No matter how settled one is, there is always a lingering memory or two of a love or a life gone by. Some choose to let the past stay in the past, others choose to remain friendly and still others can't make up their minds. Is it possible to stay friends with an ex? How does one move on to something platonic when something so passionate once existed? How does one move on, period?
In her latest book, Love the One You're With, Emily Giffin catches her main character off-guard with these questions. Having just married Andy, the ultimate dreamboat, Ellen Dempsey (now Ellen Graham) is shaken by a chance encounter with her ex, Leo. Formerly a confident, glowing newlywed, Ellen is now reduced to the unsure, emotional wreck that she was during her relationship with Leo. Why can't she get past this casual meeting? Why can't anything be casual when it comes to Leo? Why does she feel so guilty?
As Giffin's story takes readers back and forth between Ellen's frustrating memories of Leo and her storybook life with Andy, each detail highlights the severe contrasts of her past and present. One is filled with questions; the other is nothing but easy answers. Yet Ellen finds herself drawn more and more to the questions as her charmed married life moves forward with graceful (and sometimes irritating) ease. For which life is she truly meant?
Giffin, author of the best-selling Baby Proof, delivers a solid follow-up featuring a believable character in a situation that every reader, single or married, will recognize. Love the One You're With is a delicious novel for anyone ever caught between what is right and what is irresistible.
