Film producer Nick secretly wants a divorce from Maya, the mother of his young twins, and consults a lawyer friend, Gray. He is advised to become a better husband and to encourage Maya to return to work as a lawyer to minimise his spousal support payment. Oblivious to his ulterior motive, Maya is just relieved to have a more helpful husband on hand. But soon Nick realises he is actually enjoying being around Maya and his family - but is it too late to save his marriage? With its intriguing premise, this is a well-written story centred around two people who have grown apart. To be honest, Nick was such a selfish and conniving character that no romantic trip with his wife or helping out with the kids was ever going to redeem him. And I just didn't connect enough with Maya to really care.
A Better Man, by Leah McLaren, focuses on a marriage under strain. The summary says: "What if the only way you could get out of your marriage was to become the perfect husband? Nick and Maya Wakefield's relationship has been in crisis since Maya left her high-powered legal career to stay home with their now three-year-old twins. Today she feels invisible, anxious, and under-appreciated, and Nick has checked out of family life. Sex is a distant memory and the love is gone. A workaholic and a consummate flirt, Nick has decided he wants out. But he balks when their old friend, a divorce attorney, shows him that as sole breadwinner, he stands to lose the most. Together, he and his friend hatch a plan: Nick will act like an ideal husband and father in order to ease the pain of leaving and make out better in court. So he encourages Maya to go back to work, spends time with the kids, and even takes her on a vacation without them. But with his cynical ruse comes a surprising change of heart. Nick is astonished to find his actual emotions match his act and now his marriage is truly on the mend. That is, until Maya finds out, and Nick's world falls to pieces. Now his only hope of saving his family is to prove to his wife that he really is the man he was pretending to be." A Better Man is out in July 2015.
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