Covet by Tracey Garvis-Graves

What an amazing journey it is through the day to day life of a wife and mother! It’s often unappreciated and overlooked. Covet is a look into a life that is all too common for many. It is an honest look into marriage and the peaks and valleys that go with it. I shed tears, felt butterflies and was scared for this couple; along with their friends and neighbors that we see the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.  

Covet isn’t a romance and is listed as woman fiction. I just see it as real life. The honesty of it speaks to me. No flowery words or all consuming want and need, just real life: kids that need to get to school on time, bake sales, PTO meetings, car maintenance and grocery store runs. It’s life.

In Covet, Claire is dealing with a husband that had been laid off from work and as a result suffers from depression. Now again employed, Chris travels a lot. When he is home he’s focused on the kids and work. Claire is very much an afterthought. What was once a solid couple is now crumbling apart. Falling into a comfortable rut happens. Getting used to the complacency happens, and people focus on just making it to Friday.  

I felt like a fly on the wall of any American home. We tend to think people are so perfect or have it all and, what we fail to realize is that we are all struggling to keep our lives together. From the outside nothing is what it seems.

Claire forms a friendship with Local police officer Daniel Rush. There is never any physical relationship between these two. But it is a friendship she keeps from her husband. This brings up the issues with emotional cheating. Is it really cheating? If Daniel was a woman would we feel the same?

I found Covet to be a fantastic read: one I could not put down till I was finished. I am not sure this will be something a younger unmarried demographic would get or understand, but as a wife and mother for over twenty years I felt for Claire. I can understand her and empathize.  

A wonderful read: thought provoking and real.

 


5 STARS

T~

*Given via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Release date September 17, 2013

 

From the cover…………

What if the life you wanted, and the woman you fell in love with, belonged to someone else?

Chris and Claire Canton’s marriage is on life support. Downsized during the recession and out of work for a year, Chris copes by retreating to a dark place where no one can reach him, not even Claire. When he’s offered a position that will keep him away from home four nights a week, he dismisses Claire’s concern that time apart could be the one thing their fragile union can’t weather. Their suburban life may look idyllic on the outside, but Claire has never felt so disconnected from Chris, or so lonely.

Local police officer Daniel Rush used to have it all, but now he goes home to an empty house every night. He pulls Claire over during a routine traffic stop, and they run into each other again at the 4th of July parade. When Claire is hired to do some graphic design work for the police department, her friendship with Daniel grows, and soon they’re spending hours together.

Claire loves the way Daniel makes her feel, and the way his face lights up when she walks into the room. Daniel knows that Claire’s marital status means their relationship will never be anything other than platonic. But it doesn’t take long before Claire and Daniel are in way over their heads, and skating close to the line that Claire has sworn she’ll never cross.

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Click HERE for K's review of Covet