Bookfanatic reviewed on
Helpful Score: 4
Ugh! I hated the message of this book. If I didn't know better, I would think this was Christian Fiction. I felt like I was at some mass where the priest was giving a sermon on forgiveness. There wasn't any subtlety in how Griffin delivers her message. "Forgive them my children for they know not what they do." That's basically her answer for all the problems faced by the characters in the story.
I loved Emily Griffin's first book, Something Borrowed. I liked the books that followed. Heart of the Matter is awful. I can't recommend this book. If you're going to read it, get it from the library. I'm only glad I got it from someone. I wouldn't pay money for it. If this hadn't been an Emily Griffin book, I would not have finished it. The message in the book is ridiculous. It's setting back women to the 1950s. Mild spoilers ahead......................... Allow your cheating husband to beg forgiveness in one talk then take him back. The heroine and her husband resolved their issues far too soon to be believable. The heroine is incredibly passive and unlikable. She spends at least three chapters of the book suspecting the husband is in an affair, but doesn't do anything much even though she's shown to be a very gutsy woman when she was in her 20s. The husband is so sketchily drawn. He's caricature at best. He is an incredibly bright, tall, world famous pediatric surgeon with the looks of a male model. Other than that description, we don't know much about him. Even before the infidelity, he doesn't seem like much of a good husband. He's egotistical and extremely selfish. There really wasn't anything redeeming about him. At the end of the book, I didn't care anything about the three main characters at all. I know infidelity is a major theme in Griffin's books, and I don't have a problem reading about it, but this book just misses the mark. Because I like her so much as a writer, I wanted to like this book too, but couldn't.
I loved Emily Griffin's first book, Something Borrowed. I liked the books that followed. Heart of the Matter is awful. I can't recommend this book. If you're going to read it, get it from the library. I'm only glad I got it from someone. I wouldn't pay money for it. If this hadn't been an Emily Griffin book, I would not have finished it. The message in the book is ridiculous. It's setting back women to the 1950s. Mild spoilers ahead......................... Allow your cheating husband to beg forgiveness in one talk then take him back. The heroine and her husband resolved their issues far too soon to be believable. The heroine is incredibly passive and unlikable. She spends at least three chapters of the book suspecting the husband is in an affair, but doesn't do anything much even though she's shown to be a very gutsy woman when she was in her 20s. The husband is so sketchily drawn. He's caricature at best. He is an incredibly bright, tall, world famous pediatric surgeon with the looks of a male model. Other than that description, we don't know much about him. Even before the infidelity, he doesn't seem like much of a good husband. He's egotistical and extremely selfish. There really wasn't anything redeeming about him. At the end of the book, I didn't care anything about the three main characters at all. I know infidelity is a major theme in Griffin's books, and I don't have a problem reading about it, but this book just misses the mark. Because I like her so much as a writer, I wanted to like this book too, but couldn't.
