Kate is a wife and mother of two that finds out her husband has been having an affair. The story follows along as she tries to come to terms with her life and her new circumstances both with her family and her work. I was really enjoying the story until the end. The ending was so abrupt, I thought maybe I had missed something. I would have liked to have a better conclusion in regard to the hotel franchise and the ex-husband. All in all it was an okay book. 3 stars. Thank you NetGalley for the eARC.

I've read too many infidelity stories lately. And watched too many tv shows and movies where it's a theme. It's getting old. And not much differentiation between this and others.

Although formulaic, there’s a tidy sense of accomplishment to this mid-life-crisis, starting over novel. Raverat balances her issues, her distractions and themes nicely, and pulls the reader along without complaint. Nicely done.

Well looks like I found a new author to stalk this year. First of all thank you for allowing me to read this early, I am honored. Excuse me tho while I "GOOGLE" the author and purchase her other books.

I enjoyed this story. It was well written. At times I thought that some of the content didn't further the story along, but when I took a moment to think about it, there was meaning in the story. I enjoyed reading how the heroine worked through the pain of learning of her husband's infidelity. I would have liked to have read more about the aftermath of his betrayal. But the author was consistent on how the heroine behaved, so I expected nothing more. I felt sorry for her, rooted for her, and at times was angry with how she coped with the loss of her ideal family life. The story elicited a lot of emotions from me. I was left wondering how I would deal with infidelity and single parenthood, feeling like I wouldn't be capable of juggling it all alone. All in all, I hope to read future novels from this author.

Any woman who has been married any length of time while being a mother and working a full time job will relate to this book. While most of us are married to honorable men, it is still impossible to know another's mind. In LOVER, Raverat gives us a realistic picture of a woman trying to survive the rupture of her marriage and still be a good mother to her children. Heartfelt, believable and moving.

A moving story that disguises its depths with a sense of lightness, and even humor, in its prose. It's not exciting, but it's a story that feels real, and that's what made it enjoyable. I will be recommending this on my blog.

Wow – this was such an honest and emotional story about a wife’s worst nightmare. Kate and Adam have been married for years and have two young daughters. He hated his job so she encouraged him to leave, resulting in him starting his own, quite unsuccessful business. So Kate returns to work for PHC, a huge hotel corporation, in order to help make ends meet. Their lives are fine but obviously, things aren’t as fine as she thought. One night she decides to jump on Adam’s laptop to look up the holiday schedule for the gym and instead, she discovers tons of e-mails between Adam and another woman. As Adam tries to reassure Kate that it wasn’t an affair, just a drink, and a quick peck on the lips, Kate questions Adam endlessly as he begs for forgiveness. Curiosity getting the better of her, she continues to snoop and dig into Adam’s life, until she finds herself face to face with a husband she no longer knows or trusts.

I loved the character of Kate and loved her young daughters, although they had some very real-life bratty moments at times. Kate was very relatable regarding both her personal life and professional life with both of their ups and downs. I started out wanting to give Adam the benefit of the doubt, however, that ship quickly sailed. Still, the author’s character development regarding Adam and the effect the guilt and regret had on him was amazing. I liked some issues that Lover brings up. First, it’s surprising how little we know about our significant others and is it possible that they could do such horrible things right under our noses. Second, affairs don’t always mean that the relationship is over, there are people that manage to get through these circumstances. Third, and most important, the spouse who is cheated on has every right to take their time to figure out if they want to and are able to work at rebuilding the relationship.

Kate had great friends and the support of her parents throughout this novel, but the fact still remained that she discovered secrets about her husband that had a huge impact on her. Parenting is difficult enough but to suddenly be a single parent and working a very demanding job is incredibly challenging – and I think Kate rolled with the punches quite well. Anna Raverat did a beautiful job of demonstrating the ever-changing emotions and feelings of a woman recently separated from her husband and especially a woman that feels so betrayed. Kate had good days and bad days, and often there were just maybe a few good moments in any given day, but she carried on trying to determine what was best for her and her daughters. The writing style was amazing and flowed flawlessly, grabbing my attention but also prompting me to truly think and consider that events and emotions of the novel.

Although not the most original or unique storyline out there, this was an excellent read that I highly recommend to fans of Women’s fiction. Especially for those that may have been betrayed by someone in the past.

*Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

There are 84 emails between Adam and Louise Phelps. Of course not everything is mentioned but enough for Kate to realize her husband has been chasing another woman. Ten years of marriage and two children later, a line of communication has turned Kate's world upside down. Through repetitive actions, thorough research and a mild level of drama, Kate gives readers a look into her psyche while figuring out who her husband really is.

I wanted to...no, I did...roll my eyes and say aloud, "Lady, chill!" What an annoying beat-a-dead-horse-in-the-name-of-closure main character she was. How many times can a person relive a bad experience? How many times can a wife question her adulterous husband about the same affair? She drove herself—and me, the reader—crazy! I just wanted her to move on already. The character once said that her thoughts made rooms; I wish they would've locked her out. This took away from what could have been a good book about a crumbling marriage in the aftermath of an affair.

Lover was published on March 7, 2017. I recommend you pass on this one.

LiteraryMarie

I totally enjoyed this book. The characters were very believable and by the time I got to the end I felt I was leaving an old friend. The story pulls you in and hangs on for dear life. I have always enjoyed reading about family situations and the problems that we all have to overcome in our every day life. I will definitely read more by this author.

This book was so beautiful. I don't mean to keep giving out 5 stars, I've just been so lucky to receive fantastic choices for the eARC's I wanted to review! After reading this, I will happily read anything Anna Raverat writes.

This was not a subject (or book) that I expected to enjoy. It doesn't exactly have "feel-good" written all over it. But I could not put this book down. Her sensitivity and insight and wit are what kept me reading. I think the thing that really speaks to me is that Raverat does not shy away from the parts of an affair that make you squirm, or the the fact that so much lies in gray area. She explores fact that the two people of the original couple have such a different experience inside the same relationship and how working this out takes time because, although the original transgression may be the definite wrong, everything leading up to it and everything spilling away from it afterwards, is just simply gray area. Paralyzing, surreal, gray area where no real wrongs or rights seem to exist.

I expected this to be quite bleak, (or alternately, quite sexy) but Raverat has a way of looking at these things in a very saturated reality that has all the highs and lows, tiny joys, and frustrations of actual life. Which means, that yes, our protagonist Kate, has a whole other life away from her marriage, and no, while the affair may bleed into all aspects of her life, it does not have to govern what happens everywhere else. Raverat can make the mundane seem so full just by virtue of the fact of it being so true. She perfectly masters that sense that each relationship is unique but there are little things that we can all relate to that knit us together in our common experience. I ached so badly for Kate in this book. But I couldn't bring myself to hate Adam either.


MILD SPOILER BELOW:



The ending was utterly surprising for me. I think because she writes such an honest journey for Kate, and because with an affair, often one or both partners still love the other, it truly made it hard for me to predict how this would turn out. I think I would have been surprised either way honestly. Because really, these things are just so difficult.


Thank you to NetGalley, Anna Raverat and Farrar, Straus & Giroux for the opportunity to read and review an eARC of this book.

A broken heart? Perhaps. But hearts can be mended. It takes time - sometimes a lot of time. This story follows the life of Kate, a mother of two, who discovers her husband has been cheating. The narrative progresses in a realistic fashion as Kate goes through the anger, grief, and frustration that goes along with a marriage that's been broken.

There's nothing earthshaking in this story, but it's a realistic and thoughtful read.