Review: Every Wrong Reason, by Rachel Higginson

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Synopsis

First comes love.

Then comes marriage.

Then comes the… really nasty divorce.

Kate Carter thought she married her soul mate. She thought she had her happily ever after. But seven years into Kate’s marriage, she realizes that her husband Nick is not what she wanted. He’s selfish, he’s oblivious and he doesn’t love her anymore.

Maybe she doesn’t love him anymore either.

Divorce is the only option if either of them wants to find happiness.

Kate and Nick thought they knew what they wanted, but neither is prepared for the heartache that separating will bring them. The journey they embark on is not the freedom they wished for, but a painful look at the people they’ve become.

At the end of it, Kate has to decide if this is really the life she wants or if maybe there’s a way to salvage her broken heart.

Review

4.5 out of 5 stars

In Every Wrong Reason author Rachel Higginson explores after the HEA.  You know life after you’ve found your soul mate, after you’ve said “I do,” years after the honeymoon phase of your marriage has ended and you’ve progressed into the every day reality where life isn’t perfect, where your partner doesn’t always do what you think is right.  Real life isn’t easy and marriage is far from being a piece of cake.  It takes two people willing to fight for one another, choosing to be a part of a whole unit.  It’s choosing to fight when you feel like you have absolutely nothing left to fight for. And wow, Rachel Higginson knows how to perfectly capture the essence of “real” life.

I don’t know that I’ve ever read a more genuine book based on two characters who seem as real as my husband and myself.  Every Wrong Reason doesn’t contain any unnecessary drama, I swear it could be based off of someone’s real life.  It’s a story full of angst, but not the kind you typically find in a romance novel.  This book is all about the good, bad and sometimes ugly sides of real love, and it’s brilliantly executed as well as written. 

Rachel Higginson starts each chapter with a reason why Kate is divorcing her husband, but as Kate explores the reason you begin to wonder if that isn’t in fact the absolute wrong reason to demand a divorce.  To be perfectly honest I found her character incredibly frustrating for most of the book.  As the reader, and not the character I could see more clearly that this was a woman who loved her husband, but she was proud, determined to stick to her decision and it clouded her perspective, blocked her from truly seeing what she wanted in her life.  In perhaps even seeing her own faults.  At the same time though Kate’s character is written so incredibly real that she could be me. 

I am telling you this book, this plot, it may seem simple but Rachel Higginson takes the simple to extraordinary.  I keep saying it’s real and I know many of us read to escape but sometimes we need a book like this to remind us that in marriage we are often better together!  While I feel as though I am struggling to communicate how wonderful I think this book is the answer is fairly simple….just buy it and read it for yourself, then you’ll truly understand my glowing recommendation!