Book 28: The Bad Boy's Wife, by Karen Shepard

This book about a woman who marries the "bad boy" of the title goes a lot deeper than it might appear on the surface. To describe it as a book about a woman who has been wronged by a man would be accurate, but where a typical "chick lit" novel would show the woman's neuroses in a silly way and ultimately find her discovering some deep inner truth, The Bad Boy's Wife gives the reader all sides of the story. In the beginning, we primarily come to know Hannah and see her shattered appearance as the husband she loved marries another woman and has a child with her. Then, we see things from the viewpoint of Mattie, Hannah's daughter, and Cole, her ex. In the end, nothing is as simple as it would seem - Hannah's contributions to the disintegration of her own marriage are heavy and disconcerting. It's a book about real people and while perhaps only the daughter is truly likeable, the slice-of-life character study it offers is genuine.