Book Review: Man Up Husband - Danielle Sibarium
Synopsis:
Secrets are like explosives- hard to handle, dangerous and sometimes lethal. A marriage with secrets is a marriage on the brink of destruction. Falling for Troy Evans was a fairy tale. As real life took hold, things changed. Once upon a time, we couldn’t keep our hands off each other. Now we barely touch each other. Talking is close to impossible, until Troy turns the heat between us up a notch. I’m falling in love with him all over again, but I have a secret. A secret I’m afraid will destroy us. Marlena Madden was everything I could ever ask for. She’s smart and beautiful, my perfect match. I love her more than anything. Somehow we allowed married life and parenthood to swallow us up and come between us. Exploring ways to pull us out of the humdrum routine we fell into, we’re making our way back to each other. But I can’t help but feel there is something she’s not telling me. Something dark. Something that’s threatening to destroy us.
At first, I didn’t know what to think or expect from this book. Marlena and Troy are at a wedding together. He thinks she has feelings for his friend, she thinks he’s been cheating on her, and we find out it’s all a bunch insecurities built up in their heads. The real story comes later, once they find a way to rekindle their relationship. The book is well written with alternating character POVs. It was a quick and easy read, but had the right type of build and length. I loved the characters and would love to see a continuation of the story.
Marlena and Troy have a typical marriage – they have children and their life revolves around the children and they “forget” about them as a couple. This is probably a problem in most marriages that people don’t realize or don’t talk about. This is a story about a couple that has similar insecurities in their marriage but they fail to communicate it to each other. They love each other but when they become complacent in their lives this leads to fears, insecurities, and jealousy. Just when you think things are looking up they get hit with another life changing event. Can they communicate and work through everything to get the ending they both desire?
This book has alternating POV, which I like, as you can see the story from different perspectives. You can see how miscommunication can lead to problems. I could certainly empathize with the characters and the emotional roller coasters and needs that they had. The struggle they have is real and heartbreaking. You want to yell at the characters and tell them to stop being stupid, to shut up and listen and yet you want to hug them and tell them it will all be okay. There are so many emotions in the book from laughter to tears. The book has some sexual scenes that are pretty explicit however the sex does not over power the story. There is a great storyline with just the added benefit of the sex. I enjoyed the story and would recommend this to anyone that likes a romance with a little steamy side to it.