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Midlife Crisis

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Sylvia Blackwell has it all, or so she thinks. She and her handsome husband, Garrett, are the epitome of an immaculate house of their dreams, a beautiful and talented 17-year-old daughter, flourishing careers, and nearly twenty years of perfectly wedded bliss. Just as they are making plans for their vow renewal celebration, a call in the middle of the night interrupts their picture-perfect lives. Now Sylvia has to deal with the reality of Garrett’s dead mistress, a love child she never knew about, and the fact that the man she’s been married to for the past twenty years may not be the man she knows at all.

Unlike her sister Sylvia, when it comes to love, Janelle Hudson can take it or leave it. Her on again, off again, noncommittal, stress-free friendship with Jarvis Baldwin is fine with her. But her life becomes complicated when she is faced with choosing between a sure thing with a good man or what feels right with the wrong one.

Bestselling author LaJill Hunt is back with  Midlife Crisis , an emotion-packed story of love, betrayal, and family loyalty. When lies are unveiled and secrets are revealed, can love be strong enough to forgive, even when you can’t forget? 

An abbreviated version of this novel entitled  Jaded  was previously published.

204 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 30, 2019

37 people are currently reading
119 people want to read

About the author

La Jill Hunt

49 books268 followers
LaJill Hunt is a native of Mobile, AL who burst onto the literary scene in 2003 with her debut novel, Drama Queen. The memorable characters she created and the entertaining stories she told quickly drew best-selling success and a following of fans, young and old. Although known for her urban chic-lit novels, she has also contributed to the street anthology series Around the Way Girls, and penned an urban romance Another Sad Love Song. Her erotica short story, Catch 22, is currently available as a digital download. Currently residing in Virginia Beach, VA, LaJill enjoys spending time with her daughters, family and friends.

(source: Amazon)

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5 stars
113 (46%)
4 stars
90 (36%)
3 stars
35 (14%)
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5 (2%)
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1 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
Profile Image for Jacola.
45 reviews
May 19, 2019
Love the book but I'm feeling jipped! Where the hell is the rest?! 😩... I loves me some La Jill so I am gonna have faith that a sequel will be arriving shortly... Now I'm waiting for two sequals from her....ugh...patience is not my virtue!!!
But overall the book was great, I couldn't put it down. Not much profanity something nice a easy going...Loved all the characters, my only complaint was it was fairly short!
Profile Image for Diane Rembert.
1,275 reviews46 followers
February 20, 2025
Sylvia and Garrett Blackwell are preparing for a 20 year wedding anniversary celebration. Then, the cages are rattled when Sylvia receives a phone call in the middle of the night, asking for her husband, because he is the emergency contact for yet another woman and her daughter. Following a gut instinct, she finds out about Garrett’s secret life, which includes a teenage daughter.

To make matters worse, Sylvia has taken in her very boisterous Aunt Connie, who helps her decide how to move forward with her marriage and include her step-daughter into her home.

Sylvia’s sister Janelle is trying to find love with Jarvis, but her married ex-boyfriend will not sever his ties. That may all change when she meets the friendly neighborhood pharmacist.

Book 1 of the Loyalty series clearly defines @lacooljill as a force to be reckoned with. I highly recommend this 💎💎💎💎💎 read and look forward to reading more.
Profile Image for Deena.
177 reviews
November 10, 2023
Whew! This was a really good book! This is an old fav author of mine I just haven’t read many from her since the Drama Queen series! But chillle Sylvia has a lot on her plate with taking on Gary’s teenage love child when the mother passes away. Not only did Sylvia not know about the child but didn’t know about the mother until she passed. She is going through the blues with her own 17 year old daughter now to add a 15 year old to the mix! Her sister Janell is another story! She is something else. How can she start sleeping with a married man and her excuse is that they’re are soulmates! I didn’t too much care for the narrator’s voice because I listened to this through audio book but I did thoroughly enjoy the drama! I need a little drama with my stories lol! One thing La Jill Hunt is going to do is tell a story!
Profile Image for janekareadss.
50 reviews11 followers
June 22, 2024
Very good book! Raced to start the next book in the series.
1,105 reviews1 follower
March 3, 2024
Very good book. Lots going on. Can't wait to see how it all falls out. Wife thinks has an ideal marriage until she receives a call in the middle of the night from a hospital asking for her husband. Some mysterious woman has her husband as the next of kin. That phone call marks the beginning of everything unraveling. The man she's been married to for almost 20 years has been keeping a secret for almost 16 years. Her life is in a tailspin. How does she move forward? Does she stay married?

I loved this story.
Profile Image for Misse Jones.
580 reviews47 followers
October 26, 2021
I was at the library where they’ve done some moving around and now have a visible Urban Fiction section. I saw this paperback, Midlife Crisis and it sounded interesting enough. It’s been a long time since I’ve read her work.

La Jill Hunt delivers a fast-paced, page-turning novel that will pull you in from the first page. I enjoyed the cast of characters especially Aunt Connie, Sherrod, and Janelle. It’s a passionate tale about love, lies, betrayal, secrets, family, loyalty, truths, forgiveness, and healing. And it’s a really good one!

I can’t wait to read her follow-up novel: Imitation of Wife.

Synopsis:

Sylvia has it all. A loving husband of twenty years, Garry. A smart, intelligent, beautiful seventeen year-old daughter named Peyton. She is flourishing at work and is excited about renewing their vows. Everything is flowing nicely until Sylvia receives a call one night that will change all of their lives forever.

Janelle is Sylvia’s sister and unlike her, she’d prefer noncommittal relationships. For awhile now, her on again, off-again relationship with Jarvis has been the source of contentment until it’s not and she finds herself struggling between what she has and what she really wants.
Profile Image for Dawn “D-Love”.
129 reviews
August 10, 2019
This is a great book that has some twists, turns and great old school advice. If your mate is always out of town working or something make sure to keep tabs on them. 15 years is a long time to do something in secret and the spouse not know about it or have any clue. There are always signs when someone is hiding something and sometimes we inadvertently choose to ignore them. Holding on to the past is also another problem we have. Is it really love or the fact that the other person has moved on and we haven’t the reason we can’t let go? Ending hints at a continuation in a new book but looks like new book called “Imitation of Wife” won’t be released until 2020 ugh! I definitely want to know the outcome of the Sylvia/Garrett situation, the Jenelle/Titus/Sherrod turmoil and then the other stuff involving the daughters and their tie ins with Titus and Sherrod sooner than almost a year away.
Profile Image for Melissa.
1,525 reviews24 followers
December 7, 2022
I haven't read a LaJill Hunt book in quite some time. I've always enjoyed her books. This one is a quick entertaining read.
It opens with Sylvia finding out her husband Garrett cheated on her and, has a 15 year old daughter. Just two years younger than their own daughter.
But alternates between the aftermath of that and her sister Janelle's own messy love life. In love with her married college sweetheart Titus while casually dating other men...
There were a few times where the dialogue didn't seem realistic. I also didn't get the mistresses letter to Sylvia talking about her husband Garretts flaws and controlling ways. But, none of that is mentioned during the course of the book while Sylvia is contemplating what she wants to do. There were times where the characters conversation hinted at it. But the characters weren't fully fleshed out either, So there's that. All in all, it's still definitely worth a read.
3.5 stars
Profile Image for Khadijah M.
42 reviews1 follower
January 1, 2020
This was an excellent book. It read like man of our life stories. With all that I have to do, I read this book in three days!! I am looking forward to reading the next part, Imitation of Wife which should be out in May 2020. I will not reveal a lot about this book but know if you are not Aunt Connie, then you have an Aunt Connie in your life. This book was an easy and interesting read. It took me across the street and around the corner and made me say WOW!! LaJill Hunt I will read more of her books because I truly loved this one and it fit into my busy life.
Profile Image for Felicia Brown.
327 reviews18 followers
February 7, 2021
Great Book

This book put me in a place to where I got so unset that I needed to be written on every page of this book cause between Garry and Janelle was so disrespectful of other people they cared for your their self and didn’t see what they was really doing to people and want then to be ok what was happening. Sylvia was trying but this change and the new was hard . I Love me some Aunt Connie . Get this book you will enjoy all the twist and turns .please don’t throw your book or tablet as you reading cause you will want to go there from time to time .
7 reviews
June 6, 2019
Hurry up August!

August can't get here soon enough! I'm so ready to read this next book I wish it was out today! Lol
Great job La Jill! Our New Movement Book Club is going to have an awesome time discussing this one. Hopefully we can talk to you again like we did in April.
Renée Byers
Profile Image for Misty’s Reading Nook.
53 reviews
October 18, 2019
Gary made a big mistake , yet I still consider it very much betrayal. The fact that he had a daughter for 15 years outside his marriage and was completely in her life yet kept it hidden from his wife of 16 yrs is beyond dishonesty. This book will leave you considering how much is too much for a relationship or a marriage to continue!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
884 reviews8 followers
April 9, 2022
Whiplash!

This audiobook had so many twist and turns that I didn't see coming. Talk about an entanglement. I almost need a diagram to connect how every single person ended up being linked to someone else in the story. Six degrees of separation at it's finest. Whew chile!! And we still haven't uncovered everything. On to book 2!
Profile Image for Tammy.
261 reviews
July 15, 2024
Really interesting premise but I didn't realize that it would be a series with each book only a part of the whole. I read the second one (Imitation of Wife) and it didn't complete the story lines. Now I have to wait for the third one. I sure hope it is just a trilogy and not a soap opera that continues on and on...
Profile Image for Classy Storygraph mgr_classy .
213 reviews42 followers
October 9, 2019
I was expecting something different from the title, but it was enjoyable. Some of the scenes may seem over the top, but I know it probably happens more often than not. I look forward to the next book in the series.
2 reviews
June 20, 2020
I couldn’t put it down...

I love this book! The characters and how their life stories are intertwined kept me turning the pages. The storyline is realistic. I can’t wait for the continuation! I recommend this book series to anyone who enjoys reading urban fiction.
Profile Image for Joy.
49 reviews
July 15, 2025
3.5, I’ve read just about every book LJH has published. This was good but the audio version not so much. I had to stop listening about 60% in and finish up by reading the kindle version.

I think it would be best for me to read and not listen to book two. 🤷🏽‍♀️
Profile Image for Ericka.
798 reviews1 follower
November 11, 2025
Such a great listen. The emotions that came from listening to this book were real. Hurt, betrayal, forgiveness, anger, passion, and unconditional love were all wrapped up in this one. Now on to Book 2 to see what happens next!!!!
Profile Image for Charlotte.
309 reviews1 follower
July 26, 2019
I don’t know why it took me so long to pick this book back up. I am so glad I did. It was a great book. I can’t wait for the next one.
Profile Image for Nicole Bryant.
9 reviews1 follower
August 18, 2019
Love this !

Great read ..looking for part 2.la jill hunt does it again can't wait to read more .love the whole book
1 review
September 19, 2019
My only disappointment was that we have to wait too long for the next book in this series
Profile Image for Tasha Milteer.
Author 1 book19 followers
September 30, 2019
They say you never truly know someone, well this is the true meaning of that. I was so tired of everyone saying that she needed to forgive her husband and move on because he loves her.
Profile Image for Ms.Dee.
150 reviews
November 11, 2019
This was good, looking forward to reading the sequel "Imitation of Wife".
Profile Image for Ellowyn.
554 reviews63 followers
May 30, 2020
This book is a great page turner and full of drama. It has some twists and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat. I am looking forward to reading the continuation of this story.
1,055 reviews6 followers
June 8, 2020
Wow

This was good I can't wait to read part 2. Great story line. Caught my attention from the very beginning.
231 reviews6 followers
June 28, 2022
I listened to the audio version of the is book. It was a good storyline. Janell got a lot going on wondering more about her story than Syl and G.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews

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