I read this book voraciously in twitter days. I love the way Jen tells her truth. Whether this has ever happened to you or not, you will feel it profoundly through Jen's words.

Here is the link to the video that I created to review this book: https://youtu.be/BSS6UkguNoM

Umm, this story was wild. I read it in two sittings...but that is only because I was on a train (the trip there and back again), and the book itself was like a train-wreck from which I could not tear my eyes.

I received an advanced reading copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

There was much to enjoy here, but I found I couldn't connect with it. I'd read more from this author in the future though.

In this memoir by Jen Waite, we watch as her life falls apart as she suddenly realizes that she is married to a psychopath. The story is told in a somewhat flashback style from before the first incident and after. We watch as they fall into and out of love and all of the events that occurred in between. It’s easy to think that this is something that could never happen to you or someone you care about, until it does. I found the account very raw and emotional and I was eager to finish the book to see what happened next.

Had a hard time getting into this. It seemed like a pretty common story of a marriage gone bad. Wasn't horrible, but wasn't what I expected.

This book wasn’t for me. I decided not to review it on my site or any of the major retailers/Goodreads.

A Beautiful, Terrible Thing had me riveted with its emotional account.
Although there were some confusion over the flashbacks and present moments, I feel as Waite did over the crumbling of her life as the truth gets out.
I don't think that anyone can get over such pain easily, but the positive ending is heartening.

Jen Waite's memoir was fascinating. I liked how she broke up the narrative by alternating between before she found out about her husband's infidelity and after. The writing was solid and I would read her next book for sure. I wish her the best.

As soon as I read this I thought, this could be a Lifetime movie. Or even a series for television. Once you start reading it you don't want to put it down.

I am not a fan of this book. First of all, I think that the term "psychopath" gets used way too often. As a mental health professional and researcher, I think this is an incredibly irresponsible use of this term, to be honest. Yes, the husband in this story was a jerk. But to attempt to label him as a psychopath and to determine that one can diagnose a family member without any actual professional expertise is absolutely inappropriate and harmful. Overall this book is described as a dramatic and mind shattering story-to-come, but in actuality the reader is left with a lukewarm impression and some feelings of mild empathy for the author.

I congratulate the author for writing her painful story which can't have been easy at times, but yet I also get a sense it will have helped in her healing process too. Jen is madly in love with Marco and truly believe he is the one but shortly after their daughter is born she begins to suspect he is having an affair. From there on her journey is one of discovery about who they both are.

Memoirs typically aren't my favorite type of book, but in this case, I fell in love with the cover and the story that is told within. It's beautiful and haunting, and something that will stick with you for a long time after you finish reading.

<p>I requested this book because I thought it was another book I may have dreamed up because I can't find anything about it on the internet (it was about buying a house in France with a husband soon-to-be divorced from, having already been divorced once or twice before). This is a New York divorce book, so no France, and no buying a house, and really not what I was thinking it was going to be at all. But that's okay -- sometimes we can surprise ourselves with our late night clicking on Netgalley where we must get ALL. THE. FREE. BOOKS! </p>

<p>Or sometimes we get a <i>meh</i>. Guess which one I got here?</p>

<p>I feel to say anything too critical about <A href="https://www.librarything.com/work/20699279/book/148544701">A Beautiful, Terrible Thing</a> is somehow like me discounting Waite's experience: she got married to who she thought was the perfect guy. In the end, he cheated on her and had some psychopathic tendencies and the marriage fell apart. The psychopathic tendencies weren't of the <i>mutilating-small-animals-and/or-humans</i> kind, just more of the mundane, every-day-life psychopathic ones (lying, blaming, manipulating, etc.). The whole thing is so mundane and Waite so overwrought such that, even though she is the victim here, she isn't that great a protagonist. But I've never been bound by marriage to someone so deceitful, and, perhaps I don't even have the same deep well of feelings at Waite (I've often thought I'm just a shallow puddle of emotion rather than a deep, swimming hole quarry of them), and maybe if I found myself, like Jen, with a newborn and a cheating husband, I'd melt down just as much and then rescind my assessment of <i>overwrought</i>, but until then, nope: too much emotion for me. </p>

<p>And she has a kid. Her ex-husband does not come off looking great in this memoir. What will her kid think of all this when she is older? Obviously, good on Waite for rebuilding her life,
but I guess along with being unfeeling, I'm also pretty private. Hopefully though, writing and sharing this helped Waite recover, and hopefully, her daughter will understand someday.</p>

<p><A href="https://www.librarything.com/work/20699279/book/148544701">A Beautiful, Terrible Thing</a> by Jen Waite went on sale July 11, 2017.</p>

<p><small>I received a copy free from <a href="https://www.netgalley.com/">Netgalley</a> in exchange for an honest review.</small></p>

The real life story of an apparently perfect relationship which turned out to be based on lies. Insidious and unnerving, the author describes her realisation that her husband was a psychopath with no empathy.

This is the second memoir I’ve read in my life since I’m not a big fan of that genre. I won this copy as a consolation prize and when I read the excerpt I was intrigued. I start reading it and I found myself wanting to keep reading and that’s always a good sign.

Unfortunely, I was disappointed because I kept on reading and reading waiting on that big reveal or the aha moment to happened and it never came. I don’t know honestly if is just me and the lack of reading this type of books but it left me with that feeling when you’re going up on a roller coaster and you know (and you’re anxiously waiting) that eventually you will be dropping fast down.... well I guess that’s the best way I can describe reading this. That drop never happens, you just go up and then you just go straight forward. It’s not a bad reading but it fell flat for me. Just like listening to a friend catching up after a long time.

Jen Waite has written an immersive and engrossing story. The fact that it is a memoir is one that I had forgotten until I read the acknowledgements at the end of the book. It is THAT good. It reads like a novel. It is the story of how she met and fell in love with her husband and had a perfect life. It is also the story of how her perfect life came crashing down around her, just as she was having her first child. It seems as though the love of her life was at best, a pathological liar and at worst, a psychopath. Her story is filled with raw, honest emotion. The reader by turn swoons, hurts, and cheers for her through the course of the book. This is hands down one of the best, most interesting non-fiction books I have read in quite some time.

So books about husbands not being who they seem is a popular trope in women's fiction right now. What makes A BEAUTIFUL TERRIBLE THING completely different is that it is a true story. Waite captures her romance and infatuation with her lovely Argentinian husband and his subsequent destruction of their marriage. This is a cautionary tale at it finest. And ladies, talk to your fiancé's exes BEFORE you marry him.

Most sociopaths don't murder or rape because they understand that there would be very large, and bothersome, consequences if they got caught, not because their conscience or inner moral compass is conflicted about such acts. In fact, they have no inner moral compass. The only voice that directs their actions is the voice that says "this feeds my ego and feels good," or "this is advantageous to me." The concept of right and wrong is beneath them.

This read to me as novel and not a memoir not that it makes any difference but I did struggle with this as Jen Waite told her story in a dual time frame the before and the after. It starts with her discovery of her husbands infidelity and then switches to the before - the time they met, fell in love, and got married. In between her discovery and how she perceived her husbands deceit. It was at times exhausting. The exhausting part was her making excuses or refusing to see her husbands lies. For example (view spoiler)

What redeemed the book for me is the therapy that Waite sought after so many let downs. How her therapists directed her to why she was so easily deceived. Yes it is easy to judge but there is more to the story with her discovery as to why she was pulled into it in the first place.

A Special Thank You to PENGUIN GROUP Blue Rider Press & Plume and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

You know that expression, "When people show you how they feel, believe them"?

Jen Waite would have been well served to pay attention to that.

Her dashing husband Marco flat out tells her that he feels "nothing." Later, he says that he feels more for his and Jen's baby daughter than he does her. And yet she is surprised to learn that he is having an affair.

Jen immediately sets out to try and analyze how this happened. They were in love! So much love! He's devoted! He's besotted! They have a new baby! Why is he cheating?

Memo to Jen: he tells you he feels nothing for you. So, in my amateur sleuth opinion, HE TELLS YOU WHY.

Jen determines that her husband is a psychopath. She obsessively - and I do stress, obsessively - follows him, largely through social media. Marco apparently is not a bright psychopath because he never changes his passwords, despite his wife telling him that she reads his emails, checks his messages, and knows his search history.

I mean ... it seems like he'd make sure that stops, non?

Waite alternates between the times "before" she found out her husband is a cheating bastard and the times "after." The befores aren't terribly revelatory. Marco seems like a pretty decent guy, although I would have been a tad concerned over his illegal alien status. Who's to say he won't marry you just to make sure he can legally stay in the country?

But perhaps you think I'm too cynical. Well, read this book, because Waite divulges something about Marco in a "before" toward the end of the book that would have made you sit up and shout, "OH, JEN, NO." You want to pull her aside and remind her of Sir James Goldsmith's bon mot about marrying your mistress and creating a job opening. And then you learn something about her that makes you really roll your eyes. Her relationship with Marco was doomed before it began.

So, yeah, he's cheating, and he feels nothing, and Jen has to process all of this Here is where her story got interesting for me. I loved reading about her social media stalking of Marco's mistress, and I loved how she kept reading his texts and emails and kept checking his search history. I sure would have if it were me. As she traces back the "before" times, you learn of some things that Marco did that will give you pause, things he continues to do even as he says he wants to stay with his wife.

Does he really, though? Does he want to stay? Because he sure doesn't behave as if he does. As for Jen, you will wish the best for her, even if you find yourself frustrated with her on occasion. I was happy to see that she has a pretty solid support system in her family and friends. She needs them as she overcomes her relationship with Marco.

I received a copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t want to be critical of a Memoir. However, this book was not what I expected. I found it “cheesy” and boring. The main character was petty and annoying. At one point she gets upset with her husband for possibly “untagging” her in an online photo.

I wanted to read it because I had seen so many good reviews on it. I should have read the description more closely and realized I would be bored with the main character “obsessively analyzing her relationship”.

In my opinion the guy she dated before her husband sounded pretty perfect. I didn’t understand why she left him.

I would not recommend this book.