Blurb:
I had an affair. The most forbidden and seductive affair, and fell in Love.
He was a rare gentleman, intelligent and gorgeous; a man every woman desired. Every cell in my body was telling me that he was my happily ever after.
I was stuck in a marriage of mediocrity, I ached for red silk romance and carry me away passion, but not with my husband. I craved Him.
Living without him was cruel and unusual punishment, even for my wandering heart.
Affairytale is a tantalizing memoir of sultry encounters, hidden grottos and secret hillside cabins. From the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes to the Southern shores of Maui you’ll fall in love with this tell-all memoir that pulls back the veil on infidelity and gives you rare look into hearts and bedroom of a real life extramarital affair.
Woven with original love letters and scandalous text messages, this engrossing true love story is sure to break then win your heart.
True Love always finds a way.
Sometimes...it starts with an affair.
Review: 4.25 Stars
A personal story first: When I was about 17, my mom and I were into going to see psychics, having our tea leaves read...that kind of stuff. Mostly, the readings I was given were bullshit, vague, could apply to anyone kind of stuff. But, I recall asking one psychic about my love life. I think I was asking in the context of my boyfriend at the time. She said something along the lines of: He is a nice guy, but he isn't the one for you. But, you know that already (note: I knew that already). The person you're going to marry is named Rob. He has brown hair. You already know him.
The psychic described him further, but I don't recall the information. The parts I've written about stick out to me because, at the time, I could only think of one guy named Rob, a classmate with blond hair. Also not someone that I ever felt a connection to (my best friend at the time was infatuated with him). So, I basically forgot all about the reading and chalked it up to more BS.
A few years ago, something reminded me of the reading and my memory of the information about Rob came back to me. Holy shit...my husband's name is Rob and he has brown hair. Only thing is I didn't meet him until I was 19 or 20.
What would my life have become if I stuck it out with the guy I was dating at the time (i.e., not the one for me) and never met Rob? Or, met Rob while in a committed relationship with someone else? The whole idea just makes me feel sad and grateful that it never came to that.
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This book was a compelling read. I really wanted to know how things would unfold. But, the prevailing feeling I had while reading most of it was sadness. I felt sad about the time lost with the right person; sad about the abusive and destructive relationship between CJ and Levi; sad about Levi's obliviousness of what a healthy relationship looks like and their co-dependency on something so toxic; sad about the affair; sad about Dani being in an environment where her parents are viciously fighting; sad about CJ undiagnosed pain; sad because her true love was there before CJ got married and she wasn't strong enough to get off the train to nowhere that was her life with Levi; sad because Levi is a real person who may not be the best communicator, but may be someone else's true love (I kind of want to give Levi a hug and find him a woman who will happily give him nightly blow jobs); sad because I was waiting for the other shoe to drop with Grant...the list goes on.
It's just harder to detach from other people's challenges when they're real and not just part of an author's imagination. I'm glad that things worked out for CJ and Grant. Being a private person myself, I have a hard time imagining sharing that much of myself with the world and making a name in the literary world based on an affair.
Kudos to CJ for being honest (or, at least, her version of things) and not downplaying her ugly behaviour. I don't fully understand Grant's character -- why was he was ok being with CJ when she was married (he never pressured her to leave her husband)? He almost seemed to get off on the potential of getting caught. I was waiting for some bomb to go off with Grant since there was foreshadowing regarding his disaster of an office, canoe full of papers, paying his mom to clean his house, reckless behaviour, trail of exes who weren't "the one"....Those were mostly red herrings.
