Review: Three broken characters, one emotional rollercoaster
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 7, 2013
I HATE cheating in books. Hate it. I know it happens in real life but I hate when a character cheats and then the cheated upon get back together and they walk into the sunset with an HEA because it's not realistic. I know going in to this book, there was cheating and I was scared to read it but I am so glad I did. I think a book has finally given us a realistic spin on an ugly situation.We follow Cathy's story as she meets and falls in love with Ben. Ben is pretty freaking perfect and a wonderful mix of alpha male meets sweet boy next door. They fall instantly in love and the book mostly takes place in the present with a few looks back as to how Cathy and Ben met and fell in love.The angst in this story all comes back to Cathy's inability to get pregnant. With each miscarriage, her marriage suffers a little more and she begins to drown in her own sadness and feelings of selt doubt and worthlessness. After the fourth miscarriage, Cathy basically checks out of her marriage emotionally. She and Ben don't relate to each other anymore and she is too broken to reach out to him.And then the cheating comes in to play... Cathy meets Arsen through her job and they have an instant attraction. Arsen is hot, younger and wealthy and he makes her feel alive which is something no one else can do... not even Ben. She tries to fight her attraction initally and the two are just friends but after her last miscarriage, she falls into Arsen's arms and lets him comfort her from her pain.The rest of the story is Cathy lying to her husband and trying to maintain an undercover relationship with Arsen. Of course, Ben becomes suspicious and ultimately she has to come clean to her her husband. I won't spoil anything but there is a lot of crying, yelling and broken hearts abound from all three parties.I almost gave this book four stars because I hate cheating that much... but I couldn't do it. This book left me emotionally wrung out and I totally have a book hangover. Any book that makes me feel as much as this one did, deserves five stars.The characters are not perfect, you will love and hate all of them depending on the chapter. Ben is the most sympathetic and I'm pretty sure he is close to being my new book boyfriend. Cathy-- well, you feel bad for her because of her infertility problems and then you hate her because of what she does to the man who loves her. But by the end of the book, she has grown and finally matured emotionally. Arsen-- he's a hot mess and though he can be a total ass I'm actually feeling even worse for him right now than I am for anyone else. He is a total bad boy but there is a heart there. I'd love to get another book with him as the focus.I don't really have any criticisms for the book. It's truly a broken love story. There is an HEA but it's the most heartbreaking HEA I think I've ever read. Not everyone is happy and the emotional drama took it's toll on everyone involved.Thanks, Mia, for giving us this fabulously heart breaking story.  Now we need more Arsen!