Secret Obsession by Kimberla Lawson Roby: A Review

Secret Obsession by Kimberla Lawson Roby

When Was It Released?:  6th September 2011
Where Did I Get It From?: From the publishers in exchange for a review 
Who Published It?: Grand Central
Number Of Pages: 175 pages

Have you ever thought your best friends boyfriend was cute? I'm sure most of us have found this to be the case but we would never take things any further than that. Well, how about taking it one step further and becoming obsessed with your sisters husband. Afterall thats what happens in Secret Obsession, Paige falls for her sister, Camille's husband.

Paige Donahue has always lived in her sister Camille's shadow. As children, Camille had the grades, the friends, and their parents' love, while Paige was left with hand-me-downs and criticism. Now as adults, Camille lives an idyllic life with her husband, Pierce, and her two perfect children in a beautiful home, while Paige is stuck in a small condo with bills she can't afford to pay. But no more. With seeds of doubt planted in both Camille's and Pierce's minds, Paige's plan to steal her brother-in law starts to work. But when he reveals his decision to make his marriage work, a desperate Paige moves from envy to madness. What results from her dangerous scheme is something no one could have imagined.

My first thought when I heard about Secret Obsession was that it is based around such an interesting concept. I have read a lots of books where there is cheating involved but never have a read a book where one of the characters becomes so obsessed with her sisters husband that she tries to steal him for herself. I really thought this was a great premise, and looks at the 'bad' side of relationships. Secret Obsession is a short read, that is fast paced throughout. The plot moves quickly and I kept turning the pages desperate to know what extremes Paige would go to next and exactly what was going to happen. There is a scene at the beginning of the book that made me very uncomfortable reading it, however if you can past it the scene really sets the tone of just how far Paige is willing to go to get what she wants. I have to admit that I did not enjoy the epilogue. I thought that after such a real, hard hitting, emotional storyline the epilogue tied things up too perfectly. I would have liked to see things end slightly differently to keep with the overall tone of the book.

In terms of characters, I really disliked Paige finding her to be extremely self centered with very few morals. Paige is a character you are expected to hate and Kimberla Lawson Roby wrote her this way for a reason. I also did not particularly like Pierce either, as he commits actions later on in the novel that are out of line. The only character I did like on the whole was Camille, who is Paige's sister. I found her to be genuine, generous and caring, always looking out for her sister and everyone around her. I was really routing for Camille throughout the book and was hoping that she would come out of the sitaution relatively unscathed.

Some of you may be put off by the idea of someone going after her sister's husband, after all it is a pretty twisted sitaution. All I can say is that, yes it is a pretty extreme idea, but cheating happens everyday, and while I would never condone that, it can make for very real and emotional reading. If you can get past the concept of Secret Obsession then I would definatly recommend this book to you. It was a really enjoyable, fast paced read that I devoured all in one go.