The Saint’s Wife by Lauren Gallagher
Contemporary Romance
Ebook
April 14, 2015
Samhain Publishing
Reviewed by Tori
Favorite Quote: No one ever tells you how to lose someone you don’t want to be with.
Joanna married Chris McQuid fifteen years ago with stars in her eyes. She truly loved him; flaws and all. When his business takes off, creating a multi million dollar empire, Chris changes. Joanna goes from being his partner to his possession. He cheats on her. He alienates her from family and friends. He is emotionally abusive to her about her weight, until she develops an eating disorder and almost dies. The icing on the cake is his snide comments about her inability to conceive, never considering his actions are the cause of her infertility. When Chris develops cancer, she stays with him, taking his abuse and writing it off as a side effect of his illness. While in remission, Joanna finally leaves Chris, but refuses to divorce him as the media and their friends have made him out to be a saint. When the cancer comes back, stage four with no hope of recovery, Chris sends his best friend to convince her to come home.
David Lamont has never liked Joanna, thinking she is the gold digging, spoiled diva Chris has always portrayed her to be. He uses guilt and shame to make her come home not knowing the whole story of why she left. The more time he spends time with her and Chris, seeing the pall that come over her the longer she’s home, he realises that Joanna is not the villain everyone made her out to be and Chris is about as far from a saint as you can get. It’s only when the true extent of Chris’s abuse and manipulations is learned does David see just how wrong he has been about their marriage and his friend.
The Saint’s Wife uses a common enough premise about an abusive marriage and a dying spouse but soon it becomes something more as Gallagher doesn’t take the predictable path and inside chooses to focus on the dynamics of battered wife syndrome and the reasons someone might stay or re-enter such a horrific situation. Well written with a strong emotional base; Gallagher introduces us to some dynamic if not always likeable characters. The reader is firmly engaged as you watch these people conduct themselves in a manner that will at times anger you and alternatively make you want to cry.
Emotional abuse, in my opinion, can be worse than physical abuse. Emotional abuse wears away at the person until they are merely a shell of themselves. Their pride, dignity, self-worth, and in Joanna’s case, well being, is systematically stripped away until they believe they are the nothing that their abuser tells them that they are. The sad part is Joanna tries so hard to prevail and even manages to escape and build a life for herself, but when she is forced to come back, it breaks my heart.
“You’re in no position to ask me to come home, because you obviously don’t understand what you’re asking me to go home to… and if you know, and you’re still asking me, then you can go fuck yourself.”
Chris has to be one of the nastiest, most hateful, selfish, egotistical, men I’ve encountered in fiction. His ugliness is personified by his narcissism. He knows what he’s done and still doing and feels no sorrow. No remorse. What killed me was the notion that when a person is dying, it often is noted that all their past deeds, especially the bad, are wiped clean. And it’s true. How often have we heard or encountered someone we knew was a terrible person only to see them being practically nominated for sainthood when it’s revealed they are dying. I think the worse part was people knew how badly he treated Joanna. People saw it and some offered her help to leave him out until they found out he was dying. Then they offered nothing but platitudes and prayers, commending her on staying and being the dutiful wife.
“You can’t speak ill of the dead, you can’t speak ill of the dying, but to hell with the living who can’t catch a goddamned break.”
David isn’t the bad guy in here and he admits once he sees the damage Chris has done that he was blind. The signs were all there and he choose to ignore them, figuring, like others, that Joanna was the villain of the marriage. It’s only when he realises that someone could treat his daughter the way Chris treats Joanna do the blinders to fall away and he begins to see the truth in front of him. At times I wanted to smack him for not saying anything to Chris. Instead he chooses to be a friend to Joanna, which is nice, but in my opinion, too little too late.
“You didn’t even let her slip through your fingertips, Chris. You discarded her like trash.”
The predictability of the storyline comes into play as the more time David and Joanna spend together, the more their tentative friendship morphs into something more. David is there for Joanna in ways no one has ever been for her in her life and Joanna is able to return the favor when certain events come to light. The guilt of their attraction is intensified by Chris’s illness. Gallagher does a wonderful job of allowing the reader to slip easily into David and Joanna’s shoes; seeing the guilt and turmoil that boils through them. While I may not have agreed with all their decisions, they were understandable. At times I was irritated by everyone’s inability to talk back to Chris or exert their opinion; just accepting his snide remarks and high-handed maneuvers. Being sick didn’t excuse his actions and so much is brushed aside because of this. This aspect causes the story to drag in areas as the conflict and plot device is fleshed out in order to bring it all home and end on a happy note.
Regardless of my qualms, Gallagher takes a horrific subject and digs beneath the surface to show the complexity of such a relationship and all who are affected by it. Fans of Gallagher and those who love emotional turmoil in their romances are sure to enjoy her latest endeavor. Just be sure to have some Kleenex handy.
RATING: B
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