Is This All There Is?
by Patricia Mann
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Pub Date May 02 2014 | Archive Date May 01 2015
Description
Beth Thomas’ seemingly perfect life is about to take a detour. At thirty-five, she’s married to her college sweetheart, has two adorable kids, and finds fulfillment teaching part time at the local university.
But when a friend persuades her to go dancing on a rare night out, a chance meeting with a handsome former student changes the course of her life. Loud music, too much to drink, and the thrill of feeling young again lead to an unforgettable kiss that was never supposed to happen. Beth feels wanted again, listened to, cared for, but she knows it’s wrong.
She tries to put the memory behind her, but he pursues her, drawing Beth back to temptation. As she travels deeper into Dave’s world, Beth struggles to choose between what her mind says is right and what she truly craves.
Advance Praise
Let me begin by saying this book is an amazing piece of literature... You need to sit down and push everything else away and really dig into this book! - Joe Cool Review
Patricia Mann’s first novel is an emotional tour de force. Meet Beth, Mann’s believable protagonist in “Is This All There Is?”. On the surface Beth is an average thirty-something suburban mom, overwhelmed with the task of “having it all” and guilty that everything simply isn’t enough. She truly does have it all — at least superficially. Great husband, two beautiful boys, a part-time gig as a university professor — literally, the white picket fence scenario. What right does she have to feel that something is missing?
Thanks to Mann’s expert storytelling, the reader is immersed from page one in a realistic storm of Beth’s feelings as she maneuvers her way through the ennui of marital doldrums, motherhood, and guilt. When a risky solution to her boredom reveals itself through Dave, a former student, it threatens her marriage and her family. Erotically charged and emotionally real, “Is This All There Is” is not your simple chick lit love story. Instead it is a manifesto for the age, accurately capturing the complexity of the Gen Xers’ attempts at monogamy vs. the echoes of their parents’ bygone history as the free-love generation.
“Is This All There Is?” will surely resonate with women (and maybe some men) who have found themselves in Beth’s circumstances, which according to research estimates is over half the population of modern young marrieds. Beth’s candor and honesty can be appreciated by everyone, even as she embarks on a course of deceit and betrayal. Indeed, her story-telling is compellingly truthful even while she lies to everyone she knows to cover up one bad decision after another.
Corie Skolnick, California Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and author of ORFAN, a novel
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Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781620153833 |
| PRICE | $0.00 (USD) |
Average rating from 19 members
Featured Reviews
Negar A, Reviewer
Unfortunately, this seems to be a common story among couples today. I felt bad that she didn't feel loved and appreciated by her husband. I was glad that by the end they were communicating and didn't give up. This felt more like a memoir, even though it was billed as a novel.
Melissa R, Reviewer
"I need excitement. I need new experiences. I need to be creative. I need intensity. I need passion."
Beth's life is centered around being a mom, wife and part-time professor. She puts everyone else's needs ahead of her own and ends up losing her sense of self along the way. She feels invisible to her husband. Their relationship has taken a backseat to the kids and other things they have going on in their lives. He isn't giving her the attention she yearns for. Isn't that what we all crave, to feel wanted and appreciated?
Beth lets one of her friends drag her out for a night of dancing and she runs into a former student, Dave. He's 21 and adorable. After a night of drinking and flirting, they share a passionate kiss. But, it's a dangerous game she finds herself caught up in. She loves her husband and her family, but also loves the way Dave makes her feel. She ends up having to face the consequences of her decisions.
I think this book did a great job of portraying what happens all too often. By nature, most women seem to be people pleasers and we tend to set aside our own wants and desires to make those closest to us happy. Then we wake up one day and wonder how things got so far out of control. I think it's always hard to read about cheating, but I found this book to be well written and honest.
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