When I first started my blog my intentions were to write about every book I read. The reality is, one of my goals for this year was to find more time for my blog and I’m still trying to figure that out! I ultimately have ended up only writing about books that I really got something out of such as Stephanie Land’s ‘MAID’, Laura Vanderkam’s ‘I Know How She Does It’ and Annie Grace’s books ‘The Alcohol Experiment’ and ‘This Naked Mind’. Another goal for this year has been to read more non-fiction so I have been alternating fiction books with non-fiction. To my surprise, clearly the non-fiction books have given me more to ponder since they are actually the ones I have been inspired to write blog posts about!
While the goal still is to share about all the books I read, I did feel I had to find the time to share about Diane Chamberlain’s ‘The Stolen Marriage’. This is definitely one of the better fiction books I have recently read! My book club will usually try to choose a book each month, however, sometimes our busy schedules do not allow us to meet as often as we would like. We are also a very laid back book club. Most of us do read the chose books, however, if someone can’t get to it, they are still always welcome to our meetings even if it’s just for some kid free mom time. Also, some of us get through books faster than others and we’ll share the other books we’ve read with the group in case anyone wants book suggestions outside of the month’s books. I believe this was one of those and so I hesitated on whether or not to read it. The previous official book for book club was ‘The Christie Affair’. I did not care for this one and when I read the synopsis for ‘The Stolen Marriage’ I thought they sounded similar. They both take place during the 1940s and involve loveless relationships with secrets.
All the ladies of my book club raved about ‘The Stolen Marriage’ so I decided that I should give it a chance. I am so glad I did!
Tess DeMello has her life all planned out. She is engaged to be married to her childhood love Vincent. He is a doctor and she is studying to become a nurse. They are the perfect match for each other! they are living in tough times though and Vincent has the opportunity to leave their cocoon of Little Italy in Baltimore to work in Chicago and assist with the polio epidemic. What was supposed to be a few weeks turns into months a Tess starts to desperately miss him. Her friend Gina suggests that they visit Washington D.C. one night to let off some steam and this night change’s Tess’s life.
Tess ends up in Hickory, North Carolina in a loveless marriage living with a mother in law and sister in law who blame her for destroying the life they had planned for their Hank. Tess realizes that she has rocked their world and that there are all kinds of secrets she has to unfold to really understand the family she has entered.
This book is a definite page turner! It’s the first book in a while that I have a hard time putting down. In fact, Natalia had a dance competition on Mother’s Day but in the morning when I did have some free time, all I wanted to do was read this book! It’s the story of how both Tess and Henry (Hank) had their whole lives planned out and how one night changed it all and how it affected everyone around them. It’s a beautiful story of true love and friendship.
I don’t want to give away much more as to avoid spoilers but I gave this one 5 stars! I would love to hear your thoughts if you have read or plan to read.
Thanks for visiting!
-Jenny