Reviewer: Lori Graham
Title: The Married Mistress
Author: Kate Walker
Publisher: Harlequin Presents
ISBN: 0-373-82034-8
Release Date: May 2006 in the U.S. (originally 2003 in the UK)
Genre/Sub-genre: Contemporary Series Romance
Year/Setting: Current
Overall Rating: 4.25
Sexual Content Rating: Sexual
Language (Profanity) Content Rating: None
Violent Content Rating: None
Kate's Website:
www.kate-walker.com
Sarah walked into her home thinking her life is going okay – not great mind you but okay. She is currently performing a job she really enjoys at an art gallery, has a great home, and a few friends. She has even started recently dating again and thinks there may be some hope with Jason. She had even felt good enough to ask him to stay at her home this fateful day to accept a delivery for her. Upon walking in, however, she discovers Jason had a different delivery in mind – namely a shapely female – since he thought he had more time.
As if discovering these two in her room, in her bed, wasn’t enough, her humiliation was also viewed by none other than her husband. Damon was supposed to be at his home in Greece but had returned to work through some issues with Sarah. Since it was legally his house, it never occurred to him to "clear" his arrival with her and upon entering and seeing what was happening, he felt the best advantage was to wait in the sidelines hidden until a better time.
That is until Jason started getting the better of Sarah and Damon felt she needed help. His appearance nearly stopped Sarah’s heart – for multiple reasons.
Sarah and Damon had met the year before and enjoyed several months of some of the happiest times in Sarah’s life. Then things came raveling apart and she ran. The reasons never really got worked out between them and Damon knew it was time. Sarah had hoped that since they had married in secret that they could just quietly divorce in secret. While Damon wasn’t arguing with her, he did want some issues resolved.
The episode with Jason, however, complicated things. Damon was a wealthy Greek felt to be a bit of a playboy. So, him being in town and in a house with a new female, was a big story – one Jason knew would hit the mark. The paparazzi, however, helped Damon’s plan to get to the bottom of things. Them hanging around created a situation that Sarah could not run from.
The Married Mistress is on many levels actually quite humorous. By that I don’t mean this story is a comedy but Kate Walker illustrates how we often create situations that are worse than the actual situation could have ever been by trying to keep things "secret". Also she paints a picture quite adeptly and creatively as to how that word "assume" makes things even worse. You would think after all this time human kind would learn that lesson. Sarah, however, assumed information she had been given and appearances of some situations she stumbled upon to be what her mind created and assumed it to be true. I love how Kate worked through these situations and did it in such a way to not bring either Sarah or Damon down but brought them up together thereby making them stronger. I particularly liked the human emotions displayed through the development of the character’s strengths but even more so their human weaknesses.
All in all, Kate definitely shouldn’t keep her writing "secret" because with characters like this her romantic notions will only continue to rise.
Lori
Question or comment regarding the review or the book? Click here and let Lori know.
Top
Reviews
Featured Reviews
Archived Reviews