My latest read was one that gave me some pretty mixed feelings, Author Anonymous by E.K. Blair. The writing was, as expected, fantastic because that’s just how E.K. Blair spins a tale. But the story itself… I had reservations, I’ll be honest.
This is the story of a woman named Tori, a stay-at-home-mom-slash-bestselling-author who has some deep-rooted issues she doesn’t discover until it’s almost too late for her to battle them. Her family, her husband, her life – none of it is important enough for her to fight against the allure of something different, which turns out to be a man she meets on a website while doing research for a new book. And the something, or rather someone different turns her into an addict in need of a constant fix. She can’t operate without it… without him.
No matter how many people try to save an addict, only they can ultimately save themselves. I hit peaks and valleys where I felt sorry for Tori and when I wanted to smack her silly and scream at her. I can empathize to a point, but when too many opportunities to fight for what is most valuable are ignored, I lose patience. One may argue – maybe what you consider most valuable isn’t what is most valuable to everyone else, Kristen. To which I would respond, you’re absolutely correct.
Everyone has different needs, and sometimes what we want isn’t actually what we need to be happy. Such is the case with Tori. In her mind, she wants to love her husband, to rekindle their fire, to have a happy family life. But that isn’t what she needs. She can’t be satisfied because it’s something she’d never truly experienced with her own parents during her childhood. So deep down, she can’t accept it.
It saddened me to read about her struggles, a woman who had a perfect life, but couldn’t accept her place in it. E.K. Blair brilliantly captured the raw emotion of this story and when the wounds were torn back open time and again, I felt the sting.
Side note… the cover? Freaking fabulous.
