The Good Wife

August 15, 2013
A novel about marriages, sibling relationships and parenting, from Porter (Flirting with Forty, 2006, etc.). This is the final book in the author's Brennan Sisters Trilogy. The story follows Sarah Brennan Walker, the youngest Brennan sister, married to a famous baseball player, and Lauren Summers, once seduced, then abandoned, by another famous baseball player. The action begins when Sarah's family gathers for her mother's funeral. We learn, via flashbacks, that Sarah, the good wife of the title, gave up her dreams of going to law school to marry Boone and bear their children. She loves her family dearly even though Boone once cheated on her with a baseball groupie. In Lauren's case, her boyfriend, with dreams of becoming a famous athlete, abandoned her when she became pregnant at 16. Her parents helped raise the baby, who grew into a young man with athletic talents of his own. Then tragedy struck, and Lauren lost her son. It is during Lauren's devastation over his death that she enters the story, while catering the Brennan funeral. The book explores themes of love and loss, anger and guilt. Too much information about Sarah and Boone's sex life sometimes interrupts the far more interesting emotional and psychological developments. On the whole, though, the story is believable, insightful and marked by witty dialogue. A novel that may inspire readers to examine their own family relationships.

COPYRIGHT(2013) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 1, 2013

Porter's final entry in the "Brennan Sisters" trilogy (The Good Daughter; The Good Woman) follows the youngest, Sarah, as she copes with her sense of identity as the wife of a famous baseball player. Sarah is madly in love with her husband of ten years, Boone, but can't stop her mind from racing and thinking seedy thoughts while he is on the road, which is quite often. It doesn't help that Boone did, in fact, have an affair over three years ago--breaking apart the trust and safety Sarah always had. Sarah thought she could move on but finds herself replaying the past so much that she can't focus on the present or the future of her marriage. With the loss of her warmhearted and reliable mother, Sarah is also facing many previously unquestioned emotions, expectations, and realities. VERDICT Each entry in this trilogy is more fully developed than the last, with the introduction of more characters and an evolving story line incorporating the three Brennan sisters. An investment worth making for fans of smart women's fiction.--Anne M. Miskewitch, Chicago P.L.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2013
Three years ago, Sarah Walker caught her major-league baseball playing husband, Boone, cheating on her with a fan. Boone immediately broke things off with the woman and swore that it was the first and last time he would be unfaithful. Ever since then, Boone has been a model husband, but Sarah can't help but be plagued by doubts. The more she wants to trust Boone, the more she finds herself wondering who he's spending time with while on the road. Already struggling with the death of her mother, the last thing Sarah needs is to be obsessing about her marriage. She knows she must either learn to trust her husband once and for all or say goodbye forever. Porter's latest installment in the Brennan Sisters series (The Good Woman, 2012; The Good Daughter, 2013) packs a powerful emotional wallop. Readers will find that all their tears are worth it once they reach the conclusion of this insightful, brutally honest tale of a marriage torn apart by guilt and suspicion yet still, possibly, redeemable with forgiveness and love.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)