Covet by Tracey Garvis-Graves

Covet by Tracey Garvis-Graves
Published by: Dutton Adult on September 17, 2013
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 320
Source: BookExpo America
Book Details
Rating: ★★★★

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.

Covet had an aura of sadness and tragedy around it. Claire desperately wants her husband Chris’s attention and affection. Chris wants to give it, but feels like he needs to work really hard to impress his boss and secure his job. They both want to be together, but they don’t communicate that well, so distance grows between them. Hearing both of their sides is just so heartbreaking! Claire questions whether or not Chris even still loves her because he doesn’t communicate that, touch her, or even share her bed. But when you read from Chris’s chapters, you can clearly see that he adores Claire, he just doesn’t know how to deal with his life right now. You want to yell at them to stop being stupid, communicate, and work things out.

I really like how this book dealt with the issue of a “sort-of” love triangle. Normally if a woman is married or dating someone, I’d glare at her and despise her for eyeing another man. But that’s not how this book was at all. Claire enjoyed Daniel’s company and just wanted to be his friend. When she started feeling an inkling of a little more for him, I could see why and sympathize with her. But I loved how she never wanted to cheat on her husband. She was determined to just be friends with Daniel. But I think most importantly, the author was able to get me to understand Claire’s reasoning.

I think the one problem with the story is that it really puts the reader at a distance. I didn’t feel emotion or personality dripping off the page. The book is interesting, but it all feels very emotionless. It’s just: this happened, that happened, I went there at this time, I met this person at this place, then I did that. It feels like a sequence of events being told by a withdrawn narrator who has very little presence. We’re told practically every detail of Claire’s day-to-day life and some of it was pretty boring. I felt like Claire had very little or no personality and that made it tough to really get to know her or like her.

But that being said, the story itself was interesting enough that I kept reading and really wanted to see how it would unfold. Overall, I’m very happy with how things ended! View Spoiler » [I’m so glad that she started to make progress with Chris and broke things off with Daniel. I loved watching her and Chris come closer together. « Hide Spoiler] I think part of me was wishing for a little more at the ending View Spoiler » [like I wanted to see how Chris’s business was doing in the epilogue « Hide Spoiler] , but for the most part I was very happy with it!

The Verdict