Love the One You're With - a Novel by Emily Giffin

I finished listening to this on audio book yesterday on my way home and it had me in tears!! I recently finished one that I wasn't terribly thrilled with (Return to Sender by Fern Michaels) but this one I really, really enjoyed and thought it was a great read (listen?)!

From Publisher's Weekly:

"A chance encounter with an old flame in Giffin's bittersweet, sometimes mawkish fourth novel causes Ellen Dempsey to consider anew what could have been. Shortly after marrying Andy, Ellen runs into Leo, her intense first love. Leo, a moody writer, has secretly preoccupied Ellen ever since he broke her heart, so after seeing him again, Ellen wonders if her perfect life is truly what she wants or simply what she was expected to want. This scenario is complicated by Ellen's past: the early death of her mother and subsequent disintegration of her family have left Ellen insecure and saddled with unresolved feelings of guilt. These feelings intensify when Andy's career takes the newlyweds from Ellen's beloved New York City to suburban Atlanta. As Ellen's feelings of inadequacy and resentment grow, her marriage begins to crumble. The novel is sometimes bogged down by characters so rooted in type that they, and the story line, can only move in the most obvious trajectory. However, Giffin's self-aware narrator and focus on troubled relationships will satisfy those looking for a light women's lit fix."

There were some lines at the end of the book that I would have liked to have written down, I thought they summarized what love TRULY is so well - a choice that we make, day in, day out, that is what it boils down to and I really enjoyed this story. Each morning when I was getting ready to leave the house, I was excited that I'd get to listen to it again, and when I had to stop and turn the car off disappointed that I'd have to wait until it was time to head home to pick it back up again. I got emotionally invested and wondered if I would make similar choices in her shoes (now thankfully I do not have a "Leo" in my past, so I really don't have to TRULY wonder what I would do)! :)

I think though you wonder if she will make the right choices along the way, the ending re-affirms committment, marriage and real love and gave me lots of warm fuzzies so I wanted to run home and hug my husband and tell him how much I love him, knowing in my heart that I have chosen each day to do so and will continue to choose each day to do so (even on the days he leaves dirty laundry all over the floor, is a little grumpy, or doesn't like the new recipe I tried out!) :)

Visit Emily Giffin's website here!