Temptation Pt. 04

The circumstances of the one time cheating (though she was "apparently" drugged with X and convinced somehow by Kendra and Jake that her husband was having an affair of his own), and her plan to do it again, were bad enough. As were her underwhelming responses in counseling and her lack of trust is her husband. All of that would make for a hard reconciliation as it is. But her cosmic sex epiphany with Jake and what we the reader see in her mind, makes this a crazy, unwarranted RAAC. Literally she cannot stop thinking about Jake's "charms" and the thundering sex, even though she knows she was (apparently) drugged, setup by Kendra and Jake in a crazy revenge plot to break up her marriage and discredit her career, lied to incessantly, and yet she is still think with her private parts. For someone with a good job and a long time professional, she has zero willpower and is stupid as a bag of rocks. She should be digusted by Jake and what happened with him. Instead it is as if she almost falls again. Balderdash. And the cooked up burning of Kendra and Jake (besides contacting the Melinda's husband) was ludicrous and almost certainly would fail. This chapter was a big let down. Ouch.

This ending was a dumpster fire. Instant reconciliation. A crazy revenge plot that is so contrived and would never work (beyond telling Melinda's husband about Jake(. The fixation with big ornis tropes. Jake would be like a 1 in 100k probability but in LW stories every law firm or small company has at least one. The counseling sessions were a joke. Anna was a faithless slut that had cosmic sex with Jake and planned to do it again. Yes she was ambushesd by Kendra but believed someone she doesn't even know or like that Gary was cheating on her. Dumb. The first three chapters were ok. Ending just aucked. Gary just forgave her and f$cked her over a couch. All good. And she miraculously gets Junior Partner when she was the center of a soap opera at her firm. 2 stars. Sad. This is normally a good author. All I can assume is that author muffed the punt because and no clue what to do with the ending to.make it plausible so went for abbreviated and surreal.

The ending could have been polished up a bit (perhaps drop some hits throughout of the alleged money laundering. Also Gary was far too forgiving too quickly. I think it was a lost opportunity to the story not to expound on his grief and anger towards Anna. Perhaps an extended separation and reconciliation would have felt more realistic. The unprotected sex with Jake was also a lost opportunity as it could have been used as a factor (pregnancy) along with wondering who the father is (which could have played a part in whether or not there was reconciliation. Overall I’d give it a 3.5. Good story but could have been a 5..

A total train wreck of an ending. Why the elaborate scheme which is so contrived and artificial as to be unbelievable? Gary goes from angry betrayed husband who understandably wonders if he can ever trust his wife again to happy camper bending her over the couch within an hour or so of seeing Anna's steamy kiss with Jake; indeed, Gary told himself that there HAD to be serious counseling for Anna after seeing her actions with Jake. After a few more days, Gary and Anna are "mostly" back to a normal happy relationship. WTF???

I could go on but why bother. The first three parts of the story were 3-4 stars for decent writing, even f the plot seemed overly contrived. But this ending comes across as a very lazy way to end the story with a complicated confusing scheme to wrap everything up in a wholly unbelievable way. Real world solution: Gary tells Anna she must resign and tell her boss about Kendra's revenge plot and Jake's sexual harassment and seduction. Then Anna goes to counseling and Gary and Anna get marriage counseling. Maybe, after real effort, they stay together and gradually return to a more or less happy relationship. But this? The author really let his readers down with this contrived crappy ending. 1*

P.S. Maybe Anna shouldn't be wearing very short tight dresses with 4 inch heels in the workplace. I was a partner in a law firm. She would have been advised to tone down her wardrobe to something that is appropriate attire for a professional. What she was wearing ain't it.

There is really little more to be said other than ‘she got away with it’ and a certain segment of readers will be applauding her victory.

Seeing far into the future, as she’s laying on her deathbed she’ll have the wonderful memories of her affair (maybe by then affairs) and pass on with a knowing smile on her face.

Conversely hubby will be laying on his deathbed and he’ll look back thinking what an utter twat he was not to divorce her all those years ago, he passes on with a frown on his face. Serves the idiot right.