A zany, witty telenovela of a women’s fiction, about the lies we tell each other and ourselves

I chose this book from the Reedsy Discovery program. This program allows authors to post their books for a fee, for the chance of one comprehensive review from an approved reviewer that the team vets, and they also coach and guide how to write a review. I chose this book because I was looking for a women’s fiction, and the preview drew me in. This review also appears on Reedsy.

If you’re interested in becoming a Reedsy reviewer (and have the chance to get paid “tips” to review books!) check it out here.

The Premise

54-year-old Kassie is on the cusp of finally taking the plunge to divorce her emotionally abusive husband Mike. A meticulous, anal-retentive planner, she has her steps laid out: file for divorce, and then move in with Chris, her 40-year-old boyfriend of five years. Just as she is about to flip the “divorce” switch, she learns that Mike has chronic kidney disease — which he has hidden from her for years.

His health issues are only the tip of the iceberg, though. As she now has occasion to venture into his private areas of their home and his office to assist him while he is at the hospital, she has the opportunity to snoop, and discovers far more than she bargained for — appalling secrets she can’t easily forgive. Now, she has to make a difficult choice — should she sacrifice her own happiness, to save his life?

The Pros

This book was certainly unique. Usually in books about divorce, there is a lot of emotional introspection and guilt — this isn’t that kind of story. This is about a marriage where the novelty has long since worn off, and infidelity and deception have become intricately interwoven into their daily lives.

I loved the characters — (Bad) Kassie, who is rapidly losing her cool as her plans implode; douchebag Mike, who is charmingly typical and benign despite his masculine manipulations; and her lover Chris, who feels like he’s gotten in over his head with a fickle older woman. I also loved that this book featured older characters with healthy sex drives.

The genre here was a mishmash of so many things. There were gems of women’s fiction spilling out even in Mike’s moments — some hilarious: his casual over-dependence on his wife for very basic things, and his wide-eyed amazement at where things in the house were located (after 30 years); but there were also some passionate romantic moments and some dramatic shockers, as well as an overall comedic wit stringing it all together.

Despite the plethora of deceit, resentment, anger, and other negative emotions, there was still a deep love — or at least a lingering fondness — and this made the characters relatable and lovable. Their contradictory behaviour is realistic — as Kassie said, to assuage Mike’s worries: “I’m divorcing you, not deserting you.” Overall, this was a wickedly fun read, and entirely engaging in its soap-opera-esque style of storytelling.

The Cons

Admittedly, there were some clunky bits of narrative where too much exposition hindered the storytelling. Also a little unsettling was the frequent jumping between viewpoints, not all of them necessary — Chris’ and Kassie’s mother’s were lacklustre by comparison to the others. At one point, I half-expected to jump into the mind of Topher the cat, because he was all over the place in just about every scene (NOT a con, by the way — he was wonderful)… but that’s how crazy the narrative was going, at times! Nevertheless, these hiccups did not spoil the overall ride.

Conclusion

This was a zany, witty telenovela of a women’s fiction, about the lies we tell each other and ourselves. The novel was engrossing, even as it veered into the territory of ridiculously coincidental. The characters were all fabulously flawed, but these flaws made them come alive, and connect with the reader.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone, but especially middle-aged, married, female readers — because of the kernels of truth we can all see in ourselves as we read these unapologetically deplorable characters. I look forward to reading more by this author.

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