Book picks similar to
An Unsuitable Marriage by Colette Dartford


marriage-in-trouble
cheating
groveling
who-woman

Once More With Feeling


Megan Crane - 2012
    If only she could figure out how she got into this position in the first place, Sarah is sure she could fix it. Somehow. But when Sarah digs into her past, she finds she has to face all the ghosts she left behind—and the reason she left them there. One very tall, very sexy reason named Alec Frasier, who might hold the key to the kind of future Sarah used to dream about. Yet when Tim wakes up and can’t remember what he did, Sarah has the chance to slip back into her old life as if she never left it. Trouble is, she’s no longer sure it fits…

All We Never Knew


Elena Aitken - 2020
    On the cusp of her fortieth birthday and with her only child almost grown, it's time to start putting herself and her marriage first. But when the butterflies in her tummy turn out to be morning sickness, Maren’s world is flipped upside down with an unplanned, high risk pregnancy—one she's ashamed to admit is unwanted.Overnight, everything changes and the ripple effect of the baby she's so unsure of is felt in every corner of her life. Her perfect life slowly disappears. Her teenage daughter looks for attention in the wrong places. Her best friend inexplicably blows up and stops speaking to her. And worse, her once doting husband pulls away when she needs him the most.Just when she's sure things couldn't possibly be worse, a shocking discovery rocks Maren's world. Faced with a devastating deception, a truth she can no longer ignore, and an impossible choice, can Maren stop her life from completely unraveling? Or is All We Never Knew too much for love to overcome?

Ditch Flowers


Amanda Linsmeier - 2015
    Just holding one sets Julia’s heart thumping. She’s wanted a child for so long. When she finally gets pregnant, she’s bursting to tell the world….until a checkup from the doctor confirms a miscarriage.Julia’s world feels like it’s dissolving. This second tragedy following her father-in-law’s death, shakes her and her husband Greg. To support his mother, they uproot their lives and move to Greg’s childhood home. Under the bright Midwestern sky, Julia can feel a new world and new hope beginning.But trouble comes in threes, and soon a boy shows up at Julia’s new daycare whose blue eyes and freckled face look eerily like Greg’s. Despite her love for her husband, Julia finds her thoughts haunted by the boy’s face, and she can’t shake the feeling that her husband has a secret.

A Sister's Promise


Karen Lenfestey - 2010
    No, more like reasons why she shouldn’t have kids: genetics, a dysfunctional family, and ultimately, the fear that she wasn’t cut out to be June Cleaver or Carol Brady or Claire Huxtable. TV moms always made it look so easy, but Kate knows better. When Kate’s little sister, Joely, refuses a medical treatment because it will leave her infertile, Kate is willing to say anything to save her sister’s life—even promising to have a baby. Kate decides to keep her rash words a secret from her husband until she can figure out whether she really wants to be a mother. Especially since they agreed their marriage would remain childless. A sister’s promise and a wife’s promise: Kate must break one. Should she risk everything she has for the unknown?

Pieces of You


Ella Harper - 2014
    Something happened. Something terrible . . .Lucy was always sure of one thing – her future with husband and soulmate Luke. But after eight long, heartbreaking years trying to have a baby, that future is crumbling before her eyes.When a terrible accident puts Luke into a coma, Lucy is forced to reassess everything she thought she wanted. Then a woman arrives with a shocking secret that will force Lucy to make the hardest decision of her life. As compelling and powerful as Jojo Moyes and Liane Moriarty, Pieces of You is a heart-rending, haunting and ultimately life-affirming novel about a love tested to its limits.

All We Have Lost


Aimee Alexander - 2003
    In private, Kim dreams of writing 'the great novel' and spending more time with her young family. Then, one day, she does it. She folds her business to follow her dream. Only to discover that the 'great novel' is, in fact, a great struggle. Life as a domestic goddess has (many) hidden challenges. And her relationship with her husband, Ian, is losing equilibrium. As the perfect life Kim has built for herself starts to crumble comes the revelation that will make her doubt everything she had taken for granted...

Wild Raspberries


Connie Chappell - 2015
    She simply wants to fulfill her promise to Jack to visit their cabin in the West Virginia mountains, where their long love affair was safely hidden. Instead, her emotionally reminiscent trip becomes crowded with the two Sebring women, a grief counselor, and the massive role Callie assumes. She must speak for Jack in order to protect his four-year old grandson Chad from his stubbornly manipulative and blame-passing grandmother and his recently widowed and power-usurping mother. Callie understands both women grieve the loss of Chad’s father. He died when a raging storm split the tree that crushed him. Grief isn’t the only common thread running between the four women. One by one, their secrets are revealed on the West Virginia mountaintop.

The Ingredients of Us


Jennifer Gold - 2019
    But when she discovers her husband’s infidelity, she doesn’t know what to make of it. Jam, maybe? Definitely jam.Fed up with the stale crumbs of her marriage, Elle revisits past recipes and the events that inspired them. A recipe for scones reminds her of her father’s death, cinnamon rolls signify the problematic courtship with her husband, and a batch of chocolate cookies casts Elle in a less-than-flattering light. Looking back, Elle soon realizes that some ingredients were missing all along.After confronting her husband, Elle indulges her sweet tooth in other ways, including a rebound that just leaves her more confused. As secrets from the past collide with the conflicts of the present, Elle struggles to manage her bakery business and maintain the relationships most important to her. In piecing her life back together, will Elle learn to take the bitter with the sweet?

The Girl in the Corner


Amanda Prowse - 2018
    But will they be there for her? Rae-Valentine and Howard were childhood sweethearts. They’ve shared twenty-five peaceful years since they were brought together by Dolly, Howard’s larger-than-life sister. But now, on the night of their wedding anniversary, Howard reveals a shocking betrayal that leaves Rae reeling.Heartbroken, she takes Dolly on her would-be anniversary trip to Antigua and the two women drink and dance and talk like they haven’t in years. But in the break from real life, Rae realises her choices have always been made for her, and suddenly she’s questioning not only her fragile marriage but also her one-sided friendships. Is she really the pushover everyone else sees?When Howard comes looking for reconciliation, Rae has a choice to make: keep the peace, as she always has, or put herself first for once and find out who she really is.

The Last Days of Us


Caroline Finnerty - 2021
    So when her husband JP announces on Christmas Day that he is leaving her and their two children, 9 year old Harry and 4 year old Robyn, Sarah is left reeling. But things are set to get worse when Robyn is diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour. Can JP and Sarah unite to fight their biggest battle yet? or will they be on opposing sides once again? With the couple at loggerheads and with Robyn's condition deteriorating day-by-day, precious time is running out and JP is getting desperate.

Save Me


Kristyn Kusek Lewis - 2014
    The good: her dream job as a doctor; Owen, her childhood sweetheart and now husband; the beautiful farmhouse they're restoring together. In fact, most of her life has been good--until the day Owen comes home early from work to tell her he's fallen head over heels for someone else.Unable to hate him, but also equally incapable of moving forward, Daphne's life hangs in limbo until the day Owen's new girlfriend sustains near-fatal injuries in a car accident. As Daphne becomes a pillar of support for the devastated Owen, and realizes that reconciliation may lie within her grasp, she has to find out whether forgiveness is possible and decide which path is the right one for her.

Pam of Babylon


Suzanne Jenkins - 2011
    Pam and his two lovers discover secrets and lies, and each other. The first book in the series. Book #10 available for preorder.

The Threat Level Remains Severe


Rowena Macdonald - 2017
    Office life begins to look up when Grace receives an email from an admirer with musical and poetic talents … but is soulful, enigmatic Reuben Swift really who he says he is?

Treading Water


Marie Force - 2011
    Recently back to work after spending more than a year tending to his comatose wife, Jack is focused on getting through each day and caring for his three daughters. However, the moment he sets eyes on Andrea Walsh, the interior designer who has come to decorate the hotel his company is building in Newport, Rhode Island, Jack begins to wonder if Andi might be his second chance. After a disastrous marriage, Andi, single mom to a hearing-impaired son, isn’t exactly looking for love, either, but that’s what she finds with Jack. The two embark on a long-distance relationship fraught with challenges as they balance the needs of their children and dueling careers while Jack continues to care for his wife, Clare. Just when Jack thinks his life is once again settled, he is confronted with a new challenge that tests him in ways he never could've imagined, leaving him to wonder if "happily ever after" is in the cards for him.

Girls' Night Out


Liz Fenton - 2018
    Where better to repair those severed ties than on a girls’ getaway to the beautiful paradise of Tulum, Mexico? But even after they’re reunited, no one is being completely honest about the past or the secrets they’re hiding. When Ashley disappears on their girls’ night out, Natalie and Lauren have to try to piece together their hazy memories to figure out what could have happened to her, while also reconciling their feelings of guilt over their last moments together.Was Ashley with the man she’d met only days before? Did she pack up and leave? Was she kidnapped? Or worse—could Natalie or Lauren have snapped under the weight of her own lies?As the clock ticks, hour by hour, Natalie and Lauren’s search rushes headlong into growing suspicion and dread. Maybe their secrets run deeper and more dangerous than one of them is willing—or too afraid—to admit.