The Idea of Him by Holly Peterson

Author: Holly Peterson
Publisher: William Morrow
Date of publication: April 2014

Allie Crawford has the life she always dreamed of—she’s number two at a high-profile P.R. firm; she has two kids she adores; and her husband is a blend of handsome and heroic. Wade is everything she thought a man was supposed to be—he’s running a successful newsmagazine and, best of all, he provides the stable yet exciting New York City life Allie believes she needs in order to feel secure and happy.

But when Allie finds Wade locked in their laundry room with a stunning blonde in snakeskin sandals, a scandal ensues that flips her life on its head. And when the woman wants to befriend Allie, an old flame calls, and a new guy gets a little too close for comfort, she starts to think her marriage is more of a facade than something real. Maybe she’s fallen in love not with Wade—but with the idea of him.

The Idea of Him was a much different book then I thought I was getting.  I thought I was getting a book about a husband who cheats on his wife and what happened after.  Instead I got a convoluted story about investment fraud with not likable characters.  In the end I'm still not completely sure what all of the players had their hands in and what was really going on.  I felt like the book was trying to be a thriller/mystery, but it fell short for me.

This book ended up being just an OK read. I didn't care for Allie's character at all.  She was too wishy-washy.  I thought it took her way too long to end it with Wade after she discovered his multiple infidelities.  It was almost like she didn't really care.  Instead it was the loss of their money that sent her to a lawyer.  That just didn't ring true for me. In the end, I didn't get the feeling that she had changed at all and would keep looking for "male crutches" the rest of her life.  

There have been mixed reviews on this book.  In the end it just wasn't my cup of tea. But, give it a try, maybe you will like it.

About the author:


Holly Peterson is the author of The Idea of Him and the New York Times bestseller The Manny and the upcoming The Idea of Him. She was a Contributing Editor for Newsweek, an Editor-at-Large for Talk magazine and an Emmy Award–winning Producer for ABC News, where she spent more than a decade covering global politics. Her writing has been published in the New York Times, Newsweek, Talk, The Daily Beast, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and numerous other publications.

http://www.hollypeterson.com

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