Review: The Unwanted Wife

Title: The Unwanted Wife
Author: Natasha Anders
Series: Stand Alone
Publisher: Natasha Anders
Date Published: September 26th 2012
Get Your Copy: Amazon
Rating:

All Alessandro de Lucci wants from his wife is a son but after a year and a half of unhappiness and disillusionment, all Theresa de Lucci wants from her ice cold husband is a divorce. Unfortunate timing, since Theresa is about to discover that she’s finally pregnant and Alessandro is about to discover that he isn’t willing to lose Theresa.

This is one of those books that make you think of it after having read it for weeks and months on end. I cried pretty much all the way through, and I have found myself agonizing with Theresa. I've felt her pain, doubt and hope. I've felt her anger and resolve toward Sandro. I applaud her for finally refusing to take all the blows and for finally deciding to be a doormat no more!

Theresa is a strong protagonist and a great narrator. Most of the time she was conflicted with herself but in the end she made sound decisions. Despite having been neglected by her husband, she still loves him. However, her resolve to save herself from an unloving marriage is an awe inspiring fit. Asking her husband for a divorce was a brave move on her part; to one whose confidence have been trampled on by an unloving father and a husband who married her not because of love for her but of a love for another.

After having knowledge of the contract between Alessandro and her father, I have wanted so much for Theresa to be free of the awful marriage. And having found herself pregnant, I too hoped it was a boy and at the same time I too feared the fate of the child for having to be born to a father who might not love him and a grandfather who might use him. However, it is the only way for Sandro to release her from the marriage ... or so she thought.

As Theresa tried desperately to stay away from Sandro, and to use all the means and ways she knew to let him know that she doesn't love him anymore, Sandro is turning into a person she did not expect ... becoming a loving husband. However, Theresa knew better ... she decided he was doing it just for the sake of avoiding the impending divorce until they had a son. I honestly couldn't blame her for not trusting Sandro, in fact, I applaud her stubborness toward him.

In the end though, there are always two sides of a story. And knowledge of both makes one understand and not too much closed off to possibilities.

“I 'm your husband..."
"No. You are not my husband," she interrupted in a voice thickened with hatred and tears. "You have never been my husband. A husband loves, honours and cherishes! A husband is a lover and a champion....Look into the next room if you want to see what a real husband is, because you are no such thing!”