One of the things I’ve always believed about books is that there are different books for different needs and different occasions. That’s one of the reasons I’m always in the middle of a couple books at a time; I don’t want to have to read something that I like, but that I’m really not feeling. The Man I Fell in Love With by Kate Field is light and sweet, a bit sentimental, but overall, the perfect book for a weekend read or a rainy day.
It starts with a moment that changes
the protagonist’s life forever: at a Christmas party, Mary Black sees her husband holding hands with a man she’s never met. After he leaves her to begin his life with his new beau, Mary has to decide whether to continue her life playing it safe or to take risks for love.
Because of the type of book this is, I knew she was going to end up happy with a new love. I don’t even consider this a spoiler because you should know the conventions of a genre and this is the kind of book that pushes a “love conquers all” agenda. The only thing you didn’t really know as a reader was whether she was actually going to end up in love with a safe choice—basically a carbon copy of the ex—or the more dangerous choice.
This book was pretty charming. The romantic scenes were very sweet and everything gave you that kind of warm feeling in the pit of your stomach. There wasn’t much in the way of real drama or anxiety. The protagonist has a pretty good life and even after her husband leaves she is able to maintain the same lifestyle, not having to give up travel or the like. Still, as a character, Mary is very frustrating. She never seems to understand other people‘s intentions and she trusts the wrong people all the time. In all honesty, she’s just a bad judge of character and sometimes it’s a little hard to read. It’s the characters that are the only thing I would change about this book: it’s not that they’re poorly developed characters or even that they are unlikable. All in all they’re actually pretty well developed and for the most part felt like they were authentic. There were two exceptions: Mary‘s mother, I completely overbearing shrew, and her daughter Who is basically just a caricature of a teenage girl. Any time one of those two were in a scene, I was annoyed and just couldn’t really connect to what was happening.
The best part about this book was how real Mary’s insecurities felt. After having kids, after your body changes, there are things that make A woman feel terribly self-conscious and I think Kate Field did a really nice job of depicting those feelings. I would recommend this book. There’s a lot of nice family interactions and romance and even a slight literary Mystery for those that don’t love the romance angle. It’s a quick read, very entertaining, and a good way to pass a lazy weekend day or maybe a beach trip.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book I was given in exchange for a fair and honest review.
4/5
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