A Perfect Marriage by Laurey Bright
Rating: 
Published: 1995
Illustrator: Diane Sivavec
Imprint or Line: Silhouette Intimate Moments #621
Published by: Silhouette
Genres: Category Romance, Contemporary Romance
Pages: 256
Format: Paperback
Buy on: Amazon
Reviewed by: Introvert Reader
The Book
It’s difficult for me to give Laurey Bright’s* A Perfect Marriage a coherent review because it’s a romance novel that deals with adultery.
The Plot
Max and Celine have had a comfortable, friendly marriage for 12 years, however with no passion nor love. The two had been hurt prior to their marriage and agreed that a union based on friendship–not love–was best. Then things take a sharp left turn when the male protagonist “falls in love” with another woman, his co-worker. She’s much younger than he is of course. Max sleeps with her and then leaves his Celine.
But after a night of unexpected passion with Celine, Max gets his estranged wife pregnant. Finally, Max realizes, almost too late, that it’s his wife he’s loved all along.
This was a difficult romance to stomach. The heroine is way too good for the “hero,” a pathetic man in the throes of a mid-life crisis.
Despite the fact that Bright tries to make Kate, the other woman, seem like a naïve, beautiful virgin who is as much a victim as Celine, she wasn’t. In my eyes, she was a manipulative beeyotch. Kate was no innocent schoolgirl. She’s an educated attorney who had no qualms about breaking up a marriage. She even dared to ask a pregnant Celine to let Max go.
Max never sufficiently redeems himself. It is only through Celine’s love and forgiveness that reconciliation is possible.
Final Analysis of A Perfect Marriage
A Perfect Marriage by Laurey Bright was an emotional roller-coaster. The author does a wonderful job showing how separation and divorce can affect not just the spouses, but the whole extended family.
Ultimately, as hard as this book was to handle at times, it deserves a positive rating because of how it portrays the healing power of love.
A Perfect Marriage was awarded the Romance Writer’s of America’s RITA Award for Best Long Contemporary Romance in 1996.
*(Laurey Bright is a pseudonym for Daphne Clair)
3 Stars
Synopsis
Broken Vows
To their friends, family and neighbors, Celine and Max Archer had a perfect marriage. Only the Archers knew they’d never been in love, and that nights of passion were few and far between. Still, both thought the other happy with the dry-eyed deal they’d made instead of vows…
Until Max broke the bargain—by wanting more. And suddenly, after twelve peaceful years, the perfect marriage was over…
But when Celine realized how much she loved her husband, was it too late to get him back? For unbeknownst to Max, they’d been blessed with a new beginning…”
A PERFECT MARRIAGE by LAUREY BRIGHT
Discover more from Sweet Savage Flame
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Thanks, Introvert Reader. The premise sounds VERY unlikely!
I don’t require a romance hero and heroine to be true to each other from the get-go. But I DO require that they and and the other characters act in a plausible manner.