#BlogTour! #Review – Her Husband’s Mistake by Sheila O’Flanagan (@sheilaoflanagan) @HeadlinePG @AnneCater

If you hear a banshee type noise, don’t panic, it’s only me squealing at the fact that I am on the blog tour for THE Sheila O’Flanagan. Oh my!!!!! Thank you, Anne Cater, for the blog tour invite, and thank you to Headline for the ARC – I am delighted to be reviewing ‘Her Husband’s Mistake’ on my blog today!

Roxy’s marriage has always been rock solid.

After twenty years, and with two carefree kids, she and Dave are still the perfect couple.

Until the day she comes home unexpectedly, and finds Dave in bed with their attractive, single neighbour.

Suddenly Roxy isn’t sure about anything – her past, the business she’s taken over from her dad, or what her family’s future might be. She’s spent so long caring about everyone else that she’s forgotten what she actually wants. But something has changed. And Roxy has a decision to make.

Whether it’s with Dave, or without him, it’s time for Roxy to start living for herself…

What does TWG think?

Should we feel guilty for wanting to do things for ourselves? For Roxy, that question is taking a very long time to be answered. If she didn’t have her cheating husband, Dave, breathing down her neck, I can guarantee that the answer would be no, we shouldn’t feel guilty. We are only human after all, we are bound to feel some sort of guilt because, heaven forbid, we chose to do something that didn’t involve doing a weekly shop, washing our partners small, and being waitresses to our children.

However, we knew what we were signing up for, right? I have never been married and currently, I don’t intend on that ever being in my future so I am probably the wrong person to be commenting on domestic bliss. BUT, surely being in a marriage means supporting one another through good times and bad, supporting them with any decisions they make, not making the other one feel bad for choosing to do something which makes them happy….yada. Am I wrong by thinking that?

I will hold my hands up and say that I wasn’t sold on ‘Her Husband’s Mistake’ to begin with. I mean, who would want to read about a marriage going tits up? The thing is, I WANTED TO! I couldn’t see the appeal to the storyline, however I became incredibly invested in the emotion behind Roxy’s decisions, I refused to put the book down and ended up feeling a bit like a curtain twitcher whilst reading the rest of the book. Dave decided to get his end away with the next door neighbour not long after Roxy had buried her father – bit of a cactus, wouldn’t you agree?

The way that Dave treated Roxy throughout the book had me reeling with anger. How dare he twist the situation! How dare he act like the victim even though HE was the one who broke the trust in their marriage to begin with? How dare he go behind Roxy’s back and make decisions that affect them all, all because he doesn’t like her doing a job that she enjoys? Why is it okay for him to carry on living the life of Riley, yet as soon as Roxy chooses to do a job and gain some independence outside of the family, he sees red and DEMANDS? No. No. NO! I was absolutely livid. I didn’t quite realise how fuming I was until I stood up and my legs decided to channel their inner Shakin’ Stevens. I really wasn’t expecting to become so emotionally involved with the characters, but I just couldn’t help it.

Okay, at first, the storyline is a bit of a tame Eastenders, however once the storyline gets going, the characters bring the story into a whole new league of its own. The thing I loved most about ‘Her Husband’s Mistake’ was the relatable and raw elements. Sheila O’Flanagan has tapped into family dramatics and written a story which showed the issues that families may be up against, in a way that readers may be able to take on board for their own lives. The poignancy behind each of the characters personalities really hit home and I felt that the authors signature style was put in the spotlight brilliantly.

‘Her Husband’s Mistake’ is a thought-provoking, emotive read which certainly made me think about what I want out of life, and that I deserved to be happy. Roxy deserved to be happy. She deserved to be treated like Roxy, not just Roxy the wife, or Roxy the mum. She is a person in her own right and deserves to be respected for that just as much as the next person. I really enjoyed this book in the end, and it is definitely a story which has made my cogs work a lot harder than others!

Pre-order now! Published 30th May 2019.