Ellie Graham married well — her husband, Andy, is handsome, smart, successful and rich.  He’s also polite, thoughtful and respectful. He’s a perfect catch. He’s just not Leo, the one that “got away”. Leo was Ellie’s boyfriend before she met Andy, and while he was also handsome and smart, he was not willing to get married. So they broke up and Ellie met Andy, got over Leo, and moved on. Or so she thought. A few years later, Ellie and Leo literally cross paths in a (how apropros) crosswalk, and they catch up over coffee. Turns out the sexual tension is still alive and well between these two, and the attraction remains very strong. Not wanting to lose touch again, Leo gets Ellie the job opportunity of a lifetime — photographing a huge celebrity to accompany the interview Leo is writing for a popular magazine.  As the two work together on the job, the sparks fly and Ellie starts wondering if she ended up with the wrong person after all.

I love Emily Giffin’s books, particularly her Something Borrowed and Something Blue novels, so I was looking forward to reading this latest of hers.  I liked the book, though it was much more somber and subdued than her other novels. This novel focuses on marriage and fidelity, and the title of the novel had me thinking the whole way through that the main character “settled” for the man she married because (as the saying goes), she couldn’t be with the one she really loves. This made me like the novel a little less, because I didn’t like that idea. However, Emily Giffin handled the issues very well in this novel, and the actions of the characters were not predictable. In fact, I was surprised with how things progressed between the characters, which is always a good thing in my opinion — to be surprised by the plot. The story turned out well and the writing was strong, though a little long-winded at times. Overall, a good read.

Characters

• Ellen (Ellie) Dempsey-Graham
• Andy Graham
• Margot (Andy’s sister and Ellie’s BFF and sister-in-law)
• Webb (Margot’s husband)
• Leo
• Suzanne (Ellie’s sister)
• Stella (Ellie’s mother-in-law)

Themes:

• Fidelity
• Marriage
• Relationships
• Grief
• Loss of mother
• Family relations
• Class differences
• Sisterhood
• Self-discovery