Post by Charlynn on Dec 15, 2010 23:37:44 GMT -5
Love the One You're With
Changing paces, Love the One You're With delves into the life of a recently, happily married career woman who accidentally runs into an past love and almost instantaneously starts to question the decisions she has made in life. Though she doesn't doubt the fact that she loves her husband, she starts to ask those dangerous 'what if' questions. At first, she merely keeps a harmless run-in and then a more than harmless but less than harmful spur of the moment coffee date from her husband, but this quickly escalates into a secret work assignment, lustful thoughts, and a very meaningful cross-country flight between the former couple. Things only go from bad to worse when she agrees to move away from New York City to her husband's hometown of Atlanta, leaving behind not only her life in the Big Apple but also the ex she's starting to wonder if she was meant to be with all along.
Told from the perspective of Ellen, Love the One You're With is lighter on the plot and heavier on the character analysis. It delves deeply into the main character's frame of mind, her thoughts, her feelings as she explores the ups and downs of a marriage's first year, temptation, and confronting an unsettled past. This wasn't the first novel by Emily Giffin that I've read ((previously, I've read Something Borrowed and liked it quite well), but I found myself rather annoyed with the main character in this story. Though I'm not someone who would ever claim that cheating is something that is as black and white as it is often portrayed, I felt as though Ellen's dilemma in this book was clear cut and straight forward. Without a doubt, I wanted her with her husband. For me, there was nothing likable about her ex, which meant that I wasn't torn at all about who she was supposed to be with. However, because Ellen was torn, I found myself annoyed with her at times, even somewhat disliking her, a character who, otherwise, was quite likable.
Bottom line, though? Did I like this book... overall? Yes. Would I recommend it to others? Yes. However, with that said, I think it could have been better.
Changing paces, Love the One You're With delves into the life of a recently, happily married career woman who accidentally runs into an past love and almost instantaneously starts to question the decisions she has made in life. Though she doesn't doubt the fact that she loves her husband, she starts to ask those dangerous 'what if' questions. At first, she merely keeps a harmless run-in and then a more than harmless but less than harmful spur of the moment coffee date from her husband, but this quickly escalates into a secret work assignment, lustful thoughts, and a very meaningful cross-country flight between the former couple. Things only go from bad to worse when she agrees to move away from New York City to her husband's hometown of Atlanta, leaving behind not only her life in the Big Apple but also the ex she's starting to wonder if she was meant to be with all along.
Told from the perspective of Ellen, Love the One You're With is lighter on the plot and heavier on the character analysis. It delves deeply into the main character's frame of mind, her thoughts, her feelings as she explores the ups and downs of a marriage's first year, temptation, and confronting an unsettled past. This wasn't the first novel by Emily Giffin that I've read ((previously, I've read Something Borrowed and liked it quite well), but I found myself rather annoyed with the main character in this story. Though I'm not someone who would ever claim that cheating is something that is as black and white as it is often portrayed, I felt as though Ellen's dilemma in this book was clear cut and straight forward. Without a doubt, I wanted her with her husband. For me, there was nothing likable about her ex, which meant that I wasn't torn at all about who she was supposed to be with. However, because Ellen was torn, I found myself annoyed with her at times, even somewhat disliking her, a character who, otherwise, was quite likable.
Bottom line, though? Did I like this book... overall? Yes. Would I recommend it to others? Yes. However, with that said, I think it could have been better.