Title: Tear You Apart by Megan Hart
Publisher: Harlequin
Imprint: Mira
Genre: Contemporary, Erotica
Length: 299 pages
Book Rating: B+
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley
Summary:
Their passion will consume everything—and everyone— in its path….
I’m on a train.
I don’t know which stop I got on at; I only know the train is going fast and the world outside becomes a blur. I should get off, but I don’t. The universe is playing a cosmic joke on me. Here I had my life—a good life with everything a woman could want—and suddenly, there is something more I didn’t know I could have. A chance for me to be satisfied and content and maybe even on occasion deliriously, amazingly, exuberantly fulfilled.
So this is where I am, on a train that’s out of control, and I am not just a passenger. I’m the one shoveling the furnace full of coal to keep it going fast and faster.
If I could make myself believe it all happened by chance and I couldn’t help it, that I’ve been swept away, that it’s not my fault, that it’s fate…would that be easier? The truth is, I didn’t know I was looking for this until I found Will, but I must’ve been, all this time. And now it is not random, it is not fate, it is not being swept away.
This is my choice. And I don’t know how to stop.
Or even if I want to.
The Review:
If you have ever read a novel written by Megan Hart then you know her books are raw, gritty and about as real as life gets. Her latest release, Tear You Apart, is no exception. This unflinchingly honest portrayal of a long term marriage withering under the weight of complacency and neglect is intense, emotional and quite heartbreaking.
Elisabeth Amblin is wife and a mother whose life is about to undergo an unexpected and dramatic change. Her children are grown and about to graduate from college and while her marriage is not perfect, she is content. All of that changes when she meets Will, an artist at the gallery where she works. Minor irritants and her husband’s neglectful treatment become major issues as Elisabeth’s disillusionment and dissatisfaction with her marriage culminate in a fateful decision that will take her to new heights but also plunge her into deep despair.
Tear You Apart takes a hard and sometimes harsh look at long term marriages. Elisabeth’s marriage has been strained for a long time but she has grown so used to her husband’s treatment of her that she continues to drift along. For much of the novel, Elisabeth is ambivalent and indecisive over the future of her marriage. She wants to do what is right for her family, but doing so would be wrong for her. No matter what choice Elisabeth finally makes, someone is going to get hurt.
If you are looking for a romance with a traditional happily ever after, you are probably not going to find it in Tear You Apart. What you will find is a love story with realistic characters that are flawed and sometimes make morally questionable decisions. You will find a passion that burns so hot it is impossible not to give in to it. You will probably not agree with Elisabeth’s choices, but ultimately, she ends up right where she needs to be.
Another gut-wrenching, emotion-filled, thought-provoking and highly erotic novel from Megan Hart that I highly recommend.
