Title: The Good Wife by Jane Porter
Brennan Sisters Series Book Three
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley
Genre: Contemporary, Fiction, Romance
Length: 432 pages
Book Rating: B+
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss
Summary:
Is it possible to love someone too much?
Always considered the beauty of the family, the youngest Brennan sister, Sarah, remains deeply in love with her husband of ten years. Boone Walker, a professional baseball player, travels almost year-round while Sarah stays home and cares for their two children. Her love for her husband is bottomless—so much so that her sisters say it will end up hurting her.
Living apart most of the time makes life difficult, especially since Sarah often wonders whether Boone is sharing his bed with other women on the road, even though he swears he’s been true to her since his infidelity three years ago. While she wants to be happy and move forward in her life, Sarah constantly fears that Boone will break his promise. Now with Boone facing yet another career change, tension rises between the two, adding more stress to an already turbulent marriage. Emotionally exhausted, Sarah can’t cope with yet another storm. Now, she must either break free from the past and forgive Boone completely, or leave him behind and start anew . . .
The Review:
Jane Porter’s The Good Wife explores the devastating and lingering effects of infidelity. This third installment of the Brennan Sisters series is youngest sister Sarah’s long awaited story and I eagerly devoured every page.
Married to a professional baseball player, Sarah is still working on forgiving Boone for a short-lived affair three years earlier. Although Boone has sworn it will never happen again, Sarah finds it virtually impossible to trust him while he is on the road. In the wake of her mother’s death and another unexpected family tragedy, Sarah is quickly overwhelmed by Boone’s traveling schedule and her (unfounded) fears that he is once again cheating on her. Late in the story, an angry confrontation and ugly accusations take this passionate couple in a very unexpected direction.
Throughout the Brennan Sisters series, Sarah has been plagued by her unresolved issues with Boone’s infidelity. In an effort to keep the peace with Boone, Sarah keeps her anger and hurt bottled up but following her mother’s death, she becomes obsessed with her fears. Feeling she has lost her identity, Sarah questions her past decisions regarding her relationship with Boone and their marriage. With another career change for Boone, Sarah’s anger becomes unmanageable and she finally explodes. This conflict will either make or break their marriage and Sarah is finally forced to take a long hard look at what she wants for herself and ultimately, her marriage.
Characters from other novels Brennan Sisters series are also revisited in The Good Wife. Meg’s marriage to Robert is on shaky ground months after her affair and a stunning plot twist reveals surprising information. The Brennan family continues to distrust Kit’s love interest, Jude and the sisters’ attitudes toward him are source of friction. Everyone continues to worry about Brianna’s health and she finally reveals the nature of her illness. Brother Tommy’s marriage is still rocky and he stubbornly refuses to listen to his family’s advice.
As with most of Jane Porter’s novels, The Good Wife is a realistic portrayal of life and all the messy emotions that accompany it. The characters are faced with real life problems that do not always have easy answers. The Brennans are close but they also have disagreements and there are tense moments between various family members. However the tight bond shared by the members of this loving family is strong enough to withstand any obstacle that life throws their way.
Another outstanding addition to the Brennan Sisters series that I absolutely love and highly recommend.
Read my reviews of the other novels in the series HERE.
