Bad Husband by Shey Stahl

Ridley Cooper is on a mission. 
And if there’s one thing he’s good at, it’s getting what he wants.
What’s he not so good at?
Being a husband. At least that’s what his wife would say.

For most of my life I’ve been focused on one goal. Making a name for myself and building a business from the ground up. I’m a hard-working man, confident in my trade and quite frankly pretty awesome if you ask me. Sure, I make mistakes, you’ll see, but I think my dedication helps me out here. It’s the devoted work ethic that has me following through with anything thrown my way.
That being said, my wife of the last eight years served me with a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage.
Believe me, I’m shocked too. 
She’s under the impression I don’t care.
Ridiculous assumption.
I know what you’re thinking, what the hell did I do?
Let’s not judge me yet until you know the whole story. 
The way I see it, in the state of Arizona, I have approximately 60 days to make her fall back in love with me. 
Easy enough, right?
You’ve clearly never met Madison.

4.5 Stars
Review by Jen Skewes

I cannot even begin to tell you how much I loved this book.  From the moment I started reading it I did not want to put it down.  I started it in the morning and was up way past my bedtime because I had to see how it would end.  I needed to know that everything would be ok.  Bad husband was a story that I connected with for so many reasons and I think anyone who is married can as well, and and I don't mean in regards to the divorce aspect,  just being able to relate to the characters and understanding their issues and struggles.   This book played with my emotions, at times I hurt with them, and cried with them but I also laughed and smiled along with them as well.  It has it’s emotional moments but at the same time there is wit and humor there as well.  I devoured this book and was so sorry to see it all end.

What do you do when your wife completely shocks you by sending you divorce papers?  If you are Ridley Cooper you fight and you fight hard.  Ridley loves his wife and kids more than anything in the world.  And he thought his life was pretty good up until that day when he was served.  He owns his own business and is very successful.   This man works his ass of to provide for his family, to give them a great life, and to give them the things that he didn’t have growing up.   But working so hard means spending less time with his family, which is part of the problem.  But he is willing to do what it takes to prove to his wife that she still loves him and that they can save their marriage.  Will it be too late?

I absolutely adored Ridley.  I felt so bad for this man at times.  He loved his wife and kids so much and would do anything for them.  But while he was out trying to do what he thought was the best for them, he was clueless as to what was really going on at home.  He didn’t realize how much he missed.  I loved his humor, his witt, and the way he fought for his family, never wanting to give up.  They meant the world to him. 

Madison was a hard character for me to like.  As a wife and mother I completely understood her issues and struggles and why she was so upset with Ridely.  But I didn’t agree with the way she handled it at all.  And for that reason I had a hard time liking her.  I don’t want to go into too much detail but here is a man that loves his family and works hard to provide for them and give them everything they want.  When he does try to fix his marriage and become the father and husband that his family deserves, it seemed like all of his efforts went without notice, which bothered me.  And then…BAM!!!  Ms. Stahl throws us another curveball that completely shocked me and made me question Madison all over again.  But after that twist, came the really emotional moment that had me trying so hard to hold in my tears.  It was then that I started to understand Madison in a way that I didn’t before.  And maybe it was their moment of truth as well, because in a way I think at that moment they truly understood everything that had happened and why. 

Despite everything I just said about Madison and my feelings for her, it didn’t take away from me loving this book at all.  I think when two people are going through what Ridley and Madison went through, you tend to take one side over the other.  I just happened to take Ridley’s side.  The man completely captured my heart from the beginning. I loved watching him with his children and seeing how much their relationship changed and grew.  I loved how much he loved his wife and I loved how much he fought to fix his marriage.  What I loved about the book was how real it felt.  That is why it didn’t matter how I felt about Madison because everything about her character, her decisions and her feelings just felt real. 

Bad Husband is a very beautiful and very emotional story.  More than once my heart just broke for these characters and everyone involved.  I could relate to them and understand them.  Believe me there are times when I am sure many women have felt like Madison did at times.   I wanted nothing more than for the two of them to work it out.  And at times I wasn’t sure if that would happen or where this story would go.  But every emotion was worth it.  A fantastic job by Ms. Stahl.  

I would love to know if we will be seeing more of these characters, specifically Brantley.  I would love to see him find the one woman who can capture his heart.   And on another note I wanted to say that I loved the way this story was written.  It is solely in Ridley’s POV but it was done in a way that you felt like you were right next to him the entire time as he told you his story.  I loved it.