Review: An Excruciating And Very Real Life Journey
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 2, 2013
REVIEWED FOR: Sinfully Sexy Book ReviewsWhoooooooboy.  Arsen.  I was chugging Pepto from around chapter two forward.  Does that tell you anything?!  THIS BOOK GAVE ME AN ULCER!!  It nearly drove me (back) to a psych ward with all of the head-spinning emotion and angst!  The entire first half was pure, ever-loving TORTURE for me!  Well...aside from those chapters told in the past.  Or, not.  No, because those just made it WORSE!  It made the hurt, hurt more.  It made the anger stronger.  It made my loathing for Cathy So. Much. Deeper.  Imagine my shock, when, after reading *The End*, I clicked over to Goodreads and promptly gave it 5 HONKING STARS!!  Need a little more than that?  Here we go.Boy and girl, Ben and Cathy, run into each other, literally, in the rain, eleven years prior, on a college campus in New York City.  They gaze at each other, sort of lost in one another, while standing almost paralyzed in a drenching downpour.  There's an instant connection which they both feel.  Ben is tall, strong, intelligent, handsome, a former athlete.  Cathy is young, a bit innocent, a little starry-eyed.  Though they know nothing about each other, neither wants to leave the other, but there's no choice.  Numbers are exchanged, and, later, plans made.  The connection was instant, but they let love grow and build over time, getting stronger.  They eventually marry, build a life together.  Both have successful careers, a lovely home in the suburbs, and, most importantly, each other.Ben, simply put, adores his wife.  He sees no one but her, no matter who else might be in his line of vision.  He is loving, loyal and terribly sexy.  He's a glass-half-full kind of guy.  He believes that together they are stronger than they are apart, and, despite disappointment, they can find their way through and out the other side.  Because they love each other.  It's really that simple to him.Personal disappointment leads Cathy to a much darker place.  She's not even a glass-half-empty kind of woman.  Frankly, she doesn't even see the glass.  She meets the son of her new boss, a younger man, Arsen, and she's torn.  But, to be honest, she doesn't put up all that much of a fight.  She's selfish, disloyal and nearly heartless.  That boy and girl, standing in the rain, eleven years earlier?  That instant, tangible connection?  That love which built and grew over a decade plus?  She. Throws.  It.  All.  Away.Arsen is spoiled.  He's used to getting whatever and whoever he wants.  He sees Cathy.  He wants Cathy.  They make their token attempt to `be friends', but it's a stall tactic which everyone but the two of them seems to realize is going to fail.  He breaks up her marriage, convinced he and Cathy are meant to be together.  There almost, at times, appears to be more beneath the surface than Arsen wants anyone to see.Getting a better idea now of where my head--and poor, sensitive stomach--was at while reading this book?  Good!  It shouldn't shock anyone, then, when I admit that I wanted to cage-match Cathy for most of the book!  I wanted to have the smack-down of all smack-downs with that woman, and I wanted to WIN.  In a bad, BAD way.  I had such loathing for her throughout the entire first half of the book, and at numerous points during the second half that...I almost gave up on Arsen several times.  My God, that woman was selfish and ugly!  She actually made me physically ill.  Thus, the ulcer!  There was one particular scene, toward the end, when Ben finally knows.  Oh sweet Jesus, I wept like a baby!  If I could have stepped into that book, at that moment, and done physical harm to Cathy, I undoubtedly would have!!Arsen was almost unbearably difficult to read at times because of how ugly infidelity is.  There was nothing about the cheating in this book that was glamorized or included simply to add drama.  As little tact or lack of bias as I have when I discuss Cathy, I can admit that this sort of thing happens every day, everywhere.  There are `Cathys' all over this world, of both genders.  Arsen tells the true story of infidelity, and, in doing so, it makes it real.  I'm not sure I'll ever be able to think about the act of cheating on a loved one the same way again.  I'm not sure I'll ever be able to read about it again, in any story, and react with anything less than disgust and dislike.  And maybe that was part of the point for Mia Asher in writing Arsen.This book was a journey, just like life.  Some of it was supremely romantic.  Some of it was mouthwateringly sexy.  Some of it was excruciatingly painful.  Some of it was unbelievably shameful.  The one thing I would encourage any reader, though, above all else, don't give up on this book!  It's a story so worth reading.  It's a journey worth suffering in order to get to the other side.  I promise you that!  Again...need just a little bit more than that?  Ben.  The answer is Ben.  The answer was always Ben.Finally, I am shocked, stunned, that this was a debut novel for Mia Asher!  This author has immense talent!  Any writer who could keep me reading this book through to the end is one gifted storyteller.  Her `voice' was clear and seasoned, as was her natural ability.  I'm so impressed and waiting impatiently for more from Mia Asher!!"Miracles are the consequences of daring to believe.  And I dare you to believe in us again, Ben.  I dare you to."5 Stars