Covet (Covet #1) by Tracey Garvis-Graves

What if the life you wanted, and the woman you fell in love with, belonged to someone else?

Chris and Claire Canton’s marriage is on life support. Downsized during the recession and out of work for a year, Chris copes by retreating to a dark place where no one can reach him, not even Claire. When he’s offered a position that will keep him away from home four nights a week, he dismisses Claire’s concern that time apart could be the one thing their fragile union can’t weather. Their suburban life may look idyllic on the outside, but Claire has never felt so disconnected from Chris, or so lonely.

Local police officer Daniel Rush used to have it all, but now he goes home to an empty house every night. He pulls Claire over during a routine traffic stop, and they run into each other again at the 4th of July parade. When Claire is hired to do some graphic design work for the police department, her friendship with Daniel grows, and soon they’re spending hours together.

Claire loves the way Daniel makes her feel, and the way his face lights up when she walks into the room. Daniel knows that Claire’s marital status means their relationship will never be anything other than platonic. But it doesn’t take long before Claire and Daniel are in way over their heads, and skating close to the line that Claire has sworn she’ll never cross. 

"Maybe love is like a pendulum. It swings back and forth, slowly, steadily, and sometimes you don’t know where it will come to rest." 

Shit If I know how to rate this one! When I started it I thought it wouldn't take more than a 3 from me. When I finished it I wanted to give it 5, so now I think it's fair to take 4 stars. 

This story was definitely a roller-coaster of my emotions. I was feeling worried, angry, sad, compassionate, comprehensive, happy, heartbroken, excited. So many emotions, I was all over the place! I'll admit that I cried a little. 

I knew since the beginning that it would be a story that would really trouble me. I'm not a fan of cheating stories, so I was really worried when I realized that it was about a family with kids. Usually, I believe that when things are broken between a couple it's better to finish things, than be unfaithful. But what are you doing when there are kids in the middle? You can't finish simply like that a marriage, right? [Those were my thoughts by the way, so don't get discouraged by those words.]

Let's get to the story now. 

We have Claire and Chris. A married couple that has been drifted apart, since Chris had been unemployed. He had shut his woman out and even though he still remained a wonderful father, he acted like Claire wasn't worthy of his time. He wouldn't talk to her, he wouldn't speak to her or sleep with her. At first I didn't like Chris. Even though he was never abusive or anything like that, he seemed like a shitty husband. 

But then we see his POV and we can see his pain. He loves his family, he wants to spend time with them, even though now that he found a new job which holds him many days apart from them. He is praying that Claire will hold onto waiting for him, until they get over every obstacle in their way. 

Meanwhile, Claire meets a good looking cop, Daniel. She starts hanging out with him and he becomes what she needed from Chris and didn't have it all this time. She finds companionship with him and she feels less lonely when she's spending time with him. 

“I have no right to say this, and I’d never ask you to leave him. But I wish you were mine.” 

I really can't say how frustrated I was because I couldn't stomach the possibility of crossing the lines with him. I rooted for Chris the whole time, even when he wasn't a good husband to her. All he cared about was to be the one who would provide financially his family. I could understand Claire though. I could somehow feel her pain and how lonely, rejected and uncertain she felt with Chris. 

“Do you still love me?” I ask suddenly.
“Of course I do.” He looks confused and hurt, as if my words have cut him to the bone.
“Why would you ask such a thing?”
“Because you haven’t said it in a long time. And sometimes I still need to hear it to know that it’s
true.”
“I love you, Claire. I always will.”
“I love you, too.” 

I'm not going to say anything more, because I don't want to spoil anything. I'm just going to say that it's certainly NOT what it looks like, I enjoyed the writing , even though it had me chewing my nails & feeling frightened of what would happen with each page I flipped. 

I think that it's a really worth reading story. Hard to read maybe, but I believe that in the end it was worth it. 

PS1: Chris was my favorite character, hands down. Especially when I read the flashback with their first dates, it had me immediately rooting for him.  And then the hospital scene, it simply killed me.

PS2: Completely random, but it was my first diabetic female protagonist & I could relate as a diabetic myself. ^_^ I love when books let people know about diseases, raise awareness about health issues or other issues that were on this book, such us her friends' problems (gambling,alcoholism etc.). It showed that every family deals with issues, some more difficult than the other & nothing is as peachy as it appears sometimes. You just need to overcome them & work for them.