virgoreader

I've seen this book everywhere and finally checked it out from my library on a whim. I was hooked immediately - the audiobook is great, and alternates between a male narrator (ad first for me for romance audios) and a British male narrator for the book-within-a-book (who happens to be the lead from Grease 2).

I read the summary before picking the book up and actually hesitated for a moment. I don't love marriage in crisis books, and this one lays out the main crisis in the description: Gavin, a professional baseball player, finds out his wife has been faking orgasms for their 3 year marriage. He gives her the silent treatment, she wants a divorce. The reality is more complicated than that, even beyond what the characters are willing to admit to themselves, but that's the catalyst. 

I loved this book. I can’t put my finger on exactly what worked for me, but it was a mix of so many things. I loved Gavin and Thea as people and as a couple. Gavin has a stutter and is a little awkward and insecure. Thea has a shell around her heart from a tough childhood and struggles to let people in, even her husband.

I thought the idea of a male book club was so clever and the friendship and antics of the group were funny. The members are others professional athletes who have had marriage or girlfriend problems, and they give Gavin a Regency romance about an earl who has to convince his wife he sincerely loves her. Of course, the book echoes Gavin’s own relationship struggles and there are fun passages from “the book” included.

Most of all, I think the fact that it was shown over and over that the break down of their marriage wasn’t one-sided or from one certain thing was so well done