Review: Every Wrong Reason by Rachel Higginson

First comes love.


Then comes marriage.


Then comes the… really nasty divorce.


Kate Carter thought she married her soul mate. She thought she had her happily ever after. But seven years into Kate’s marriage, she realizes that her husband Nick is not what she wanted. He’s selfish, he’s oblivious and he doesn’t love her anymore.


Maybe she doesn’t love him anymore either.


Divorce is the only option if either of them wants to find happiness.


Kate and Nick thought they knew what they wanted, but neither is prepared for the heartache that separating will bring them. The journey they embark on is not the freedom they wished for, but a painful look at the people they’ve become.


At the end of it, Kate has to decide if this is really the life she wants or if maybe there’s a way to salvage her broken heart. 

4.5 Stars by Jen Skewes

Every Wrong Reason starts out with a list.  A list of all the reasons why Kate’s husband is all wrong for her.  A list where one or two items on that list are very familiar to me and probably most wives because I am sure most woman manage to complain about their husbands inability to clean up after himself.  But for Kate it was the other items on that list that made a difference.  For Kate things have been building up and finally came to a head.  She has finally had enough.  She is broken and so is her marriage and now wants a divorce.  And her husband is willing to give her what she wants.

After seven years of marriage Kate and Nick are walking away from each other.  Is this really something that they both want?  This book explores the struggles, the pain and the hurt of going through a divorce.  Just because two people feel that their marriage may be over and both seem to want a divorce does not make it any easier. There is still a lot of hurt and pain that goes along with it.  You spend seven years with someone and then all of a sudden you are alone again.   We see the pain that Kate is going through as well as Nick. But we also see Kate’s thinking process of how and why.  Why are they no longer good together?  Why are they better off apart?  How did they get to this point?   But we also must ask if it is too late to save their marriage?  Are they both on the same page with the divorce, do they both really want this?  Can they even piece the broken parts of their marriage together or will they move on?  Of course I am not going to tell you the answers to any of those questions.  This is a book you need to read yourself to feel it all and to find out what happens.  

As for the characters I honestly had a hard time with Kate.  I tried so hard to sympathize with her, I really did.  But I think at times I had more compassion for Nick than I did her.  It wasn’t that I did not like her because I did.  But she just frustrated me.  I get the knit picking and the fighting over stupid things.  We have all been there.  But I think that somewhere deep inside maybe Kate was not happy with herself or what she could give Nick and therefore took it out on him.  But that could just be how I saw it.  But my frustration with Kate is one of the many reasons why I loved this book.  It made me feel.  I felt her hurt and her pain even through my frustration.  I felt like I wasn't just a reader but I was there as a friend listening to Kate explain her pain and her struggles.  I felt at times I was talking to her in my head, wanting her to listen to me, hoping that she would see beyond it all and work it all out.  

This book didn't just make me feel, it really made me think.  I tried to put myself in Kate’s position.  I wondered if I asked my husband for a divorce and he packed his bags and left how would I feel?  Would I want him to just leave and give me what I wanted for the simple reason that it made me happy?  Or would I want him to fight for me?  And I think this is where Kate also struggled and maybe became confused by it all because of it.  But I also think that in his own subtle way Nick did fight for her.  She just was too wrapped up in everything else to see it, hence the frustration that I felt with her.  But no matter how I felt about Kate or her feelings or that fact that I wanted to smack some sense into her at times, this is what made this book wonderful.  Every frustrating moment, every bit of hurt and pain that I felt with them, the struggles that they went through, the love between them and the hope,  is exactly what made this book so real.  Everything that she and Nick went through was so real and so true to life.  I felt everything with them, including the passion.  I went through the emotions and the struggles with them.  I felt their pain, their guilt, their anger, the bitterness, and the hurt.  But there were special moments where I also felt the love between them as well.  No matter what they were going through they loved each other and that love never died that much I could see.  They were meant to be together.  There were moments where I just prayed that they would work it all out.  And honestly there were times when I really wasn’t sure which way their story would end.  But Inever lost hope that these two would find their way back to each other.  

Ms. Higginson dis such an amazing job with this story.  It is a unique story that is emotional and real.  It will make you think and feel it all with these characters.  Amazing story that everyone should read.