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The Wayward Wife
Unwanted company
After eight years of marriage, Boyd Russell loved and desired his wife more than ever. And he wanted her by his side as he climbed to the top of the corporate ladder.
But Clare had changed. She loved Boyd and wanted to share his success, but she also wanted more. She had ambitions that had nothing to do with his-ambitions he refused to see or understand. Would she really be forced to make a choice, or had Boyd already made the decision for her?
After eight years of marriage, Boyd Russell loved and desired his wife more than ever. And he wanted her by his side as he climbed to the top of the corporate ladder.
But Clare had changed. She loved Boyd and wanted to share his success, but she also wanted more. She had ambitions that had nothing to do with his-ambitions he refused to see or understand. Would she really be forced to make a choice, or had Boyd already made the decision for her?
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1992
About the author
Sally Wentworth
108 books95 followersDoreen was born on 1936 or 1937 in Watford, Hertfordshire, England, UK. She married Donald Alfred Hornsblow, with whom she has a son Keith, in 1968. The family lived in Braughing, England.
Doreen began her publishing career at a Fleet Street newspaper in London, where she thrived in the hectic atmosphere. She started writing after attending an evening class and sold her first novel to Mills & Boon in 1977, she published her novels under the pseudonym Sally Wentworth. Her novels were principally set in Great Britain or in exotic places like Canary Islands or Greece. Her first works are stand-alone novels, but in 1990s, she decided to create her first series. In 1991, she wrote a book in two parts about the Barclay twins and their great love, and in 1995, she wrote the Ties of Passion Trilogy about the Brodey family, that have money, looks, style, everything... except love.
Doreen was an accounts clerk at Associated Newspapers Ltd. in London, England, and accounts clerk at Consumers' Association in Hertford, England. In 1985, she was the founding chair of the Hertford Association of National Trust Members, and named its life president. She also collected knife rests and she was member of The Knife Rest Collectors Club.
Doreen Hornsblow died from cancer on 30 August 2001, at 64 years of age.
Doreen began her publishing career at a Fleet Street newspaper in London, where she thrived in the hectic atmosphere. She started writing after attending an evening class and sold her first novel to Mills & Boon in 1977, she published her novels under the pseudonym Sally Wentworth. Her novels were principally set in Great Britain or in exotic places like Canary Islands or Greece. Her first works are stand-alone novels, but in 1990s, she decided to create her first series. In 1991, she wrote a book in two parts about the Barclay twins and their great love, and in 1995, she wrote the Ties of Passion Trilogy about the Brodey family, that have money, looks, style, everything... except love.
Doreen was an accounts clerk at Associated Newspapers Ltd. in London, England, and accounts clerk at Consumers' Association in Hertford, England. In 1985, she was the founding chair of the Hertford Association of National Trust Members, and named its life president. She also collected knife rests and she was member of The Knife Rest Collectors Club.
Doreen Hornsblow died from cancer on 30 August 2001, at 64 years of age.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
February 22, 2018
Re The Wayward Wife - Sally Wentworth brings us a Corporate Wife Rebel h in this HP outing that is more women's fiction and marital seven year itch than actual HP courtship drama.
When the book starts, the h and H have been married for seven years. They are in love and happy except the h has the nesting instinct BADLY and unfortunately, she just isn't able to incubate the eggs long enough for the little fledgling mini h and H's to appear.
Her husband doesn't seem to care, he is too busy getting himself made into a company director and shackling her into the non-paid and pain in the hiney position of a dutiful corporate wife. The h has been supportive for years now and she is happy that her husband is accomplishing his goals.
But the h's goal is not to be the junior partner Sally Helpmeet for a corporation that seems to expect a lot in devotion and commitment for what the h sees as very little reward. She has her own career to pursue and her own interests, none of which include playing sycophant for a bunch of bloated, parasitic lecherous corporate gluttons and their snobby, snappy, stuck on themselves wives.
Sure the h and H have more money and a lovely country home, but they never have much time to spend the money in pleasurable pursuits together and the house is lovely, but a fantastic painting studio doesn't seem to make up for the long hours of alone time and rare moments of h and H togetherness.
The h is also resentful that the H doesn't seem to recognize that she really wants kids, he wasn't as supportive as she would like during her miscarriages and he isn't really keen on adoption. Yet the H seems to have no issues asking her to sacrifice her dreams to fulfill his and the h is ready to make a change.
So when the H callously commits even more of her time to his corporate activities after achieving his directorship, the h stages a mutiny. She decides to help a friend establish her trunk antique business, devote more time to her painting and maybe branch out into graphic design and definitely refuse to allow her husband's corporate directives to fill up her valuable time with smoozy cocktail parties and sucking up to the bosses.
The H on the other hand, doesn't seem to get it. He doesn't understand why for seven years the h has been the perfect corporate wife and now won't even have a midnight lurve up when he has the notion to cop a feel or two.
Plus, his lovely lady office assistant seems to be making the moves on him, he took her to Italy and bought her a beautiful scarf and the h is pretty sure that the OW is looking much more attractive, now that her H's home life is becoming distinctly colder.
But the h looks around and sees her friend's relationships becoming more and more unsatisfactory. From her BFF, whose partner is completely non-supportive of her new attempts at an antiquing career, to the young new corporate wife with three kids and no time and no social graces who continually makes corporate party social gaffes, much to the dismay of her up and coming corporate husband.
When the h meets a French gallery owner who seems to like her paintings, the h thinks this may be her big chance to really kick off her art career. But the H isn't supportive of that either, he checks the guy out and concludes that what the old guy really wants is a fling with the younger and attractive h.
The H is also angry about the h refusing to jump when the corporation demands and hostess whatever events they deem fit to schedule for her, angry that she isn't more conformist in brainwashing the young corporate wife newbie to the company party line and really angry that the h is pretty much done with exercising his lurve club on demand.
So like straws and camel's backs, things are heading for a breakdown. It finally happens when the h and H do a company trip to Bruges. The h sees the H and his OW office assistant acting like they are the married couple and the h herself meets the French gallery owner and has to fight off his advances.
The h gets a double helping of disappointment when the old gallery owner derides her painting and then the OW stirs the pot with reports of the h's meeting with him in his hotel. The H naturally assumes the worst, that the h is having a bit of afternoon delight, and the h is just done.
She can't believe the H is acting like this, especially when he deliberately hid the letter from the Polish orphanage that has a pair of lovely twins the h and H could adopt. The h believes the H is really driving it home that he doesn't want kids at all and his deliberate deceptions about hiding the letter just seems to be the final straw - he doesn't seem to care about her needs, as long as she devotes herself to his.
The h packs her bags and goes home, ready to kick the H out of the family cave. But the H won't leave, it is his house, he pays for it and the h says fine, if he won't go, she will. And off to a clean, but shabby bedsit we go. The h gets a job that pays her small expenses and several weeks go by.
Then the H calls, the h had promised his sister that her two children could stay with the H and h for a weekend, while the sister in law and hubby go out of town. The h reluctantly returns to the family home to commence baby sitting duties.
To her surprise the H hangs around to help out too, even tho they are in separate rooms. The H really seems to take to the fathering aspects of watching two little boys. Then drama strikes, one of the boys gets stung by a bee or wasp and goes into anaphylactic shock. The H and h rush the child to hospital in a state of dread panic.
The little boy is going to be fine, but the H confesses that he misses the h. He loves her and wants to work things out, cause he doesn't want to lose her. He offers to help her get a gallery showing for her art and he confides that he had his office assistant moved because she was getting aggressively flirty - the office assistant did not like that and quit the company.
The h misses her husband and she loves him too, we have a big, joyful explosion with the lurve mojo force and the H suggests a short honeymoon to Poland - there is a pair of twins that need a new home.
So the H and h reaffirm they love each other and vow to keep working their differences out, the h gets her nesting instinct filled with fledglings and we leave the happy couple to lurve it up some more for a happy conclusion to this HP outing.
I like this one a lot. SW does a great job on the frustration and little molehills that start building up into a mountain of resentment between a couple and how that might play out. I also like that I can just glue the rosy glasses on my nose and go with the pretty convincing reconciliation.
SW does a good of selling into the belief that the H isn't using the twin adoption as a pacifier/bribe to get the h back into dutiful corporate wife harness, that the h isn't going to feel even more stymied and alone as the H works himself into an early death by heart attack and that these two really love each other enough to stay faithful and work out their problems together.
I can totally gulp the kool-aid down with this one, it is a pretty cute story and I liked the HEA, so that makes this a great day in HPlandia non-HP-HP adventuring.
When the book starts, the h and H have been married for seven years. They are in love and happy except the h has the nesting instinct BADLY and unfortunately, she just isn't able to incubate the eggs long enough for the little fledgling mini h and H's to appear.
Her husband doesn't seem to care, he is too busy getting himself made into a company director and shackling her into the non-paid and pain in the hiney position of a dutiful corporate wife. The h has been supportive for years now and she is happy that her husband is accomplishing his goals.
But the h's goal is not to be the junior partner Sally Helpmeet for a corporation that seems to expect a lot in devotion and commitment for what the h sees as very little reward. She has her own career to pursue and her own interests, none of which include playing sycophant for a bunch of bloated, parasitic lecherous corporate gluttons and their snobby, snappy, stuck on themselves wives.
Sure the h and H have more money and a lovely country home, but they never have much time to spend the money in pleasurable pursuits together and the house is lovely, but a fantastic painting studio doesn't seem to make up for the long hours of alone time and rare moments of h and H togetherness.
The h is also resentful that the H doesn't seem to recognize that she really wants kids, he wasn't as supportive as she would like during her miscarriages and he isn't really keen on adoption. Yet the H seems to have no issues asking her to sacrifice her dreams to fulfill his and the h is ready to make a change.
So when the H callously commits even more of her time to his corporate activities after achieving his directorship, the h stages a mutiny. She decides to help a friend establish her trunk antique business, devote more time to her painting and maybe branch out into graphic design and definitely refuse to allow her husband's corporate directives to fill up her valuable time with smoozy cocktail parties and sucking up to the bosses.
The H on the other hand, doesn't seem to get it. He doesn't understand why for seven years the h has been the perfect corporate wife and now won't even have a midnight lurve up when he has the notion to cop a feel or two.
Plus, his lovely lady office assistant seems to be making the moves on him, he took her to Italy and bought her a beautiful scarf and the h is pretty sure that the OW is looking much more attractive, now that her H's home life is becoming distinctly colder.
But the h looks around and sees her friend's relationships becoming more and more unsatisfactory. From her BFF, whose partner is completely non-supportive of her new attempts at an antiquing career, to the young new corporate wife with three kids and no time and no social graces who continually makes corporate party social gaffes, much to the dismay of her up and coming corporate husband.
When the h meets a French gallery owner who seems to like her paintings, the h thinks this may be her big chance to really kick off her art career. But the H isn't supportive of that either, he checks the guy out and concludes that what the old guy really wants is a fling with the younger and attractive h.
The H is also angry about the h refusing to jump when the corporation demands and hostess whatever events they deem fit to schedule for her, angry that she isn't more conformist in brainwashing the young corporate wife newbie to the company party line and really angry that the h is pretty much done with exercising his lurve club on demand.
So like straws and camel's backs, things are heading for a breakdown. It finally happens when the h and H do a company trip to Bruges. The h sees the H and his OW office assistant acting like they are the married couple and the h herself meets the French gallery owner and has to fight off his advances.
The h gets a double helping of disappointment when the old gallery owner derides her painting and then the OW stirs the pot with reports of the h's meeting with him in his hotel. The H naturally assumes the worst, that the h is having a bit of afternoon delight, and the h is just done.
She can't believe the H is acting like this, especially when he deliberately hid the letter from the Polish orphanage that has a pair of lovely twins the h and H could adopt. The h believes the H is really driving it home that he doesn't want kids at all and his deliberate deceptions about hiding the letter just seems to be the final straw - he doesn't seem to care about her needs, as long as she devotes herself to his.
The h packs her bags and goes home, ready to kick the H out of the family cave. But the H won't leave, it is his house, he pays for it and the h says fine, if he won't go, she will. And off to a clean, but shabby bedsit we go. The h gets a job that pays her small expenses and several weeks go by.
Then the H calls, the h had promised his sister that her two children could stay with the H and h for a weekend, while the sister in law and hubby go out of town. The h reluctantly returns to the family home to commence baby sitting duties.
To her surprise the H hangs around to help out too, even tho they are in separate rooms. The H really seems to take to the fathering aspects of watching two little boys. Then drama strikes, one of the boys gets stung by a bee or wasp and goes into anaphylactic shock. The H and h rush the child to hospital in a state of dread panic.
The little boy is going to be fine, but the H confesses that he misses the h. He loves her and wants to work things out, cause he doesn't want to lose her. He offers to help her get a gallery showing for her art and he confides that he had his office assistant moved because she was getting aggressively flirty - the office assistant did not like that and quit the company.
The h misses her husband and she loves him too, we have a big, joyful explosion with the lurve mojo force and the H suggests a short honeymoon to Poland - there is a pair of twins that need a new home.
So the H and h reaffirm they love each other and vow to keep working their differences out, the h gets her nesting instinct filled with fledglings and we leave the happy couple to lurve it up some more for a happy conclusion to this HP outing.
I like this one a lot. SW does a great job on the frustration and little molehills that start building up into a mountain of resentment between a couple and how that might play out. I also like that I can just glue the rosy glasses on my nose and go with the pretty convincing reconciliation.
SW does a good of selling into the belief that the H isn't using the twin adoption as a pacifier/bribe to get the h back into dutiful corporate wife harness, that the h isn't going to feel even more stymied and alone as the H works himself into an early death by heart attack and that these two really love each other enough to stay faithful and work out their problems together.
I can totally gulp the kool-aid down with this one, it is a pretty cute story and I liked the HEA, so that makes this a great day in HPlandia non-HP-HP adventuring.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 19, 2017
This is a marriage in trouble story that is feels more like women's fiction than an HP romance. Sally Wentworth addressed some of these issues in Semi-Detached Marriage and she's doing that again here. H/h have been married for 7 years. Heroine is an artist. Hero is an up and coming businessman in some sort of corporation.
The heroine has wanted a house and family life in the country, and their combined salaries have allowed them to purchase the house, but the heroine has had several miscarriages and has despaired of ever having children. At the beginning of the story the heroine is feeling resentful about all the demands the company is making on her husband and on her. There are parallel stories about another company couple whose wife hasn't coped so well, and an artist friend who wants to get an antique business off the ground against her husband's objections.
Other problems:
the hope of adopting Polish twins (which the hero balks at)
a lecherous French art gallery owner who is interested in the h's paintings
a lecherous secretary who is panting after the H
In the last quarter of the story, the heroine separates from her husband after he is violently jealous of the lecherous Frenchman, but she is miserable on her own. When they are asked to watch the hero's nephews for a weekend, the heroine comes back to the house to help. They have such a good time together that they patch up their differences. The hero is going to look into adopting the Polish twins and spending more time as a family.
It's a very abrupt ending - but then that's the way these things work when you're hit upon a solution. It looks like a simple solution because SW portrayed the angst and confusion of the heroine so masterfully. Since this is the solution SW provided, then what the heroine really wanted was a family life. All the career talk and art talk and company wife talk and jealousy talk was ancillary to the real want - a baby - a family. And because the hero demonstrated on that weekend that he could be part of family life, the heroine can now be content. The hero even left work early for his nephews - so that's a signal he's about to embrace family life with as much zeal as he did climbing the ladder.
I find so many elements of the story to be fascinating. The attitude toward work and careers that have changed so much in the past 25 years, for one. There isn't a lot of company loyalty these days, or perks, or pensions - or even health insurance for that matter. But there is still a lot of sacrifice when it comes to earning a living - commutes, changing locations, long hours, constant interruptions,profit pressures,changing technology etc. . . The career/family life tension is still there - it's just different.
I'm also struck by the fact that SW didn't feel the need to fix everything for this couple to have an HEA. The hero's work will probably be a problem now and again - but like the H/h says - we've come through this, we're okay. The heroine will probably have days when she is tired of the twins and will need a few hours at the easel. That's just life, I suppose (and why this feels like woman's fiction).
I like second chance stories because I like to see how the couples re-evaluate what they have. I like when the characters come to appreciate each other more and learn from their problems. They were a team at the end of this story in a way they weren't at the beginning.
The heroine has wanted a house and family life in the country, and their combined salaries have allowed them to purchase the house, but the heroine has had several miscarriages and has despaired of ever having children. At the beginning of the story the heroine is feeling resentful about all the demands the company is making on her husband and on her. There are parallel stories about another company couple whose wife hasn't coped so well, and an artist friend who wants to get an antique business off the ground against her husband's objections.
Other problems:
the hope of adopting Polish twins (which the hero balks at)
a lecherous French art gallery owner who is interested in the h's paintings
a lecherous secretary who is panting after the H
In the last quarter of the story, the heroine separates from her husband after he is violently jealous of the lecherous Frenchman, but she is miserable on her own. When they are asked to watch the hero's nephews for a weekend, the heroine comes back to the house to help. They have such a good time together that they patch up their differences. The hero is going to look into adopting the Polish twins and spending more time as a family.
It's a very abrupt ending - but then that's the way these things work when you're hit upon a solution. It looks like a simple solution because SW portrayed the angst and confusion of the heroine so masterfully. Since this is the solution SW provided, then what the heroine really wanted was a family life. All the career talk and art talk and company wife talk and jealousy talk was ancillary to the real want - a baby - a family. And because the hero demonstrated on that weekend that he could be part of family life, the heroine can now be content. The hero even left work early for his nephews - so that's a signal he's about to embrace family life with as much zeal as he did climbing the ladder.
I find so many elements of the story to be fascinating. The attitude toward work and careers that have changed so much in the past 25 years, for one. There isn't a lot of company loyalty these days, or perks, or pensions - or even health insurance for that matter. But there is still a lot of sacrifice when it comes to earning a living - commutes, changing locations, long hours, constant interruptions,profit pressures,changing technology etc. . . The career/family life tension is still there - it's just different.
I'm also struck by the fact that SW didn't feel the need to fix everything for this couple to have an HEA. The hero's work will probably be a problem now and again - but like the H/h says - we've come through this, we're okay. The heroine will probably have days when she is tired of the twins and will need a few hours at the easel. That's just life, I suppose (and why this feels like woman's fiction).
I like second chance stories because I like to see how the couples re-evaluate what they have. I like when the characters come to appreciate each other more and learn from their problems. They were a team at the end of this story in a way they weren't at the beginning.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 21, 2024
Sally Wentworth's Wayward Wife is a portrait of an imploding marriage. The heroine is suffocating in her role as corporate Stepford wife and her resentment builds against her oblivious, workaholic husband. After a trial separation, the husband and wife reconcile and decide to heal their marriage through the adoption of a pair of babies! This is an HFN rather than an HEA as a myriad of issues (dishonesty, infidelity, domestic violence, workaholism) had really never been resolved between them, making their long term future prospects rather doubtful, in my humble opinion.
All in all, this is not an uplifting read so if you are looking for escape, unicorns and rainbows, try again!
All in all, this is not an uplifting read so if you are looking for escape, unicorns and rainbows, try again!
February 11, 2023
I really liked the book very much. I think the husband was faithful and I still believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny too. I took one star off because of the h. She annoyed me. Maybe I have been reading HP's too long but her attitude was just too beligerent almost. I didn't like the advice she gave to the poor doormat Melanie or her friend Angie. She was just too much. And it was obvious that her husband loved her and yes he was a bit of a Corporate Creep, but I think he liked to show her off too. And Velma the Vamp??? I kept picturing her as the character in the Scooby Doo cartoons and I just couldn't move past that. Especially with the scarf, because Velma wore one too in Scooby Doo. LOL I loved when she hit the call button on her husbands desk and Velma the Vamp came in and saw them in a passionate clinch. I think she probably ran back to Shaggy after that scene. Hopefully she will get a Scooby treat and stop trying to be a heartless homebreaker and leave married dogs, oops I mean, men alone. I liked that the H let her go and promised her he would be waiting no matter what. I liked that he went to that guys apartment to 'save' the h from that dirty old man. She did pretty good on her own with the fireplace poker. Great scene. I wish I knew what happened with Melanie and her louse of a husband and whether they adopted those kids. An epilogue would have been nice. All in all a good Marriage in Trouble book which I like. Only if there is no cheating and as I stated above, I think he was faithful. please.....
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 13, 2012
Lemme begin by saying this: I am currently watching a Pakistani drama serial where there's a youngish couple who's been married for 7 years and has one kid. The wife is an architect and the husband works for a multinational company. Their's is a love marriage but now they're shown to be fighting because the guy never wanted his wife to work (both his mom and his wife's mom were house wives) and he expects his wife to be part of a team-lead/team-worker set up instead of equal-partnership while the wife wants the husband to contribute equally in their daily life. The drama is stuck at a phase where the wife has left the husband and I'm still waiting to see what happens. After seeing that drama I'm ripe for this sort a story and its implications.
Why is this important:
a) I'm going to be frank, I'm a girl from the east and while it was usual for the women in my grandparents generation to live to serve their husbands, my parents generation has seen women becoming more independent
b) This independence comes at a cost, though. How worthy is it? Is it worth it to lose your marriage over it. I think for some girls it is because the divorce rate is creeping up in Pakistan steadily
c) Even though the couple in the book was childless, who's responsibility is it to look after the kids, transport them from one place to another. The mothers, right? Why?
d) Why is there a struggle over this? I believe it's because traditionally women were unpaid housekeepers and a such were weak financially. Now that they are more aware and financially independent, they want an equal-partnership marriage but then again for a guy that means losing their hold and losing the unpaid housekeeper so they're fighting that.
This is a thought provoking book for sure. It seems like it could be the story of a million house-holds even if the scenarios aren't exactly the same, the arguments are still valid.
P.S If you understand Urdu/ Hindi YOU NEED TO SEE THIS DRAMA. IT'S THAT GOOD AND THAT RELEVANT!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNN-tl...
Why is this important:
a) I'm going to be frank, I'm a girl from the east and while it was usual for the women in my grandparents generation to live to serve their husbands, my parents generation has seen women becoming more independent
b) This independence comes at a cost, though. How worthy is it? Is it worth it to lose your marriage over it. I think for some girls it is because the divorce rate is creeping up in Pakistan steadily
c) Even though the couple in the book was childless, who's responsibility is it to look after the kids, transport them from one place to another. The mothers, right? Why?
d) Why is there a struggle over this? I believe it's because traditionally women were unpaid housekeepers and a such were weak financially. Now that they are more aware and financially independent, they want an equal-partnership marriage but then again for a guy that means losing their hold and losing the unpaid housekeeper so they're fighting that.
This is a thought provoking book for sure. It seems like it could be the story of a million house-holds even if the scenarios aren't exactly the same, the arguments are still valid.
P.S If you understand Urdu/ Hindi YOU NEED TO SEE THIS DRAMA. IT'S THAT GOOD AND THAT RELEVANT!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNN-tl...
September 29, 2020
3 ⭐⭐⭐ - OK decent reads.
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It was a new girl, one Clare hadn’t seen before. She smiled as she saw Boyd and got quickly to her feet, the smile slipping a little when she saw Clare behind him.
‘Yes, it does; now they’ll think I’m just a killjoy.’ ‘Well, aren’t you?’ he said irritably.
Am I a killjoy? she asked herself. Maybe she was.
Everything would work out and life would be just wonderful—for the three of them. But a couple of months later she’d had the miscarriage, the first miscarriage. Boyd had been sympathetic about her disappointment, but he’d expected her just to forget it and go on as they had before.
I’ve just got to face the fact that I’ll probably never be able to have a child, never hold my baby in my arms. Her heart filled with unconsolable sadness and Clare had to fight back tears, knowing that if she cried she would wake Boyd.
That meant that she would have to do the shopping and clean the house today; Boyd didn’t like her doing that kind of thing when he was home. Selfish swine, she thought with a flash of resentment.
‘But he’s only forty-nine and he looks sixty. I don’t want you to end up like that in another twenty years or even less.’ ‘I won’t; I’m far more active than he is.’
Or had Boyd married her precisely because she already had all the attributes he needed to help him in his chosen career?
People expected her to be over it by now, both physically and mentally—after all, it was nearly six months since the last miscarriage—but sometimes Clare felt so low, so dejected, that she could do nothing but cry.
‘Yes, but Boyd might be home. I wouldn’t want to go away and leave him.’ ‘He leaves you, doesn’t he?’ ‘Yes, but that’s work; he doesn’t have any choice.’ ‘He went away to play in that squash tournament, didn’t he?’
Boyd was often in her thoughts. She still loved him, of course, that went without saying, but she felt that they had both changed; she certainly had.
She still loved Boyd and always would, but she was very much afraid that she could no longer live the life that he wanted.
‘Yes, when I was in Milan with Boyd.’ Velma poured out the coffee and brought it over. ‘Boyd did tell you I was with him in Milan, didn’t he?’
‘Do you like this?’ ‘Very nice,’ Clare said warily. ‘Boyd bought it for me while we were there. He said he thought the colour suited me.’
But Velma had been more than open; she’d pushed it down Clare’s throat. And Boyd hadn’t told her that he’d taken Velma with him to Milan.
April 6, 2019
"Wayward Wife" is the story of Clare and Boyd.
In this tale, we explore the complex marriage of our MC. Clare and Boyd have been married for 7 years now. Boyd is the super ambitious and rising executive of a company, Clare is his ever supportive wife who goes to all his functions and encourages him through all his victories.
However, when Clare starts having a feeling of void in her life, things start to change. She has had three traumatizing miscarriages, after which Boyd insists on stopping due to the extreme distress they both go through. She also had a career as a graphic designer, but becoming lost in Boyle's promotions pushed it into the sidelines. Can she get over her wariness, and find satiety in her marriage again?
Ok so here are the positives first: Clare and Boyd love each other. It's evident in page one, and until the last page. Whatever happens- anger, jealousy, tragedy- one thing we cannot doubt is that they are utterly made for each other, and do not want to give up on that.
Now to the negatives: This was no Unwanted Wife or The Ultimate Betrayal. The story is NOT about a housewife yearning for more because of a husband who hates working women. She already paints on the side, just not as a full time career. She likes to support her husband. She is selfish and rude at times, he is utterly blind at the others. Both characters have shades of grey that in situations make them unlikable- for instance, both of them ridiculing a fellow colleagues wife when she is socially awkward, and might have potentially harmed her money hungry husband's career.
The issues with the heroine are: her wanting to have kids, her inability to have them and her unwillingness to adopt them. She also sort of wants a career, and is feminist at times when convenient.
The hero: He is crazy about the heroine, but is equally absorbed in his career and success. He does not want the h stressing, so his suggestions about her having not to work- but not at one instance does he discourage her.
So overall, semi likable characters have tiffs, lots of sex, a small separation and a hint of HEA in this one. Nothing is resolved on the page, and we end in the hope that they will eventually resolve all their issues once
This was OK.
Safe
2.5/5
In this tale, we explore the complex marriage of our MC. Clare and Boyd have been married for 7 years now. Boyd is the super ambitious and rising executive of a company, Clare is his ever supportive wife who goes to all his functions and encourages him through all his victories.
However, when Clare starts having a feeling of void in her life, things start to change. She has had three traumatizing miscarriages, after which Boyd insists on stopping due to the extreme distress they both go through. She also had a career as a graphic designer, but becoming lost in Boyle's promotions pushed it into the sidelines. Can she get over her wariness, and find satiety in her marriage again?
Ok so here are the positives first: Clare and Boyd love each other. It's evident in page one, and until the last page. Whatever happens- anger, jealousy, tragedy- one thing we cannot doubt is that they are utterly made for each other, and do not want to give up on that.
Now to the negatives: This was no Unwanted Wife or The Ultimate Betrayal. The story is NOT about a housewife yearning for more because of a husband who hates working women. She already paints on the side, just not as a full time career. She likes to support her husband. She is selfish and rude at times, he is utterly blind at the others. Both characters have shades of grey that in situations make them unlikable- for instance, both of them ridiculing a fellow colleagues wife when she is socially awkward, and might have potentially harmed her money hungry husband's career.
The issues with the heroine are: her wanting to have kids, her inability to have them and her unwillingness to adopt them. She also sort of wants a career, and is feminist at times when convenient.
The hero: He is crazy about the heroine, but is equally absorbed in his career and success. He does not want the h stressing, so his suggestions about her having not to work- but not at one instance does he discourage her.
So overall, semi likable characters have tiffs, lots of sex, a small separation and a hint of HEA in this one. Nothing is resolved on the page, and we end in the hope that they will eventually resolve all their issues once
This was OK.
Safe
2.5/5
June 21, 2012
This one was SUPER angsty, too much so for my taste. Or maybe it was more that the ending didn't tie up enough loose ends. Their big, sad, dramatic split was resolved in like 2 pages, and realistically they had not addressed some of the major problems in their marriage. Or maybe we were supposed to assume that Anyway, this was a good read if you're in the mood for some major marriage angst.
March 9, 2018
Example of 80s and 90s subtle imposition (reconstructions attempts of women minds) of feminist idea which refused the role given women by society and by nature (innate motherhood and nesting feelings) since Adam and Eve.
We see the results of that attempt after 3 decades in today`s world. Many women lost their femininity and many men became emasculated by either women dominance or in seek of old time femininity. Family as a unit barely exist.
Feminism took femininity of women away.
Whereas, we needed other ways of seeking justice for women that wouldn't take away our femininity and destroy our family lives, make us all unhappy.
We see the results of that attempt after 3 decades in today`s world. Many women lost their femininity and many men became emasculated by either women dominance or in seek of old time femininity. Family as a unit barely exist.
Feminism took femininity of women away.
Whereas, we needed other ways of seeking justice for women that wouldn't take away our femininity and destroy our family lives, make us all unhappy.
February 18, 2023
cw: mention of past miscarriages, sexism, political incorrectness about adoption and infertility
I don’t have much to say other than it was pretty dated in some of the topics that were discussed. Like adoption and womanhood/marriage. It also ended pretty abruptly and I would’ve loved to see an epilogue of the hero and heroine with the babies that they planned to adopt.
I don’t have much to say other than it was pretty dated in some of the topics that were discussed. Like adoption and womanhood/marriage. It also ended pretty abruptly and I would’ve loved to see an epilogue of the hero and heroine with the babies that they planned to adopt.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 4, 2023
Too much everyday problems and no billionaire, I liked it! :)
August 6, 2012
Clare and Boyd have been happily married for several years. However, she has changed and is learning that she wants something a little different than the role she has been assigned in their marriage. She has had to be there for Boyd and his rise through the company for years, and now she finds that she has her own dreams and ambitions and wants Boyd to support her in them. Yet she seems to have to fight for her dreams before she realizes them and she comes to see that he does support her too!
It really wasn’t that angsty for me. I thought a few times something would spin it out of control but overall Boyd was a good guy if a bit of the old style from way back when, and Clare was the new woman emerging from the dictates of society. Yes, she had a job but it seemed that was just to occupy her unless and until Boyd needed her for something. She was unable to have children even though she really wanted them, but she learned that being the company wife wasn’t HER dream either! She stumbles a few times as she comes in to her own in their marriage, but she soon sees that despite what she believed of Boyd he really was there to support her in all her dreams. There were a few instances of OW trying to make trouble but Clare wasn’t falling for it, until she started feeling insecure about other things. I really enjoyed her showing this OW in the office scene though. Then, of course, there was OM who tried to “support” Clare, but she had been forewarned and she saw the light in that situation and even though we weren’t privy to Boyd’s confrontation w/ him I liked that she showed him the error of his ways! Overall it wasn’t a bad read, it just wasn’t stirring me up enough to care one way or the other.
It really wasn’t that angsty for me. I thought a few times something would spin it out of control but overall Boyd was a good guy if a bit of the old style from way back when, and Clare was the new woman emerging from the dictates of society. Yes, she had a job but it seemed that was just to occupy her unless and until Boyd needed her for something. She was unable to have children even though she really wanted them, but she learned that being the company wife wasn’t HER dream either! She stumbles a few times as she comes in to her own in their marriage, but she soon sees that despite what she believed of Boyd he really was there to support her in all her dreams. There were a few instances of OW trying to make trouble but Clare wasn’t falling for it, until she started feeling insecure about other things. I really enjoyed her showing this OW in the office scene though. Then, of course, there was OM who tried to “support” Clare, but she had been forewarned and she saw the light in that situation and even though we weren’t privy to Boyd’s confrontation w/ him I liked that she showed him the error of his ways! Overall it wasn’t a bad read, it just wasn’t stirring me up enough to care one way or the other.
November 25, 2024
Heavier than your typical HP, with the h dealing with rampant sexism, infertility, miscarriages and more on top of the usual maddening male/husband, OW, nefarious art dealers, etc. SW spends so much time building it up, though, and too little giving us satisfying reconciliations and resolutions and romance.
January 13, 2018
Typical Love story... Interestingly both husband and wife are faithful..
February 2, 2018
Wasn't too crazy about how it ended... but all in all was a good book
December 28, 2023
A poignant tale of marriage
January 19, 2021
Let’s face it this is a Mills&Boon publication so is never going to make the grade as highbrow literature. And ok I admit I have read a few in my time (on sleepless nights by way of a sedative) so do feel in a position to make that claim. Some however are better written than others but this is assuredly not one of them. The grammar is fine, the sentences string together coherently in a ploddy, domestic way, but oh dear God the characters and plot are appallingly sexist and utterly infuriating. There was certainly no being lulled to sleep reading this one, I was wide awake cross at how the supposed madly in love couple behaved. It’s absolutely nothing like the norm for its timeframe the early 1990s. Clare and Boyd are more like role models from the gender stereotypical 1940s or 1950s when wifey might have stayed home to pander to her husband’s whims and prop up his career. The main thrust in the Wayward Wife which is after all marketed as a ‘romance’ is a power struggle between Clare and Boyd over whether she will or will not provide his company with free hostess services when he requires it. And all at the drop of a hat negating her own career and any plans she might have in favour of his. Did such company wives ever exist – certainly not in my working world maybe in that of Sally Wentworth with her life full of ‘craftwork and bridge plus regular trips to the theatre and ballet’. The few dreary sex scenes completely fail to pull this back from the brink. Dross. Avoid unless you want a really good explosive rant at something.
October 10, 2012
This was actually pretty good, the early chapters was kinda boring but afterwards,it was fast-paced and i was hooked to the story.
The only complaint i have is that i wanted a prologue as i felt that the ending felt rushed and some minor plots were not resolved.
It was however a very good book
i reviewed it way too fast. Now that i think about it, it doesn't deserve my 4.5 star rating.
Damn, i was extremeeeeeely deceived by the "incomplete" and "rushed" ending and i totally hate it!
It could have beeeeeeeen a very good read if the author continued the story.
i did enjoy the fast-paced story HOWEVER
November 1, 2019
Unwanted company
After eight years of marriage, Boyd Russell loved and desired his wife more than ever. And he wanted her by his side as he climbed to the top of the corporate ladder.
But Clare had changed. She loved Boyd and wanted to share his success, but she also wanted more. She had ambitions that had nothing to do with his-ambitions he refused to see or understand. Would she really be forced to make a choice, or had Boyd already made the decision for her?
After eight years of marriage, Boyd Russell loved and desired his wife more than ever. And he wanted her by his side as he climbed to the top of the corporate ladder.
But Clare had changed. She loved Boyd and wanted to share his success, but she also wanted more. She had ambitions that had nothing to do with his-ambitions he refused to see or understand. Would she really be forced to make a choice, or had Boyd already made the decision for her?
April 16, 2016
1.25 stars
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May 22, 2016الزوجة المتمردة ـ سالي وينترووث
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