The premise of this book grabbed me and I was intrigued by how the author would develop the idea of not settling for "good enough" in a marriage.I thought maybe I would get to see a couple who decided that a comfortable relationship shouldn't be a substitute for a happy marriage. Or that "good enough" shouldn't be settled for because one or both of the people in the marriage is afraid of being alone. I went into this book thinking that it would be the story of a woman who discovers that somehow she has found herself in an unsatisfying marriage. That is not what I got. What Fox delivers in the character of Hannah is a self pitying, self centered and clumsily dishonest 35 year old woman who consistently made decisions and judgments that I would have expected from a 20 year old, not a woman with some maturity and depth of character. Believe me, Hannah has neither. Although I don't necessarily agree with the idea that a woman in her 30's "needs" to be married, I can empathize with someone who reaches their 30's and wants a partner to share their lives with. How Hannah comes to be married to Michael is no one's fault but her own. She was not forced into that marriage and after having known Michael for a good amount of time before the marriage she could not say that she didn't know that she was getting a marriage that was built on comfort and not passion. There didn't seem to be any interest on Hannah's part to solve any of her marital issues sexual, emotional, or otherwise.
Hannah's decision to flee her marriage and find herself is all well and good, but to bring someone else into your life and build it all on a lie that doesn't even make sense to create irritated me beyond belief. How old are you Hannah? For Hannah to continue to act as the injured party in this story made me even angrier as events unfolded. And the ending! What the heck Fox? It's as if someone just snatched the manuscript and said "That's enough, you're done." It was so abrupt and dissatisfying that all I could do was sit back and blink at my Kindle screen. I couldn't believe that that was it. The first three fourths of the book is written pretty well, but Hannah is wholly unlikable and the fact that Michael and eventually Ben are both vilified for not understanding Hannah's need to be a whiny baby of a woman who doesn't want to admit her own part in all of the mess that was created or work for her own happiness gave me no joy or pleasure in reading this book.
Happy Reading!
Monlat
Description:
What would you do if you met your soul mate, but you were already married?
In The Good Enough Husband, Sylvie Fox delivers a riveting story about a woman who refuses to let her past define her future.
For years, Hannah Morrison Keesling’s marriage to Michael was good enough. Then she wakes up one morning and it isn’t. Taking her puppy Cody along, Hannah drives north to put distance between herself and her past. Planning to go as far as her SUV will take her, she has to stop on the Lost Coast when her dog gets sick. There she meets small town veterinarian Ben Cooper.
Ben is the man Hannah wishes she had met first. He’s perfect for her, but gun shy because he’s been lied to before and vows not to be betrayed again. Hannah leaves Michael and moves to Ben’s rural town to pursue a future with the man she knows is her soul mate. But Michael won’t let go so easily. Forced to make a decision between the man she chose and the man she loves, Hannah soon realizes that her choices will define everyone else’s consequences.
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