Title: Diary of a One Night Stand
Author: Alexandrea Weis
Publisher: World Castle Publishing
Published Date: July 25, 2012
Buy on Amazon: Paperback / Kindle
Author Website: http://www.alexandreaweis.com/
Synopsis from Back Cover:
Resilient and practical, Kara Barton has continually strived to live a
respectable life. She went to college, embarked on a promising career as
an attorney, married a great guy, and always appeared to be the perfect
wife and mother. But all is not what it seems, and the troubling past
Kara has been running from her entire life is about to catch up with
her.
Urged on by her insecurities about growing older, and desperately
wanting to feel one more night of passion, Kara agrees to share a tryst
in a hotel room with a sexy business associate, Scott Ellsworth. But
Scott wants more than one night together, and Kara quickly discovers it
is impossible to resist him. Soon Kara finds herself transformed into
the kind of woman she vowed never to become, and the secure world she
has struggled all her life to build begins to fall apart.
Kara Barton is
about to find out how a one-night stand can change everything.
My Thoughts:
Alexandrea Weis' Diary of a One Night Stand could easily be placed in both the romance and chick lit genres. Kara, the main character, is a forty something year old wife and mother with a great law career. On the outside looking in, it appears that Kara has the perfect life. However, after her husband, Cal, has emergency heart surgery, Kara begins to feel a detachment in her marriage. After months of unhappiness, bickering, and going through the motions in order to keep the status quo, Kara meets Scott Ellsworth. Scott is the playboy (or playman) of New Orleans, with a bedpost full of notches. Scott quickly sets his eyes on Kara as his latest conquest. Kara makes a hard decision and feels that she deserves one night, and one night only, of passion with a stranger. However, she soon realizes that for her there are no such thing as one night stands.
Weis did a great job in setting up the love triangle in Diary of a One Night Stand. I feel that Weis wanted readers to have trouble deciding who Kara should be with. At first I really disliked Cal. He was a bully with a bad temper, a workaholic, and a middle aged man who had for all intents and purposes 'let himself go.' In the beginning Scott was a breath of fresh air. He was handsome, respectful, and intelligent. However, as the book progressed I began to be Team Cal for many reasons. It was very hard for me to get past the fact that Kara was married with a child and had vowed to be with Cal through sickness and in health.
I found it interesting how Kara's mother, Helen, had always bad mouthed Cal (who she not so affectionately nicknamed 'The Ogre.') For years it was the same thing: Helen disliked Cal and Cal detested Helen; neither of them were afraid to let Kara know precisely how they felt about the other. However, I was very surprised to see the role Helen played in Kara and Cal's marriage towards the end of the book. Cal began calling Helen for advice and Helen quickly saw that Cal did indeed love Kara. During a particularly heated conversation between Kara and her mother, Helen said, "The ones that stick around after everythin' has become routine are the good ones. I was never fortunate enough to find one of those men, but you found one in Cal. The guy left holdin' your hand when life turns to shit is the man you should give your heart to...when you know your child is makin' the same mistakes you did, you step in. That's what I'm doin', Kara...You think long and hard about the life you're gonna have with that rich man, and then you think about what you gave up with the ogre." (Weis 222-223) To me this conversation really pointed out to me how astute Helen was. Helen was far from the greatest mother in the world, but she began to pull herself together once Kara was an adult. Helen's advice made me realize that she did love her daughter and wanted her to have what she herself failed to maintain- a life long partner who loved her.
The end of Diary of a One Night Stand really threw me for a loop. I did not see the ending coming at all and was really blown away! I actually wish that there would have been one or two more chapters at the end because Weis really left me wanting more! I also enjoyed how Kara came full circle and was able to finally find true happiness and contentment. Diary of a One Night Stand is definitely different from your typical romance book, instead it revolves around Kara, Cal, their daughter, and Scott. Finally, I enjoyed feeling the anger, happiness, sadness, and confusion that Weis' characters felt. Alexandrea Weis' Diary of a One Night Stand is definitely a book that I recommend, it is a great read.
Alexandrea Weis has provided me with a complimentary copy of her book, Diary of a One Night Stand, for the purpose of review.
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