A Christian woman has an affair.
It’s a betrayal beyond mention.
She stands to lose everything.
Mona Leigh Anderson, a good mother and even better wife, is unaware that her tidy and sheltered world is going to explode into a thousand pieces. And by her own hand, she launches the grenade of destruction.
Brian Anderson is a principled man, a leader in the church. Never in all his days did he believe his marriage could come to such a heart-rending testing of his faith, although this is exactly what he’s about to endure.
Damaged by deception and infidelity, Mona and Brian seek to repair the mistrust between them because that is the right thing to do. But can they truly let go of the past and of the most egregious of marital sins, and survive in this world of seduction?
My review:
I have a weird quirk when it comes to reading books about women who have affairs. I do this to get different perspectives and to see how honestly the stories seem to be written. Part of my quirk is to see how they compare to one that I've written - just to see if I'm hitting in the same ballpark. This portrayal was better than most in regards to realism.
This novel had an interesting take on it in how the conflict played out. I like how the first two-thirds of the book shows the woman's point of view so you only know what she is thinking, and then it switches to the man's point of view and you discover he wasn't as clueless as she thought. I liked how the author developed the plot and characters. They were likable and believable in their actions and the plot kept me reading because it kept building and held my interest.
The way the author showed the progression of sin in the mind and how it eventually spills over into behavior was also compelling. Deception starts out as a small, seemingly innocent action and gradually grows into something that traps the person who thought they had nothing to worry about. Choices are then made that have long-lasting consequences. I appreciated how the author showed that the wife/mother's agony and conflict spilled over into other areas of her life. The penance a guilt-laden person shows often is the biggest tip off of all.
I don't want to say too much about this book, but I can say that it was the perfect balance of realism, conflict, and faith. The way the author showed how caring about "what people think" more than caring about doing the right thing often causes us to make wrong decisions - this aspect of the novel was compelling. The author didn't show too much, yet you always knew what was going on. The best part of this book for me was how the author showed that God uses even the ugly stuff in our lives to develop humility and to change us for the better. He doesn't want us making bad choices, but He will still redeem them and use them to grow us if we'll let Him. Great book!
Broken Identity was published via Create Space and released in Sept 2012.
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