Love in Mid Air [Hardcover]

Kim Wright (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 29, 2010

A chance encounter with a stranger on an airplane sends Elyse Bearden into an emotional tailspin. Suddenly Elyse is willing to risk everything: her safe but stale marriage, her seemingly perfect life in an affluent Southern suburb, and her position in the community. She finds herself cutting through all the instincts that say "no" and instead lets "yes" happen. As Elyse embarks on a risky affair, her longtime friend Kelly and the other women in their book club begin to question their own decisions about love, sex, marriage, and freedom. There are consequences for Elyse, her family, and her circle of close friends, all of whom have an investment in her life continuing as normal. But is normal what she really wants after all? In the end it will take an extraordinary leap of faith for Elyse to find--and follow--her own path to happiness.

An intelligent, sexy, absorbing tale and an honest look at modern-day marriage, Love in Mid Air offers the experience of what it's like to change the course of one's own destiny when finding oneself caught in mid air.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Wright hits it out of the park in her debut, an engaging account of a woman contemplating divorce. Despite finally getting her husband, Phil, to attend counseling sessions with her, Elyse Bearden realizes her marriage is dead in the water. Though Phil's a doting father and a decent man, he's also the occasional jerk who snickers at his wife in lingerie and is generally indifferent to her. Elyse already knows she's going to leave her husband when she meets Gerry Kincaid and soon begins an affair that allows her to escape from the crushing banality of her suburban life. Serving as Elyse's foil is her beautiful best friend, Kelly, now married to an older, wealthy man. While the idea of housewives complaining about their husbands over lunch may strike some as a conventional hen-lit trope, Wright conveys friendships and the blasé everyday with authenticity and telling detail, while passages depicting Elyse's inner life are rife with the same wit and insight that infuse the dialogue. Though this story is one that readers may have seen many times before, Wright delivers fresh perspective and sympathetic characters few writers can match. (Mar.)
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From Booklist

Contentedly married Elyse is returning to her pleasant home in North Carolina on a flight from Phoenix when she meets Boston businessman Gerry. They start to talk, exchange numbers, and suddenly Elyse finds herself undergoing a sea change. In no time, she’s engaged in a dangerous affair with Gerry, jetting off to various cities, receiving mysterious packages, and taking secretive phone calls, risking her marriage, her idyllic life as a housewife in suburbia, and the position she holds at her local church. Elyse’s longtime friend Kelly is perplexed and concerned as Elyse spirals deeper into the affair with the stranger. As Elyse questions what she wants out of life, she must weigh the risk of what will happen if, or when, her husband finds out about Gerry. An intense, thoughtful novel about love and friendship, or the lack thereof, in a marriage. --Hilary Hatton

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; 1 edition (March 29, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446540447
• ISBN-13: 978-0446540445
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.2 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #713,126 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You've never heard it like this!, March 28, 2010

By 

Amy Grigg - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Love in Mid Air (Hardcover)

Really, how could it be possible to tell the story of bored housewives with troubled marriages in a new way? Kim Wright astonishes with honesty and wit. She says so many things that we've all thought and could never find the words to express. A stirring read that will keep you talking and ruminating for days. Bravo!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love in Mid Air, January 14, 2011

By 

D. Ferrier "Dejay" (oklahoma) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Love in Mid Air (Hardcover)

I ordered the book to read with some friends thinking it was about marriage. I later realized it was about a woman who has an affair. I hesitated because I have worked long and hard to have a good marriage and didn't think I needed to be sitting around complaining about my husband and marriage.

It turned out to be great therapy and a push to take my marriage to the next level. The discussions we had around this book and the issues it raises only strengthened my convictions about marriage and what it takes to make it work.

Elyse and her friends struggle to find out who they really are. Did they marry for love or to find a "life" that they wanted?

"What would happen if a woman was completely herself within a marriage?"

That is an excellent question and one that requires that she actually KNOWS exactly who she is.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful debut novel!, May 16, 2010

By 

Elizabeth A. Fenton "writergal" (LA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Love in Mid Air (Hardcover)

Marriage is complicated. And Kim Wright writes about it beautifully in her debut novel LOVE IN MID AIR. Elyse Bearden's marriage is already in trouble when she meets a handsome stranger on her flight home from Arizona. Her husband, a doting father to their young daughter but inattentive husband, has been communicating with her via post-it not for far too long and seems content with having sex in the kiss-less "X" position once a week. So it's not surprising when she starts a torrid affair with the man she met in row 29 to try to recapture the excitement she feels is sorely missing from her marriage and her life in general.

As some of her closest friends begin to realize that their seemingly harmless weekly banter about unhappy marriages has gone to a whole new level for Elyse, it stirs up emotions in each one of them that they'd rather not deal with. Because it's one thing to be unhappy, but it's a whole other thing to actually do something about it. Wright does a beautiful job questioning whether a marriage can only be successful if both parties embrace mediocrity and asks what truly defines happiness-and do parents even have a right to try to find it?

While the premise of LOVE IN MID AIR may sound familiar, what makes it so compelling is Wright's subtle yet intense writing, which may make the reader both uncomfortable and intrigued at the same time. Wright navigates Elyse's everyday life and relationships with her church book club with such authenticity that you'll be thinking about these characters long after you've finished. A must read for any wife or mother, Wright's genius commentary is not to be missed.