The Marriage Diaries
by Rebecca Campbell
Published by Ballantine Books
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Reviewed by Kornelia Longoria
Rebecca Campbell's two previous novels, Slave To Fashion and Slave To Love, have won the hearts of the "chick lit" genre. This time, however, she has slightly drifted away from the light and easy genre and wrote a book that has a little more depth and which exploits the difficult subject of infidelity in marriage.
The main characters, Celeste and Sean, are faced with everyday problems and many challenges of married life. The honeymoon stage of their relationship has been long forgotten and they both experience unhealthy routines and stress of everyday life. Both Celeste and Sean crave something more from their marriage but they do not really know how to approach their problems.
One day Celeste stumbles across Sean's secret journal in which he first describes his everyday and somehow boring life as a stay-at-home dad, but then goes on describing his fascination with another woman. Celeste soon is plotting a little revenge, which takes a less-than-expected course and brings on even more complications in their already difficult situation. Will their marriage survive?
The Marriage Diaries is an excellent study of a marriage. It shows a lot of emotions and explains reasons behind some of the actions that the main characters decided to take. The book shows that the relationship problems and issues are not always black and white. There is usually more behind what's on the surface. I really enjoyed the book, and I was very pleasantly surprised that the book was so much unlike the two previous ones. I'm very curious what is Campbell's next surprise.
Armchair Interviews says: A well-done change of pace for this author.