to cheat & be cheated.

In The Heart of the Matter, author Emily Giffin gives readers an inside look into the very personal lives of married couple, Nick and Tessa Russo. Nick is a children's plastic surgeon and Tessa is a former teacher/current stay-at-home mom. The night of their seventh anniversary, Nick gets a call from the hospital and has to leave before dinner even arrives. It's not that uncommon, and Tessa is disappointed, yet understanding because of her husbands profession. Little does she know that when Nick walks into the door of a certain hospital room, he meets a woman that will change their lives, and their marriage forever.

Meet Valerie Anderson, single working (lawyer) mom of six-year-old Charlie who was brought to the hospital after falling to a fire at a birthday party. A party Valerie didn't want him to go to in the first place, but was trying to chill out her crazy mother antics. Charlie's dad is out of the picture, and Valerie pretty much keeps to herself. Her heart practically jumps out of her chest when she sees Nick for the first time. He is handsome, and he is filled with promises to fix her sons badly burnt face and hand. She is in love. Charlie is in love. Nick is MARRIED, yet still falls in love anyway.

The chapters go every other between Tessa AND Valerie. We get to see both sides of the affair story, which Giffin wrote about with such expertise, that you'd think her husband banged her best friend or something. Obviously she did her research. You can feel the emotion of both women so much that you ALMOST feel sorry for Valerie, who is the 'other woman,' remember. I actually really liked Valerie, but I also have questionable morals. All in all, I thought the book was really well written and realistic. I recommend it for married girls, 'the other woman' girls AND single girls alike.