Nothing can alter the past. No amount of therapeutic role-playing or imaginative gestalt can change the script. The groove in my psyche is too deep.
The vixen of this novel is Amber Halloway who has cruelly wrecked college professor and scholar of Dante, Ophelia’s marriage. Her life, in fact! Handsome Andy Fairweather, director of sales for medical supplies, and Ophelia’s attentive, devoted, beloved husband once swore that their love was a gift, even renewing their wedding vows after five years in. Andy, her anchor, the one person who drew her out, attempted to change her traumatic childhood, who tried to teach her to love herself, has broken their sacred vows with a younger, energetic, sexy colleague. A dimwit who cannot spell, Ophelia learns, through perusing sleazy emails between them. She will not allow for a surprise attack, no way will she sit back and let Andy disappear from her life, like her mother did when she was a child. Not this time!
Andy’s desire for Amber is a runaway train, careening towards all Ophelia holds dear, and her scheme to end things between them backfires, putting the nail in the coffin of their marriage. Andy turns things around, casting himself as the wounded victim and leaves Ophelia for good. There are no apologies, instead where there was once love for her Andy has filled his heart with disgust, protecting the little homewrecker instead, treating Ophelia as if she were poison or a parasite draining his soul. As he moves in with the interloper and goes on to live his life where the grass is greener, and his bed filled with a sweeter, tastier fruit, Ophelia descends into madness, lurking from the pits of her own personal hell. There will be no moving on nor rising reborn from the ashes, she intends to remain a part of his world by concealing herself, watching from the shadows, obsessing over the lovers and their routines. During the day, she pretends she is getting on with things, even goes on a blind date but her dark heart is only alive when she is tracking Amber and Andy, torturing herself as witness to their bliss. Never did she think she would become a voyeur, a stalker, a danger to the man that professed to love her happily ever after.
From the beginning the reader is aware this spurned wife has ‘stepped over the threshold’ of sanity, that she is in prison, and is witness to her fall as Ophelia unravels, confesses her deeds, and reflects on the oozing wounds of her rotten childhood. What has brought her to this delusional state, surely it isn’t soured love alone? She was the injured party, wasn’t she? Can’t we see her side? Perfectly engaging, provocative, darkly comedic at times, and criminal, I devoured this story. Of course, anyone who has ever been in love can relate to the pain and dangerous rage flowing through Ophelia’s veins. Funny to review this on Valentine’s Day, but we must examine love in all its forms, even marriages that end behind bars and under a psychiatrist’s care. If you are one of the betrayed, discarded, take heart- you can partake of one woman’s revenge from the safety of your bed, keeping it fictional. Yes, read it! LaHines is a hell of a writer!
Publication Date: June 11, 2024
Regal House Publishing
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