My review
This is the story of three friends Jill, Leigh and Wendy, who seem to there for each other, supporting each other during the trials and tribulations of married life. 

Jill, the sensible of the three, is married to Rob and they are happily coursing through life, till they find out Rob is infertile. This affects their married life, their intimacy, especially, when Rob, refuses to talk about it and Jill wants to communicate and  find an alternative. Rob is unable to reconcile to the idea of adoption and diverts his grief inwards. This refusal to deal with the situation, tempts Jill  to think about another man, Andrey. Whom will she choose Rob or Andrey?? 

Leigh, the damaged  of the three, with husband, Lawrence and daughter, Molly, is bored with his OCD and stay at home dad concept. So, to find new adventure, she embarks on an affair with Nick with disastrous consequences. Will she stay with good old Lawrence or the exciting Nick??? 

Wendy, the quiet of the three, is married to cop, Neil and has two boys but has lost a daughter. This affects her deeply still and her life seems to have stopped. Will she remain the calm mom /wife or will she take charge??? 

This entire story is told from Jill’s point of view. Each of these women are going through roller-coaster of emotions, Jill with her parental problems and infertility, Leigh, with her convoluted past, and Wendy with her personal loss and betrayal. 

The author, Carol Mason, deals with the dynamics of friendship, sometimes with brashness and sometimes with sensitivity. The last fifty pages or so is brilliant. It describes the pain, the angst, the fear, the betrayal so beautifully. Each emotion comes off the page, hitting us with its rawness. Friendship also has boundaries depending on what we reveal and what we hide from each other. Carol brings home the fact that life is all about choices and the consequences of those choices and each phase has to be lived, with its pitfalls and mistakes, before we go onto the next.. 

There are many beautiful lines written by Carol on love and life, practical ones too. The line which touched me is… 

“You are born you, and you go through life, buffered by other people, but first and foremost, you are just yourself. And then you die just being you. So the sooner you get used to yourself, the better it is”

TRUE HAPPINESS IS WITHIN US… 

So true, Ms. Mason, so true… 

My rating : 4 stars

About the Author 

Carol Mason was born and grew up in the North East of England. As a teenager, she was crowned Britain’s National Smile Princess and since became a model, diplomat-in-training, hotel receptionist and advertising copywriter. She currently lives in British Columbia with her Canadian husband. 

Book Blurb

When Jill’s husband discovers he can never have children, it tears a hole in their marriage that Jill doesn’t know how to repair. Frustrated she seeks comfort in her friends :fierce Leigh, with her high-powered career and doting family, and sweet, uncomplicated Wendy, who has a rock-solid marriage any woman would envy. 

Leigh and Wendy’s lives seem perfect. But beneath the surface are secrets that could tear their friendship apart. Leigh has grown tired of her stay-at-home husband and is looking for excitement, outside of the marriage bed. After seventeen years of marriage, Wendy can’t shake the sense that there is something missing in her life. As Jill is drawn deeper into her friends’ relationships, she is confronted by a temptation of her own : an intriguing stranger whose good looks and charm spark an instant connection. 

Full of realities of modern – day marriage, The Secrets of Married Women, asks the question : how well can we ever know our husbands, our friends, or even ourselves?

Product Details

Publication date : 22nd June 2017 

Publisher : Lake Union Publishing 

Language : English 

Site : Amazon 

          (Free with Kindle Unlimited)