Customer Reviews

The Marriage War

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This is beyond a doubt the worst romance I have ever read. The "heroine" is given an anonymous tip that her husband is having an affair. Knowing that there has been some distance between them ever since the birth of their youngest daughter, she sets her sights on winning him back. He is not a man worth fighting for. The reason they have grown apart is that he is jealous of the attention she gives to their new daughter. Despite their having had other children, he seems to have no idea that babies do, in fact, need near-constant care. The protagonist eventually confronts him about his affair, and he admits that he has been seeing this woman, but they have not slept together - there has been kissing, fondling, and Lord knows what else, but when they were in bed together he stopped just short of penetration. This is apparently supposed to make it a Bill Clintonesque non-affair, and therefore to be overlooked. The "hero" is an adulterer, a terrible father, and (even apart from the affair) a terrible husband. The bottom line is that this is an awful book and not at all romantic. The only use I can see for it is in a college literature and psychoanalysis class, where the students could discuss why some women are fatally attracted to bad men. It pained me to give this novel a whole star, but sadly there are no lesser options.

Romance novels should take you away from stuff like the trash in this book. The man blames his wife for his own perfidy and she wants him back. He can buy designer suits to make him look good but complains when his wife wears a four-year old outfit! His is a horrible husband and a worse father-cold,cold,cold. All he could think about was where he could put his private part. He may have stopped the affair but he wouldn't have if his wife hadn't found out. And, yes, Virginia, it was an affair. Men who think their whores(mistresses)should get better treatment than their wives need to be re-educated!
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Sancha gets a letter stating that her husband his having an affair with is personal assistant. She doesn't know whether to believe it or not. However there are signs: Mark has been staying after work a lot, they sleep in twin beds, Sancha is worn out from taking care of their three children so she isn't supplying him with enough for him to be content, and he feels like she doesn't love him or care. Why isn't he helping with his children? Why does he seem so cold towards the kids? Why did he agree to the separate beds? Why does Sancha say that Mark isn't a pushover yet he let things get like this instead of saying speaking up?

Mark never apologizes to Sancha. He asks for forgiveness though. He seems more concerned about the other woman a 23 year old woman at that. The OW is very manipulative and he continually defends this woman to his wife. He was a POW! Mark thinks he may love the OW yet he gives her up pretty quickly. He says that he didn't complete any act with the OW but really why are we supposed to believe him? He has already lied once about his whereabouts and he was more than willing to break his marriage vows. He would have gone all the way if Sancha hadn't found out about the affair though. Mark didn't want to discuss the OW with Sancha but his wife didn't seem to rate that same respect. Sancha believes that the OW loves Mark yet it seems that once the OW makes her threat she moves on pretty quickly. I think this was an excellent set up to show how off balance the OW really was and truly make Mark regret some of his actions, but the author didn't pursue it.

The OW told Sancha some things that Mark had said to her. He says not to believe them that she is just trying to divide them. Why should Sancha believe her husband? He has lied before. Mark blames himself for hurting the OW and blames his wife for him straying. He never blames the OW for her part in the whole fiasco. An example of Mark's idiocy: He tells Sancha to set up a lunch date for one o'clock then leaves to go and break it off with the OW. Mark returns later than one o'clock. He apologizes for being late then he has the gall to ask if she set up a lunch date. Yeah for one o'clock, moron, and the restaurant called at half past one to cancel. What was Mark's problem? He didn't seem to respect his wife, or care about his children, let alone love any of them.

Mark didn't seem to emotionally support his wife and then he got angry when she sought that emotional support from others. For instance, Mark was very upset that Sancha shared things with others about him. He seemed more concerned with people talking about what he was doing than the fact that he was actually doing it. I can deal with the cheating in books but it really is the author's job to redeem the H and if they can't well then it is as you say a wall-banger! Sure Mark asked for forgiveness but he seemed more broken up about the OW and her feelings being hurt. He didn't even know her that long! He was married to his wife for YEARS and he really didn't seem that broken up about hurting her. I think it was a definite miss on redeeming the H. It's one thing for him to hurt his wife the way he did but his own children! He didn't seem to ever spend any time with the children and it appeared that Mark would have been just fine with Flora disappearing.

Harried mother of 3 (all under age 7) is shocked at receiving anonymous letter informing her about husband cheating on her. She's 1st unsure whether to believe it but, when she sees husband with his arm around Other Woman's waist, she decides to fight for him. Heroine realizes that she hasn't been there for hero in the last 2 yrs since before their handful 2-yr-old was born. When confronted, hero confessed to "almost" being in love with OW but not having had sex with her. He blames heroine for neglecting his needs b/c of her focus on taking care of their young kids, while OW provided the attention he's needed. Although heroine makes it clear that she wants to stay married, she has difficulty jumping back in the sack with hero b/c she still feels hurt & unsure about his feelings for OW and hero sees her resistance as another instance of her neglecting his needs. With some time together without the kids & OW starts acting obsessive, hero is more amenable to improving their marriage.

This Lamb book was definitely emotionally involving. I'm not a fan of cheating books but the way this story unfolded was riveting. The hero was such an immature, selfish & deceitful jerk (and his role as parent is a whole other matter) & the heroine a codependent doormat. It was like watching 2 cars you know are about to collide. I. Could. Not. Look. Away. I was astounded & disgusted that heroine would own the blame for their marriage failing & his cheating & lying to her. And for her to get aroused by seeing him naked, right after being so anguished the whole night at the thought that he was with the OW before he came home...Not sexy at all. Despite that & the fact that hero only seems physically attracted to heroine when she's more dressed up, Lamb still made their sexual chemistry seem hot. I wish that OW wasn't portrayed as a crazy villain towards the 2nd half. It would have made hero's choice more challenging & enlightening about their future.

Recommended if you can stand the emotional cheating & blame game.

From back cover: Sancha's first instinct was to burn the anonymous letter. Its malicious message couldn't be true: 'Do you know where your husband will be tonight? Do you know who he'll be with?' Sancha adored Mark now as much as when they were first married, even though family life meant that they were no longer so close. She'd never dreamed that her tough, handsome husband would fall into the arms of another woman! The battle was on-though when Sancha confronted Mark, she discovered the physical attraction between them was as strong as ever. But she wouldn't let herself be seduced by him....Not yet!

Wow, what an emotional read. If you want a roller coaster story this is it. The hero is not your typical Harlequin Presents hero. He takes it to the very line of being unfaithful to his wife. There is no misunderstandings here, he intended to have an affair but stops just short of the physical act because he is still unsure if he wants his marriage to be over. This hero is probably the least likeable. He doesn't help his wife of six years with the care of their three young children. He even resents the time his wife spends with the children and he complains about how undisciplined they are. The heroine has been exhausted for the past 2 years dealing with a difficult pregnancy and active children. Although they share the same bedroom, the hero insisted on twin beds so that when the heroine had to get up at night to see to the children, his sleep wouldn't be disturbed! Yes, you could say that the heroine is at fault also. She fails to see that her husband is feeling ignored and she constantly refuses sex because she is fatigued.She starts to notice that her husband looks at her disgustingly, almost as if he cannot stomach the way she looks and dresses anymore. It's a good thing she received the anonymous letter. It woke her up enough to confront her husband and decide if she wanted to remain married to him. The other woman is a typical one. Young, beautiful, understanding, but also manipulative and sneaky.

Like I mentioned, not the typical hero, but a believable HEA.