The Bad Boy's Wife

by Karen Shepard

Book Overview

What happens when you marry the bad boy-the reckless, irresistible cowboy who steals your heart and whom you should have dumped after the affair? Cole Thompson, a gorgeous ne'er-do-well horse trainer,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312318960
• ISBN13: 9780312318963
• Release Date: July 2004
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 259 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.7" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Love's Demise

The jumping back and forth in time sometimes frustrated and irritated me, but overall I found The Bad Boy's Wife to be a good book: it's beautifully written, and the characters are very real, complex, flawed, intriguing people. A love story and a story of love's demise.

Frustratingly Good...

While this was overall a good book, the main characters Hannah and Cole REALLY got on my nerves. They were not good people. And my first thought when finishing this book was 'Ugh...that was bad'. But then I realized I was letting my opinion of the characters get in the way to much. If you step outside that opinion, and look at the story itself...it really is quite good. The story starts in July 2000 and works backwards. It tells of the inner workings of Hannah and Cole's marriage, and their little girl Mattie. Hannah is an incredibly needy person with ZERO self-respect. She can't possibly have any the way Cole treats her. Now Cole, while he doesn't ever hurt Hannah, and he appears to be a good husband, constantly proclaiming his love for his wife, he does thing's that are really messed up...and Hannah lets him!! Like cheating on her numerous times, and letting him have sex with her the DAY AFTER GIVING BIRTH...she was still in the hospital when they did it! And the sex alone was tiring just reading about it. Every single day Cole has to have sex...sometime 2 ore 3 times! And Hannah just takes it, whether she wants to or not. I know I'm ranting and raving about how screwed up these people are, but it's hard to explain. While I really didn't like the two main characters, I did like the story. At least Matties part. This poor child is caught in the middle of her feuding parents, and just wants life to return to normal. In the end...I would have to say that I recommend this. I don't know that you'll really like Hannah or Cole any more than I did...but even still, it's hard to put this book down. I would definitely pick up another of Ms. Shepard's books. She really is a very good storyteller.

bittersweet family drama

Though coming from wealthy respected parents Hannah married the local bad boy Cole. They stayed together for twenty years living in the same house for fifteen of them. They had one child Mattie. However, Cole ended their marriage without warning and immediately wed her friend Georgia. Cole and Georgia seem happy together and recently had their first child while Hannah feels discombobulated and out of soughts. The relationships between the trio have taken its toll on confused ten years old Mattie. Everything changes when Georgia is severely injured in a car accident. Cole turns to Hannah to watch the infant Sam. Mattie is even more confused as the relationships between the adults subtly switch again. As the dynamics between Cole and Hannah turn even stranger and Georgia remains in terrible shape, Mattie begins looking backwards because her parents pressure her to choose between them when all she wants is to finish fifth grade. THE BAD BOY'S WIFE is a bittersweet family drama that takes the twist of starting in the present (year 2000) and looking backwards over the through the years to the late 1970s. The reverse plot flow works quite well as the audience receives an even deeper understanding of how far Cole and Hannah fell. Little memory tidbits such as Hannah's recall of standing back to back with Georgia and not clearing the younger woman's nape add the depth to a strong character study of how a relationship collapsed and its impact on the innocent. Harriet Klausner

This Summer's Sizzler

The first two pages grab you by the throat: the dread of the highway accident, the hasty domestic arrangements of caring for two children, the immediate arousal from the ex-husband's touch, Hannah's willingness to be used. . . . This is a lovely, awful read and perfectly reflects the human condition. There is much among the characters that falls short of decency and of being good enough, but there are moments of each flawed being's showing gentleness and courage. Shepard's craft at times amazes with its just-right detail, its refusal simply to entertain, and its exquisite realism. And, showing the same unerring understanding that marked her debut, AN EMPIRE OF WOMEN, Shepard's creation of ten-year old Mattie is the lynch pin of this infuriating, fascinating, and rewarding novel.

an absolute must read

Exceptionally well written. I couldn't put it down and didn't want it to end. The characters are strong - and though they have their faults and sometimes those faults are disturbing - I cared about Mattie, Hannah, and even the bad boy Cole. I was so engrossed in this book that I couldn't put it down, and when I had to, I couldn't wait to get back to it. This book is a must read!