"Love And Other Natural Disasters" Review

The Hachette Group provided me with a copy of "Love And Other Natural Disasters" by Holly Shumas to review.

Eve is eight months pregnant and in the middle of a Thanksgiving celebration when she discovers that her husband Jonathan has developed an intimate relationship with a woman over the past year. Jonathon asserts his innocence (an affair involves physical intimacy, and he didn't have any), while Eve feels deeply betrayed by the emotional connection he shared with someone else. What Jon has done seems so terrifyingly out of character that Eve finds herself questioning her entire reality. Did she ever really know Jon at all? Was their happiness together a lie? Is emotional intimacy more forgivable than sexual intimacy? And can their marriage survive?

I've never had to deal with any sort of affair in my marriage, so I have no personal insight to add to this review. I imagine it would be a devastating thing to muddle through...and would be a very painful and depressing time in a marriage. If that's true, then this book hit the nail on the head. Because it's depressing! On one hand that's good, because it's true to life and Ms. Shumas has succeeded in writing a realistic portrayal of emotional affairs in marriage. On the other hand, not everyone is down for reading depressing books.

I struggled to get into this book because I just didn't like the main characters. I found them both whiny and stagnant. Granted, I've never been in their shoes....I may very well be whiny and stagnant too if faced with an emotional affair. But I just kept wanting to yell, "Get on with it! Make a decision already! Do something other than mope and whine and complain!". Again, you could view this as either an accurate portrayal of emotional affairs.....or just annoying characters. Depends on what you're looking for out of this book.

There were numerous instances of foul language peppered throughout the book, and one or two explicit sex scenes. I really didn't find that they added anything to the storyline...in fact, the one major sex scene just made me mad. Without giving anything away, I found it to be very hypocritical and in bad taste.

Bottom line? If you're looking for a light, chick lit type book....skip this one. If you're looking for a book that explores the realities of emotional affairs....pick this one up. You can read an excerpt by clicking below.