At the age of 33, Ellen Graham seems to have it all. Her husband, Andy, is a handsome, successful lawyer and the brother of her best friend, Margot. Andy and Ellen live in a comfortable apartment in a charming area of lower Manhattan. She works as a creative portrait and editorial photographer, and has great friendships with work colleagues and college friends. What's even better is that her in-laws are a generous, gracious Southern family who basically adopted Ellen as one of their own, a true blessing to this working-class girl from Pittsburgh who lost her mother as a teenager. After years of heartbreak and disappointment, Ellen is finally happy.
So why, when Ellen almost literally bumps into an old boyfriend, Leo, on the streets of New York, is she suddenly filled with feelings of dissatisfaction? Leo was the love of her life, their relationship filled with a passion, lust and drama that Andy lacks. But Leo also broke her heart years ago, leaving a painful emptiness that was only filled when she met Andy.
Suddenly, Ellen just can't get Leo out of her head and questions of "what if . . . ?"
When Leo, a writer and reporter, invites her to take photographs to accompany one of his articles, the two begin an uneasy and secret friendship. But does she want more? When Andy proposes that the two move back to his hometown of Atlanta, she pictures her life filled not with enjoyable work and the hustle and bustle of New York, but with country club dates, baby showers and Botox treatments. Having reconnected with Leo, Ellen begins to long for an old way of life, an old version of herself, and an old lover.
Near the end of the novel, Ellen realizes that love "is the sum of our choices." Will she stay with Andy or rekindle her old flame with Leo? The choice is hers to make.
Love the One You're With examines how the choices we make and the choices we let others make for us can shape our entire life. It is a light novel that still hides a hard edge. It's romantic, sweet, and bittersweet. With its themes of regrets, tough choices and marital disillusion, so many women can relate to this novel . . . after all, who hasn't thought about what life could have been like if only we had made different choices?
Alexandra Perich
Love the One You're With
At the age of 33, Ellen Graham seems to have it all. Her husband, Andy, is a handsome, successful lawyer and the brother of her best friend, Margot. Andy and Ellen live in a comfortable apartment in a charming area of lower Manhattan. She works as a creative portrait and editorial photographer, and has great friendships with work colleagues and college friends. What's even better is that her in-laws are a generous, gracious Southern family who basically adopted Ellen as one of their own, a true blessing to this working-class girl from Pittsburgh who lost her mother as a teenager. After years of heartbreak and disappointment, Ellen is finally happy.
So why, when Ellen almost literally bumps into an old boyfriend, Leo, on the streets of New York, is she suddenly filled with feelings of dissatisfaction? Leo was the love of her life, their relationship filled with a passion, lust and drama that Andy lacks. But Leo also broke her heart years ago, leaving a painful emptiness that was only filled when she met Andy.
Suddenly, Ellen just can't get Leo out of her head and questions of "what if . . . ?"
When Leo, a writer and reporter, invites her to take photographs to accompany one of his articles, the two begin an uneasy and secret friendship. But does she want more? When Andy proposes that the two move back to his hometown of Atlanta, she pictures her life filled not with enjoyable work and the hustle and bustle of New York, but with country club dates, baby showers and Botox treatments. Having reconnected with Leo, Ellen begins to long for an old way of life, an old version of herself, and an old lover.
Near the end of the novel, Ellen realizes that love "is the sum of our choices." Will she stay with Andy or rekindle her old flame with Leo? The choice is hers to make.
Love the One You're With examines how the choices we make and the choices we let others make for us can shape our entire life. It is a light novel that still hides a hard edge. It's romantic, sweet, and bittersweet. With its themes of regrets, tough choices and marital disillusion, so many women can relate to this novel . . . after all, who hasn't thought about what life could have been like if only we had made different choices?
