Summary:
It was an innocent online flirtation. Until it wasn’t.
Alexandra Hoffman thinks she has it all together. She lives with her work-obsessed husband Jason and their three challenging children in upscale Los Angeles. She never meant to “friend” her old boyfriend, Matt Daniels. She hasn’t seen him in twenty years. But as Alex’s fortieth birthday approaches, she finds herself re-connecting with Matt online—and re-reading her college journal, which details their intense connection and unresolved ending. But Alex’s hands are full with the kids, one of whom she just can’t help, no matter how hard she tries.
Lonely and alienated by the helicopter moms, and from Jason who is never around, Alex’s flirtation quickly moves from on-line to real-world. Alex realizes—too late—that she cannot trust herself. When she meets Matt for dinner, the attraction is undeniable. And when he touches her face, it’s electric. As her life spirals out of control, she clings to her free-spirited life coach, Lark, to make sense of the mess she’s made. But Lark’s advice is clear: Alex must confront her past and find the courage to face her future, even if it means risking everything.
Review:
Whew. This was quite the read. I started this without reading the synopsis, so I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting into. It quickly became clear this was going to be a very emotional, raw, and realistic read. We follow Alex, who is very clearly unhappy to me, even if she can’t understand why she is so unhappy and at first is troubled to admit it. Between her lackluster marriage, three children, and lack of friends besides bestie Laurie, it’s easy to see why Alex isn’t happy-go-lucky. As she meets Matt, I just kind of wanted to yell at her to turn around. Don’t go with him. Don’t keep going back to him. Why risk your marriage, why disrupt your family? But it was also clear Alex and Matt has something so special, and something that can’t be ignored. I don’t want to get into too much more detail because I wasn’t sure what choices she would make and would like you to be surprised as well, but this was a really good read. I couldn’t always understand Alex and her actions at times, like when she was constantly blaming others for her decisions, but also found her very relatable. There are some fairly erotic scenes sprinkled throughout which I thought it would be important to mention, and overall I found this to be a good read. Not an easy read, but still gave me plenty to think about.
