Sara Susannah Katz, Wife Living Dangerously

Wife Living Dangerously

Sara Susannah Katz

Warner, May 2006, $6.99, 288 pp.

ISBN: 0446612685

She grew up with a wild bohemian single mother and vowed to be her complete opposite. Julia Flanagan achieved her goal as she nears forty, married to an adoring spouse Michael and three reasonably behaved children in the burbs. However, at the North Carolina beach house of friend Francesca Wilson, Julia, during a candle of truth session realizes how boring she is when the best she offers is the UPS man looked good. Her pals Francesca and Anne Elliot tell her she needs spice of a male kind (but no husband) in her life.

Ironically, Julia works at the Bentley Institute which studies sexual behavior. There she meets Professor Evan Delaney and soon, heeding the advice of her friends, she embarks on an affair. Michael, who has taken his wife for granted and in her mind seems more interested in his co-worker, becomes concerned that his beloved Julia is going to leave him. Knowing how much he loves Julia, Michael tries to win her back by courting her. Suddenly two men find her desirable, as Julia knows she must choose one.

WIFE LIVING DANGEROUSLY is an entertaining contemporary tale starring three nice people. Julia seeks pizazz once she realizes that she has allowed her mother's lifestyle to rule how she lives (classic reaction formation); Michael is a wonderful protagonist who has failed to balance work with family relationships, especially towards his wife; Evan is a nice person falling in love with a married woman. Though cheating is at the heart of the triangle, fans who enjoy following a mature fortyish woman seeking her inner soul, will want to read Sara Susannah Katz's fine tale.