Rating: 3.5 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel
William didn’t know anything about love in his house, growing with his abusive father. He met Rebecca when they were early teens and he felt safe and loved by her. They married at 17, leaving William with no opportunity to explore what he knew he was feeling for boys.
Twenty years later, William and Rebecca have two grown children and a fairly stable life. William admits to himself he’s not interested in intimacy with his wife, but he can’t say the words out loud. Their life becomes less stable when William loses his job as an electrician. He gets another job quickly, only it’s hours way on a movie set.
Everyone knows who Laurence Cole is. He’s a famous and wealthy movie star. The moment William sees him, he knows everything about his life will change. Spending days and weeks away from his family, William has the space to truly be himself for the first time. Although it has to be a secret and William is truly conflicted. While he does love his wife, they way he loves Laurence is a completely different kind of love.
The reason I selected this book to review is the same reason some readers will stay away from it—I wanted to see how the author would handle the subject of cheating. William cheats on his wife and, if that is a deal breaker for you, then this book should be a pass.
We get caught up on William’s life quickly and easily as the book opens. He’s been married to Rebecca for almost 20 years and they have two children. He feels safe with her and she is his best friend. But there is no spark for him and he allows Rebecca to control his life right down to the type of juice he’s allowed to drink at home. Right from the start, Rebecca was over controlling and generated zero empathy. William was also not a strong enough character for me to completely pull off this story. His story is a sad one. His home life didn’t allow him the opportunity to be who he really is and now his life is beginning to fall apart. Laurence has no issues with being with a married man, although he knows he most likely setting himself up for heartbreak. The thing was, I didn’t feel the author went deep enough into their characters to make me feel that these two wanted to be together forever. There was attraction, sure, but the rest felt on the surface.
We get viewpoints from both William and Laurence and the beats of the book progressed in an expected way, from William acting on his attraction to the eventual fallout. There was one chapter from Rebecca’s point of view and that only showed her to be manipulative and caring about her own needs more than anything else. She wasn’t a particularly likable character—perhaps done on purpose to begin to justify William’s actions.
I do enjoy reading books that break from the traditions of the genre at times and if you like that as well, you could pick this one up.
