Getting Rid Of Matthew - Jane Fallon

Rating: 2

Pages: 336

Challenges: New Author, Audio, Library, Book Awards, 20 in 2009

Synopsis (from BN.com)

A sparkling, sophisticated, witty story about what happens when he finally leaves his wife for you . . . and you realize you don't want him after all.
For once this isn't a novel about the heroine getting the guy. It's about getting rid of the guy, and in the process, finding herself.

Helen is nearly forty, and has, for far too long, had an affair with Matthew, a high-powered, much older, attractive, married man who was once, of course, her boss. After years of being disappointed by missed dates, out-of-the-way restaurants where there's no chance of them being caught, broken promises, and hushed phone calls, at last Helen realizes enough is enough-it's time to dump Matthew and get on with her life.

This, of course, is the exact moment when Matthew decides to leave his wife for her. He appears on her doorstep, announcing, "I've done it! I've left her! I'm yours!" and proceeds to move in. Helen then discovers how much she can't bear him. But she can't just throw him out-after all, she's been begging him to do exactly this for years. The only thing to do, she decides, is to convince his wife, Sophie, to take him back.

So after a "chance" meeting in the park, Helen befriends Sophie and hears all about her lying, cheating husband. But then, the unexpected happens-Helen really starts to like Sophie, and thinks she's way too good for a selfish bore like Matthew. And then there's the other small problem of Matthew's handsome, charming son . . .

Jane Fallon turns the conventional love story on its head in this irresistibly delicious, ironic debut for every woman who has ever realized, "Be careful what you wish for."

Review

This book was a Book Sense Pick and although I typically think the Book Sense picks are pretty good I was very disappointed in this one. I thought it was predictable and I kept wondering why does Helen or even Sophie want Matthew? He is a guy who is a serial cheater and can't have one woman at a time. He is pompous and a bore who only cares about himself. Helen stayed in a 4 year relationship with this man and only after he moved in (because he was worried he was loosing her) did she realize she wanted to break up with him. Then the book was all about her living 2 lives and trying to get rid of him. I wouldn't recommend this book.