Genres: Fiction
Marriage isn’t easy—especially without honesty. In this exploration of love, intimacy, guilt, and infidelity, two people learn what happens when their feelings get in the way of the truth.
For Sydney Holmes and Brandon Carter, love is losing its strength. Infidelity is the side effect of both of their broken marriages. Now, struggling to pick up the pieces, each is clinging to the hope that lasting love still waits for them, inside—or outside—of marriage.
Sydney’s not happy. Ever since marrying the wrong man, she’s regretted her decision to marry for the ring—not for her husband. Now, nearly seven years and two kids later, it’s not so easy to walk away. When a man drops into her life who gives her the oomph she’s been missing, she may be on the verge of making another wrong decision.
Brandon’s hurt. The death of his son was painful enough, but now he’s faced with losing the love of his life. No matter how hard he tries, he can’t make his wife love him. But soon the attention of another woman begins to mend his shattered ego. He moves out, and just as his new life grows comfortable, the reason his wife pushed him away surfaces, and Brandon must decide if the love they once shared is worth holding on to.
Love is the muscle of marriage. Both partners have to work to keep it strong and healthy, and without it, a marriage has no chance of survival. In The Last Exhale, Sydney and Brandon uncover the truth of what it really means to love—for better or for worse.
As I sat down to read this book I wish I had something to prepare me for the emotional rollercoaster ride I was getting on. Fresh off of vacation I picked up this book. From the first few pages I was into the story.
Sydney is coming to terms with herself that she is not in love with her husband and never has been. She tries to make sense of the mistake she made years ago of saying “yes”. As she read the letter she wrote her husband the night before they were to be married, my thoughts took me to people that I know in real life stuck in love less marriages. I could understand why she stayed, but I could also see the need to leave. Marriage is work, you have to want to be in it to win it, if both parties are faking their way through it what is the purpose. I could see why her friends kept saying she had a good man and that she needed to get herself together. Then as you read further you find out he has just as many secrets as she had.
Brandon loved his wife; I could tell he would go to the moon for his wife and back. I felt sorry for him. I literally wanted to climb into the book and give him a hug. Rene treated him as if he was as stranger living in her house. I am talking cold shoulders, no words when she came up, all while her husband wanted nothing more than to love her. They had been dealt some cards in life that I personally all too well, so I understood her need to withdraw from the world, but it still gives no one the right to treat people badly.
As Brandon and Sydney take an unforbidden journey with each other they seem to forget about the consequences of their actions. How would this affect their families, friends, co-workers, etc.? When everything boils over who would be the left standing.
As I stated before I feel like I needed a warning of all the emotions I was going to feel reading this book. I was mad, sad, angry, and sorry. It wasn’t that I was upset at the characters; I was upset because I saw people that I know in real life all in the story. Yes I sure did cry. I had an emotional connection to the story.
Falling in love is a crazy thing. You never know when it will hit you or if it ever will. You don’t know who you will fall in love with or the reason why you fall in love. This story will make you think. It will make you wonder why you stay or left. It will make you question the signs that people gave you in the beginning.
Reviewed by: Jaime R.
