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The Faithful Wife

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Husband and wife reunited?Coming home to his wife on Christmas Eve to celebrate their third wedding anniversary, Jake Fox found Bella with her boss. Assuming she'd been having an affair while he'd been working out of the country, Jake didn't stay around to find out the truth.One year later, Jake and Bella are tricked into spending Christmas together in a remote cottage. Bella knows she's never stopped loving her husband, but can Jake learn to love--and trust--his wife again?

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

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About the author

Diana Hamilton

325 books74 followers
Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Diana Hamilton was born in a English town. Wanting to be a country child, her imagination came into play at an early age, transforming a neighbor’s tree into a forest, a hole in a stone wall into a gingerbread house, a gas puddle into a fairyland, complete with mountains, lakes and flower meadows. She loathed housework but made to do her share, to lessen the boredom, she told herself stories, in a very loud voice, featuring princesses and flower gardens, discovering that telling herself stories was almost as good as reading them in a book.

She loathed school with an equal passion and got through it by pretending to be somewhere else. Even so she left grammar school with respectable grades... And was sent to art college when she wanted to study to be a vet. This was nowhere as bad as it had seemed because it was there, at age 18, she first saw Peter. He had returned from two years’ active service in Korea to resume his studies, and Diana immediately fell in love with him.

Gaining a degree in advertising copywriting, Diana worked as a copywriter and married Peter. They moved to a remote part of Wales after the birth of their second child, Paul, when their daughter, Rebecca, was three years old. There, Diana enjoyed pony trekking and walking in the mountains; and her third child, Andrew, was born. Itchy feet brought them back to England to the beautiful county of Shropshire four years later and they have been there ever since, gradually restoring the rambling Elizabethan manor that Diana gave her heart to on sight, creating a garden out of a wilderness of nettles, brambles and old bedsteads.

In the mid-'70s Diana took up her pen again to write stories to read to her three children at bedtime. These were never offered for publication but the bug had bitten. Over the next 10 years she combined writing over 30 novels, published by Robert Hale of London, with bringing up her children, gardening and cooking for the restaurant of a local inn—a wonderful excuse to avoid the dreaded housework! In 1987 Diana realized her dearest ambition—the publication of her first Mills & Boon romance, Song in a Strange Land. She had come home. And that feeling persists to this day as, around 30 Harlequin/Mills & Boon romantic novels late, she was still in love with the genre.

Sadly, Diana Hamilton passed away on May 3, 2009, at her home in Shropshire, surrounded by her family. She will be sorely missed by her fans and everyone at Mills & Boon/Harlequin

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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
Profile Image for StMargarets.
3,231 reviews637 followers
August 20, 2017
Second chance story with both the H/h point of views. Hero is very bitter and has turned the heroine into a lying jezebel in his mind in the year they have been apart. Heroine is a nervous wreck and should be in group therapy with Penny Jordan’s heroines.

The H/h sisters have arranged for these two crazy kids to spend Christmas together at a remote cottage. The hero thinks the heroine set it up, and the heroine is angry when he won’t believe her. They get snowed in and have to work out their differences.

Their differences are many and the hero is the main culprit here. He married the model heroine after a six-week courtship. Then he promptly dumps her in his luxury apartment and chases business deals around the world. Heroine puts up with it, but is increasingly miserable.
The split occurred when the hero came home late on his fourth anniversary and found the h in the arms of her manager. He called her all sorts of names and then stormed out. Heroine decided to leave him then and there since she was innocent of any wrong doing (Her manager’s wife was in the kitchen making coffee at the time the hero surprised them. She was hugging her manager because his wife was finally pregnant).

We find out where the hero’s trust issues stem from and why the heroine was such a doormat. The H/h didn’t know basic facts about each other. That makes it interesting for the reader because the H/h aren’t repeating the same info, but it really shows what poor communication the H/h.
The hero realizes he has to change his ways if he’s going to have a marriage, but he doesn’t tell the heroine this. Instead he takes off to the four corners of the earth to cancel and delegate his business deals. Heroine thinks he’s dumped her after having one night of sex at the cottage.

Heroine goes to her manager’s New Year’s Eve party and there the hero finds her hugging the manager yet again. This time, he drags her out (still jealous, but not flouncing) and lets her defend herself. He explains what he’s done about his business. Now they can have a cottage in the country with babies.

There’s a baby epilogue to round out the story.

The hero’s bitterness and the heroine’s angst were nicely intense during the cottage scenes. I also like when it’s the hero’s fault and he has to change. 😊 A solid second chance story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for boogenhagen.
1,993 reviews892 followers
June 12, 2019
The Faithful Wife - Diana Hamilton brings us the last HP heroine sacrifice of 1999 with this little non-merry Yuletide tale.

The h is a former model and the H is workaholic businessman with a serious jealousy problem. The h's family was really poor, so when she lucked in a big time super model contract with a an extremely nice agent, the h was kinda happy - even tho she wasn't a fan of most of her jobs.

Her mum got to stop killing herself by working at menial jobs to barely get by and her sister got an expensive uni education. As being an HP supermodel does, the h met the uber wealthy H, (with massive baggage from his father losing all his money and committing suicide,) and they got themselves lurved up and hitched in record time.

But the H demanded that the h give up her career and patiently wait by the hearth for his return while he was off empire building to soothe his own youthful damage. So the h did as the H asked and then found herself alone most of the time. The marriage started going downhill fast.

When the H was delayed once AGAIN, on Christmas Eve no less, after the h had spent hours and hours tarting up the hearth and herself, she prevailed upon her very good former agent and his wife to come over to her home so she could cry upon their shoulders.

Mostly because the agent and his wife are super nice people and the h was upset that the H couldn't even bother to call and let her know plans had changed and he was running very, very late.

The h sobbed out her heartache and the wife went to make that HP English Soporific, a soothing cup o'tea, while our earnest and kind BFF agent broke the news that his own marriage was on the brink of collapse, but now was saved cause his lovely wife finally got preggers with twins.

The h is happy for her friends and in the act of a supermassive huggy moment in celebration, the H walks into his home to see his wife in the arms of another man. Furthermore, it is a man that the H is SURE has been having designs on his wifey h for a long, long time and probably has been sleeping with her too.

The H does the Classic HP heroine Response Maneuver. He doesn't pass go, he doesn't collect his personal items, he just walks right back out the door and later berates the h as a vile cheater and dumps her sorry hiney.

The h is tired of beating her head against a brick wall and the H wouldn't listen anyways, so she gets a job as a non model with her BFF Agent and tries to get on with a year long mopey moment infused life. Enter the respective little sisters of our H and h.

Through various plotting and planning, they con the H and h into a snow-bound cottage Christmas together and the resulting verbal nastiness and beratement and tart shaming IS NOT PRETTY.

But all that verbal abuse and the barrage of fiery tempers does get the H and h into a major lurve club event.

Now that the H has had some lower pressure relief, he can use his higher brain function again and realizes that he might be just a tad bit obsessed and a whole biased and maybe he should have listened to wife when he walked in on her and the agent.

But once again we have an EPIC COMMUNICATION FAIL on the part of the H. Cause he decides he is staying married and getting back with the h. But he doesn't bother to mention this little tidbit TO the h.

So after they are rescued and back at their individual home hearths, the H goes about dissolving his empire and the h gets to up the mopey moment angst.

She believes she was the victim of a Grand Plan O' Vengeance and Purging Pump and Dump. She figures her life of love with a man is over and proceeds to start online shopping for sackcloth and ashes.

She yells at her little sister too, but lil sis has one more card to play and forces the h to go to her BFF Agent's New Year's Party. The h is in yet another huggy moment when the H walks in to haul his wife back home.

This time the H is jealous as all get out, but he does listen to the h's explanations and the whole truth of the wife being present the whole time is revealed. Since this IS HPlandia and not a Maya Bank Menage Fantasy, the H doesn't ask if they are now all going to be the closest and most intimate of mutual friends in a very sharing way.

Nope, our H claims he believes the h and then admits that even if she did have an affair, it was all his fault anyway. The H further explains about his stock market gambling father and his financial losses and his subsequent suicidal bail out.

He confesses he went overboard on the financial security aspects, as well as his jealousy and now he only wants a house in the country and to lurve it up with the h forevermore as the HEA.

(Well played for the HP role reversal here DH, well played.)

As a cute little epilogue, we get a nice scene of the next year's Christmas tidings. The H and h are happy in their ten bedroom country shack and they have a little bouncy baby in his walker doing his best to destroy the twelve foot Christmas tree. The H is showing off his own domestic kid caring skills as our pregger h is urged to put her feet up.

In a final little tidbit to show the HP Voyager that all is REALLY well with these two, we leave the h resting quietly while wondering if the chainsaw is really the perfect gift for our now Lumberjack at Home H and the H is hoping his riding lawnmower makes a really big hit with the h.

You know it is True Love Forever with a Big Sparkly HEA in HPlandia when matching gardening tools are at the top of Christmas Gift List.

So as the snow falls on this cozy domestic tranquility, we all take a moment to raise a glass of the Captain in toasty cheer to the conclusion of our first 26 years of HPLandia - as we all gear up for the Y2K and the new HP Millennium.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Raffaella.
1,953 reviews307 followers
May 2, 2022
Here we have the reversal of what usually happens in hp.
The heroine is the one suspected to have cheated and the hero is the one who leaves. So there’s a om, with whom the heroine supposedly had an affair and still has one after marrying the hero.
The hero is the usual billionaire and the heroine is a model, they get married but he’s always away somewhere for his business. The heroine gave up her job, but the hero doesn’t want to start a family at once so she’s bored and asks her photographer and friend for a job. The photographer and the heroine are rumored to have had a long affair before the hero and the heroine met.
When the heroine tells the hero she’s going to work again he’s angry because he thinks she’s going to model again and with her former lover.
He becomes cold and distant and even stops having sex with her.
The heroine thinks he’s bored with her, because he’s never home and when, at Christmas Eve, that is also their anniversary, he doesn’t come home, she’s desperate and her friend the photographer calls her to wish her marry Christmas she burst into tears.
The hero comes home eventually and finds her in om’s arms, so he calls her names and leaves.
The heroine doesn’t try to stop him and writes him a note to say their marriage is over.
One year later they are tricked by their sisters to spend some days in a cottage in the mountains where they can talk about their problems and try to solve them.
Actually the hero left the heroine alone for most part of their marriage and never even tried to talk to her, the heroine only wanted a family with children and a husband who was at home, sometimes. She felt deserted and she tried to work again because she was bored, but it wasn’t modeling, it was a managerial job.
She denies to have ever had an affair with om, he was only a friend.
Both have issues, the hero doesn’t trust her but eventually admits that if she cheated she had her reasons.
In the end he will go back to her even if he sees her being cozy with om, he decides to trust her because he loves her and wants a family with her.
The heroine explains that when he found her in their home with om, his wife was in the kitchen making tea and they both were there because she was distraught after the hero failed to come home at their anniversary.
So this is just the opposite of what happens in hp, the heroine is found in a compromising situation and the hero is the one making assumptions (false of course).
I loved that both tried to talk about their issues, and both were celibate during their marriage year apart.
Actually the hero made many mistakes and the poor heroine went to great lengths to show how much she cared during their marriage but after the last time she gave up on them.
He was also prepared to accept her betrayal, admitting he had wronged her in many ways. I’m stupefied.
Nice reading, with some angst and much talk between the characters.
Profile Image for Tia.
Author 10 books141 followers
December 17, 2016
I found the actions of the hero to be really cheap. He never gave her a chance to explain a year ago and then suddenly when she does, the hero is so sorry. What a load of bullshit. This novel only frustrated me.
Profile Image for Fiona Marsden.
Author 37 books147 followers
December 12, 2015
This is a reunion romance. The hero Jake came home late on his third wedding anniversary and found Bella in the arms of her long term friend and boss. He immediately walked away and Bella, already despairing about the state of their marriage, found his lack of trust the final straw and packed up and left.

It is now a year later and Bella's sister and Jake's sister have conspired to get the two of them stranded in a cabin on the eve of their fourth wedding anniversary which occurs on Christmas Eve. Thrust together, the two of them finally have the chance to talk about what went wrong.

Unfortunately, Jake is still angry and mistrustful, believing Bella set up this opportunity for her own devious purposes. There is a lot of hurt on both sides and it takes quite a lot of sorting out and the rebuilding of trust.

The ending is lovely and very satisfying.
Profile Image for Jacqueline J.
3,566 reviews370 followers
April 27, 2011
A short little romance that concerns an estranged couple tricked into spending Christmas together in a snowbound cabin. Mostly it involves neither of them being happy alone. He had neglected her during their marriage, she had become a doormat to please him. He caught her seeminly with another man and accused her of cheating, she left without trying to convince him of her innocence. They worked through all of this with a few more misunderstandings. Because this author tends to make the hero realize the error of his ways, he realizes that even if she had cheated, he had driven her to it and he fixes it so that he can devote himself to her instead of to his business and learns to trust her.

Short and sweet.
Profile Image for Maria.
811 reviews57 followers
December 30, 2018
O carte drăguță, usurica si relaxanta. Povestea este cliseica, dar uneori avem nevoie si de asa ceva. Traducerea în lb romana a titlului nu are nicio treaba cu originalul. Soția infidela in engleza si Iarna împăcării în romana... Intr-adevar are legatura cu povestea ce se intampla in preajma Crăciunului, intr o perioada a zapezii ...dar tot mi se pare nepotrivit.
Bella si Jack sunt despărțiți de un an atunci când surorile lor pun împreună la cale un plan menit să i aduca fata in fata pe cei doi ce refuza sa si rezolve neînțelegerile. Raman izolați intr o cabana la munte dar tot nu reusesc sa discute problemele spinoase ale despărțirii lor. El nu are absolut deloc incredere in ea, orice i ar spune. Este si foarte gelos. Ea il iubeste la nebunie, dar nu stie cum sa l faca sa creada in ea.
Gândurile și dialogurile celor doi sunt absolut normale. Cam asta se intampla intr un cuplu atunci când se lasă loc de interpretări si comunicarea lipseste cu desăvârșire. Povestea este cu final fericit asa ca mi a dat o stare de bine. 4 stele pt ca mi a facut placere sa o citesc...
Profile Image for Kiley.
1,882 reviews46 followers
July 15, 2023
The Faithful Wife was about Jake Fox and Bella Harcourt Fox, his wife, and former supermodel.
Jake and Bella had been married for three years, though it had been in trouble for some time. When he had been in the States on business, she had asked him to try to be home for their third anniversary. When he came home later than she had hoped, it was to find Bella in the arms of her employer. Not waiting around to find out what was going on, Jake walked out after calling her a vulgar name. The next morning when Bella realized he had not returned, she left with only a note saying their marriage was over, and she walked out.
Nearly a year later, believing her to be near a physical breakdown, Bella's sister Evie had convinced her to take a holiday vacation with her. They were going to spend a week in a rented cottage in the Black Mountains in Wales. After arriving and Bella had unloaded the luggage, Evie said she had forgotten some of the supplies for the holiday dinner. She sent Bella into the cottage and told her she would be right back with the food...then left. Unknown to Bella, Jake's sister, Kitty, had talked him into a short holiday vacation as well...at the very same cottage. Jake hadn't wanted to be in England. He didn't want reminders of the previous year, so he planned to have a working holiday in Australia. But when his sister had sounded desperate, he found he couldn't deny her.
Bella, having heard a vehicle pull up outside, believed it was her sister returning. Going to help her sister unload the groceries, she opened the door...and froze, for it wasn't Evie standing there, but Jake...who went ballistic almost immediately, demanded to see his sister and accused Bella of being in cahoots with her in order to trap him in the middle of nowhere. He even said, "Don’t play games with me. I endured them when we lived together. When you walked out on our marriage I no longer had to. I don’t intend to lose that freedom now."
So determined to leave before the snow trapped him, he had intended to take Bella to the nearest hotel and drop her off. When she refused, because she wanted to wait for her sister, he decided to leave her, thinking she had other plans in case the trap fell through. When she chased after him and begged him to call the police to look for her sister, he wasn't so sure. Seeing the fear in her eyes he thought she might be telling the truth, "as she saw it. She wouldn’t involve the police or set an area search in motion simply to save her pride. And if she had a mobile she wouldn’t be asking him to do the phoning." But, when he got into his vehicle, it wouldn't start. Going inside, he told her the car had been vandalized and he was stuck. Bella went to make tea and found a fully stocked refrigerator...and Jake pointed to a very neatly placed note tied to the leg of the turkey that wasn’t supposed to be there. Jake believed Bella was playing ignorant of the note because it was supposed to "exonerate yourself and put me in the picture—just in case I’ve lost the wits I was born with and am still staring into space, wondering why you’re here and Kitty isn’t.". Jake watched as Bella broke down in tears and he wondered whether she had wanted a reconciliation badly enough to arrange such a hair-brained stunt. Rather than drink the tea and brandy that Jake made to calm her, she went to bed. She asked him not to leave without her because of her poor sense of direction. But Jake was determined to know the truth because he still believed she had schemed to trap him..no matter what she said. Waking the next morning to the smell of coffee, she rushed to dress...only to find they were snowed in. With his continued remarks about her having tricked him into seeing her, she determined to try walking to the nearest home.
After chopping wood for the fire, Jake got angrier at Bella, especially as the skies showed more snow on the horizon. He went to confront her, but couldn't find her. When he didn't find her in the cabin, he looked outside and saw tracks leading away from the cottage. He thought, "Attention seeking, that was what this latest crazy stunt was all about...". Half an hour later, he finally found her. The relief he felt forced him to admit he still cared about her and that "if he’d lost her out here his life wouldn’t have been worth living; his future wouldn’t have been worth having".
She tried to apologize for her having left in such weather and causing him to search for her, but he cut her off with a kiss. He then carried her back to the cottage, where they agreed to be civil with one another. At one point, he got her to talk about her past, during which he realized that neither of them had ever just talked with the other.
Hearing the sounds of a tractor, Jake thought he had found his way out of the trap, but instead, he told Bella they weren't leaving, that he wanted to talk things through so they could find a way to put the past behind them and get on with their lives. Bella thought that meant he wanted a divorce. They took a walk, only to have Jake once again accuse her of plotting the trapping of him in the cottage. Furious she walked away and fell into the snow, pulling him down too. Humiliated for falling, she shoved a handful of snow into Jake's face to get him off her...only to have him tickle her in return. Helping her up, he said he didn't know she was so ticklish She said that they’d never been into playing games. His response was, "As I recall, we did...The games we played in bed were mind-blowing..." When she said that wasn't what she meant, he replied, "No? You could have won an Olympic gold, the games you played. You must have had an excellent coach. Just Maclaine? Or were there others?" It took her a moment to realize he was accusing her of cheating. That was when she knew he wouldn't believe anything she said, but she still tried, "Guy has never been my lover...Though there seems little point in telling you. You won’t believe me.". Jake too readily believed all of the gossips he had been told about, and he wasn't going to start believing her now. But when she told him there had only been one man before him "and that was a short-lived disaster...", he asked, "And why was that? Wasn’t he wealthy enough?", though he recalled that his own wealth had meant nothing to her, also the fact that she had returned all of his checks since they had separated. Then he kissed her and they ended up in bed together.
Later that night, they talked more about what went wrong in their marriage. Though at one point, Bella started to realize they weren't reconciling, that they had only had sex because she was “handy”. The next morning, he asked her how her sister had set her up before. She told him Evie had entered her into a modeling contest without her knowing and that was how her modeling career had begun. Jake was floored because he had thought she had always wanted to be a model. It made him question a lot of things. Then he once again accused her of sleeping with her boss. But then he wanted to win her back, to be to her all that he believed her boss had been, to prove to her that he could give her everything she had ever dreamed of...if she'd just let him...because he still loved her; had, in fact, never stopped loving her.
The next day as they left the cottage, Bella could almost feel the excitement pouring from Jake, and she believed it was because he would soon be rid of her. When they arrived at her flat, she told him they hadn't gotten around to talking about the divorce. He stiffly said, "divorce isn’t in the frame". She reminded him that, in spite of the sex they had, their marriage was over. He told her she didn't know what she was talking about. But she said, "Oh, but I do...Despite the sex...our marriage was over at the moment...I knew you didn’t love me because, the way I see it, trust has to be the biggest part of loving...I knew then that there wasn’t any point." He said he was working on the trust issue, but that the timing at the cottage hadn't been right. He wanted to get together and work it out. She asked when, and all he said was, "Soon", that "I’ll be in touch. I can’t say when. I’ve a fair amount of business to attend to.". Bella said, "I’ll see you when I see you, then."...and walked away, with no expectation of ever seeing or hearing from him again.
Her mother called two days later asking Bella if she and Jake had sorted things out yet. Bella informed her their marriage was over. Her mother told her they both needed a spanking. When Evie returned later that night, she flew into her and told her how seriously wrong she and Jake's sister had been to set them up. Just before Evie returned, Bella had arranged with her boss to attend the company's New Year's Eve party. She found an appropriate dress to wear in the back of her closet, determined to have fun. Plus she hadn't heard from Jake since he had dropped her off the day after Christmas...but then, she hadn't really expected to. She ruthlessly shut down all thoughts of Jake and went to the party.
But Jake wouldn't stay in the past. He called Bella from his hotel, but Evie answered. Though she had tried to apologize for tricking him, he cut her off. Learning that Bella had left to attend a party at her boss's home, his jealousy reared its ugly head. Determined to gate-crash and put up whatever bloody fight he had to, he forced Evie to give him the boss’s address. He wasn't going to let all his hard work go to waste.
At the party, Bella's boss was trying to convince her to go back into modeling, if only for one last event, for him. Touching his face, she told him she was done with modeling...and that's how Jake saw them upon arriving in the room...and once again, pain and betrayal swamped him, as it had a year before..."And he knew he had lost her". He yielded to that thought, but only for a moment. This time, he chose to trust her...to not jump to the wrong conclusion. Walking across the room to where they were standing, Jake took her by the arm, and, after being confronted by her boss, excused the two of them and then escorted her back to his taxi. His attitude and temper told her all she needed to know...Jake still believed she was having an affair with her boss. He took her back to his hotel and ordered room service. After they had both showered, he was ready for them to talk...finally.
Jake told her he had begun to trust her when she had told him that she had never slept with her boss...until the moment he walked into that party and saw them together again. He told her he had thought for the briefest of moments that she could have lied to him...but only for the very briefest of moments, because the trust had rushed over him immediately making him realize he had taken his possessiveness too far for too long in their relationship. He asked for forgiveness for all of his failings where she was concerned. She didn't keep him waiting, didn't stretch out his pain and uncertainty. She told him she loved him...and only him. Though she took the time to explain her relationship with her boss, it seemed all Jake wasn’t paying attention. She backed away from him...and spoke about what he had walked in on that night the previous year. She told him how disappointed she had been when he hadn't come home for their anniversary, how her boss had called to wish them a merry Christmas, and to let them know he and his wife were expecting twins. When she broke down on the phone, her boss showed up...but what Jake hadn't seen when he arrived...other than her boss holding her...was that the boss's wife was in the kitchen making coffee. When he hadn’t returned, she had allowed her pride to take over, leaving the next day, never thinking he would want to salvage their marriage. The next morning, Jake finally told her about his past and how his distrust of others began, and how he had become a workaholic.
This story was full of drama and angst, but they weren't over the top. The twist and turns were definitely a rollercoaster ride that kept the attention of the reader glued to each page. The emotions ran the gamut, tugging at the heart. There was a little fluff but not so much that it interfered with the plot.
The characters, though mature and each with their own strength, still had some learning to do, because they sure didn't know how to communicate with each other, nor did they know how to trust. Both needed to be Gibbsed for their stupidity in letting things go as long as they did.
Still, all in all, it was a good book. Perhaps not worthy of a five-star rating, but it wasn't the worst, especially considering the age of the book. It won't make the Keeper for the Shelves collection, but it would merit a second reading.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for MissKitty.
1,749 reviews
June 7, 2020
Good angst, second chance story for a couple who have separated.

They married in haste, the husband was an uber workaholic who didn’t trust his wife while he was away from her. He has massive jealousy issues concerning her boss, but he never tells her about this.

He resents it when she goes back to work, but he doesn’t see that she is bored and lonely by constantly leaving her at home alone, when he is on his endless business trips.

It all comes to a head when he is, again, very late coming home on their anniversary and sees the heroine being hugged by the boss. He doesn’t ask for an explanation but insults her and walks out. The heroine thought she had been stood up again, the boss and his wife came over to comfort her and infact the wife was in the kitchen making coffee.

Was just thinking, if I was a wife having an affair, would Invite my lover over on the very night I expected my husband home for dinner!? 🙄 big fail to the heroine for not pointing this out when they did get to talk.

They get stuck in a cabin a year after their estrangement (both were manipulated by their respective sisters) so they can communicate with each other. I wasn’t so enamored of the Hero, he really absolutely thought his wife was a liar and didn’t trust her at all.

They eventually talk over some things, in my opinion, they didn’t tackle this trust issue enough. But they try to change and get their happy ever after.

3.5 ⭐️ rounded to 4⭐️ because it was a compelling read.
Profile Image for ANGELIA.
1,420 reviews12 followers
October 16, 2023
This was a good story! It started out with an estranged couple, tricked into spending the Christmas holiday together by their scheming younger sisters. (Incidentally, I would have liked separate books about the two of them. So often, secondary characters have great potential for their own stories, but more often than not, authors let those opportunities go to waste.) There's some arguing, sarcasm, misunderstanding, jealousy, feigned indifference, lack of communication etc. but none of it goes overboard. And their story is revealed slowly in flashbacks, with POV coming from both the H and h, so you get to know both of their feelings and sides of the story.

Also, their time apart wasn't ridiculously long and there was no secret baby, or any of that.

What I liked best was the way they both were willing to admit to themselves that they were at fault too, as they gradually came to realize their own mistakes, and wanted to make up for them, wanting to put the others needs and happiness ahead of their own, as love was what mattered most. The true holiday spirit!

I won't give any details away, except to say that, had these two talked about their childhoods from the start (which had a lot to do with who they were and what motivated them) they would have saved themselves a lot of heartache!

That's all I'll say, just read and enjoy a good story!
Profile Image for Traci.
270 reviews15 followers
August 18, 2025
Notes for me:

Married but he walked on her hugging another guy. It’s innocent but he is convinced she cheated.

Sisters strand them in a cabin

30% in and he’s on my nerves. He is so hateful. THEY NEED TO COMMUNICATE

Like Kouvaris Marriage better

Took him to 76%
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Nikki.
2,205 reviews8 followers
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December 1, 2020
Can everyone just speak! And Listen! Just wow. All easily fixed if people communicated and maybe dated longer before getting married. Not that great or romantic. Skip.
Profile Image for Hadrien .
48 reviews
June 4, 2021
Trop vite expédié à mon goût, mais je suppose qu’on ne peut pas trop en attendre de ce genre d’histoire en si peut de pages.
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