Love and Other Natural Disasters

Is emotional cheating just as bad as physical cheating? That's the premise of Holly Shumas's new book Love and Other Natural Disasters.

Eve is celebrating a stereotypical Thanksgiving with her family when her husband excuses himself to take a call. A call from a "friend" who is a little down for the holidays. Only to Eve's utter horror- this friend turns out to not be one of his buddies but a woman with whom her husband had been exchanging e-mails and phones calls with for quite some time. After a little digging she found the relationship was much more serious than she could ever imagine.


Back of the Book: 
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?

My Thoughts:
On the plus side Eve is a fully developed character. We're placed directly in her shoes; eight months pregnant and betrayed by the one person who should be on her side. The person who should be on her side not just when she is feeling emotionally vulnerable but in life in general.

On the downside the husband Jonathan is not a very likable character and not just because of his behavior. I don't find him anything other than whiny and more than a little self-indulgent. One wonders just what Eve ever saw in him at all.

Reading this book is like watching your best friend go through a similar situation. Everything is so real- from Eve's emotions, to her handling of the situation, to the down-ward spiral into behavior she wouldn't normally indulge in and thoughts she wouldn't normally have. You can't help but to root for her the entire way through. Despite's it's depressing topic, this is book you should pick up. Wonderfully written about real characters living real lives.