Love and Other Natural Disasters

by Holly Shumas

When Eve finds her husband Jon talking on the phone to another woman on Thanksgiving Day, she knows he is having an affair. But is it still an affair if they never had sex? As Eve wades through the mess that has become her life, she must determine what constitutes a betrayal.

This is an interesting question. Is sharing all the details of your life with someone other than your spouse a betrayal? Is a deep emotional connection with another person an affair? And where is the line that separates just friends from something more? This book asks a lot of questions that don't have any clear cut answers. As they navigate through this terrain, Eve and Jon try to determine where the fault lies. Their journey is made more difficult by the fact that they have a 5-year-old and are expecting a baby any minute.

Jon's "affair" is conducted solely through e-mail and phone calls, as his "girlfriend" lives in another state. But let's face it: there's a reason people have affairs with co-workers. You spend 8+ hours a day with these people. The slightest attraction can become magnified simply by virtue of proximity. (Of course, there is the argument that spending too much time with these people can easily kill a slight attraction.) The term I've heard recently is "work spouse". You know each other's habits and how they will react in certain situations. But what are they like at home? And which is the true person?

This is a good book. I was hoping for a less expected ending, but overall, I liked it. I read it in one day here at work.