Marriage | 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
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

The Mad Wife
By Megan Church
Sourcebooks Landmark, Sept 2025, 352pp.

The Short of It:

Holy smokes.

The Rest of It:

My favorite thing is to read in bed, late into the night. This one night, I poorly planned my reading, scrolled up and turned the last page. What? So, I did what any reader would do. I began to frantically scroll through Hoopla and Libby to find my next read. Fast.

The Mad Wife is what I settled on. I loved the retro cover and I have a thing for domesticity and minutiae. I dove right in.

Wow. The wife in this story isn’t mad like angry, although there is plenty to be angry about. No, Lulu Mayfield has been deemed MAD by well-meaning neighbors, her own husband, and the doctors who see her. Diagnosed with Hysteria.

In the 50’s, that seemed to be a thing. Raising baby after baby with little to no sleep and still responsible for putting dinner on the table every single night, keeping the house presentable, and maintaining an attractive appearance (hair, makeup, and the like). It was the norm, and apparently women who couldn’t do it were prescribed meds to help, or even worse.

Lulu Mayfield is a likable but flawed character. She has a darling son, and a newborn baby but motherhood is never easy for her. Not like it is for the other moms in her suburban neighborhood. They seem to do it without any effort at all. Every morning she gazes at the empty home across the street, daydreaming that it’s hers and she can enjoy just a little bit of peace.

That home is not empty for long. Bitsy and Gary move in with their daughter Kathleen and things are not quite right. Bitsy is friendly, but distant. Lulu watches them when they don’t know it, and Bitsy is off in a way that’s hard for Lulu to understand. What is going on over there?

Lulu has some good friends in her circle, but no one truly understands the isolation that she feels or just how bad she’s gotten. As she struggles to do daily tasks, she fails miserably. She begins to question the point of living. Even with her children, she finds herself to be a poor example of parenting and an even worse example of a doting wife as her husband struggles with insecurities at work.

This is a marvelous read. I couldn’t help but root for Lulu. She’s so fragile and yet no one sees how despondent she is. Doctors!! Oh my gosh, male doctors are still doing this today. Dismissing serious symptoms and calling it anxiety. Lose some weight, get some exercise. Sure. When you can’t even lift your head off the pillow, how the heck are you supposed to do that?

Church’s writing stirs up empathy and rage!! I often found myself absolutely outraged at what Lulu was subjected to. Reading the book definitely reminded me of those early morning hours spent with a screaming infant and how easy it was to feel so alone in the world.

There is a twist that I will not mention. You need to discover it for yourself.

Well done. Highly recommend.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

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