Adultery | Book Chatter

The Ten Year Affair
By Erin Somers
Simon & Schuster, October 2025, 304pp.

The Short of It:

Compelling and thoughtful.

The Rest of It:

When Cora meets Sam at a baby group in their small town, the chemistry between them is undeniable. Both are happily married young parents with two kids, and neither sees themselves as the type to engage in an affair. Yet their connection grows stronger, and as their lives continue to intertwine, the romantic tension between them becomes all-consuming—until their worlds unravel into two parallel timelines. In one, they pursue their feelings. In the other, they resist. ~ from the publisher

I saw The Ten Year Affair on the Tournament of Books 2026 shortlist and was immediately intrigued. Luckily, I found it quickly on Libby and blew through it. It’s an amazing read in that you absolutely feel the conflict between these characters as well as the temptation. Oh boy, the temptation.

Cora is happily married to her husband. But is she really happy? Things have gotten rather safe. Her husband spends a lot of time smoking weed on the balcony while the kids sleep. The weed, well, it affects things in the bedroom. He’s struggling at work and she’s just miserable doing the same thing over and over both at work and at home.

Sam, is the dad of dads. His wife is an overachiever and very successful. He holds down the fort but is this his life now? Going to daddy and me classes and running the kids back and forth?

Sam and Cora end up at one of those baby and me classes and there is an instant attraction. Sam listens to Cora in the way that her husband does not. The two forge an immediate bond. Friendly, sweet. They decide to bring their significant others into the mix, signifying a platonic friendship, just looking for a little parental support.

That’s how it starts out.

Then, Cora begins to imagine an alternate reality. In that timeline, she and Sam are seeing each other. In the real world she refrains, they both do, but in that other timeline, things get serious pretty fast. The story bounces back and forth between the imagined timeline and what is actually happening until the two blur together and then there is only one timeline.

This is an intense read. Sam and Cora’s “relationship” spans ten years. Ten years of wishing, and hoping and then pulling the trigger. How does such a relationship affect these two families. How is it right, when two marriages are at stake? But it FEELS right. That’s the conflict. Erin Somers writes a story that has you going one way and then the other. Cora isn’t in the wrong. She’s not getting the attention she needs. And then, how could Cora do that? How could they start something while still fully involved with their spouses?

I would hazard to guess that anyone who has been married for say 15+ years or more, has experienced some of these feelings. Somers has created real, flawed, characters but ones that you root for even though what you are rooting for is potentially a marriage break-up. That’s conflict to the highest degree. If I had to assign a song to this book, it would be Depeche’s A Question of Lust.

Highly recommend. I went digging around to see what else she’s written and I see one other book, Stay Up with Hugo Best and I will for sure find a copy.

Source: Borrowed
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The Vacationers
By Emma Straub
(Riverhead Hardcover, 9781594631573, May 2014, 304pp.)

The Short of It:

Vacations have the ability to restore within you, what’s been missing all along.

The Rest of It:

The Post family heads to the island of Mallorca for two weeks of much-needed bliss. Franny and Jim have been married for 35 years but after his recent indiscretion with a young woman in his office, Franny is convinced that the marriage is over but goes along with the vacation for the sake of her daughter Sylvia, who is heading to college in the fall and her son Bobby, who is meeting them there and bringing along his much older girlfriend whom no one likes. Along for the ride is Franny’s good friend Charles and his husband Lawrence, both of which are waiting anxiously for word on the adoption they applied for before arriving at the house. Toss in a sexy tutor for Sylvia and this rag-tag group of vacationers is complete.

I can’t say that I really enjoyed any of the characters in this novel, but the interactions between them felt very real to me. Tension runs high as Franny and Jim’s secret comes out. But what impressed me the most is how accurately this family is portrayed. It’s a vacation, on a beautiful island but all is not pretty and that’s typically how it is when you gather a bunch of strong personalities and put them under one roof. There’s bickering and a lot of politics when it comes to sharing meals and beds. Set against the backdrop of a beautiful island it all seems gritty and unpleasant but at the same time, impossible to ignore.

It’s not a page turner, in that you’ll find yourself anxiously flipping pages to see how it all turns out, but it’s an interesting read nonetheless. Given the setting and title, I can see a lot of beach goers adding this one to their summer bag but it’s definitely for readers who enjoy a little dysfunction in their summer reading. I could smell the tanning oil while reading it but I also kind of needed a drink right after. It’s that kind of book.

Source: Sent to me by the publisher via Edelweiss.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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