Covet by Tracey Garvis Graves

When Daniel Rush falls for Claire Canton, there's only one slight problem: Claire's husband, Chris. Claire, Chris and their two children are a picture-perfect family, and Claire is a devoted mother and wife. But she and Chris have been at a crossroads in their marriage ever since Chris lost his job. He's coped by retreating to a dark place where no one can reach him, not even Claire, and she feels she has no one to talk to and nowhere to turn - until she meets Daniel. For her, Daniel fills a void and provides almost everything that is missing in her life. Daniel, meanwhile, knows that Claire is married, and convinces himself that friendship is all he's interested in. And Chris? Chris is under too much pressure to even notice that his marriage is floundering. As Claire and Daniel grow ever closer, and she and Chris drift further apart, Claire realises that she's going to have make a choice. But how do you choose when you want the best of both worlds - and can't bear to hurt either of the men in your life?

My two favourite books of 2012 where Me Before you by Jojo Moyes and On The Island by Tracey Garvis Graves who was actually a new author to me. I loved On The Island so much I actually read it twice which is something I very rarely do so when I saw that the author had a new book titled Covet coming out I knew I had to have this one and couldn’t wait to get started.

Claire and Chris find their marriage under strain after the recession hits and means them having to make cutbacks and when Chris takes a new job it means he has to work all hours God sends, meaning that his presence at the family home is very rare and what time he is there is usually spent with the children.

Claire has never felt so alone and all she wants is for Chris to be around more and just to hold her. When she meets Daniel who is a police officer he fills that hole of loneliness and becomes a great friend but can her feelings stop there and what will this mean for her marriage?

I had really high hopes for this book which I think may have had some repercussions on my enjoyment of this book. Like I said before I LOVED On The Island but with Covet I didn't love it but I didn't hate it either it was an O.K  book that I would be happy to pick up from my local library and read once but unfortunately it will not leave a lasting impression on me.

The storyline is quite a realistic storyline it shows the pressures that the recession can have on relationships and family life which did interest me. What I also liked about the storyline is that it wasn't predictable, don’t get me wrong there were no dramatic twists or turns as it was quite a gentle read but what I was expecting to happen didn't actually happen.

I actually liked all of the characters they were all very genuine with no bad characters who you could love to hate or who you could blame for the situation. I was expecting to not like Chris because of being away so much but at the end of the day he was only trying to provide for his family. I loved Daniel he was my favourite character, he was very gentle and caring. We get to know Claire more than Daniel and Chris because the storyline is mostly told from her point of view although there are chapters every so often from both of the male characters.  

The book has a very slow pace and continues in this way all through the book. At a couple of points in the book I was unsure if to carry on or not but I was hoping for something to suddenly change in this book to get me gripped but I think you just have to take this book as a very gentle but meaningful read.

I will still be picking up another book by this author, I just hope her next read has a little edge to it again.

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