Review: The Fourth Child

The Fourth Child by C.J. Carmichael

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Re-read in December 2017 = added highlighs and my feelings...
Re-read in March 2015 = Added one more star

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A very well written story that engages the reader from beginning to end.
But I would not take the cheater back, he was a son of a bitch.
And Janice was a bitch who knew the man was married.
He was loving the attention of a younger woman who fed his ego.
While the two had dates and dinners while pretending to work late, he did not remember his wife taking care of her three daughters at home alone.
And he spoke openly in the face of his wife who was in love with another woman and did not even remember her feelings or how his attitude would affect her daughters.
And he admitted that he kissed Janice and she even left a lipstick on the glove compartment of his car. Real evidence of the cheating left by Janice for his wife to find out.
Saying that he did not have sex with Janice did not convince me, I got the impression that something more intimate happened between them.

Already the place had the hollow, muted atmosphere he associated with afterhours and weekends.
And Janice.

Occasional lunches became more frequent; open meetings evolved into secret rendezvous. At what point had he known he was falling in love? Kirk still wasn't sure. But he did know the time had come to do something about it. Last week at dinner, Janice had told him she wanted more. He couldn't pretend not to understand what she meant.

"What about here, Kirk? What about now? The place is deserted. I've locked the door."

He groaned. God, he couldn't believe it. She was offering him his ultimate fantasy. How many nights had he lain awake thinking of something just like this? Now he swallowed, his gaze automatically settling on the hint of cleavage between the parted layers of silky blouse.

"If I kiss you, this time I won't be able to stop there."

"But that's okay," Janice said, leaning in toward him. "That's what I've been trying to tell you."

"The thing is, Claire, I've fallen in love with someone else."

Kirk always worked long hours, and lately they'd been even longer than usual. Had there been other signs she'd missed? They'd been making love less frequently. And saying I love you even less.

Regardless of whether Kirk had slept with Janice, he'd broken his wedding vow to Claire. He was in love with the other woman, and how could Claire compete? She was ten years older, overweight— and pregnant on top of everything!

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Review: Never Second Best

Never Second Best by Kenna Shaw Reed

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

They were perfect together, but he loved someone else.
She loved him too much and he was the model for her future relationships, but she could never forget him and resigned herself to being a friend.
He stayed with her only until the other woman decided to choose him. Then he moved his life with this woman and put her on the shelf of friendship.
He married another woman and built a family with her.
He was blinded by love for his wife and thought she was perfect, and he was doing his best to have a perfect life and giving her everything she wanted. He did everything for her to be happy. But he was her second choice.
But his wife left him for someone else and left him with the children.
Now he needs her again.
Will she be his second choice again?
I found the story average, nothing much.

“Once a cheater, always a cheater,” his mate, Joe, recently said over beers. “She cheated on her girlfriend with you, now she’s gone back to her.”

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He still loved her too much to hate her, and at any time before today, if she had turned around and come back home … Despite what his friends and family would say, he would have welcomed her back with no questions.

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Gorgeous, sweet Lucy. Their friendship became more, only to stall when he knew he was not ready to get over his teenage love.

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An honorable woman who respected his marriage and didn’t want to intrude when it fell apart.
Lucy sent him a single text after Grace left, “I’m sorry.”

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“I need to know how to make sure they know I love them and would never leave them, that they are safe with me and I need to know how to convince community services that Matt should stay with us.”

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The moment she saw Seth’s reaction when Grace arrived answered why it never worked out between them. Lucy never stood a chance while ever he still felt that way about another woman.

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“Part of you wants to replace the ex-Mrs Greenwood and help Seth by being the new woman in his life. I mean it, Lucy. You have the most beautiful heart of anyone I know and deserve more than to be someone’s consolation prize.”

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He was a good man, the best husband and father he could possibly be, how could she do this, he cried.
Finally in the small hours of the morning, he awoke with the ring crushed within his fist. Too soon to put it away, but no longer fit for his left hand. The ring was a little tight on his right hand but would now be the start of him moving on.

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Lucy fell in love with Seth madly and deeply and from that first weekend away, they were inseparable.
For almost two months her first love was also her soulmate. They shared the same morals and values. Wanted the same things out of life and put others before themselves.
She saw all the years ahead of them and believed in all the moments that would make up their lives together.

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Excuses about being too busy at work to see her morphed into the “it’s not you, it’s me.”
Only when she met Grace and saw the way he looked at the other woman, did Lucy realize it wasn’t even Seth that stood between them. He wasn’t free to fall in love with her.
She had fallen in love with a man already emotionally and deeply committed to someone else.

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“I accepted a long time ago how you felt about her and about me. You could say, you put me in my place and I would never overstep. Especially not with the kids.”

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“You loved her so much, I don’t know how she could do this to you.”

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“She never loved me as much as I adored her, worshipped the ground she walked on.”

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“No, it’s true. You and I never stood a chance because in the back of my mind I was waiting for her to come back. When she did, I was so grateful she finally chose me, that I didn’t want to see all the signs. It took a while but I had to accept that she settled for me and once she got me out of her system, it was time to move on.”

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“I’m not worried about you, she deserves better than to be your rebound.”

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“Lucy, what will it take for you to trust me and give us another go?”
“This,” she massaged the wedding ring still on his right hand, “Isn’t making me feel like you’ve moved on.”

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He didn’t need to see the ring, but wasn’t ready to throw it away, yet.

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