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The Mill House
A powerful tale of passion and betrayal and a woman’s determination to find out the truth about her past — from the author of The Hornbeam Tree .
A successful editor with a gorgeous husband, two adorable children and a beautiful London home, Julia has everything. But somehow she’s still searching. Her beloved father walked out when she was sixteen and no one would tell her why. She’s spent all her life missing him but wondering if she has blocked a memory too terrible to even contemplate. Julia’s confusion over the past has come to dominate her present and is even threatening her idyllic marriage — she’s convinced Josh is having an affair.
Then one day Julia is informed that her father has died, and has left his house in Cornwall to her. Still reeling from the news, she calls on her best friend Sylvia only to confront her worst fear.
Devastated, Julia goes down to Cornwall to see if she can discover the truth about her father. Although feeling betrayed by the two men she loved most, she longs to break free from the past and save her relationship with Josh. But Julia makes her own fatal mistake and once more their marriage is rocked to its very foundation.
A successful editor with a gorgeous husband, two adorable children and a beautiful London home, Julia has everything. But somehow she’s still searching. Her beloved father walked out when she was sixteen and no one would tell her why. She’s spent all her life missing him but wondering if she has blocked a memory too terrible to even contemplate. Julia’s confusion over the past has come to dominate her present and is even threatening her idyllic marriage — she’s convinced Josh is having an affair.
Then one day Julia is informed that her father has died, and has left his house in Cornwall to her. Still reeling from the news, she calls on her best friend Sylvia only to confront her worst fear.
Devastated, Julia goes down to Cornwall to see if she can discover the truth about her father. Although feeling betrayed by the two men she loved most, she longs to break free from the past and save her relationship with Josh. But Julia makes her own fatal mistake and once more their marriage is rocked to its very foundation.
512 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
29 people are currently reading
628 people want to read
About the author
Susan Lewis
67 books1,203 followersLibrarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Susan Lewis is the bestselling author of over forty books across the genres of family drama, thriller, suspense and crime. She is also the author of Just One More Day and One Day at a Time, the moving memoirs of her childhood in Bristol during the 1960s. Following periods of living in Los Angeles and the South of France, she currently lives in Gloucestershire with her husband James, stepsons Michael and Luke, and mischievous dogs Coco and Lulu.
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Susan Lewis is the bestselling author of over forty books across the genres of family drama, thriller, suspense and crime. She is also the author of Just One More Day and One Day at a Time, the moving memoirs of her childhood in Bristol during the 1960s. Following periods of living in Los Angeles and the South of France, she currently lives in Gloucestershire with her husband James, stepsons Michael and Luke, and mischievous dogs Coco and Lulu.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 85 reviews
October 14, 2018
I am ridiculously conflicted about reviewing this. On the one hand, I want to remember it as one of the cavalcade of cheating spouse books I read after scarring myself with A Perfect Marriage. On the other hand, I feel like a review -- even a mediocre one -- gives this novel more attention than it deserves. There’s nothing insightful and very little that is delicious here. The characters are mostly just awful people you don’t want to spend time with.
Content warning: incest. Genre warning: not romance.
Julia and Josh have been married for 16 years and are mostly in love and have a well-functioning marital and parental partnership except for the fact that Julia has been unable to have sex with him for the past *mumble* months. She just freezes up, as we see when Julia once again tries to get over the problem by just forcing herself to have sex with Josh but ends up pleading with him to stop mid coitus. They’ve been through some non-productive therapy to try to resolve the issue, with Josh pushing his wife to go back for more because he’s not sure how much longer he can take this rejection. Josh is convinced Julia’s problem has something to do with her father, who walked out on his marriage 25 years ago when Julia was fifteen and hasn’t seen her since. (What Josh doesn’t say is he thinks Julia is in denial about her father sexually abusing her. References to Julia's past relationship with her father imply they were excessively close.) Julia is waffling between the “unresolved issues from my past” explanation for her sexual dysfunction and her belief that she’s off sex because she suspects Josh is having an affair.
Spoiler alert: Josh is having an affair. But Julia’s sex problem is definitely the daddy abandonment issue.
Both issues come to a head when Julia receives a phone call from a nice lady lawyer informing her that her father has died and left her his property in Cornwall. Julia tries to phone Josh with the news but can’t reach him, so she decides to go talk to her best friend Sylvia instead.
If there is some overarching theme or significance to this narrative, it escapes me. The past trauma doesn’t really graft in a meaningful way to the heroine’s current troubles, though the abandonment is the root cause of her mental block on sex with her husband. The moral of the story seems to be “shit happens, and most of it is sexual.”
Content warning: incest. Genre warning: not romance.
Julia and Josh have been married for 16 years and are mostly in love and have a well-functioning marital and parental partnership except for the fact that Julia has been unable to have sex with him for the past *mumble* months. She just freezes up, as we see when Julia once again tries to get over the problem by just forcing herself to have sex with Josh but ends up pleading with him to stop mid coitus. They’ve been through some non-productive therapy to try to resolve the issue, with Josh pushing his wife to go back for more because he’s not sure how much longer he can take this rejection. Josh is convinced Julia’s problem has something to do with her father, who walked out on his marriage 25 years ago when Julia was fifteen and hasn’t seen her since. (What Josh doesn’t say is he thinks Julia is in denial about her father sexually abusing her. References to Julia's past relationship with her father imply they were excessively close.) Julia is waffling between the “unresolved issues from my past” explanation for her sexual dysfunction and her belief that she’s off sex because she suspects Josh is having an affair.
Spoiler alert: Josh is having an affair. But Julia’s sex problem is definitely the daddy abandonment issue.
Both issues come to a head when Julia receives a phone call from a nice lady lawyer informing her that her father has died and left her his property in Cornwall. Julia tries to phone Josh with the news but can’t reach him, so she decides to go talk to her best friend Sylvia instead.
If there is some overarching theme or significance to this narrative, it escapes me. The past trauma doesn’t really graft in a meaningful way to the heroine’s current troubles, though the abandonment is the root cause of her mental block on sex with her husband. The moral of the story seems to be “shit happens, and most of it is sexual.”
March 2, 2022
Fantastic! Susan Lewis is fast becoming a favorite author as once I start one of her books I just can't put it down.
Five stars.
Five stars.
March 13, 2015
God help me, if i was granted 1 trivial thing that i can do, im going to ask god to stop the past me from reading this book. it stll haunted me in a bitter taste kind of feeling. One of the worse cheating plot ever. ofc this book wasnt all about cheating as the main plot. there are other problem from the wife's background who then lead to her refused-to sex behaviour to his husband which then lead this one of the jerk husband on earth to cheat on her w/his wife's bestfriend for a reason to keep his and her marriage life still going on and not make the husband strayed and fall in love to other women. what a great idiot excused to hv an affair.
and mind me, not that im not adult enough for not opening my eyes that there are other worse habit of infidelity from a husband to his wife and family. and i hv read many book that contain cheating/infidelity as the main plot, but never i had the bitter raging feeling as much as i have for this book. simply said, i wish to god, i never ever have the opportunities to set my eyes on this book. but it's done. and i regret it. so very much.
where can i start? the over all main plot is interesting, it draws your full attention and hooked you up for keep reading it until it was done. the part that i dont like, the cheating behaviour. which leads me to a very confused view of the husband cheating habit to his wife's BF. i cant differentiate what's make the affair and the love making (or the sex, that's what the husband said to his wife)from his affair is less "special" to his love making to his wife, as he claimed couple of time in this book. joshua (the husband) said in his thought that his sex-affair life is nothing come closed to what he and his wife used to have. and never will. but the habits and the frequensies of his affair and love making is soo intense and soo passionate and he made this as in "i cant even have the power to refused her whenever she was naked in front of me, even though i had the thought to end this affair for my wife's sake coz i still love her"-thing. spare your reader some brain please. this is bullshit! other cheater know that they cheat on his wife bcoz the "feel" is gone or lessen, or the husband doesnt feel the same thing to his wife and attracted or being infatuated w/the other women. that at least as much as clear. but this book is brought the affair into a new level of Bullshit. he love his wife, soo much. but he cant live without sex, bcoz his wife refused him for some psychological reason related to her long lost father. so he accepted the wife's BF' offer to slept w/her and they both only play sex and can ended it anytime he felt like he wants to. but what do we got here? not only the affair going on for almost more than 5-6 months bfore the wife know about it, but also the affair still going on AFTER the wife knws about it and the husband regret his choice. but what did he do? did he stop it? NO! he kept thinking of having the sex w/his wife;s friend, kept thinking about how can he make an opportunity for him to have sex again w/her, all the while he kept on phoning his wife and said, i love you soo much i can marry you again this right time. and the next thing we knw, he kept saying he had hard time to broke of the sex w/his wife's friend. good god! thank god his wife can taste a lil bit taste of this young sexy italian. but not enough for me. her husband did the affair for many months, leaving his wife and his children when he's on family vacation to go to other city and flyed his wife's friend over to him so they can have endless sex. he evn too her to a week vacation in paris and other city for this o called passionate sex. i loose my interest here. what's once said that the husband used this sex as a "stress relieved" and his "need" has turn into his obsession toward his wife's friend. he said that this is an "not feeling related"-sex and it's only sex. but he did all the "private" thing of what he did to his wife to his wife's friend. he kiised her passionately, he shared his story, he made her laugh, he took her to vacation, and many other thing that speak more than an "affair". but the author keep insist that his feeling to his wife's friend is just pure sex and he had hard time to ended it bcoz he still wants to slept w/her and it aroused him whenever he thought of her, all while he still said there's no way in this world that can make him leaving his wife and his children for this women. ARE YOU FREAKIN KIDDING MEEEEE....?????? actually, what his wife's friend said about their affair is more make sense to me, even if the author wants to make her as a delusional one in this affair of their relationship. the author makes her personality as a delusional girl who misunderstanding this affair while joshua already said from the beginning that this affair is just temporary and never be brought into a different level and he will not leaving his wife. but it's contradicted to what's they had and share and also of what the author try to show us of how this affair work. shot me in the brain please, after many sexual intercourse and many private intimate moment that's more than a sex, can the reader believed that joshua indeed love his wife? and only hv "technical" sex to his wife's friend? NO! coz the author NEVER make us or show us of how strong joshua's feeling to his own wife. the wife that he was cheating on for months! psychologically and psychaly and how regretful his action was for he still slept w/his wife's friend after his wife knw the affair. spare me some brain for the reason of "it's hard for joshua to stop the affair coz he himself doesnt even understand why it is soo hard, for he not love his wife's friend". if one of this book's purposes was to show us reader about the reconsiliation of a husband and wife. it can kiss my ass. for it not even show the strong feeling of love between from the husband. it FAILED!.
and never put Cheating and infidelity in the same lines as "devoted" husband and "i still love my wife so very much" it's an insult to women on earth! scum like this deserved to be cut on his balls!
there i said it!
and mind me, not that im not adult enough for not opening my eyes that there are other worse habit of infidelity from a husband to his wife and family. and i hv read many book that contain cheating/infidelity as the main plot, but never i had the bitter raging feeling as much as i have for this book. simply said, i wish to god, i never ever have the opportunities to set my eyes on this book. but it's done. and i regret it. so very much.
where can i start? the over all main plot is interesting, it draws your full attention and hooked you up for keep reading it until it was done. the part that i dont like, the cheating behaviour. which leads me to a very confused view of the husband cheating habit to his wife's BF. i cant differentiate what's make the affair and the love making (or the sex, that's what the husband said to his wife)from his affair is less "special" to his love making to his wife, as he claimed couple of time in this book. joshua (the husband) said in his thought that his sex-affair life is nothing come closed to what he and his wife used to have. and never will. but the habits and the frequensies of his affair and love making is soo intense and soo passionate and he made this as in "i cant even have the power to refused her whenever she was naked in front of me, even though i had the thought to end this affair for my wife's sake coz i still love her"-thing. spare your reader some brain please. this is bullshit! other cheater know that they cheat on his wife bcoz the "feel" is gone or lessen, or the husband doesnt feel the same thing to his wife and attracted or being infatuated w/the other women. that at least as much as clear. but this book is brought the affair into a new level of Bullshit. he love his wife, soo much. but he cant live without sex, bcoz his wife refused him for some psychological reason related to her long lost father. so he accepted the wife's BF' offer to slept w/her and they both only play sex and can ended it anytime he felt like he wants to. but what do we got here? not only the affair going on for almost more than 5-6 months bfore the wife know about it, but also the affair still going on AFTER the wife knws about it and the husband regret his choice. but what did he do? did he stop it? NO! he kept thinking of having the sex w/his wife;s friend, kept thinking about how can he make an opportunity for him to have sex again w/her, all the while he kept on phoning his wife and said, i love you soo much i can marry you again this right time. and the next thing we knw, he kept saying he had hard time to broke of the sex w/his wife's friend. good god! thank god his wife can taste a lil bit taste of this young sexy italian. but not enough for me. her husband did the affair for many months, leaving his wife and his children when he's on family vacation to go to other city and flyed his wife's friend over to him so they can have endless sex. he evn too her to a week vacation in paris and other city for this o called passionate sex. i loose my interest here. what's once said that the husband used this sex as a "stress relieved" and his "need" has turn into his obsession toward his wife's friend. he said that this is an "not feeling related"-sex and it's only sex. but he did all the "private" thing of what he did to his wife to his wife's friend. he kiised her passionately, he shared his story, he made her laugh, he took her to vacation, and many other thing that speak more than an "affair". but the author keep insist that his feeling to his wife's friend is just pure sex and he had hard time to ended it bcoz he still wants to slept w/her and it aroused him whenever he thought of her, all while he still said there's no way in this world that can make him leaving his wife and his children for this women. ARE YOU FREAKIN KIDDING MEEEEE....?????? actually, what his wife's friend said about their affair is more make sense to me, even if the author wants to make her as a delusional one in this affair of their relationship. the author makes her personality as a delusional girl who misunderstanding this affair while joshua already said from the beginning that this affair is just temporary and never be brought into a different level and he will not leaving his wife. but it's contradicted to what's they had and share and also of what the author try to show us of how this affair work. shot me in the brain please, after many sexual intercourse and many private intimate moment that's more than a sex, can the reader believed that joshua indeed love his wife? and only hv "technical" sex to his wife's friend? NO! coz the author NEVER make us or show us of how strong joshua's feeling to his own wife. the wife that he was cheating on for months! psychologically and psychaly and how regretful his action was for he still slept w/his wife's friend after his wife knw the affair. spare me some brain for the reason of "it's hard for joshua to stop the affair coz he himself doesnt even understand why it is soo hard, for he not love his wife's friend". if one of this book's purposes was to show us reader about the reconsiliation of a husband and wife. it can kiss my ass. for it not even show the strong feeling of love between from the husband. it FAILED!.
and never put Cheating and infidelity in the same lines as "devoted" husband and "i still love my wife so very much" it's an insult to women on earth! scum like this deserved to be cut on his balls!
there i said it!
February 7, 2017
One of the worst cheating hero ever and a total hypocrite!
February 26, 2024
ONE of the worst cheating heroes I have read abd that us saying something!
I have read a lot of books concerning infidelity, but this one one make me feel nauseated. The sex scene with the other woman were more than one and overly detailed (also, random, but were bikini waxes a new thing when this was written? Sylvia and Josh acted in awe of her waxed va jay jay as if it was groundbreaking?!). The heroine Julia was not my favourite, and she made mistakes, but nothing she did warranted ending up with a scumbag like Josh! He is possibly one of the worst cheating heroes I have ever read, and I have read loads of assholes, so that says something. Not only does he literally take no blame or responsibility for his actions, when confronted he actually says he is doing his wife a favour, by screwing her best friend, as it means he will not fall in love with some other woman. Aside from the fact that if he can fall in love with someone that easily, it says exactly how much he actually cares about his wife; The dude is delusional! He actually hurls insults at his wife, calling her fucked up and blaming her for him cheating. He says he isn’t a monk? He had to go a few months without sex, and he couldn’t cope, he is a joke! I understand it being frustrating as Julia keeps being unable to make love and doesn’t know why. He claimed he felt rejected, what a load of crap. His wife constantly told him it was not his fault, and she had actually seeked counselling for it, it’s not like she wasn’t trying, and he just treated her like shit, if he cannot have sex with her, what use is she? We are constantly told in this book how much Julia and Josh love each other, that The sex Josh has with the ow, is nothing compared to his love making with Julia, he has no feelings for The ow etc etc.
I hate inconsistency, but we get plenty of if here! Hell if the sex is nothing compared to Julia, then why is he so unable to stop having sex with his side piece even after his wife finds out? When she is devastated.? While she is dealing with his affair and her fathers death, he is still messing around! He is that weak and pathetic. He claims he has no feelings for Sylvia, so why does he keep answering her calls, why do they chat like old friends for over an hour on the phone if there is no connection? Better yet why does he take her away with him on trips to Amsterdam etc, when he has never even taken his wife (don’t know how Julia let that one go)? We keep hearing him think how guilty he feels, how much he loves Julia, but then we see he only loves her when it’s convenient. As soon as things get tough he cheats. When Juli dares to be snippy with him after his betrayal he literally verbally abuses here, calls her fucked up etc. We see him thinking about avoiding being around her because she is upset with him, he basically only likes her when she is compliant! When she isn’t he ignores her, insults her or fucks Sylvia. He doesn’t love her. He is honestly scum, and this book disgusted me. I know Julia cheats as well, but let’s be honest if Josh hadn’t of cheated, and didn’t stay in contact with Sylvia, if he actually gave a shit that his wife’s Father had died, then Julia never would have cheated on him. This book was horrific, Josh calling Julia a whore after his behaviour was laughable! I hated him, and was so disappointed when Julia forgave him! He will cheat again, and it wouldn’t be too hard for Sylvia to seduce him in the right circumstances!
I have read a lot of books concerning infidelity, but this one one make me feel nauseated. The sex scene with the other woman were more than one and overly detailed (also, random, but were bikini waxes a new thing when this was written? Sylvia and Josh acted in awe of her waxed va jay jay as if it was groundbreaking?!). The heroine Julia was not my favourite, and she made mistakes, but nothing she did warranted ending up with a scumbag like Josh! He is possibly one of the worst cheating heroes I have ever read, and I have read loads of assholes, so that says something. Not only does he literally take no blame or responsibility for his actions, when confronted he actually says he is doing his wife a favour, by screwing her best friend, as it means he will not fall in love with some other woman. Aside from the fact that if he can fall in love with someone that easily, it says exactly how much he actually cares about his wife; The dude is delusional! He actually hurls insults at his wife, calling her fucked up and blaming her for him cheating. He says he isn’t a monk? He had to go a few months without sex, and he couldn’t cope, he is a joke! I understand it being frustrating as Julia keeps being unable to make love and doesn’t know why. He claimed he felt rejected, what a load of crap. His wife constantly told him it was not his fault, and she had actually seeked counselling for it, it’s not like she wasn’t trying, and he just treated her like shit, if he cannot have sex with her, what use is she? We are constantly told in this book how much Julia and Josh love each other, that The sex Josh has with the ow, is nothing compared to his love making with Julia, he has no feelings for The ow etc etc.
I hate inconsistency, but we get plenty of if here! Hell if the sex is nothing compared to Julia, then why is he so unable to stop having sex with his side piece even after his wife finds out? When she is devastated.? While she is dealing with his affair and her fathers death, he is still messing around! He is that weak and pathetic. He claims he has no feelings for Sylvia, so why does he keep answering her calls, why do they chat like old friends for over an hour on the phone if there is no connection? Better yet why does he take her away with him on trips to Amsterdam etc, when he has never even taken his wife (don’t know how Julia let that one go)? We keep hearing him think how guilty he feels, how much he loves Julia, but then we see he only loves her when it’s convenient. As soon as things get tough he cheats. When Juli dares to be snippy with him after his betrayal he literally verbally abuses here, calls her fucked up etc. We see him thinking about avoiding being around her because she is upset with him, he basically only likes her when she is compliant! When she isn’t he ignores her, insults her or fucks Sylvia. He doesn’t love her. He is honestly scum, and this book disgusted me. I know Julia cheats as well, but let’s be honest if Josh hadn’t of cheated, and didn’t stay in contact with Sylvia, if he actually gave a shit that his wife’s Father had died, then Julia never would have cheated on him. This book was horrific, Josh calling Julia a whore after his behaviour was laughable! I hated him, and was so disappointed when Julia forgave him! He will cheat again, and it wouldn’t be too hard for Sylvia to seduce him in the right circumstances!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 23, 2023
This was very angsty and rage-inducing. 😤 I appreciate the angst, but not the pet peeves it petted. Ultimately tho, it turned out satisfying enough at the end. I’m certainly coming back for a reread and maybe then I’ll add a proper review, at the very least, add some more notes about the story and characters. Right now I’ll I can say is that I’m left with some mixed feelings, a bit bitter still about the MMC’s actions, and disappointed with the MFC’s weakness. As I said, the HEA was satisfying (thank goodness, otherwise this would have been a total fail), but it’s hard to forget some of the earlier letdowns. If I’m giving it 4 Stars, I guess it wasn’t all that bad or maybe that ending won me over *shrugs*
Notes & Spoilers:
h older by 3 yrs - 37/40
physical cheating only, not emotional
H has a 4(?) month affair w/ her bf
h sleeps (one night) w/ much younger man
H was a major hypocrite 😤
surprise pregnancy (H/h)
reconciliation
skim-read h’s side story related to her “mental block” - lots of family drama I didn’t care for
Notes & Spoilers:
h older by 3 yrs - 37/40
physical cheating only, not emotional
H has a 4(?) month affair w/ her bf
h sleeps (one night) w/ much younger man
H was a major hypocrite 😤
surprise pregnancy (H/h)
reconciliation
skim-read h’s side story related to her “mental block” - lots of family drama I didn’t care for
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 23, 2016
*** Warning: This review contains spoilers***
This book frustrated me to no end. It had the making for a good plot, but was so disappointing. The husband, Josh, never redeemed himself in my opinion. He cheated on his wife with her best friend because god forbid if he has to go without sex while his wife is facing some problems. He didn't even feel bad about cheating because when his wife found out, he kept cheating and talking the the 'supposed' best friend. I don't even think he came clean to his wife about sleeping with her after she found out about the affair. Julia, the wife, had absolutely no dignity. As soon as she found out he was cheating, it was all 'don't leave me' blah blah blah. Have a little self-respect. He was cheating on you with your best friend for months!!! To top it off, he turned around and blamed his wife because he cheated. The POS couldn't even accept responsibility for his actions, but had to blame it on his wife to ease his guilty conscious and found it so hard to stop the affair. Schmuck. Yet, when the table are reversed and the wife cheats he calls her a whore and tells her not to come home to be with her kids. Really!!! Hypocrite much. This book has a cheating hero who's a complete ass and a heroine with no self-respect. I hate it when heroine's meekly accept that their spouse cheated. I can do cheating romance, but for god's sake make the man grovel like he should.
This book frustrated me to no end. It had the making for a good plot, but was so disappointing. The husband, Josh, never redeemed himself in my opinion. He cheated on his wife with her best friend because god forbid if he has to go without sex while his wife is facing some problems. He didn't even feel bad about cheating because when his wife found out, he kept cheating and talking the the 'supposed' best friend. I don't even think he came clean to his wife about sleeping with her after she found out about the affair. Julia, the wife, had absolutely no dignity. As soon as she found out he was cheating, it was all 'don't leave me' blah blah blah. Have a little self-respect. He was cheating on you with your best friend for months!!! To top it off, he turned around and blamed his wife because he cheated. The POS couldn't even accept responsibility for his actions, but had to blame it on his wife to ease his guilty conscious and found it so hard to stop the affair. Schmuck. Yet, when the table are reversed and the wife cheats he calls her a whore and tells her not to come home to be with her kids. Really!!! Hypocrite much. This book has a cheating hero who's a complete ass and a heroine with no self-respect. I hate it when heroine's meekly accept that their spouse cheated. I can do cheating romance, but for god's sake make the man grovel like he should.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 29, 2020
Hard to rate because it was very well written...but I don't get it..he had an affair for months and didn't end it even after his wife found out, but she slept with someone once or twice and she was the whore of Babylon? How does that make sense? Also, I would have liked for the daughter to learn of her father's affair, which pretty much led to her mom's indiscretion...why should the mom take all the blame?
The wife couldn't abide sex for some time, due to some psychological issues, which led the hubby to stray...so if he had had erectile dysfunction for a while he would've understood if she went and had an affair with his best friend? Somehow I doubt it. Good book but I wish there had been less double standards...also the fact that he loved his wife so much was hard to believe, since he refused to go without sex and turned to his wife's best friend for that. And then kept going back for more. Sometimes in marriage issues crop up, and spouses aren't always fulfilled in every conceivable way, but if there is genuine love and respect between spouses then I'm sure they can handle things without resorting to infidelity. I was supposed to believe in their great love but the moment things became inconvenient they (he) dropped the ball. Whatever. Good book, well written, but I wasn't crazy about the characters.
The wife couldn't abide sex for some time, due to some psychological issues, which led the hubby to stray...so if he had had erectile dysfunction for a while he would've understood if she went and had an affair with his best friend? Somehow I doubt it. Good book but I wish there had been less double standards...also the fact that he loved his wife so much was hard to believe, since he refused to go without sex and turned to his wife's best friend for that. And then kept going back for more. Sometimes in marriage issues crop up, and spouses aren't always fulfilled in every conceivable way, but if there is genuine love and respect between spouses then I'm sure they can handle things without resorting to infidelity. I was supposed to believe in their great love but the moment things became inconvenient they (he) dropped the ball. Whatever. Good book, well written, but I wasn't crazy about the characters.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 22, 2021
One of those books I couldn’t put down as much as I wanted to.
Literally did nothing else but read this book today.
Wish I wasn’t so involved but the writing is great.
The characters not so much at all
July 24, 2011
I loved this book. I was 3/4 of the way through before I had any clue as to the possible outcome. Keeps you on your toes and so well written. I thought Josh was a bit of a hypocrite but thats men for you!
March 3, 2021
My mind is blown by the total hypocrisy of this man cheating on his wife with her friend several times and then having the AUDACITY to be disgusted and furious with her for sleeping with someone else?? “I feel nothing when I look at you.” GTFO, MY DUDE.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 1, 2013
Fantastic book, really capturing story and as usual with Susan Lewis books, I couldn't put it down!
April 16, 2015
Just a few pages in and it's saccharin sweet, nauseatingly vomit inducing chic lit - meant for readers with an IQ in single figures and a reading age of ten. ABANDONED. Glad I only paid 2p for it at a library clearance sale - and not surprised at all it was in the sale.
May 11, 2012
Good Book. Easy to read and keeps you hooked
June 7, 2025
This book was out total waste of my time, why write a book like this in the first place then? the husband is so selfish and disgusting including the best friend they make a perfect couple they do belong together two narcissistic a-holes. At the end of the day the wife was the one who ended up being the one to beg and fight for her relationship while he was benefiting from it. I am convinced this book is written by a man.
I honestly wished Julia ended up with Rico and the husband suffered for his choices, but obviously this book was written in favor of the husband. Don't waste your time reading or purchasing this book.
I honestly wished Julia ended up with Rico and the husband suffered for his choices, but obviously this book was written in favor of the husband. Don't waste your time reading or purchasing this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 6, 2021
Like others hated the H, it was disappointing to see there really wasn’t a redemption arch for his character. The H was selfish, egotistical, rude, hypocritical, and just plain horrible. I wish we got to see him really face is consequences and have all his lies come to light to show everyone that the h wasn’t the only horrible person. Honestly the h was annoying at times, but I resented that she was basically made to be the villain in the other characters eyes. I wish we also saw the “true villain” actually get some karma and have the mom in law eat her words. Sigh
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 2, 2022
The hypocrisy in this book.
Wife keeps freezing up during sex so husband decides to screw her best friend. He’s got NEEDS. I’m sure it would have been ok with him if she had banged his best friend if he couldn’t get it up, right? 🙄
Wife finds out, husband keeps laying the blame at her feet. No remorse or guilt as he continues to screw the OW after his wife finds out and even has the audacity to get angry and call her a whore when he finds out she had sex with OM.
“You're not fit to call yourself a mother, or a wife...”
Trash.
Wife keeps freezing up during sex so husband decides to screw her best friend. He’s got NEEDS. I’m sure it would have been ok with him if she had banged his best friend if he couldn’t get it up, right? 🙄
Wife finds out, husband keeps laying the blame at her feet. No remorse or guilt as he continues to screw the OW after his wife finds out and even has the audacity to get angry and call her a whore when he finds out she had sex with OM.
“You're not fit to call yourself a mother, or a wife...”
Trash.
September 14, 2011
I thought the synopsis sounded really quite good but this turned out to be not my kind of book at all. Cliched and predictable...very predictable, and with thoroughly unlikeable characters. Disappointing.
January 29, 2015
It was interesting and had some twists, but not one of my favorites.
April 3, 2016
not bad reading but could have fitted it into half the pages.
Read
September 25, 2016Liked it, but a bit too full of angst and drama.
September 2, 2017
I usually enjoy Susan Lewis's books, but Josh was just far too unpleasant that you wished Julia would see sense and leave him!
June 20, 2018
Josh was a hypocrite and I slowly started to dislike Julia. I could skip a few paragraphs and the conversation between the characters would still be the same. I found it was very repetitive.
June 27, 2025
Have read plenty of Susan Lewis books in my lifetime.
As i write this I'm not sure what rating to give. Given it only took me 4 days to read, home sick, nothing else to do, and I rarely not finish a book, i got increasingly frustrated at some of the story line. Double standards much!! Rather drawn out to be honest. Only thing that kept me drawn was knowing about Julias past.
2.5☆
As i write this I'm not sure what rating to give. Given it only took me 4 days to read, home sick, nothing else to do, and I rarely not finish a book, i got increasingly frustrated at some of the story line. Double standards much!! Rather drawn out to be honest. Only thing that kept me drawn was knowing about Julias past.
2.5☆
May 14, 2019
One of my fave cheating books. NOT SAFE FOR TRIGGER READERS. I give that warning to honest readers, not to the ones who just want to have a lot of comments on their review from sycophants. This is a well written chick lit romance.
May 7, 2020
I enjoyed this book. However, I'm not a prude by any means but I thought the graphic descriptions in the sex scenes spoiled the story. They were completely unnecessary and didn't add anything, in fact had the opposite effect. Shame!
January 11, 2018
Wow. This is a drama filled story and I hated all the characters at least a time or two but this book had so much drama and feeling it deserves 4.5 Stars. If you like drama read this book.
April 1, 2018
Terrific!
This is the first book I have read by Susan Lewis and it took my breath away! I could not put it down! I want to read all her books now!
This is the first book I have read by Susan Lewis and it took my breath away! I could not put it down! I want to read all her books now!
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