Genres: Contemporary Romance
Published by Penguin Group
Released on November 5, 2019
Pages: 352
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
The Delight
A story about a group of men belonging to a book club with the sole function of saving their marriages and helping other men save their own, grabbed my attention from the book blurb onward. The positive hype surrounding the book only fueled my desire to read this story. And with only a couple of misgivings, I can say it delivered.
Review
Thea and Gavin Scott are a married couple with deep problems. Only Gavin had no idea there were any problems until his wife has to admit to faking orgasms. Instead of trying to talk about their problems, Gavin shuts his wife out and moves into the guestroom. Eventually, she asks him to leave. Gavin is devastated, as is Thea. Neither are talking and a divorce seems imminent. Del, Gavin’s best friend and fellow baseball teammate comes to the rescue. He takes Gavin to a meeting of the book club to help him save his marriage. This means lots of personalities get involved in the intimate details of Gavin’s life. The main tool they use is a historical romance that Gavin has to read. He also has to keep the details of the book club hush hush and do exactly what they tell him to do. It’s not exactly smooth sailing.
I really enjoyed how real the characters of Thea and Gavin were written. They are both good people, no matter how clueless Gavin has been in the past. His life revolves around baseball and he doesn’t have much left over for his wife and twin daughters. Thea gave up finishing her degree to raise the children and keep the home fires burning while Gavin travels for his job. She’s a good mom and homemaker, but she wants more. She grew up in bad circumstances and has residual problems due to that. Gavin has had baseball his whole life to fall back on. There never was any hint he would do anything but play. When he met Thea, they immediately fell for each other and married soon after. They never got that alone time together before life got in the way. Thea’s sister Liv moves in with Thea when Gavin moves out. She was not my favorite character. I found her to be a snarky woman, one that wouldn’t let up against Gavin, who really needed to mind her own business. To be fair, she too has some of the same issues as Thea. Braden Mack is a member of the book club. He was an egotistical man who thought he was God’s gift to women. I also disliked him immensely. Those two characters are my misgivings/problems about this book. Thank goodness for Del and his wife. They were the good guys in this story.
It comes down to a story about forgiveness and taking responsibility for one’s actions. Gavin has a bit of growing up to do and some groveling to accomplish and Thea has some real issues in her past to let go of in addition to her problems with Gavin. It was fun reading the historical romance right along with Gavin at times and then seeing how he used the information. The guys in the book club are in the middle of everything-sometimes being outright funny. I just wished for Liv to lighten up and for Braden to get over himself. I’m sure I am in the minority about them though.
After all is said and done, it was a 4 star read for me so I do highly recommend it to adult romance readers. You really need to meet these engaging characters, Gavin and Thea.
pReview
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I found this pair were written well for this circumstance, too. You’re not the only one with reservations about that side pair and wondering if they even want to read book two. 🙂
Yeah it’s on Net Galley, but I didn’t request it
A book I’ve seen featured on a few blogs now. Great to see a story about such a club written from the perspective of the male characters. With a blurb that grabs you I’m glad that for you it turned out to be a four star read .
Some of it was from the wife’s perspective too. Thanks!
I heard about this one but I haven’t tried it
I had heard a lot about it too until I saw it was still on Net Galley. Now the new one is there instead.
This sounds great and I love the idea of the book club helping him.
That part was fun-the club I mean.
I’ll be reading this one pretty soon so I can’t read the review right now. It looks like you enjoyed it though and I’ve heard good things.
I did enjoy it, although there was a certain aspect that I didn’t. I’ll be interested to see what you think.
I hope to get to this one soon. I have a copy that I bought sitting on my shelves but haven’t had the chance to fit it in. I really like the fact that the couple in the story are already married.
Yes, that was different for a change for sure. I was pretty shocked to find it still on Net Galley well after it was released. Now the second one is there to request.
I think what I loved the most, was the idea that Gavin would go to such lengths to fight for his marriage, and the passages from the book club book were fit into the story so well to align with what was going on. I adored the bromance too. It’s nice to see men talking about their feelings.
Yes, it was nice to men talking about their feelings for a change!
Sounds like a good one. And I am LOVING that cover with a cover on it. Made my day
It was a good one. I’m glad you enjoyed the cover too!
Nope, I agree about the side-pair and hope we see some growth in those too.
I don’t think I even want to read the second one. I’ll be interested to see what you think!
Very fascinating premise here Lorna. I haven’t read it but I have heard some good things about it. I can see why you had reservations for this couple though.
Yes, and the next book is about them so, I’m not going to read it. It was a good premise though.