THE AFFAIR BY J.L. BERG

The Affair was an unexpected and enlightening read for me. I love how the author weaved this story and made the aspects of a forbidden romance feel so right. 

Rating: ★★★★
​Release Date: February 13, 2020
Genre: Contemporary Romance. 
Series: None. Complete standalone. 
Pages: 325 pages
Format: eBook. ARC. 

There are some paths in your life you’re never meant to take.
Yet, by some twist of fate, you find yourself on the forbidden road all the same.
 
Those are the words I stumble upon when I unearth a hidden journal that once belonged to my grandmother.
 
A hidden journal that details a heartbreaking affair with her husband’s brother. It’s a family secret I’m unprepared to deal with, especially when my own life begins to parallel hers.
 
Sawyer Gallagher was never on my radar. The moment I met his younger brother, I was taken. Done for. Love-drunk.
 
But, some things aren't meant to last and at the age of thirty-three, I find myself divorced, penniless and living with my parents. When Sawyer stops by our family’s antique store, asking for a job, I figure: Why the heck not? Life can’t get much worse.

​It doesn’t take long to realize just how different the Gallagher brothers are. Sawyer is kind, supportive, and, oh, did I mention sexy as hell?
 
In a small town like ours, I can’t help but ask myself…
Can I fall for my former brother-in-law?
Or is this just history repeating itself?

FULL COVER WRAP

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READ MY BOOK REVIEW

Release Date: February 13, 2020
Actual Rating: 3.75-4 stars

Forbidden Romance | Complete Standalone
I have to admit, when I first started reading this, I thought it would specifically revolve around an affair. Cheating and love triangles danced in my head and I was excited for all the angst and drama. However, that is NOT this book. This is a story about a woman’s journey who is dealing with the loss of her marriage and father. This is a story about a woman finding herself and reconnecting with a childhood friend who also happens to be her ex-husbands’ brother. This is also a story about finding love in forbidden places and learning that it’s okay to want and need someone who doesn’t appear to be right for you.

J.L. Berg did a wonderdul job at weaving this story. While it didn’t revolve AROUND an affair between the two main characters there was a story within the story about the heroine’s grandmother who DID find love with someone she shouldn’t have been with. Told through letters readers will be able to experience the emotions of her grandmother’s past and see how it affected the future of the present ones.

Overall, I thought this was a good book even though it wasn’t what I expected. I do love a story that surprises me and this one was certainly full of them (even a few small twists).

If you enjoy contemporary romances, I recommend this one.

BOOK TEASERS

READ AN EXCERPT

​You know the expression, sweating like a whore in church?
That was me exactly ten minutes after arriving home when it finally dawned on me that I was going on a real, legit date. My chest began to heave. Every inch of me was damp, and my mouth was dryer than the Sahara Desert.
This was it.
A date.
Sawyer wasn’t just casually popping over to bombard me with a flurry of questions or to help me with my grandmother’s journal. There would be no couches and blankets to hide behind, no dinner preparation to occupy us.
Nope.
Just the two of us. In a restaurant. With actual people.
“Holy crap on a cracker, what was I thinking?” I asked the dead plant in my living room.
It had no answers. Mostly because it was plant. And it was dead.
Okay, I just needed to keep calm.
I needed to keep calm and make a list.
To-do lists always kept me cool under pressure.
So, first things first.
What did one do to prepare for a date? It had been ages since I’d actually been on one, so my knowledge was rusty at best, but thanks to my heavy dose of Netflix bingeing, I’d watched just about every romantic comedy known to man in the last few months.
And if there was one thing rom-coms were known for, it was a glow-up montage—an opportunity for the heroine to go from zero to hottie in under a minute, making her downright irresistible to her potential mate.
The upside to this cheesy cliché was that it gave this rusty heroine the refresher she needed.
And the first thing I needed was makeup.
Lots of makeup. My dress was obviously already picked out. Hopefully, the weeks of pizza-eating wouldn’t cause me to bust the zipper. I guessed we’d soon find out.
Taking the steps two at a time, I marched my butt into the bathroom and turned on the shower. I wasn’t sure why; I didn’t particularly need a shower. I’d taken one that morning, and to be honest, I wasn’t that sweaty from my mini freak-out, but the idea of hot, running water soothed me.
And I needed some soothing.
Of course, I didn’t think about the fact that hot water on top of my hair would also constitute me having to restyle it.
“Shit!” I yelled the moment the water hit my nearly perfect curls.
Well, too late now. I guessed I should add a blow-dry and a curling session to my list of things to do.
Now that I’d basically doubled my to-do list, the soothing feeling of the shower did little for my stress relief. Finishing up quickly, I dried up, threw my now-sopping-wet hair into a towel, and found my way into my bedroom.
Plopping down on the bed, I let out a heavy sigh.
Why did people do this?
Was it worth it to get all dressed up, put on a crap-ton of makeup, and spend a fortune on dinner, only to have a few hours alone with someone?
Thinking about those few brief moments with Sawyer today—the way his eyes had lit up when we spoke, the heavenly feeling of his hands on my body—I couldn’t help but smile.
Yeah, it was worth it.
It was definitely worth it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

J.L. Berg is the USA Today bestselling author of the Ready series, the Walls series, the Lost & Found series and more. She is a California native living in the beautiful state of historic Virginia. Married to her high school sweetheart, they have two beautiful girls and two pups. When she's not writing, you will find her cuddled up, watching a movie with her family, obsessing over fandoms or devouring anything chocolate! J.L. Berg is represented by Jill Marsal of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency, LLC.
 
 
 
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