Okay holy s*** this was Emily's worrrrrrst work everrrrr. I usualy love her work but this was just pitiful. The women characters were soooooo weak, and the book essentialy gives the message that cheating is completely forgivable if your husband looks at you with his pretty eyes and says he's sorry, and that it won't happen again, and that it only happened "once" (I personally consider every flirty moment, kiss, and touch cheating).Not to mention the fact that he doesn't even admit to it until he...

(Review was originally posted on Alexa Loves Books)Heart of the Matter is written in Emily Giffin's style - a strong female perspective, matter of fact and brutally honest. This is what drew me to her book Something Borrowed in the first place, and what has kept me returning time and again despite the delicate subject matter she covers.I was gripped by the subject matter of this book quite intensely. Kudos to Giffin for portraying the whole concept of adultery in a light that allows us to have b...

I found this book very predictable. It follows a similar plot line to Emily Giffin's other book, "Love The One You're With", where the main character is lead astray, but in the end picks their significant other. Unlike "Something Borrowed" where the cheating storyline allows the reader to see the complexities of the characters (which makes them more memorable/lovable), the adultery storyline of "Heart of the Matter" was unfulfilling. It did not give any insight into how the characters are feelin...

I love the author's style of writing and would have given this book 5 stars if it had an alternate ending option.*Spoilers* YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!Maybe it's just me, but I was unsatisfied with the way the story ended. It wasn't because the story didn't turn out for the characters the way I had hoped, but the fairytale ending was extremely predictable and bothersome. I know the theme of the story was forgiveness, but sometimes things just need to end. Who goes to a different city to get "tipsy" with...

Blurb:Tessa Russo is the mother of two young children and the wife of a renowned pediatric surgeon. Despite her own mother's warnings, Tessa has recently given up her career to focus on her family and the pursuit of domestic happiness. From the outside, she seems destined to live a charmed life. Valerie Anderson is an attorney and single mother to six-year-old Charlie—a boy who has never known his father. After too many disappointments, she has given up on romance—and even to some degree, friend...

I remarked to someone over the weekend that all of Emily Giffin's books are about cheating. But they aren't. Not really. Just like cheating isn't usually the cause of a relationship breaking up; it's a symptom of a relationship that is already broken. Cheating is the plot of these books, but it isn't what the books are about. They're about choices. They're about growth. And here, the "heart of the matter" is forgiveness.In this novel, Giffin skillfully tells the story about two women and the way...

When I began reading this book, actually my first Giffin novel, I had not a clue what it was about. I refused to read reviews, allowing the book's jacket to be my only insight. A wise move since the anticipation simmering page by page and the unpredictability of what lay ahead in the pages of the first two-thirds of this book were terrific.Therefore, I will do the same; I won't reveal the "heart" of this book. I will only say that Emily Giffin is a gifted writer, as you all knew and I now know,

I am mortified to have to spend precious reading-time on this junk which was inexplicably selected by my book club. Guess we let somebody slip this in without much vetting.The characterization is lazy and boring. The men in Tessa's family, though as beautiful as models, are somehow also in 'finance- Goldman Sachs' (oh cool, money) and 'the best pediatric surgeon in the world' (oh cool, money AND he loves children, calling George Clooney)-- and they live in regular suburbs like you & me! Grandma

Blah! The ending was lame. (Serious Spoilers) Shockingly enough, I would have had more respect for Nick had he have of chosen Valerie. It seemed as if he stayed with his wife only because it was the "right" thing to do, not because he truly loved her. Hell, he tells Valerie he wants to take her home and "just be with her" and that it scares him because he will always love her then goes directly home and tells Tessa how he wishes he could take it back! LAAAME! I don't see a happy ending for these...

Read for my April bookclub. First, I have to disclose that this is not my preferred genre and the only reason I read "Heart of the Matter" was because it was chosen by my book club. Now...why the three star rating? I couldn't put the book down but I absolutely hated it. What a weird paradox. Giffin sure writes well and she knows how to pull you into a story but I just found the main characters incredibly frustrating. Although they all had their good characteristics, Giffin surely highlighted the...

Spoilers in review!Sooooo, we're supposed to believe that this renowned surgical attending at Mass Gen (one of top hospitals in the nation) had all this free time to sit around and chat it up and get “friendly” with a patient’s mother and nooooooooobody noticed! Not the nurses, not his interns, residents, NOBODY noticed. He didn’t have any other patients?The characters got on my nerves, especially Tessa’s friends. Who really does brings wine to a waiting room in a hospital? Tessa too! If you’re

Heart of the Matter is a very interesting novel written from perspective of two women- both in love with the same guy, one married to him, the other not. Is it the same kind of love? Could it be? What is love? Oddly enough, I could see the way the book is going to turn right from the start, but I still find it interesting to read about lives of Tess and Valerie, one a wife of an esteemed surgeon, the other the single mother falling for him. I think this book is wonderfully honest in examining th...

I wanted to love this book. I have been waiting for it to come out for what seems like forever and I was so excited to be able to preorder it on Kindle. The happiness ends there. I felt empathy, I felt anger, I felt rage. For evoking these feelings, I would say Emily Giffin has done it again and written fantastically. However, the subject matter itself was too sad for me to enjoy. Infidelity is not something I enjoy reading about. The story of Something Borrowed was so different in this way beca...

The formula for HOTM: Weak women characters + Cheating scandal + Blaming parents for the way they are + Forgiveness on the woman's part = $UCE$$. Let's review.I am getting very frustrated with the cheating scandal that seems to plague all of her books. Haven't we seen this before? The story begins with Tessa and Nick, a seemingly perfect couple who have it all. A high powered career, 2 beautiful children, rich friends, yet there are cracks in their foundation. BLAHHHHHHHHHHH. Give me something n...

http://bookablesbooks.blogspot.com/20...Full Review!!!

I expected to like this book as I have enjoyed other books by this author. Instead I found myself wishing I could set fire to the book, my dislike of it was so intense. I choose to power through and finish the book in hopes that at some point these characters would be redeemed. Unfortunately they weren't.My first problem with the book is the authors use of foreshadowing. She practically beats you over the head with her need for you to know that the husband in this story is going to be cheating o...

''All wounds heal.''That is something you can read near the end of the book. I'm trying to heal my own wound now, knowing there is no ''they lived happily ever after.'' but... at the same time, there is a lesson even greater than that. Forgiveness. Without trying to spoil the whole story, I think the main goal of the story is to learn to try and forgive loved ones. Through the story of two women, who are completely different, Valerie and Tessa, I learned that, though it doesn't always end up the...

I devoured and relished Emily Giffin's Heart of the Matter. There are so many reasons why I love Giffin's books, not the least of which is that she tells compelling stories. But it is more than that. It's that she creates such believable and relatable characters who face believable and relatable situations. In Heart of the Matter, the lives of two women intertwine in unexpected ways after a tragic accident. These women are suddenly caught in an imperfect, heartbreaking situation. As they face de...

So I really did not want to read this book for my strong affinity for fidelity. I read Something Blue first and loved it, then I read Something Borrowed and could not finish the book. I read the book backwards because I couldn't help myself and it was hard to swallow the inevitable between Valerie and Nick. However, I did not have any sympathy for Nick. Valerie, even though she should have known better at least had the moral compass somewhat pointed up. What I found disturbing was in the end. He...