The One You're With
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4.2 • 37 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Written in Lauren K. Denton's signature Southern style, The One You’re With tells the story of a seemingly perfect marriage rocked by secrets from the past.
High-school sweethearts Mac and Edie Swan lead a seemingly picture-perfect life in the sleepy-sweet community of Oak Hill, near Mobile, Alabama. Edie is a respected interior designer, Mac is a beloved pediatrician, and they have two great kids and a historic home on tree-lined Linden Avenue. From the outside, the Swan family is the definition of “the good life.” And life is good—mostly. Until a young woman walks into Mac’s office one day. A young woman whose very existence threatens all Mac and Edie have built and all they think they know about each other.
Nineteen years after a summer apart, with a family and established lives and careers, the past that Mac and Edie thought they left behind has come back to greet them. For the first time, constants in their lives are called into question: their roles as parents, their reputation as upstanding members of the community, and the very foundations of their marriage. As they wade through the upheaval in both their family and professional lives, they must each examine choices they made long ago and chart a new course for their future.
Full-length Southern women’s fictionStand-alone novelBook length: 116,000 wordsIncludes discussion questions for book clubs
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A family's idyllic home life is disrupted by a stranger in this excellent inspirational drama from Denton (The Summer House). Mac and Edie Swan have it all: a solid marriage, successful careers, two wonderful children, and a beautiful home in Spring Hill, Ala. But everything wasn't always so perfect: 20 years ago, when they broke up for a summer, Mac headed to the Gulf shore for a marina job and Edie went to New York for an interior design internship. Now, after a teenage girl with a striking physical resemblance to Mac shows up in Spring Hill, the facade of Mac and Edie's marriage begins to crumble. Riley Mills is Mac's daughter from a fling he had that summer, and his attempts to help her lead to Edie questioning his commitment. At the same time, Graham, a childhood friend of both Mac and Edie and now a well-respected architect, reappears after a 20-year absence that was provoked by his relationship with Edie that same summer. When Graham and Edie are partnered on a new project, Edie begins to play the "what if" game and turns to her faith for guidance. Fans of contemporary Christian inspirationals will love this powerful, contemplative family saga.
Customer Reviews
“THE GOOD LIFE” vs “THE REAL LIFE”
Author Lauren K. Denton has a way of writing the stories that get right to the heart of matters. They always reveal the messy parts of relationships and make you stop and contemplate things. This book definitely does that!
Mac and Edie Swan were high school sweethearts and now have a beautiful family and have worked together to create the picture of “the good life” in Oak Hill, AL. Mac is the beloved pediatrician and Edie a respected decorator. They have no idea their lives will be irrevocably changed in an instant when a young woman arrives in town and stops by Mac’s office. Immediately, Mac and Edie’s summer apart nineteen years ago has changed everything they have built into “the good life” into “the real life” and now they must decide how they will handle this life changing news. One chooses to react and one chooses to respond. It is interesting to observe their children's response to this news as well. As the story progresses, readers are allowed to see much more into the hearts of Mac and Edie both in the past and present.
I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by Thomas Nelson and NetGalley. The opinions expressed here are completely my own and without influence.