***Note, this is a repeat of an old blog post! Enjoy! I recall this novel being both funny and endearing.
Leave It To Claire by Tracey Bateman
Could you be friends with your unfaithful ex-husband’s new wife? The main character in Leave It To Claire struggles with this predicament.
I really enjoyed this book. The author has the perfect voice for chicklit(or momlit, not sure about the correct way to categorize this story). The story is about Claire Everett, a fairly successful romance author and the struggles she has to go through to raise her four kids as a single mother. Claire struggles to forgive her ex-husband, Rick, for his infidelity. He had an affair, and since their divorce, he’s gotten remarried. Claire finds it hard to have a relationship with Rick’s fairly new wife since Claire has a hard time separating the fact that Darcy is NOT the woman who Rick had an affair with. Subconsciously, and wrongly, she blames Darcy for her marital breakup.
As Claire deals with her issues, she suffers through two carpal tunnel syndrome surgeries, and struggles to accept Darcy’s kind offer to help. As a result of her son’s behavioral problems, she must attend family therapy with her husband and Darcy in order to discover the root to her son’s problems. She also makes a list of things to do to improve her life. She promises herself to strengthen her faith in God, as well as improve her relationship with her family. She decides to have family study time and weekly social events with her kids, hoping to bond with them.
Claire also finds herself attracted to Greg, her son’s handsome teacher. When her mother moves to another state, she is saddened. However, when Greg buys her mother’s home(down the street from her house) and moves in with his young daughter, Claire discovers he is a widower. She fantasizes about having a relationship with her son’s teacher, and he’s there for her when she goes through her anxiety attacks.
In the end, a rude awakening takes place when Darcy forces Claire to admit to her role in her husband’s infidelity. Darcy makes Claire come to terms with her mistakes, and to admit to the mistakes she’s made in her marriage to Rick.
This book was excellent. Although the family would be considered dysfunctional, the author uses her humorous voice to show how Claire deals with her problems. Tracey Bateman also shows us how, if we find our faith wavering, we need to make solid decisions about making our faith stronger in God.
So, could you be friends with your unfaithful ex-husband’s new wife? Leave a comment!
Love the new look! I read so many blogs via Google Reader, I miss the design changes.
No, couldn’t happen, unless we found ourselves thrown together in a latter part of life in which he no longer was alive and God had scrubbed my heart with forgiveness for every year from his betrayal up to that point. See, he wasn’t unfaithful by himself (assuming he was unfaithful with her).
Thanks, Patricia! I couldn’t see myself being friends with my unfaithful husband’s new wife either! I could see myself being civilized, especially if there are kids involved and you have to work out child-rearing duties.
Granted, I must point out that in Tracey’s book, the husband had been unfaithful, which led to their divorce. However, the woman he ended up marrying was not the same woman whom he used to cheat on his wife.
If I still had deep feelings for my husband, then, maybe it would work out, not sure.
Thanks for the compliments about my “new-looking” blog. I was having so many problems with blogger that it turned into a nightmare! Blogger deleted my blog and I had to do multiple things to get it back, using a special code that they texted to my cell phone! Weird! After that happened, I knew it was time to leave and place my blog on my website! LOL!
NO,NO,NO…When my ex-husband dumped me after 25 years of marriage and 3 months after we renewed our wedding vows there was NO way I could ever have been friends with her, let alone him. He told me he had met the love of his life and married her on Christmas Day. They were married for 13 1/2 years when she divorced him. I on the other hand have been happily married for almost 9 years now. Even though I have forgiven him I will never ever have a conversation with him. The best thing that came out of that marriage was my two children. My Son just turned 40 last month and my Daughter turned 38 in June.
Blessings!
My goodness, Judy! It’s awful that you had to go through that, but, it’s a blessing that you are now happily married. Yes, we can forgive, but, sometimes, it’s hard to forget.
I will never ever forget. Not being mean about it but how can one forget being married for 25 years and dumped 3 months after renewing your wedding vows. I look at it this way, it is his loss!
That is a very hard question, my initial response is, “heck no,” me and the new wife would not be friends, but I find that as my relationship with God strengthens, I am able to do things I never thought I would be. When I first gave my life to Christ, I knew I had been changed when I didn’t flick off the person who pulled out in front of me on the highway. So again, I wouldn’t want to be friends with the new wife, but you never know what could happen. God is so mysterious in how He brings about life lessons.
Hi, Tiara.
Yes, the Lord works in mysterious ways. We can do all things through our faith in Him – even becoming friends with our ex-husband’s new wife!