Take My Husband

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

When I first started reading, I was horrified at how dark this story went. I was thinking, comedic domestic suspense, my foot. I wasn't sure I'd finish. But I kept reading.

Laurel and Doug's marriage is a mess. No intimacy, no passion, no love, no humor, just a whole lot of apathy on her part and a whole lot of “I need you (to do everything for me), Laurel” on his. I get it. Life happens. The new and shiny wears off a relationship. Laurel had put herself second to Doug for years, thinking that doing for him and catering to him was the way to avoid the unhappy marriage she saw her parents as having. She was wrong, and now she's reaping the bitter fruit of what she'd sown. But instead of taking constructive steps to get things back on track – like, oh, maybe an honest conversation with Doug about how she's feeling – Laurel starts taking steps to make that little fantasy of Life without Doug a reality. Her co-worker, Charlie, helps her figure out ways to try to hasten Doug's demise.

Is there hope? Maybe. As Laurel starts to stand up for herself, figuring she's going to kill Doug off soon anyway, Doug notices. His attention, missing for so long, feeds something in Laurel that she thought was dead forever, and she begins doing the occasional kindness for him. There are flashes of emotion that might move them from the rut they've been in, might motivate someone to do the right thing. But even with that, Laurel still actively looks for ways to kill her husband. She flirts with another man and contemplates hooking up with him. She still doesn't do much to work to repair her marriage, or even end it by more conventional means. That made me want to pull my hair out. If she was unhappy in her marriage, she could have done something less illegal and morally wrong than trying to kill Doug.

This book was billed as a “comedic domestic suspense.” I didn't see much comedic about it, myself. There were moments that made me chuckle, but I didn't feel it was really a comedy. One thing I found interesting is the fact that, in a book not explicitly billed as Christian fiction, Laurel prayed. Doug's sister Abby prayed. That caught my attention, and I hoped for a redemptive turn to the story.

Alas, while I found good in the story, and while there was a positive resolution, it wasn't redemptive in the way I had hoped. It might have played better with me had it been billed as women's fiction, because Laurel's story is relatable. Any woman who's ever been in a marriage where she felt like she was raising an extra child with her husband understands the feeling of overwhelming frustration, the desire to run away. But to me, comedic it wasn't.

I did appreciate the arc with Laurel's mother Joan. Joan's agoraphobia limits her to the confines of her home, and Laurel treats her with respect and care. She tries to help Joan overcome her fears, but doesn't force her beyond what Joan is comfortable doing, and she's willing to see that others may be able to offer help better than she can herself. Joan also shows Laurel that we may view things wrongly when seen through the lens of youth and what we think we remember.

I also loved how absolutely gaga Laurel was over her new granddaughter. Her desire to travel across the country for her grandbaby was absolutely believable, and their interactions were very sweet.

If you don't mind your stories walking a dark path before you see the light, if you appreciate a woman who can work through her issues and ultimately stand on her own two feet, Take My Husband may resonate with you.

My thanks to NetGalley and MIRA for a review copy. All opinions here are mine, and I don't say nice things about books I don't actually like.