink of been taken over by a bigger company. Lose everything. I found l had to work and fight night and day.
You were recovering from the bad time you'd had carrying the baby and you wouldn't let me hire help for you. And l seemed to be spending more time with her, than with you as she was my lawyer and was fighting alongside me.
Then the twins got measles, you looked worn out, the baby did not let you sleep at night.
Work was getting on top of me and it seemed easier on you if l made myself scarce here, kept my problems confined to the office.
Rachel, l never meant to do it. I never even wanted to do it.
But she was there when l needed someone and you were unavailable, and just...It's over Rachel! For God's sake, it's over. It will never happen again. I love you Rachel. Don't make any rash decisions while you're in such an emotional state. We have everything going for us if you'll give it another chance. Don't throw it all away because of one stupid mistake on my part. "
"While you've been busy making your fortune and having affairs Daniel, l've been quietly sitting here in this house stagnating. I am a twenty-four year old child who's husband is already bored out of his mind with me. I never been given the chance to grow up. I was seventeen when l married you, still at school. My parents used to wrap me in cotton wool. So, l get pregnant and swap one set of parents for another set. You and your mother."
Rachel was now ready to make her rebellion giving Daniel a very hard time in the process.
In the last seven years, Daniel had kept Rachel out of his other sophisticated, corporate world, a world she knew nothing about. He led two lives and she was only part of one of them.
But now Rachel had finally awaken from her stupor.
A lot happened after that, a makeover, a lifestyle change, another man entered the equation, jealousies, vengeance, a friend's betrayal and unexpected revelations.
Would Daniel manage to make amends and get forgiven?
He had film star good looks and was very clever and ambitious.
They started dating but that came to a stop when he learnt about her young age.
Rachel was devastated about the break-up, but some weeks later he called her, as he couldn't stay away from her.
He told her that he was poor but his ambition was to own his own company one day.
They were dating for six months when Rachel told him she was pregnant, and what shall we do Daniel?
He said they would just have to get married.
They moved to London in a tiny rental flat. They had hardly any money. Then the twins arrived, a boy and a girl.
Seven years later :
Daniel was now the head of a successful company, one that he'd founded. A mini empire!
The couple had a nice house and were surrounded with luxury.
The twins were six years old and Rachel had just recently gave birth to a baby boy.
Daniel was very busy working long hours, and Rachel knew that he was doing it for them.
It was hard for him, she thought, to scramble his way to the top and support a young family at the same time. Rachel had blind trust in him.
Rachel had only one friend that had kept in touch with from her school days, as she was the only one who lived in London. Her name was Amanda and she and Daniel did not like each other.
One evening Amanda called Rachel on the phone. She told her that she hated telling her this, but Daniel was not always working late. He was out with another woman. He was having an affair and all of London seemed to know about it except for Rachel.
She said that they've been seen around town and coming in and out of the woman's apartment.
The woman's name was Lydia Marsden, and she was a corporate lawyer.
Rachel thought about Daniel's moods lately, and how he haven't made love to her for months, except for a couple of days ago, and even then he said nothing in return when she told him that she loved him.
She remembered the perfume scent on his shirts and the nights he had stayed out all night, blaming it on a mountain of work.
And thinking back, Rachel knew that she had trapped him into marriage because she was pregnant.
Daniel returned home early that evening, and the strain on his face, the guilty look, showed that Amanda already told him what she had done. He had avoided looking directly at Rachel's eyes and his face was pale.
He said: "It is over. I was under pressure at work. My company had been on the brink of been taken over by a bigger company. Lose everything. I found l had to work and fight night and day.
You were recovering from the bad time you'd had carrying the baby and you wouldn't let me hire help for you. And l seemed to be spending more time with her, than with you as she was my lawyer and was fighting alongside me.
Then the twins got measles, you looked worn out, the baby did not let you sleep at night.
Work was getting on top of me and it seemed easier on you if l made myself scarce here, kept my problems confined to the office.
Rachel, l never meant to do it. I never even wanted to do it.
But she was there when l needed someone and you were unavailable, and just...It's over Rachel! For God's sake, it's over. It will never happen again. I love you Rachel. Don't make any rash decisions while you're in such an emotional state. We have everything going for us if you'll give it another chance. Don't throw it all away because of one stupid mistake on my part. "
"While you've been busy making your fortune and having affairs Daniel, l've been quietly sitting here in this house stagnating. I am a twenty-four year old child who's husband is already bored out of his mind with me. I never been given the chance to grow up. I was seventeen when l married you, still at school. My parents used to wrap me in cotton wool. So, l get pregnant and swap one set of parents for another set. You and your mother."
Rachel was now ready to make her rebellion giving Daniel a very hard time in the process.
In the last seven years, Daniel had kept Rachel out of his other sophisticated, corporate world, a world she knew nothing about. He led two lives and she was only part of one of them.
But now Rachel had finally awaken from her stupor.
A lot happened after that, a makeover, a lifestyle change, another man entered the equation, jealousies, vengeance, a friend's betrayal and unexpected revelations.
Would Daniel manage to make amends and get forgiven?
Read
May 14, 2012I have no idea what I think about this book. :/
I was very relived that the hero but all the things he did do with her- really bugged me! I mean, all of his actions...it was the worst emotional cheating ever! And when I stopped to think about his decisions as a whole? I wanted to puke all over him.
Seeing as how he had the perfect wife at home and loved her to bits I had no idea how he could even need emotional balance from somebody else...
Well, he had an 'I am not good enough for my wife trip' that made him seek out another woman...Eeeerm, yeah, the best thing you could do then is to cheat. Sheeesh.
So, all in all, weird.
I can not make myself rate it.
I was very relived that the hero but all the things he did do with her- really bugged me! I mean, all of his actions...it was the worst emotional cheating ever! And when I stopped to think about his decisions as a whole? I wanted to puke all over him.
Seeing as how he had the perfect wife at home and loved her to bits I had no idea how he could even need emotional balance from somebody else...
Well, he had an 'I am not good enough for my wife trip' that made him seek out another woman...Eeeerm, yeah, the best thing you could do then is to cheat. Sheeesh.
So, all in all, weird.
I can not make myself rate it.
December 28, 2014
Michelle Reid is one of my favorite HP authors. She knows how to bring some genuine emotion even when working with very common tropes, but this story was different in that it was less tropey and more realistic in scope. There was no private island, no amnesia, no blackmail, etc.
This story isn't my usual taste. I waffled on reading it and tbqh it won't be a re-read for me simply because it's not my cuppa and not a "fun" sort of angst. But, I have to give credit to Reid for her ability to bring the angst in a way that feels real and had to rate it accordingly.
I've never been through what the heroine went through, but I could see myself reacting in many of the same ways. I particularly identified with one part, because I had to turn the page to get to it and it was so crazy that I was thinking the EXACT same thing the h was thinking.
She'd just struck out angrily and bitterly at her cheating H in a way that she was ashamed of and, while understandable given how utterly devastated she was, it didn't put her in the greatest light.
I was thinking 'damn girl! Why'd you have to go there?! You had him where you wanted him!' I turned the page to find that her thoughts were:
She felt ashamed of herself, and angry, too, because in lashing out at Daniel like that she had given him the right to attack her when, until that moment, she'd had everything stacked her way.
Petty, huh? But that's exactly how I'd have felt. Like her, I wanted her behavior to remain above reproach so that he felt even worse about what he'd done.
Problem is, there were children involved. It wasn't just about the heroine scoring points off the hero. They had twin 6-year-olds and a 6 mo old. The book also dealt with how children are affected by this sort of adult drama. Both the H/h tried to hide their problems from the kids, but the 6-year-olds were more attuned than they expected. That part was painful, because it's hard to enjoy any point scoring (no matter how well deserved) that ultimately hurts innocent children.
So, not an easy read, but effective for what she was trying to accomplish.
A few spoilery observations:
This story isn't my usual taste. I waffled on reading it and tbqh it won't be a re-read for me simply because it's not my cuppa and not a "fun" sort of angst. But, I have to give credit to Reid for her ability to bring the angst in a way that feels real and had to rate it accordingly.
I've never been through what the heroine went through, but I could see myself reacting in many of the same ways. I particularly identified with one part, because I had to turn the page to get to it and it was so crazy that I was thinking the EXACT same thing the h was thinking.
She'd just struck out angrily and bitterly at her cheating H in a way that she was ashamed of and, while understandable given how utterly devastated she was, it didn't put her in the greatest light.
I was thinking 'damn girl! Why'd you have to go there?! You had him where you wanted him!' I turned the page to find that her thoughts were:
She felt ashamed of herself, and angry, too, because in lashing out at Daniel like that she had given him the right to attack her when, until that moment, she'd had everything stacked her way.
Petty, huh? But that's exactly how I'd have felt. Like her, I wanted her behavior to remain above reproach so that he felt even worse about what he'd done.
Problem is, there were children involved. It wasn't just about the heroine scoring points off the hero. They had twin 6-year-olds and a 6 mo old. The book also dealt with how children are affected by this sort of adult drama. Both the H/h tried to hide their problems from the kids, but the 6-year-olds were more attuned than they expected. That part was painful, because it's hard to enjoy any point scoring (no matter how well deserved) that ultimately hurts innocent children.
So, not an easy read, but effective for what she was trying to accomplish.
A few spoilery observations:
September 28, 2020
The best aspect of this story was the author's choice to not give the protagonists a quick and easy resolution after the heroine's discovery of the hero's infidelity. Instead, it took Rachel and Daniel many months to find a new beginning. Rachel slowly came to realize, with prodding from Daniel, how she needed to forgive him if they hoped to save their marriage. It was a totally realistic progression with Rachel expressing some serious doubts and Daniel expressing remorse.
What I didn't like as much was Daniel's unconvincing statement explaining away why he wouldn't stray in the future. Daniel said he knew he wouldn't because it didn't work the first time with Lydia. This implied to me that it would be just a matter of time and a case of Daniel finding the "right" woman to stray with. It didn't indicate a stronger commitment from Daniel to be faithful, or that he had completely changed his susceptible nature.
Because let's face it, emotional cheating is still cheating and it was just circumstances that prevented things from moving on further. I would have been more reassured if Daniel had said he would be sure to talk to Rachel if he ever felt unhappy again. Even so, this was still a good read overall filled with angst and passion.
What I didn't like as much was Daniel's unconvincing statement explaining away why he wouldn't stray in the future. Daniel said he knew he wouldn't because it didn't work the first time with Lydia. This implied to me that it would be just a matter of time and a case of Daniel finding the "right" woman to stray with. It didn't indicate a stronger commitment from Daniel to be faithful, or that he had completely changed his susceptible nature.
Because let's face it, emotional cheating is still cheating and it was just circumstances that prevented things from moving on further. I would have been more reassured if Daniel had said he would be sure to talk to Rachel if he ever felt unhappy again. Even so, this was still a good read overall filled with angst and passion.
January 29, 2016
cue Sam Smith's I'm Not The Only One in the background
Okay, before I proceed to the proper review, let me just say that Sam Smith's song is not really the proper song for this book. The only thing the song and the book has in common was the "guy cheating at his wife" part. Though the story behind the lyrics is different than the story in the book, it still made my cry.
What will you do if your partner cheated on you?
I rarely read books with married couples because I know something fucked up will happen in the story. Either one cheats, one dies or there is a big misunderstanding leading to divorce..things like that would surely happen.
The Ultimate Betrayal is a story about how a wife deals with the fact that her husband (Daniel) has cheated on her. Granted, it didn't last long, but cheating is cheating.
When Daniel said this at Rachel:
"I never meant to do it...she was just there when I needed someone..."
I was livid. Because hello? Are you sleeping when you take her out to dinner?When she's all over you, were you doped? No. You are perfectly aware of that.
Rachel was devastated when she found out that her husband of seven years cheated on her. Who wouldn't? Like everyone in this earth who was cheated, she asked herself the same questions.
Did she do something wrong?Did she failed as a wife to him? Was it because she's not as pretty as the woman he cheated on her? Was it because she's "just" a simple housewife?
Insecurities and self-blame is the first thing that she felt and it was shitty but it's what usually people who were cheated feel at first. Daniel begged for forgiveness of course. Blaming that he was pressured on his work, she was tired all the time because of the new baby and he was worried for her and blah blah blah. He said that he loves her and the woman he cheated on her was nothing and he already ended it before she found out. But honestly, I think the real question Rachel (and all who were cheated) wants to know is/was:
There's a lot more to the story that I wouldn't spoil but the thing that really made me give this book a five star is the realness the story was portrayed. People change after this kind of ordeal and Rachel and Daniel changed too. It's always a question whether the love between two people is strong enough to overcome this problem and I think Rachel and Daniel's love was tested when shit hits the fan.
Not to spoil the ending but if you have watched the music video of I'm Not The Only One, then I can tell you that it was really different from the story's ending. :)
April 2, 2016
4 ★'s
Okay, I had two reasons that piqued my interest in this book. First...it's from the 1990's and I was curious as to how it would hold up compared to today's romance novels and secondly, betrayal = a whole lotta angst! 'Nuff said! ;)
What was intriguing about this book is that it starts with Rachel just finding out from her best friend that her husband, Daniel, has been having an affair. Rachel's barely been able to keep her head above water with three small children so while she's noticed the signs, they just didn't really register. Well, they sure do now.
Her husband, Daniel, is devastated when Rachel finds out and he literally tries to get her to talk and work things out. But Rachel has to figure things out on her own first. They've been together since she was seventeen and she really hasn't had much time for herself since then.
This leads to some interesting scenes and a bit of a situation with another guy. Again, Rachel has to grow and learn from this experience.
So as far as the angst goes, I really enjoyed it. M.R. gets front and center with all the feels and the processes people go through even though I was a little frustrated that it took forever for them to talk!
Regarding the writing differences from 20+ years ago, I didn't really see much. The author is British so there were a lot of British terms that may have made that harder to specify. However, the sex scenes are fade to black but that may just be the author's style as well.
The story does end well even though I was upset with finding out the actual dynamics of what occurred with Daniel...it was a bit of a cop-out IMO and I wished the actual wining and dining was discussed.
Favorite quote:
♥ "You were the rose-garden in the middle of the vile jungle I fought in."
Okay, I had two reasons that piqued my interest in this book. First...it's from the 1990's and I was curious as to how it would hold up compared to today's romance novels and secondly, betrayal = a whole lotta angst! 'Nuff said! ;)
What was intriguing about this book is that it starts with Rachel just finding out from her best friend that her husband, Daniel, has been having an affair. Rachel's barely been able to keep her head above water with three small children so while she's noticed the signs, they just didn't really register. Well, they sure do now.
Her husband, Daniel, is devastated when Rachel finds out and he literally tries to get her to talk and work things out. But Rachel has to figure things out on her own first. They've been together since she was seventeen and she really hasn't had much time for herself since then.
This leads to some interesting scenes and a bit of a situation with another guy. Again, Rachel has to grow and learn from this experience.
So as far as the angst goes, I really enjoyed it. M.R. gets front and center with all the feels and the processes people go through even though I was a little frustrated that it took forever for them to talk!
Regarding the writing differences from 20+ years ago, I didn't really see much. The author is British so there were a lot of British terms that may have made that harder to specify. However, the sex scenes are fade to black but that may just be the author's style as well.
The story does end well even though I was upset with finding out the actual dynamics of what occurred with Daniel...it was a bit of a cop-out IMO and I wished the actual wining and dining was discussed.
Favorite quote:
♥ "You were the rose-garden in the middle of the vile jungle I fought in."
August 22, 2015
I don't even know how to rate this. As I finished this the Ashley Madison hack is making headlines. I just can not understand the fascination with unfaithful heroes. Are there unfaithful heroines in the category romance world? Whenever I read these stories I marvel at the underlying sexism and double standards involved. A woman who behaves the way these so called "heroes" behave are the awful evil other women. I think the men who behave this way should get the same treatment.
Rachel, the heroine, didn't have much backbone although once in a while she showed promise. However because of the category restrictions she's not allowed to really grow the way she should.
It makes absolutely no sense that Daniel owns this firm and nobody knows he's married with three children. Photography was invented when this story was written. He had none of his family? Why? Keeping work and private life separate is the most idiotic reasoning.
Rachel is just foolish. Yes, she married much too young and was sheltered all her life but still. She never walked out of the house without the family?
Her feelings of betrayal were done well. I like that she's infuriated and that she gets some digs in herself but what really changes from the beginning to end? Yes, another guy kisses her but again, keeping with the double standard, she's forced in to it, she can't actually initiate it or even enjoy it.
Oh, yes, his office now knows he's been hiding a wife and kids for years and they weren't even insane, at least Mr. Rochester had an excuse for his secrecy.
I also can't understand the latent misogyny in blaming a pregnant sick woman who is raising twins for not being there for a grown man 7 (8?) years her senior. Never mind she was 17 when she got pregnant with said twins. He could go to jail for statutory rape in certain states in the US.
This is just a very strange story. There are moments where I felt that it was really going to go somewhere but I knew it was a HP so it couldn't. I wonder, outside the constraints of the publishing restrictions, what could be done with this?
I think she should have left him and maybe do something with her artistic talent and perhaps gone to therapy to address her self esteem issues. Sadly the story did not respect her enough for anything like this to be a remote possibility.
Rachel, the heroine, didn't have much backbone although once in a while she showed promise. However because of the category restrictions she's not allowed to really grow the way she should.
It makes absolutely no sense that Daniel owns this firm and nobody knows he's married with three children. Photography was invented when this story was written. He had none of his family? Why? Keeping work and private life separate is the most idiotic reasoning.
Rachel is just foolish. Yes, she married much too young and was sheltered all her life but still. She never walked out of the house without the family?
Her feelings of betrayal were done well. I like that she's infuriated and that she gets some digs in herself but what really changes from the beginning to end? Yes, another guy kisses her but again, keeping with the double standard, she's forced in to it, she can't actually initiate it or even enjoy it.
Oh, yes, his office now knows he's been hiding a wife and kids for years and they weren't even insane, at least Mr. Rochester had an excuse for his secrecy.
I also can't understand the latent misogyny in blaming a pregnant sick woman who is raising twins for not being there for a grown man 7 (8?) years her senior. Never mind she was 17 when she got pregnant with said twins. He could go to jail for statutory rape in certain states in the US.
This is just a very strange story. There are moments where I felt that it was really going to go somewhere but I knew it was a HP so it couldn't. I wonder, outside the constraints of the publishing restrictions, what could be done with this?
I think she should have left him and maybe do something with her artistic talent and perhaps gone to therapy to address her self esteem issues. Sadly the story did not respect her enough for anything like this to be a remote possibility.
July 8, 2025
i’ve reread this so many times that the angst is not angsting no more i barely got any chest pangs 🥲 i’ve downloaded at least 10 cheating/angsty books but they all lack that gut punch high i’ve been looking for i need my fix😩
- - - -
ive got issues
someone please rec me a book like this but more satisfying and suffering for the mmc so i can stop rereading this. it’s not healthy atp
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ive got issues
someone please rec me a book like this but more satisfying and suffering for the mmc so i can stop rereading this. it’s not healthy atp
November 11, 2023
Reread again, still one of my favorite HPs!
Reread—adding a star, this is a must read HP. Her emotions and grief are palpable.
Reread—adding a star, this is a must read HP. Her emotions and grief are palpable.
April 7, 2014
I have no idea why ppl are saying this book is about a cheating hero. He clearly states he never touched the other woman. Heroine on the other hand kissed the other man and to me kissing is also cheating so it is the heroine who is the cheater here not the hero. Still this couple is messed up. Couldn't warm up to them.
February 26, 2020
Just re~read for the fifth time, so a five star. Some books resonate more with some readers and become an all time fave . This is one for me. He behaves like an asshat but he gets his comeuppance. Sigh, makes me so happy 😋
February 6, 2017
***THREE AND A HALF STARS***
June 25, 2010
Rachel and Daniel have been married for 7 years and have 3 wonderful children when Rachel's 'Best Friend' tells her that Daniel has been sleeping around with another woman.
When confronted, Daniel doesn't deny it and Rachel is devastated. Daniel insists that it is over and wants to make the marriage work. Rachel feels very vulnerable and unattractive and feels almost as if she has been kept in a prison for seven years.
Rachel tries to move out the previous suffocation confines of her marriage, while Daniel attempts to reconcile with is wife.
This is a case where i fully believe the constraints of the format really made the story suffer.
First, even though Rachel has been married to Daniel for 7 years and has 3 kids, she still comes off like a stereotypical, young naive harlequin virgin. And she's too nice. What woman in her right mind will consider a person her best friend who routinely and with serious disdain refer to your kids as 'brats'? Her relationship with her so-called best friend was as dysfunctional as her relationship with her husband.
I also don't see how it is at all realistic that a man of Daniel's stature in business could have (or would have)kept the fact that he is married a secret. He has never invited Rachel to a business dinner? Had colleagues over? Had never had her act as hostess for anything? Never went out in public with the family? Weird.
I actually really like Michelle Reid's early stuff for HP, but I could have given this book a pass.
When confronted, Daniel doesn't deny it and Rachel is devastated. Daniel insists that it is over and wants to make the marriage work. Rachel feels very vulnerable and unattractive and feels almost as if she has been kept in a prison for seven years.
Rachel tries to move out the previous suffocation confines of her marriage, while Daniel attempts to reconcile with is wife.
This is a case where i fully believe the constraints of the format really made the story suffer.
First, even though Rachel has been married to Daniel for 7 years and has 3 kids, she still comes off like a stereotypical, young naive harlequin virgin. And she's too nice. What woman in her right mind will consider a person her best friend who routinely and with serious disdain refer to your kids as 'brats'? Her relationship with her so-called best friend was as dysfunctional as her relationship with her husband.
I also don't see how it is at all realistic that a man of Daniel's stature in business could have (or would have)kept the fact that he is married a secret. He has never invited Rachel to a business dinner? Had colleagues over? Had never had her act as hostess for anything? Never went out in public with the family? Weird.
I actually really like Michelle Reid's early stuff for HP, but I could have given this book a pass.
October 9, 2017
I hate cheating stories and despise cheating hero/heroine so you can imagine well my trepidation in reading this book. I remember first seeing this few years back but because of obvious reason i skipped it eventhough it got nice reviews and stars.
But yesterday after reading my fellow goodreaders review i couldn’t forget this book.And this time I couldn’t resist it eventhough I commented on that review i was going to skip it. AGAIN!
But.. I am so glad I decided against it!( eventhough it took me half and hour to find the book and lost half night sleep reading in the process). But totally worth it. I finished it in one sitting.
I loved our heroine Rachel and hero Daniel. They were wonderful couple with realistic day to day problems and issues of a married couple. The story was about heartache and how maturely they both overcomed it with lots of patience and love. We all can relate to Rachel’s insecurity in some aspects. She was very brave and courageous. And Daniel was a tortured husband who loved his family unconditionally. I enjoyed each and every sentence though freely admit skipping first few pages where she comes to know about the betrayal.
I especially enjoyed the last office scenes and Daniel’s confession ( I was holding my breath throughout).
Michelle reid has done a wonderful job with this book and I’ll definitely read more from her.
Totally recommend this to all romance lovers who likes angst,heartach along with a healthy dose of love.
But yesterday after reading my fellow goodreaders review i couldn’t forget this book.And this time I couldn’t resist it eventhough I commented on that review i was going to skip it. AGAIN!
But.. I am so glad I decided against it!( eventhough it took me half and hour to find the book and lost half night sleep reading in the process). But totally worth it. I finished it in one sitting.
I loved our heroine Rachel and hero Daniel. They were wonderful couple with realistic day to day problems and issues of a married couple. The story was about heartache and how maturely they both overcomed it with lots of patience and love. We all can relate to Rachel’s insecurity in some aspects. She was very brave and courageous. And Daniel was a tortured husband who loved his family unconditionally. I enjoyed each and every sentence though freely admit skipping first few pages where she comes to know about the betrayal.
I especially enjoyed the last office scenes and Daniel’s confession ( I was holding my breath throughout).
Michelle reid has done a wonderful job with this book and I’ll definitely read more from her.
Totally recommend this to all romance lovers who likes angst,heartach along with a healthy dose of love.
March 28, 2016
Las historias que involucran infidelidad siempre son difíciles de calificar para mí. Basada, por supuesto, en mis propias creencias e incapacidad para el perdón.
Puedo entender que alguien que está en una relación se enamoré de otro, por el motivo que sea. Si la historia se desarrolla desde esa premisa —como sucede con Thoughtless—no tengo problema. Desarrolla esa trama de manera sensible y ya me ganaste. Love is love.
Pero, ¿perdonar una infidelidad? Jamás. Me resulta inconcebible y estúpido. ¿Por qué volverle a entregar tu corazón y tu confianza a alguien que no lo valoró la primera vez? No, no y simplemente no. No lo entiendo. No lo acepto.
Esto último es la base de la trama de este libro. Y debería odiarlo, pero me encantó. Michelle Reid logra una ejecución perfecta en un tema tan delicado. Y lo hace adictivo además; no pude parar de leer hasta que no llegué a la última página.
Seguro entonces se preguntarán porque solo tres estrellas. Y siento que la respuesta no sea muy satisfactoria: Amé la historia, pero detesto/aborrezco/odio las acciones de los personajes. Tres estrellas es, entonces, el resultado de la lucha interna de mis emociones.
Puedo entender que alguien que está en una relación se enamoré de otro, por el motivo que sea. Si la historia se desarrolla desde esa premisa —como sucede con Thoughtless—no tengo problema. Desarrolla esa trama de manera sensible y ya me ganaste. Love is love.
Pero, ¿perdonar una infidelidad? Jamás. Me resulta inconcebible y estúpido. ¿Por qué volverle a entregar tu corazón y tu confianza a alguien que no lo valoró la primera vez? No, no y simplemente no. No lo entiendo. No lo acepto.
Esto último es la base de la trama de este libro. Y debería odiarlo, pero me encantó. Michelle Reid logra una ejecución perfecta en un tema tan delicado. Y lo hace adictivo además; no pude parar de leer hasta que no llegué a la última página.
Seguro entonces se preguntarán porque solo tres estrellas. Y siento que la respuesta no sea muy satisfactoria: Amé la historia, pero detesto/aborrezco/odio las acciones de los personajes. Tres estrellas es, entonces, el resultado de la lucha interna de mis emociones.
October 6, 2020
I kinda hated this one, it just didn't work for me and not because of the subject matter.
Daniel and Rachel have been married for years, they have three kids and in the first chapter her BFF calls to tell her he has been having an affair.
I think what was missing was the connection of the characters. I just couldn't feel their love; it didn't seem genuine. I feel like a traitor for saying this, but Rachel really got on my nerves. She lacked the maturity to make these kinds of books work. Daniel definitely felt guilty, but there wasn't a ton of groveling.
There wasn't much character growth. I didn't feel like Rachel was a strong h. She was crappy to her children, even jealous of her daughter at times. She wanted to work on the marriage but made no steps to improve the toxic situation, was running around with another man, and refused to have a conversation with her husband to explain things which was crazy.....because in the end I read 180+ pages of a grown woman acting like a child to find out....wait for it....he never cheated with the woman. He used her as a companion for dinners, and passed out drunk at her house o/n where he turned her down. Then the book literally ends a few pages later and they are just super happy. so stupid...
Daniel and Rachel have been married for years, they have three kids and in the first chapter her BFF calls to tell her he has been having an affair.
I think what was missing was the connection of the characters. I just couldn't feel their love; it didn't seem genuine. I feel like a traitor for saying this, but Rachel really got on my nerves. She lacked the maturity to make these kinds of books work. Daniel definitely felt guilty, but there wasn't a ton of groveling.
There wasn't much character growth. I didn't feel like Rachel was a strong h. She was crappy to her children, even jealous of her daughter at times. She wanted to work on the marriage but made no steps to improve the toxic situation, was running around with another man, and refused to have a conversation with her husband to explain things which was crazy.....because in the end I read 180+ pages of a grown woman acting like a child to find out....wait for it....he never cheated with the woman. He used her as a companion for dinners, and passed out drunk at her house o/n where he turned her down. Then the book literally ends a few pages later and they are just super happy. so stupid...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 24, 2020
I randomly picked this book. It was boring, and then later it's revealed the male protagonist didn't actually cheat with the other girl. it was a misunderstanding.
What's the point of the story then? it starts with cheating, right? That was the plot, right? The female protagonist was utterly naive. This book is a waste of time.
What's the point of the story then? it starts with cheating, right? That was the plot, right? The female protagonist was utterly naive. This book is a waste of time.
July 4, 2021
Re-read because I’m a sucker for prolonged angst and a grovelling alpha.
Plus, I can’t seem to connect with any recent releases. Feels like the good ones are few and far between 😭🤦♀️🙄
Plus, I can’t seem to connect with any recent releases. Feels like the good ones are few and far between 😭🤦♀️🙄
October 3, 2022
3 ⭐⭐⭐ - OK, or decent reads
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He cheated because he could. In several scenes he treats her like a stupid child who must come to terms with what he has done and forget about it. He used the other woman because she was available while his wife dealt with sick children at home. WTF!
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He cheated because he could. In several scenes he treats her like a stupid child who must come to terms with what he has done and forget about it. He used the other woman because she was available while his wife dealt with sick children at home. WTF!
'Rachel,' she said, 'where is Daniel tonight?' The frown deepened. 'Working late,' she answered.
'He's been doing a lot of that recently, hasn't he?' 'Well, yes—but he's been very busy with that takeover thing with Harveys. You know about it, don't you?' she prompted. 'I'm sure I heard you both discussing it the last time you came to dinner...' 'The Harvey thing was over months ago, Rachel!'
'Wake up to what?' Like Mandy, she was beginning to get impatient herself. 'To that bastard you're married to!' Mandy cried. 'Dammit, Rachel—he's playing you for a fool! He isn't working late. He's out with another woman!'
'No, not tonight in particular,' Mandy answered heavily, obviously thinking the question as stupid as Rachel thought it. 'Some nights,' she adjusted. 'I don't know how often! I just know that he is having an affair, and all of London seems to know about it except for you!'
"They've been seen around town. In restaurants—you know—being too intimate with each other for a business relationship. But worse than that, I've seen them with my own eyes. My latest has a flat in the same building as Lydia Marsden,' she explained. 'I've seen them coming and going...'
But she was seeing now. His frequent grim moods recently. The way he snapped at her and the children, the many times he had remained downstairs in his study working instead of coming to bed with her—making love with her.
She was remembering the delicate scent of an expensive perfume emanating from one of his shirts one morning as she prepared it for washing. It had clung to the fine white cotton, all over it. The collar, the shoulders, the two front sections.
It had been the same delicate scent she had smelled but not quite picked up on each time she had kissed him when he came home at night—on his late nights. On his lean cheek. In his hair.
Seeing Daniel. Daniel with another woman. Daniel having an affair. Daniel making love, drowning in another woman's...
Then she remembered the perfume. And the times he had stayed out all night—blaming it on the Harvey contract.
He was guilty. It was written all over him. Guilty as sin.
He had surrounded her with luxury, cherished her almost—as a man would a possession he had a sentimental attachment to.
'I was under pressure at work. The Harvey takeover was threatening to kill everything I had worked for.'
You were still recovering from the bad time you'd cad carrying Michael, and I seemed to be spending more me with her than with you.
She had never so much as considered adding husband taking up with another woman to her list problems. It had never entered her head!
'I never meant to do it. I never even wanted to do it! But she was there when I needed someone and you were not, and I just------' 'Oh—do shut up!'
'It's over, Rachel!' he repeated hoarsely, appealing to her in a voice she had never heard before. 'For God's sake, it's over!'
'And when was it over?' Tipping her head upright, she shrivelled him with a look. 'When my body became yours to indulge yourself in once again? Poor Lydia,' she drawled, the whisky having the desired effect and numbing her from the neck down. 'I wonder which one of us you played for the bigger fool?'
'It happened,' he stated grimly, raking a shaky hand through his neat dark hair. 'I wish it hadn't, but I can't turn back the clock, no matter how much I want to. If it helps any, I'll admit to feeling utterly ashamed of myself. But as God is my witness,' he added huskily, 'I give you my word that it will never happen again.'
'Until the next time,' she muttered, and was suddenly moving to get out of the room before all the ugly feelings working inside her overflowed in a storm of bitter bile.
'How many times?' she threw at him, grinding out the words on a complete loss of control. 'How many times you come home with the scent of her still clinging your skin? How many times did you have to f-force yourself to make love to me after losing yourself in her!'
she brought her hand up and hit him right across his unfaithful face.
'We have everything going for us if you'll just give it another chance. Don't throw it all away because of tee stupid mistake on my part. You can't throw it all’ he insisted thickly.
‘You did the throwing away,' she countered,
"While you've been busy making your fortune, chasing your personal rainbows and having your affairs,' she threw at him bitterly, 'I've been quietly sitting here in this damned house—stagnating!'
'This is ridiculous. You're behaving like a child! It-----'
'In all my life I've never known a more sexually eager woman than you!' ‘Not even Lydia?'
'Then get out!' she told him shrilly. 'Why don't you just do the honourable thing, Daniel, and get the hell out of here! No one's making you stay! There's nothing left here to stop you going to your precious Lydia!' 'Will you stop mentioning her bloody name?' he grated. 'Lydia,' she chanted instantly. 'Lydia—Lydia—Lydia’
even though they never spoke about it—never tried to resume making love—that Lydia had come between them as surely as if she'd crawled into the bed with them.
Her home, which had once been her pride and joy, now became a place to see criticism in every corner. It was good enough for her, but not for Daniel.
He ignored that, his expression slightly guarded when he suggested casually enough, 'A dress worthy of dinner in one of London's most exclusive restaurants, with maybe a little dancing later?'
Daniel was the stranger she had loved blindly, married blindly, and lived with blindly for seven whole years.
'Once or twice.' With Lydia? She could not stop the thought from coming and, once there, it left her quiet and even more subdued for the rest of the journey.
'Well, Daniel Masterson, as I live and breathe!' a smoothly sardonic voice drawled. 'Damn!' Daniel muttered, his grip tightening on Rachel's hand before he let go of her abruptly, schooled his expression into a fascinatingly bland mask, then looked up into the face of their intruder. 'Zac,' he acknowledged, coming smoothly to his feet. 'I thought you were in the States.'
'Been back several weeks now,' he replied. 'It's you who seem to have been out of circulation recently...' His glance swept curiously down towards Rachel—then darkened with pure male interest. 'Could this beautiful creature be the reason why?' he mused softly. Then, boldly to Daniel, 'So what happened to the lovely?’
'My wife,' Daniel cut in, editing out whatever the other man had been going to say—but not before Rachel had added the last word for herself. 'Rachel.'
"This is Zac Callum. We use the same legal firm,' he concluded tautly.
'No wonder Daniel has been noticeable for his absence over the last few weeks,' he murmured as Rachel placed her hand in his. Long, incredibly slender fingers closed over hers. 'A wife,' he added softly. 'Your taste has certainly improved, Daniel.' He means Lydia, Rachel thought wretchedly. 'Thank you,'
Don't, her eyes pleaded with him. Don't tell them the truth! He knows about Lydia. Don't put me up for ridicule by telling them you've had a wife for seven years and children for six when he obviously knows about your mistress!
'Does anyone in this other world you move in know about me and the children?' she asked heavily then. He took exception to her reference to his other world, but bit the bullet on it.
But the way Zac was looking at her made her feel distinctly uncomfortable. And his eyes kept on telling her that he was remembering that kiss they'd started in his car, whereas Rachel had spent the last few weeks trying to dismiss it from her mind.
'Why do you put up with him when he's such a selfish bastard?' Zac bit out suddenly. 'Aren't all men?' she countered tartly. 'Not like Daniel,' he muttered. 'I still find it hard to believe that he's married to someone like you.' He glanced at her. 'The Lydia Marsdens of this world suit him much better, you know.'
'And Mandy Sales,' he added tauntingly. 'That was quite a revealing confrontation you all had on the dance-floor that night, wasn't it?'
I bet that news, when it got out, hit Lydia right where it hurts the most. She was after marrying him, you know. Daniel was the ideal choice for an up-and-coming corporate lawyer like her.'
So Lydia was a lawyer, not Daniel's secretary, as she had assumed.
'If you've been married for seven years, then that means you caught him before Daniel made his meteoric elevation into the killing-fields of finance. So what does that make you, Rachel?' he asked. 'A hanger-on from his reckless youth?'
'Did your ego need a bit of a lift? Has it begun to get to you at last that he gets a bigger kick out of bedding his legal adviser than he does his wife?' She hit him then, her hand striking at his cheek while her own face went white with pain. Then she made a grab for the door-handle, her other hand fumbling to unfasten her seatbelt so that she could get away. But Zac grabbed her arm, his fingers biting. 'Oh, no,' he muttered. 'You don't get away with that so easily.'
Damn Mandy for waking her up out of it! She added bitterly as she began the walk home. Damn Daniel for his infidelity and damn Lydia for giving in to his expert seduction! But most of all-damn herself!
"The high-powered lawyer who is far more Daniel Masterson's type than pathetic little Rachel is!'
'Well, I think it's true,' she asserted thickly. 'We've grown apart, Daniel! You going one way while I've stayed still, and I think the Lydia Marsdens of this world are far more your type now!'
"This is Lydia Marsden,' the cool voice explained, and Rachel went absolutely still.
Her hand lifted to her cheek, ice-cold fingers resting on equally cold flesh. 'Lydia just called,' she told him blankly. 'She wants you to call her back.'
Lydia had called, and Daniel had run like a man possessed! She was nursing Michael in the sitting-room when Daniel came looking for her.
Daniel was looking fixedly at Rachel. 'I apologise,' he said roughly. 'She's been told never to ring here.' 'It doesn't matter.'
'She's been told never to call here,' he repeated tautly. 'She was told to get the damned cleaner to call me if it was that urgent! But never to do it herself!' 'As I said, it doesn't matter.'
'How is it that she still works for you?' she questioned tightly. 'If you say it's over.' It had been a bitter blow that, finding out that Lydia still worked for him.
She didn't believe him. She could still see the expression on his face when she had told him Lydia rang. She could still feel the way he had moved her roughly to one side. She shuddered. 'Then what is she doing calling here?' she asked.
'It wouldn't be so bad if the damned house was big enough for me to get lost in if I felt like it. But because you refuse to move to something better, have to lose my home comforts, Me’ he choked. 'A damned cash millionaire-living in a poky little cardboard box with three noisy little brats and a wife who...'
'W-Why don't you go to Lydia, then?' she suggested shakily, her throat swelling on the thickness of unshed tears. 'Perhaps sh-she would give you a better time all round!' Spinning, she ran out of the room before he could say another thing! He thought her vindictive! He thought their home a poky little box!
And his children! Those dear, sweet babies who loved him so utterly—he called them brats!
Lydia had faded into the background over the past months. She no longer haunted their lovemaking, though Rachel still needed the darkness to hide in if she was to respond to Daniel at all. But at least she seemed to be coming to terms with a betrayal that had almost wrecked their marriage.
Then the ghost of her hell came back to haunt her, and she snapped her eyes tight shut, whimpering in wretched frustration as her body began to tighten in rejection. 'No!' Daniel rasped, wretchedly. 'What if I can never accept what you did to us?' 'Then you'll never have me again,' he answered grimly. 'Because I know I can't keep on making love to a woman who has to hide behind her closed eyes before she can accept me inside her.'
He was, in short, telling her that she had to learn to trust him again or forget the physical side of their marriage.
'I'm sorry,' she whispered after a while. 'What for?' His head shot round to stare at her. 'For being a poor mother to your children,' she said. 'For intruding,' she added, 'here.' 'Sometimes, Rachel,' Daniel sighed impatiently, 'I wonder what actually goes on in that head of yours!'
'It—it isn't a case of forgiveness,' she murmured. 'It's trying to forget it I find I can't do. You shattered my whole world, Daniel!'
'Then why did you do it?' she asked in wretched bewilderment.
'Because she was there,' he answered brutally, and winced at Rachel's dismayed gasp.
'Lydia was a safety-valve. Pure and simple, very basic' He fixed her with a grim look. 'I was under terrible pressure, and I used her, quite frankly, to relieve some of it.'
'So now I'm supposed to forgive—forget,' she said. 'And sit back and wait for the next time you're under pressure like that and feel the need to relieve it with some other accommodating fool who happens to be available?'
She'd suspected it, Rachel thought wretchedly. Ever since Lydia had opened her eyes to what she and Daniel really were to each other, she had suspected her pregnancy had trapped him. Daniel had not wanted to marry her; he simply hadn't been given the choice.
'I resented the whole bloody lot of them! I needed you, Rachel! But you couldn't be reached! And—God forgive me—Lydia could.'
'With Lydia's frankly brilliant help,' he conceded, 'I won the battle with Harveys. But for some reason that same God only knows, because I know I can't work it out, the relief of it sent me staggering over those limits of endurance I mentioned, and right into her arms.'
'How long, what?' 'Did you have her as your mistress—how long?' she repeated rawly.
'I didn't blame you. After all, I'd been unfaithful to you in every way but the ultimate act, indulging in my own light relief from all the pressures by taking Lydia out instead of coming home to you. Wining her, dining her...' His shoulders hunched as if the memory clenched at something vicious inside him. 'Mandy told me you were seen coming out of Lydia's flat,' Rachel put in huskily. He nodded. 'After my battle with Harveys, I went a little crazy,' he confessed.
Oh,' he added with a cynical twist to his mouth, 'don't get me wrong. She knew what she was doing and I knew what she was expecting of me when I let her take me there but-----' he stopped to smile bleakly. 'In the end, I couldn't.
I fell into a drunken stupor and awoke in a strange bed the next morning.
December 3, 2020
5 Stars
Marriage in Trouble
Second Chance Romance
Reread December 2020
LOOOOOVE this one. I was afraid it wouldn't work out for me the second time around, but I was wrong. It was better.
Original Review:
I wish I could come up with a less cliché word, but seriously, WOW. What an amazing treasure find. I was badly craving something old-school, a Harlequin-style romance. A couple of Goodreads friends rated this one 5 Stars. It was supposed to be full of angst—my favorite!—and about a marriage in trouble—one of my favorite tropes! So here we are. Put through the wringer, spit back out and left here with my FEELS bursting at the seams. Wowfuckingwow, indeed.
The angst was killer. If my emotions were a gif:
I read somewhere that anticipation breeds addiction. I must agree. Jesus, I practically read this in one sitting! While reading, I thought (as I always do with these books): Why do I torture myself like this?! Because I'm an angst addict, plain and simple. The hard part is finding the right book. One that can put me back together again, and deliver the sweetest of hard-won HEAs. This one did just that.
It deals with real marital issues. And yes, it deals with an apparent affair the hero had (off page). I understand that cheating is a hard limit for many romance readers, but I'm so intrigued by it. And I know I'm not the only one. It must be incredibly challenging for an author to write this and get it right. Personally, I can handle it IF I can get some glorious retribution, as well as a redemption. I need to be convinced the guilty party deserves a second chance. This author delivered the goods. The writing was stellar. The story was believable. It was raw and passionate. And the more I read, the more I connected with the protagonists, Rachel & Daniel Masterson. It was an instant page-turner. Now, did I want Rachel to make Daniel bleed a little more? Yes! But in retrospect, I can entirely understand her situation. And Daniel did grovel to the very end like he promised he would. Slowly but surely, he won me over. I flove him with all my heart. I was convinced he deserved a second chance.
**SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD**
As it turns out, many things were not what they had seemed. At the end, Rachel & Daniel communicate honestly and have a heart-to-heart conversation. There were revelations that ended up being a salve for my bruised heart. I was so glad to learn the real truth behind the affair. I will not reveal the details here and only say, what a fucking relief! If a reader can handle the angst and read till the last page, I think they will agree.
The Mastersons—Rachel, Daniel, and their kiddos—etched themselves into my heart. When you find a book that you can see yourself rereading soon, you know you've found a keeper; an amazing book. Thanks to Michelle Reid, for writing such a beautiful story of love and redemption.
Extra Notes:
**There is no epilogue, and I kinda wish there was. I needed to see them living in bliss for more than just a few scenes at the end. Nevertheless, I wholeheartedly believed in their HEA, so there's that.
**The sex scenes were not explicit, and surprisingly, I was not at all disappointed by that. I felt every ounce of passion between them.
**Ages: Rachel 24; Daniel 31
Marriage in Trouble
Second Chance Romance
Reread December 2020
LOOOOOVE this one. I was afraid it wouldn't work out for me the second time around, but I was wrong. It was better.
Original Review:
I wish I could come up with a less cliché word, but seriously, WOW. What an amazing treasure find. I was badly craving something old-school, a Harlequin-style romance. A couple of Goodreads friends rated this one 5 Stars. It was supposed to be full of angst—my favorite!—and about a marriage in trouble—one of my favorite tropes! So here we are. Put through the wringer, spit back out and left here with my FEELS bursting at the seams. Wowfuckingwow, indeed.
The angst was killer. If my emotions were a gif:
I read somewhere that anticipation breeds addiction. I must agree. Jesus, I practically read this in one sitting! While reading, I thought (as I always do with these books): Why do I torture myself like this?! Because I'm an angst addict, plain and simple. The hard part is finding the right book. One that can put me back together again, and deliver the sweetest of hard-won HEAs. This one did just that.
It deals with real marital issues. And yes, it deals with an apparent affair the hero had (off page). I understand that cheating is a hard limit for many romance readers, but I'm so intrigued by it. And I know I'm not the only one. It must be incredibly challenging for an author to write this and get it right. Personally, I can handle it IF I can get some glorious retribution, as well as a redemption. I need to be convinced the guilty party deserves a second chance. This author delivered the goods. The writing was stellar. The story was believable. It was raw and passionate. And the more I read, the more I connected with the protagonists, Rachel & Daniel Masterson. It was an instant page-turner. Now, did I want Rachel to make Daniel bleed a little more? Yes! But in retrospect, I can entirely understand her situation. And Daniel did grovel to the very end like he promised he would. Slowly but surely, he won me over. I flove him with all my heart. I was convinced he deserved a second chance.
**SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD**
As it turns out, many things were not what they had seemed. At the end, Rachel & Daniel communicate honestly and have a heart-to-heart conversation. There were revelations that ended up being a salve for my bruised heart. I was so glad to learn the real truth behind the affair. I will not reveal the details here and only say, what a fucking relief! If a reader can handle the angst and read till the last page, I think they will agree.
The Mastersons—Rachel, Daniel, and their kiddos—etched themselves into my heart. When you find a book that you can see yourself rereading soon, you know you've found a keeper; an amazing book. Thanks to Michelle Reid, for writing such a beautiful story of love and redemption.
Extra Notes:
**There is no epilogue, and I kinda wish there was. I needed to see them living in bliss for more than just a few scenes at the end. Nevertheless, I wholeheartedly believed in their HEA, so there's that.
**The sex scenes were not explicit, and surprisingly, I was not at all disappointed by that. I felt every ounce of passion between them.
**Ages: Rachel 24; Daniel 31
September 2, 2016
Holy cannoli was this a good book!
It's a bit dated (obviously set in the 90's as the fashions will attest lol), but other than that, wow.
I don't normally intentionally read books involving infidelity, but I'm so glad I picked this one up.
It's very realistic -- all the bitterness and anger and hurt and resentment are illustrated beautifully -- from Rachel being angry with herself for letting them grow apart to her inability to climax during sex because whenever she gets close, she remembers/thinks about The Other Woman.
I won't give any real spoilers, because that would, well, spoil things *snerk* so I'll just say that it was a tough book, with tons of angst, a lot of self-realization, and an absolutely lovely ending.
5 Stars.
It's a bit dated (obviously set in the 90's as the fashions will attest lol), but other than that, wow.
I don't normally intentionally read books involving infidelity, but I'm so glad I picked this one up.
It's very realistic -- all the bitterness and anger and hurt and resentment are illustrated beautifully -- from Rachel being angry with herself for letting them grow apart to her inability to climax during sex because whenever she gets close, she remembers/thinks about The Other Woman.
I won't give any real spoilers, because that would, well, spoil things *snerk* so I'll just say that it was a tough book, with tons of angst, a lot of self-realization, and an absolutely lovely ending.
5 Stars.
August 5, 2023
I reckon I've never detested a hero more than I hate Daniel. People don't know he's had a missus for a few years, not even his employees. Urg! An emotional cheater is the worst. It was written in the 90s, but the heroine is a real idiot. If I were in her shoes, I'd chuck my bags the moment I found out he was emotionally cheating. No excuses! Didn't feel any romance, just pure anger!
February 4, 2018
Welp! This is one of those "Why do I do this to myself" reads. I mean, someone explain to me why I read these books, I'd really like to know. Although I admit I do love a woman scorned story.
The only thing that made this book bearable was that I already knew the spoilers about Daniel and the OW
My main thought about this book is that the cheating is the least of their problems. I just kept shaking my head at what a mess their entire relationship became and it all started to feel so unreal. Here is a man who has never once had his wife visit his office. Never once introduced her to a single work colleague. His own secretary has no idea he is even married. Does he even have a single photo of his family on his desk? See? This is some crazy bizzaro-world he lives in. Here is a woman who has never inquired why her husband doesn't invite her to work events. Doesn't wonder about what he does for a living or what his daily stresses and worries are. Are these two even married? What do they talk about besides their kids? And lastly, the H's mother lectures him about treating his wife right but not until after the poop hits the fan. This makes no sense to me. This mom would have told her son YEARS before that he was acting strange and crazy and he should involve his wife in his life outside the home. And she would have suggested to his wife that she should be more involved in his work life.
So I did enjoy the epiphanies they both had about where they went wrong and each took responsibility for their own part. But they still never communicated. It's not until the very end that they hash all their problems and misunderstandings out.
This type of book only work in a vacuum where the H is only a little bit guilty, the MIL is involved but not too much, the h doesn't have a single actual female friend and only lives for her children and family.
All in all, it was a book that ticked me off but by the end I was satisfied with the road they had traveled to get to their HEA.
The only thing that made this book bearable was that I already knew the spoilers about Daniel and the OW
My main thought about this book is that the cheating is the least of their problems. I just kept shaking my head at what a mess their entire relationship became and it all started to feel so unreal. Here is a man who has never once had his wife visit his office. Never once introduced her to a single work colleague. His own secretary has no idea he is even married. Does he even have a single photo of his family on his desk? See? This is some crazy bizzaro-world he lives in. Here is a woman who has never inquired why her husband doesn't invite her to work events. Doesn't wonder about what he does for a living or what his daily stresses and worries are. Are these two even married? What do they talk about besides their kids? And lastly, the H's mother lectures him about treating his wife right but not until after the poop hits the fan. This makes no sense to me. This mom would have told her son YEARS before that he was acting strange and crazy and he should involve his wife in his life outside the home. And she would have suggested to his wife that she should be more involved in his work life.
So I did enjoy the epiphanies they both had about where they went wrong and each took responsibility for their own part. But they still never communicated. It's not until the very end that they hash all their problems and misunderstandings out.
This type of book only work in a vacuum where the H is only a little bit guilty, the MIL is involved but not too much, the h doesn't have a single actual female friend and only lives for her children and family.
All in all, it was a book that ticked me off but by the end I was satisfied with the road they had traveled to get to their HEA.
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