Book picks similar to
All We Never Knew by Elena Aitken


cheating
elena-aitken
heartbreaking
fiction

Midnight at the Wandering Vineyard


Jamie Raintree - 2019
    They decide to complete the bucket list they created the summer they were 18, the summer that saw their friendship torn apart. But when the man who came between them all those years ago reappears, it challenges their fragile new bond and pushes each woman to confront past hurts and buried truths.

The Other Woman


Eric Jerome Dickey - 2003
    The central couple's biggest challenge is timing: He works days; she works nights. Instead of growing together, they're rapidly drifting apart, coexisting on stolen phone calls from work, punctuated by occasional bedroom encounters that leave them both feeling even emptier and more alone. When she finds out about his affair-and starts her own-the delicate fabric of their marriage is torn irrevocably asunder. Or is it? In Dickey's expert hands, what begins as a seemingly unforgivable betrayal segues into the sexy and searing story of a man and a woman at a pivotal turning point in their relationship. Only time will tell whether they'll let it all go...or can hold on to the love that drew them together in the first place.

The Making of Us


Lisa Jewell - 2011
    His friend Maggie sits with him every day; she holds his hand and she listens to the story of his life, to his regrets and to his secrets. And then he tells her about the children he has never met and never will. He talks of them wistfully. His legacy, he calls them. Lydia, Dean and Robyn don't know each other. Yet. And they are all facing difficult changes. Lydia is still wearing the scars from her traumatic childhood and although she is wealthy and successful, her life is lonely and disjointed. Dean is a young man, burdened with unexpected responsibility, whose life is going nowhere. And Robyn wants to be a doctor, just like her father - a man she's never met. But is her whole life built on an illusion? Three people leading three very different lives. All lost. All looking for something. But when they slowly find their way into each other's lives, everything starts to change ...

The Year I Left


Christine Brae - 2019
    A confident businesswoman, wife, and mother, she begins to resent everything about her life. Nothing makes sense. Nothing makes her feel. Maybe it’s the recent loss of her mother in a tragic accident. Or maybe she’s just losing her mind. Enter Matias Torres. As their new business partnership thrives, so does their friendship—and his interest in her. Carin is determined to keep her distance, until a work assignment sends them to Southeast Asia where a storm is brewing on the island. In the midst of the chaos, Matias asks her to do something unimaginable, exhilarating, BOLD. Carin knows the consequences could be dire, but it may be the only way to save herself. An honest look at love and marriage and the frailties of the human heart, this is a story of a woman’s loss of self and purpose and the journey she takes to find her way back.

Reflection


Diane Chamberlain - 1996
    "One of the premier writers of contemporary fiction." -- "Romantic Times" Diane Chamberlain's background as a psychotherapist and clinical social worker is evident in her psychologically complex characters.Will appeal to fans of the novels of Anne Rivers Siddons, Barbara Delinsky, and Rosamunde Pilcher.

Lily of the Springs


Carole Bellacera - 2012
    Jake has no intention of letting the inconvenience of marriage stop him from what he believes is his due. In actuality, Lily is the one who is trapped. She loves Jake-always has, since they were children playing in the woods on adjoining properties--and she's convinced she can eventually make him love her. All it will take is desire and patience. Once the baby arrives, they will be the perfect little family. From Lily's home on Opal Springs Ridge to a four-year stint at an army base in New Boston, Texas, and finally, to life on their own in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Lily struggles to maintain a rocky marriage with a moody, immature husband while raising two daughters. Set during the "American Dream" period of the '50s and into the turbulent '60's, LILY OF THE SPRINGS is a story of a woman's indomitable spirit and her fight for independence and identity in an "Ozzie & Harriet" society. "LILY OF THE SPRINGS is like a slow dance to a Patsy Cline song in the arms of your one true love. From the very first page, it draws you back to another time and place and makes you want to stay there forever. Carole Bellacera is a master storyteller...".Teresa Medeiros, New York Times bestselling author of GOODNIGHT TWEETHEART "LILY OF THE SPRINGS is an epic story about Lily Ray Foster's poor choice in the man she marries that takes a generation to right. Clashes between Lily and her husband Jake and Lily and her mother-in-law sizzle with excitement. A poignant and epic romance novel that's hard to put down. Erotic, explosive, shattering, realistic--Carole Bellacera's new romance novel has them all and a whole lot more."--Rose Campion, author of NO TIME TO CRY and the forthcoming SINNERS CAN'T BE CHOOSERS .

The Marriage Lie


Kimberly Belle - 2016
    But on the morning Will leaves for a business trip to Orlando, Iris's happy world comes to an abrupt halt. Another plane headed for Seattle has crashed into a field, killing everyone on board, and according to the airline, Will was one of the passengers on this plane. Grief-stricken and confused, Iris is convinced it all must be a huge misunderstanding. But as time passes and there is still no sign of Will, she reluctantly accepts that he is gone. Still, Iris needs answers. Why did Will lie about where he was going? What is in Seattle? And what else has he lied about? As Iris sets off on a desperate quest to find out what her husband was keeping from her, the answers she receives will shock her to her very core.

Made to Love


S.M. West - 2020
    Now divorced by choice, I’ve reinvented myself, pouring my heart into my business. Then Samson Beaulieu walks into my life and turns everything upside down. Instead of running, I indulge in him. He’s delectable and fun and that’s all we can ever be. Because there’s no doubt this younger, sexy man will break my heart. I’m what you’d call a reluctant celebrity. Cooking is my passion, but fame is a constant with foodies flocking for selfies and autographs. Then Olivia Cassidy walks into my restaurant and turns everything upside down. She gives me a chance, but not her heart. And that’s not good enough. I want her more than any restaurant or TV deal. Walking away isn’t an option.

A Beginner's Guide to Free Fall


Andy Abramowitz - 2020
    Brothers and sisters. Mothers and daughters. Okay, everybody. Hold on tight. Davis Winger has it all. A respected engineer who designs roller coasters in theme parks across the country, he is deeply in love with his wife and has a beautiful young daughter and a happy home. Until an accident strikes on one of his rides. Nothing fatal—except to his career. And to his marriage, when a betrayal from his past inadvertently comes to light. In one cosmically bad day, Davis loses it all.His sister, Molly, is at a crossroads herself. She’s coasting through a dire relationship with an incompatible man-child. And she’s a journalist whose deeply personal columns about mothers and daughters are forcing her to confront the truth about her own mother, who abandoned Molly and Davis years ago and disappeared.For these two siblings, it’s just a matter of bracing themselves for one turbulent summer in this redemptive and painfully funny family drama about making the best of the sharp turns in life—those we choose to take and those beyond our control.

The Arrangement


Sarah Dunn - 2017
    They've got a two hundred year-old house, an autistic son obsessed with the Titanic, and 17 chickens, at last count. It's the kind of paradise where stay-at-home moms team up to cook the school's "hot lunch," dads grill grass-fed burgers, and, as Lucy observes, "chopping kale has become a certain kind of American housewife's version of chopping wood."When friends at a wine-soaked dinner party reveal they've made their marriage open, sensible Lucy balks. There's a part of her, though – the part that worries she's become too comfortable being invisible-that's intrigued. Why not try a short marital experiment? Six months, clear ground rules, zero questions asked. When an affair with a man in the city begins to seem more enticing than the happily-ever-after she's known for the past nine years, Lucy must decide what truly makes her happy – "real life," or the "experiment?"

Always the Last to Know


Kristan Higgins - 2020
    Barb and John, married almost fifty years, are testy and bored with each other...who could blame them after all this time? At least they have their daughters-- Barb's favorite, the perfect, brilliant Juliet; and John's darling, the free-spirited Sadie. The girls themselves couldn't be more different, but at least they got along, more or less. It was fine. It was enough.Until the day John had a stroke, and their house of cards came tumbling down.Now Sadie has to put her career as a teacher and struggling artist in New York on hold to come back and care for her beloved dad--and face the love of her life, whose heart she broke, and who broke hers. Now Juliet has to wonder if people will notice that despite her perfect career as a successful architect, her perfect marriage to a charming Brit, and her two perfect daughters, she's spending an increasing amount of time in the closet having panic attacks.And now Barb and John will finally have to face what's been going on in their marriage all along.From the author of Good Luck with That and Life and Other Inconveniences comes a new novel of heartbreaking truths and hilarious honesty about what family really means.

Torn


Melody Anne - 2018
    I know, your first thought is “Of course you can — you’re a cheater.” That’s true, but that’s certainly not the whole story. That’s always what a cheater says, right? Once again, you are correct. If you’re looking for a typical romance, then run — run far. After ten years of marriage I realized my husband barely touched me anymore. There was the obligational monthly sex, but even that was starting to fizzle. I was twenty-nine and he was thirty-two. We should’ve been doing it like bunnies, night and day, or at least a couple times a week, to be more realistic. But that hadn’t happened in years. It didn’t hit me until I’d been gone a couple of weeks. Then when I got home we both fell asleep that night, me snuggled up against his back like we always slept. But that’s all we did. We just … slept. No big deal you say? Wrong. It was a very big deal. It was the night I realized we had a real problem. I have a choice to make, but I'm so torn. Do I stay where I'm at or do I go with Kaden, with the man who's showing me I still have a lot to live for ...

The Yes Factor


Erin Spencer - 2020
    Bex just wants to stay in bed with Outlander. With 40 right around the corner, divorced single mom Bex is too busy being a chauffeur for her teenage daughter to bother swiping for dates. Her best friend Liv, who is married to the supposedly perfect man, swoops in from London on a mission to get Bex out of her own bed and in to someone else's. Liv pushes Bex into a week-long whirlwind of dates, awkward kisses and missed connections.What could possibly go wrong when Bex agrees to Liv's harebrained scheme of saying Yes to every possible suitor? And why is Liv so intent on fixing Bex's love life, or lack thereof? Just what do you find out when all of your no's turn into The Yes Factor?

Wrecking Ball


B.N. Toler - 2014
    A guy who didn’t believe in love at first sight, suddenly believed. A girl who believed a bad boy would always be bad, changed her mind. With Sophia by Brandon’s side, he knew he could conquer the world, and Sophia had never felt more loved or wanted in her life. They were good together.But even the strongest of foundations can be crumbled. Sometimes all it takes is one moment, fleeting as it may be, to crush what was once strong and indestructible, like a wrecking ball. Now Sophia has left and as she rediscovers herself, Brandon is left holding the shattered pieces of their lives, trying to figure out how to put them back together. He loves her.She loves him.All he needs now is to make her remember that.

The Break


Marian Keyes - 1999
    . . We're taking a break.''A city-with-fancy-food sort of break?'If only.Amy's husband Hugh says he isn't leaving her.He still loves her, he's just taking a break - from their marriage, their children and, most of all, from their life together. Six months to lose himself in south-east Asia. And there is nothing Amy can say or do about it.Yes, it's a mid-life crisis, but let's be clear: a break isn't a break up - yet . . .However, for Amy it's enough to send her - along with her extended family of gossips, misfits and troublemakers - teetering over the edge.For a lot can happen in six-months. When Hugh returns if he returns, will he be the same man she married? And will Amy be the same woman?Because if Hugh is on a break from their marriage, then isn't she?The Break isn't a story about falling in love but about staying in love. It is Marian Keyes at her funniest, wisest and brilliant best.