Review & Giveaway: The Woman He Married by Julie N. Ford

The Woman He Married

by Julie N. Ford

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GENRE: Women's Fiction

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BLURB:

Once an aspiring young attorney, Josie looked forward to taking on the injustices of the world—one case at a time. Eleven years later, she’s a stay-at-home mom and battling demons that don’t require a law degree. Only keeping up pretenses proves more than she can bear when a bracelet that should have been hers shows up on the wrist of another woman. Her marriage slowly begins to unravel as an ex-lover comes back into her life. When he offers her the dreams she thought she’d lost, Josie must chose between the man she married and the one she let get away.

John has always known exactly what he wanted. A career as a high-powered attorney, followed by the perfect family of six, and then elected public service. So it was no surprise that the first time he laid his eyes on Josie, he knew she was the one he’d share his dreams with. More than a decade, and one tragic miscalculation later, all he has worked for is slipping through his fingers. Powerless to stem the flow, the one thing he remains certain of: he can’t lose the woman he married.

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My Review:

It's a strong and very realistic story, unfortunately, many women have found themselves in the same complex and difficult situation of Josie.

Josie dreamed of a wonderful career as a lawyer then met the man of her life and everything changed. She has became a full-time mom, a wife always present and a part-time assistant. Her life seems wonderful even without having realized her dream but one day discovers that her husband is not faithful and her whole world collapses. When she meets another man, kind, caring, loving doesn't know whether to abandon everything to try to live a better life. Will she be able to leave the man she loves but who hurts her deeply?

Josie is a normal but wonderful woman, a  credible and realistic character, in which each one can easily identify with. Instead, I hated the cold, detached, attitude of her husband.

It was an exciting and interesting read, very realistic and well-written.

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EXCERPT:

Josie’s first big mistake, as it turned out, was putting John’s goals, his dreams and wishes, ahead of her own. As with the law, apparently so went marriage. Once a precedent had been set, it was next to impossible to overturn.

In this modern age, with so many women balancing career and family, she hadn’t expected to have to choose between the two. Nor had she realized there were still men like John who believed his success should be enough for them both; much less women like herself, who’d willingly exchange her dreams for the love of one such man.

For the first time in years, tonight she’d caught a glimpse of her old self, of the woman who had once been too brave for her own good. Who wasn’t afraid to speak her mind, to fight for what was right. Unfortunately when John had said he was leaving, that woman had panicked and shamelessly thrown herself at him . . . An offer he’d flat-out refused . . . That refusal had struck like a single kill-shot, finishing off what was left of Josie’s self-worth, and she’d let him go without further argument . . . Where he could be at this hour, she refused to imagine. Not even in her mind could she stomach the sight of John’s body wrapped around that of another woman’s, his hands touching her in places he’d once promised to only touch Josie. With each passing hour, her hurt and humiliation had slowly been replaced by the numbness she’d grown much too accustomed to . . . She’d been trying to live this suburban life for too long, forcing herself to become a brand of woman she didn’t know how to be. The kind of woman she’d never wanted to be. She needed to stop, to just say no, but she couldn’t figure out how. How did a mother of three young children—angels she loved beyond belief—with a beautiful home and a handsome, successful husband justify not wanting her life anymore?

John had never given much credence to self-help jargon like doormat, codependent, inner-child. Baggage. But for the sake of argument, he spared a thought to what so-called baggage he’d been lugging around since his childhood. The image of a weighty chip, a sarsen that looked a whole lot like his old man and had been clinging to his shoulder for as long as he could remember, leapt to mind. How had he failed to recognize that the one person he loathed most had been the very person dictating his behavior all these years? Wasn’t life peculiar? The way clarity and perspective came not in moments of peace and quiet reflection, but in times of turmoil, when one’s world had been knocked about and was just beginning to settle upright again.

   

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

A graduate from San Diego State University with a BA in Political Science, Julie N. Ford also earned a Masters in Social Work from the University of Alabama, which has only made her better able to recognize the unhealthy, codependent relationship she has with writing. Professionally, she has worked in teaching and as a marriage and family counselor. She is the author of six women’s fiction novels, including Count Down to Love, a 2011 Whitney Award finalist. When she’s not writing, she entertains delusions of being a master gardener, that is, when she’s not killing the unsuspecting plants in her yard with her good intentions. She lives outside of Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband, two daughters, and the cutest Scottish fold cat you’ve ever seen.

The Woman He Married will be $0.99 during the tour.

Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Woman-Married-Magic-City-Book-ebook/dp/B01FUQWU1A/

Website/Blog:

http://julienford.com

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/JulieNFord.Author/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/JulieNFord

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

Julie N. Ford will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway