Brief

Kate is in her mid-40s and dissatisfied with life--separated from her husband and tired of acting as the perfect stay-at-home mother, she ventures out into the world to find herself. Along the way she discovers true passion through a love affair with a charming younger man, but his increasingly suspicious behavior drives them to the brink as she discovers his multiple affairs. Suddenly Kate finds herself in the midst of a deadly love triangle, struggling to extricate herself from the broken promise of a great love and its messy aftermath.

What We Liked

- Kate is a strong, relatable protagonist, there every step of the way through first-person narration to guide us into the intimacies of her romances;
- A whirlwind romance, this story is a tragic drama for a modern age, lurid details building to a dramatic finish and a shocking twist set up from the very first page;
- The story is an in-depth peek into infidelity not only as a driving force, but the ways in which infidelity affects all parties involved, delving into the ways it affects other interpersonal relationships and the psychology of the person cheated on;
- Though full of passion and sultry details sure to pique the interest of its audience, the story also heavily features the mental state of Kate as the lead, and that, along with her maturity, gives the story depth. This story also manages to center an eventual twist without sacrificing the rest of the narrative--instead, it ties the ending to the beginning neatly, bringing the story full circle in one digestible arc;
- This story leaves several open-ended points in which to expand--the abundance of detail provided through the first-person narration could easily stretch the story into a series without sacrificing the overall progression of the eventual twist and each character's development. The consistency of the drama would have its audience hooked early on, coming back week to week to see how the narrative develops and where life takes Kate.
- Kate is a strong, independent woman in her 40s who struggles to overcome her vulnerabilities and better herself, both relatable and realistic;
- A female-led and narrated drama that takes a unique look at infidelity and the way it affects not only a person's life, but changes their very psychology;
- The story features a twist with origins established from the first page, leaving the audience hooked and guessing until the very last chapter;
- A very contemporary drama that explores infidelity through the lens of a uniquely modern world--highlights.

Synopsis

Kate attends a funeral, the odd man out, and begins to reminisce about her past--the abusive presence of men in her life at a young age, the way she met and married Greg, a handsome doctor, as she hustled in the restaurant business in her 20s, giving all of it up to play wife and mother. Kate details the deterioration of their marriage as Greg grows more distant, culminating in her discovery in his affair; they agree to separate romantically but live together with their children, Kate managing the household. Frustrated and aimless, she decides to return to school for pharmacology, and decides to seek out sexual fulfillment. Kate finds that fulfillment with Matt, a customer at her pharmacy, until she realizes a month into the relationship that all he wants from her is sex. Kate meets up with her best friend Ava at a nice bar soon after breaking it off with Matt, and it's there that she meets Ryan, a friend of Ava's ex.

Though Ryan isn't much of a looker, Kate finds him charming and oddly magnetic upon first meeting him. Kate gets his number and, after a few dates, Kate finds herself falling for him, struck by his prowess in the bedroom. Kate details the months that follow--paying for their stays in a nearby hotel and weekend getaways, dismissing his stretches of absences as being busy with work or friends, quitting her job to devote more time to their relationship. Though Ryan asks her for exclusivity, he also fails to invite her to a family-centered work retreat, feeding her anxiety. Still, the relationship continues for over a year, until Kate finally gets Ryan to agree to present themselves as a couple at her sister-in-law's 40th birthday in Bali. Once they arrive on their getaway, Kate is perturbed by LinkedIn notifications indicating that someone named Emily has been stalking her page--and then, a few days later, she receives texts from Emily confirming her worst fear: Ryan has been cheating on her.

Kate confirms the details: that the affair has been going on for months, that Ryan's absences were spent down the street at Emily's house, that there were multiple other women he slept with at the time. Kate kicks Ryan out of the hotel room but in her anguish takes him back, allowing his groveling to move her. Though they block Emily online, she manages to get ahold of Ryan's mother to sully her image of Kate as well as email Ryan directly, and once back in Australia Kate decides to meet her. While initially still with Ryan, Kate begins to panic once she realizes she is pregnant and, upon finding his phone one morning, that he is still talking to--and sleeping with--Emily. She takes his phone and contacts Emily, and the two of them enact their own revenge--they go to his office and deface his office door, go get drunk, and end up at Emily's, and in a moment of profound inebriation, have sex and send Ryan the pictures to make him jealous.

Clearer-headed, Kate leaves Ryan and gets an abortion, but in her ensuing depression she finally accepts a call from him, and in the ensuing argument he comes to her house and escalates it into a physical altercation. When he returns to apologize, Kate breaks down and lets him back in--only to find out he is still sleeping with Emily. Kate decides she needs a change and moves into the family beach house. She realizes she has been a terrible mother while with him, and falls into a deeper depression--trying drugs, dating a man she doesn't like. Months go by before she is contacted by Ryan again, and out of curiosity she goes to visit him, but he drugs and rapes her when he finds out she has dated since their relationship. She finds out that he is engaged to a woman named Sophie, and contacts Emily with the news before cutting off contact entirely. By the end we realize Kate is at Emily's funeral--Emily had still been with Ryan, unaware he was engaged, and showed up at the ceremony, shooting him and then killing herself.

About The Author

Author Karen Anderson is an Australian author based in Brisbane.