In Cathy Lamb’s gripping and thought-provoking novel, a woman whose memory is shattered must piece together her husband’s secrets—and reevaluate her life, love, and relationships . . . When Natalie Shelton thinks back to how things were before the car accident, she remembers a great marriage. She and her husband, Zack, seem as strong and dependable together as the houses he builds. They live in … builds. They live in Portland, Oregon, and Natalie is co-owner of a successful accounting firm. They’re happy, she’s almost sure of it.
Yet as Natalie lies trapped in a coma, unable to communicate though aware of everything around her, she realizes that her husband is hiding something. Zack has always been reticent about his past, which she attributed to an unhappy childhood. Now the strange calls he’s receiving, the apologies when he thinks she can’t hear him, and her fragmented memories from the morning of the accident suggest a deeper secret.
When she finally awakens, Natalie is determined to find out the truth. Sorting through clues as her brain heals, she realizes she has a rare opportunity—to reexamine the life she’s made and the man she’s made it with. But as answers come to light, she faces surprising, heartrending decisions, as well as a danger that could upend her world once again, as Zack’s past finally catches up with them . . .
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THE MAN SHE MARRIED by Cathy Lamb is a compelling story of love, family, friendship and second chances. Natalie Shelton becomes the victim of a hit-and-run car wreck that leaves her in a coma with a traumatic brain injury. She cannot see, talk or move, but somehow she can hear what those around her are saying even though she can’t respond. She knows she is missing something very important about her husband from the day of the accident, but is unable to recall what it is. The story is told from Natalie’s thoughts as she tries to piece together the truth of her marriage and her past during her gradual recovery. Besides her husband, Zack, the reader meets her adoring father, her difficult mother and her delightful life-long friends that stay by her side throughout her ordeal. All of the characters are wonderfully-portrayed and very relatable. I felt like I had made new friends. The story kept me in suspense at times, made me laugh, made me cry and everything in between. I truly enjoyed this engaging and heart-warming book and highly recommend it.
This was my first Cathy Lamb book, and I think I’m hooked! Loved the characters, the writing, the humor. Everything about this story was just fun! Well. Except the scary guy parts. Those weren’t as fun. 🙂
A spectacular book! Captured my interest from the very first page. Love and lies, secrets and truth…well developed characters and storyline that is captivating as well as fast paced. Definitely recommend as a story not to be missed!
I love all of her books!
A librarian friend recommended this author to me. First book of hers I read but will read more.
Loved it – captivating.
Would not recommend this book bad plot bad characters bad writing
Thank you to NetGalley, Kensington Publications and Cathy Lamb for a copy of this book in exchange of my honest review.
This book starts out with a huge secret that leaves Natalie in a coma. She calls it her Coma Coffin. Cathy Lamb does a good job of showing what happens to a person while in a coma. It’s quite interesting and done very well. When she goes into rehab though I was disappointed. It was good to see how things went there but it was so repetitive. It seemed to go on and on with the same thing way to much. I continued to read until the very end and loved how things progressed with Natalie, her husband, her dad, her mother(who I ended up liking) and her two best friends. There were subjects touched on that need way more attention, such as mental heath and young pregnancy, adoption, abuse to an extent. I truly wanted to love this book. I had heard so many good things. While I did like it, it was just not what I expected. It held my interest because I wanted to know what happens. Who was after Natalie and Zack. Why her mother was the way she was and what would happen between Natalie and Zack.
I would recommend this book to others but will say there are some parts that will drive you nuts because it seems to say the same thing over and over again. It has wonderful characters and beautiful landscaping scenes that you can actually picture. It had great potential to be a very good thriller but to me just fell short. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it either.
I gave it 3 stars and will read more by this author.
I received an electronic ARC from Netgalley. I enjoyed this book. I connected with each character, and the pacing was fantastic.
Cathy Lamb is an author I consistently go back to because her books are so darn good. Her latest, The Man She Married, is no exception. Lamb baits the hook with tasty morsels of mystery, and expertly reels the reader in to the mystery that is Natalie and Zack’s marriage. The reader will fall in love with Lamb’s eccentric characters and be intrigued by a storyline that will leave them guessing. Lamb also delicately and accurately details the condition of traumatic brain injury like a pro! This book is not to be missed!
There is always something very special about Cathy Lamb’s books, and her new book, The Man She Married, is no exception. Cathy has this amazing talent to write the most interesting characters you will ever read….they are loving, complicated, quirky, original, and, in this book, they are not at all what they seem to be on the outside. Cathy Lamb also has the ability to make me laugh out loud, so many times, with witty dialogue and situations that are funny…..even when the story is serious, even tragic, and tugging on your heartstrings. I’m going to share with you one of the funniest parts of the book…I could read it again and again, and laugh each time. While Natalie is trapped in a coma, one of her visitors is Rosie, the mother of her best friend. Here is Rosie’s prayer for Natalie:
“I pray to the good Lord for you every day, Natalie,” Rosie says, a sob catching in her throat. “You are the daughter of my own sweet heart. I will pray for you right now, in fact, the Lord’s Prayer. Are you ready, dear? Our father who is an artist in heaven. Howell be thy name. His kingdom comes, his kingdom goes. On Earth you are to find your own heaven. Give us our daily bread and wine. Not too much wine. And lead us not in to temptation and deliver us from evil men. Amen.” She sighs. “Mary, mother of Jesus, get your feminist, woman-empowered self into this hospital and fix my Natalie, I’m tellin’ you. If you need help, grab Mother Teresa or grab a woman saint. Heck, grab all of the women saints, Mary, mother of Jesus, but do not grab my great-aunt Milly, as she was clearly the devil’s assistant here on Earth. Women unite! Thank you, Jesus.” * *
“Relationships are complicated. People are complicated. Love is complicated.”
I truly enjoyed every minute of this novel as I soaked it up in two days.
It is written with great detail and descriptions that forced me to turn the pages quickly.
The plot has a love story, murder mystery, and suspense. Add in some amazing friends and some dysfunctional characters and it is delightfully all woven into one fantastic book.
Who is the man that Natalie married? What secrets are hiding out there and can Natalie find them before they find her?
A great ten star novel! Just wow!
I just finished The Man She Married by Cathy Lamb. It’s not the first book I’ve read by her, nor will it be the last. She has a wonderful way of reaching down into your soul and touching you as a person and reader. If you haven’t read any of hers, you should correct that quickly!
The Man She Married was about trust, but so much more. There were secrets, the way those secrets make you beat yourself up and how relieved one feels when all the secrets hit the light of day. This book contains gentle lessons about self-esteem, the power and value of friendship, appreciating what you have and how very important families are no matter what makes up a particular family. I say gentle because the author doesn’t beat you over the head with anything. It’s soft and easy and before I knew it I was thinking, huh….pretty great way to get that point across Ms. Lamb.
I have a sister-in-law that suffered a TBI (traumatic brain injury) and from seeing what she went through, I have to believe Cathy Lamb did some serious research into this subject. She wrote about various things people with a TBI suffer through honestly, with humor as a buffer and love surrounding all of that. I was glad to see it addressed in the way it was because so many have no idea what that entails. I also greatly respect authors that take the time to do their research. It shows a respect for the reader and the subject.
I can say that I fell in love with the small town of Lake Joseph and was happy to see a few characters from previous novels mentioned in this one. I can’t recommend this story highly enough and urge you to read it. You’ll be glad you did.
There is so much more to this book than “the man she married”; although that’s the big part of it. Secrets kept for years by those you love, friendships that last a liftetime, a dad who every girl dreams of having as a protector, and a eccentric mom that makes you need a drink to spend time with! I loved the characters in this book. A really fun book with a great story.
Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the ARC