Customer Reviews

Do You Take This Woman?: A Novel

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Wayne and Pete have been best friends virtually all of their lives..and brothers, when Pete's drug-addicted mother deserts him, leaving him in the care of Wayne's family. The two grow up as brothers who are best friends...and become successful physicians in their adult life; partners in their orthopedic practice. But lives unravel and worlds begin to fall apart, and it all begins with the beautiful Carla. Both spot her in a nightclub one evening and find her ravishing. She dates both...but ultimately falls for the charismatic Wayne, and the two become engaged. Their life appears to be idyllic...until Wayne tells Pete that he intends to cheat on Carla; to have one last fling before married life begins. Wayne does just that, and Pete tells Carla, who breaks off the engagement. Pete becomes Carla's shoulder to cry on, and eventually the relationship develops into something else...and Pete and Carla marry instead. What follows is a litany of love, lust, betrayal and deception the likes of which this reader had never seen.
Truly a novel with a plot that, if nothing else, is original. If it's drama you're looking for..you will certainly find it here. Although I definitely found the book to be a pageturner, I could not find a single character that I liked (with the possible exception of Laci, Carla's best friend). Is Pete a "good guy borderline doormat"--or a backstabbing opportunist? Is Wayne just an untrustworthy womanizer, or is he truly conflicted? And what of Carla? What kind of woman moves between best friends/brothers?
Interesting, incredible, ridiculous and intriguing.


DYB

RM Johnson has again written a drama-filled novel with quirky characters in his latest, Do You Take This Woman? Pete and Carla have been married for over a year and are very happy, but are they really? So why is Carla spending time with Wayne, Pete's best friend and self-proclaimed brother? Pete was taken in by Wayne's upper-middle class family when he was abandoned by his mother at ten years of age. They took him in and treated him like one of the family and Wayne and he became brothers. But as often with real brothers there developed a sibling rivalry, including their pursuit of the same women.

Pete, lacking confidence, saw Carla first but Wayne was the one who got her. Then Wayne messed up and there was Pete with a shoulder to cry on and in the end he got the prize, marriage to Carla. Now a year later, there is trouble in paradise as Carla and Wayne realize they still have feelings for one another. Oh, this is despite Wayne being supposedly in love with and engaged to another woman. The ensuing events sound like something out of a 1950s soap opera. The three, Pete, Wayne and Carla begin a game of cat and mouse, carrying out acts of betrayal, revenge, lies, and harboring secrets; repeating the madness over and over again, going in circles like a merry-go-round, one foolish action after another. The end result was therefore, though predictable, a relief--this mess needed to end.

This novel had a lot of drama for drama's sake with three mid-thirties, educated individuals acting irresponsibly without thought or care to other people's feelings as if they were adolescents. This reviewer was turned off by the actions of these self-absorbed characters with their implausible antics and could care less about any of them or their angst. Yet, there was something compelling me to keep turning the pages as this was a quick read with short chapters ending in suspense and I wanted to know what was going to happen next. However, it is my wish Johnson will return to his roots and give fans of his earlier novels a more gratifying story of which he is more than capable.

Dera Williams
APOOO BookClub
www.apooo.org

Coming into this novel, I was a bit skeptical about the story line. Girl meets Boy. Boy cheats on girl. Boy's best friend tells Girl. Girl ends up marrying Boy's best friend. Boy still has feelings for Girl, but is dating another woman. Boy's best friend feels slighted by the constant absences of Girl, who is secretly seeing Boy again. Boy's best friend has an affair with another woman. Boy's best friend can't deal with the guilt and confesses his sins to Girl. Girl is outraged and wants revenge against Boy's best friend. Girl demands to have her own sexual escapade with another man. Boy's best friend agrees. Confused yet? Hasn't this been done before? Does the book world really need another take on this subject? Well, RM took a winding road less traveled to serve you an interesting read with his seventh novel, Do You Take This Woman? Let's drive right in.

The Pros
I love a book that can head right into the action without wasting any of my precious time. RM succeeded with bringing the drama right from page one. I was immediately pulled into the relationship of Carla and her desperate husband Pete. I loved the how RM wrote his male characters in this book. He treated the relationship of these two best friends, Pete and Wayne; with such intensity that it was sometimes hard to believe that they really were friends. Lastly, we all know cheating isn't glamorous and RM gave me a real sense of the confusion and pain that is brought on by an affair.

The Cons
Quite simply, all the rewinding and fast forwarding of the character flashbacks had my head spinning like a busted cassette tape. It was already hard enough to keep up with who's was in love with who now, but with all the recaps that RM threw in, I constantly had to reread important plot points just to make sure I had the story right. Maybe I'm just slow, but I couldn't stand how the book threw me around and naturally I had to fight back with a few skim-through on a couple pages.

What RM Johnson's novel did to me just wasn't right. I hated the fact that I was up late at night wanting to see what the next chapter held. I hated how I wanted so much for Carla to give up on this wish of sleeping with another man, yet I sympathized with her need for revenge. In fact, I've been there before as a girlfriend scorned by love, but as a wife, I totally disagree with how Carla handled her pain.

In the end, RM Johnson takes you on an overwhelmingly emotional journey that gets right to the center of the question, Do You Take This Woman? The answer brings a shocking finale, for which I doubt you'll ever see coming around the bend.

In RM Johnson's newest book, DO YOU TAKE THIS WOMAN?, a couple's marriage and the friendship of two childhood friends is put to the test. Pete and Wayne, best friends and "brothers", first meet Carla while hanging out in a bar one night. Carla dates both men; first Pete for a short period of time, and then Wayne, to whom she actually becomes engaged. However, she eventually marries Pete after Wayne commits an unforgivable act.

In the opening scenes of the book, Pete and Carla have only been married for approximately one year, but Carla has already begun to neglect him and to direct her attention to Wayne. Carla is happy to enjoy Wayne's platonic company, but when he begins to press her for "more", Carla breaks things off with Wayne, and recommits herself to Pete and to their marriage. Unfortunately for Carla, her recommitment is too little, too late. By this time, Pete has also committed an unforgivable act. When Pete confesses his transgression to Carla, she gives him the ultimate ultimatum: allow her to have a one-night stand, after which they work things out; or, don't agree for her to have a one-night stand and the marriage ends now. What results from this ultimatum, can be summed up in one word: chaos.

DO YOU TAKE THIS WOMAN? has all of the right ingredients to be a great book, but it falls slightly short of its potential. As the book progresses, the characters seem to spiral further and further out of control and their actions become more and more unrealistic. The climax of the book is surprising and very unbelievable. DO YOU TAKE THIS WOMAN? is a quick read and will definitely hold your attention until it ends. However, this book is not as good as RM Johnson's previous works, which may cause fans to be somewhat disappointed.

Reviewed by Hope Denise Murphy
for The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

I have always been a great fan of RM Johnson but I really struggled with this book. It took me quite a while to get through this one. What happened? I hope his next book will reveal the "old" RM Johnson talent as in his previous titles

man...or lack of a good story line! While I usually don't rate a book on amazon if I feel its below a three star, but I felt compelled to rate this one a one star....actually a minus one star....

I was expecting sooooooooooo much more from RMJohnson....and kept reading hoping that he would redeem this story...up to the last sentence I was hoping...
This novel just didn't make sense and I continued to read because of trust that I have or had for Mr. Johnson and based on his novel...MIllion Dollar Divorce....however this book never lived up to my expectations....i was left with my mouth open from shock!

This novel was about four people....two Doctor's best friends/like brothers...one brother likes the girl...but the other brother always ends up with the girl...same plot in this story...well the brother, who always gets the girls, who got the girl, became engaged to be married, however cheated on her and the other brother told....girl leaves the brother...only to be courted by the other brother and ends up marrying him...(and him and his other brother remains best friends...hell he was the best man at the wedding)..to her dismay this brother cheats on her...she finds out, he admits it by the way, she can't get pass it...tells him the only way to repair the relationship is if she has an affair..(so they can be even)...she does, ends up her husband arranges it, with ....yeah you guessed it...his brother....whom did I mention was also engaged....well long story short...the wife and brother wants to rekindle things....and the husband allows it until he can't take it anymore..fights the brother...has him arrested and finally kills him during a fight...wife is pregnant by who knows which one...and then husband ...who by the way was arrested for every bit of twenty minutes and then released ...no charges...and after all of that he leaves his wife..this book lacks substance....and I am soooooo surprised at the author...while I want to read part two of the Million Dollar Divorce I must read the reviews first...this author has lost my trust where before if he wrote it I would just pick it up....

Had to tell this story ..... to save someone a few dollars...sorry RMJohnson...but it is what it is....and this book lacks soooo much....very disappointing! Hard to believe and internalize the plot...not authentic at all...cause in the real world things just don't happen like they did in this book...too far fetched!

I love R.M. Johnson but this book was not real at all. I really hopes he improves.

When I bought this book I really didn't read it right away. I had this book for a few months before I chose to read it and once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. It was so good, filled with lots of juiciness. I have to admit that I dont think that the woman in this story was right for playing the game with both men. I mean sometimes you can't control who you fall in love with but you can learn to keep your distance or be honest about what you are feeling. I really can't say much or put into words on how I felt about this book, but it was a wonderful read. It was one of my first reads by RM Johnson and I have to say I will be putting him on the shelf of my favorite authors. I have read this one and I went on to read "The Million Dollar Divorce" which is another book I had for a long time that I didn't rush to read but....(on to million dollar divorce review...)

First let me say I literally just finished this book. And it had me in tears towards the end.

Pete briefly dated Carla first, but she lost interest. Then she took up with his best friend, Wayne. When wayne cheated on her, Pete used that as an opportunity to get her back. They married. And then a bunch of stupid decisions are made by all three of them.
Which leads Pete to blinding rage that they will all live, or not live to regret.

I felt Pete was very stupid, and needed to grow a pair. But Carla and Wayne were just some cold-hearted bastards! I still felt sad for Wayne in the end though. But they just didn't give a damn how their actions affected anybody, let alone their husband and so-called best friend. Jesus! The drama never ended.

You will not be disappointed in this book either.

This book was terrible, it was unrealistic and boring. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone with half a brain. It is an insult to a person's intellect.