Love and Other Natural Disasters

Summary: 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. Jonathan 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? -- 5 Spot

I must say, had I just heard the title of Holly Shumas' book, Love and Other Natural Disasters, I might not have wanted to read it. (In a way it reminds me of a self-help type book.) But, given the synopsis, it seemed interesting. Once I started reading it, I didn't want to put it down. I would say within about 24 hours I had finished this book, it was that good!

The main character, Eve discovered that her husband was having an emotional affair with one of his co-workers. Now, this might not have been as bad if she weren't 8 months pregnant. But, given her situation, that made it that much worse. The book is based upon how she goes about dealing with this affair. I have to say, I'd never heard of emotional affairs before, and it made me wonder just how many of these really do occur. I found myself cheering on Eve at times, and others for Jonathan. While I don't want to give away the ending, I must say I was left asking questions.

I really enjoyed the book, and you could tell that the author knew her stuff. After all, she is a marriage and family counselor, and I'm guessing that she's well familiar with situations like these. The writing was just like a friend was telling you the story, so you weren't held back by looking every other word up in the dictionary. (Don't laugh, it's happened before!) If you'd like to find out more about Holly Shumas, you can check out her website.

I want to thank Miriam from Hachette Books for sending a copy to review. I really enjoyed this book, and look forward to reading other books by Holly!

If you would like to see what others thought of the book, check out the links below:

http://www.writeforareader.edublogs.org
http://www.bermudaonion.wordpress.com
http://cafeofdreams.blogspot.com/
http://ablogofbooks.blogspot.com/
http://www.acircleofbooks.blogspot.com
http://athomewithbooks.blogspot.com
http://www.myfriendamysblog.com
http://thetometraveller.blogspot.com/
http://bookingmama.blogspot.com/
http://2kidsandtiredbooks.blogspot.com
http://www.skrishnasbooks.com
http://enroutetolife.blogspot.com/
http://www.anovelmenagerie.com
http://printedpage.us
http://cindysloveofbooks.blogspot.com/
http://luanne-abookwormsworld.blogspot.com/
http://bookopolis.blogspot.com
http://www.bookthoughtsbylisa.blogspot.com
http://exlibrisbb.blogspot.com/
http://jennsbookshelf.blogspot.com/
http://www.marjoleinbookblog.blogspot.com
http://linussblanket.com