What Would I Do? ~ The Wishing Tree by Marybeth Whalen ~ Review

As a reader, I couldn’t help but feel great sympathy for Ivy and disregard for Elliott who has just committed an affair before the book starts. So often when I read these kinds of scenarios, I ponder what I would do. Would I become passive? Cold? Run away? Cut my spouse off? I certainly can’t judge Ivy for the decisions she made to leave, to find space to think.

           

But poor girl, jumps from one frying pan into another. And doesn’t always make the best decisions. I will admit that after a while Ivy’s attitude toward her marriage and her family became tiresome. It wasn’t overt to the point that I wanted to stop reading…I simply found repetitiveness in lack of communication with her family and lack of circumstances to propel her further down her journey, redundant. Much of the story “told” me what happened and I wasn’t as present within the story as I love to be.

           

My favorite character as the story progressed? Elliott.  And you’ll have to read the book to find out why. But the way this man fought for his wife and their marriage…plus the whole Twitter thing too was pretty sweet and an obvious step outside his comfort zone.

           

Overall, good women’s fiction with romantic elements and great points to take and learn much as the characters do.

            

This review is my honest opinion. Thanks to the publishers for my copy to review. 

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More about the novel...

Ivy Marshall, a savvy, determined woman, finds out her husband has cheated on her on the same day her sister’s perfect boyfriend proposes on national television. When Ivy’s mother asks her to return to her family’s beach home to plan her sister’s upcoming wedding, she decides to use the excuse to escape from the pain of her circumstances.

When her return to Sunset Beach, North Carolina, brings her face to face with her former fianci, old feelings rise to the surface and she wonders if there is a future for them. However, her husband has started tweeting his apology to her and doesn’t want to give up on their marriage. As she helps prepare the wishing tree for her sister’s wedding, she must examine her own wishes for the future and decide what love should be…..