Love the One You're With: Emily Giffin

Ellen is living the perfect life.  She is a successful photographer living in New York with her husband Andy, a successful lawyer.  Andy is handsome, funny, affectionate, and perfect in every way.  To top it off, his sister also happens to be Ellen's best friend since college.  What more could a girl want?  Ellen soon finds out when her ex, Leo, randomly runs into her at a local diner.  Leo isn't just an ex, he is the guy who broke her heart and left her to mend it without much closure.  Her emotions return after their run-in and even though she tries, she can't seem to get away from him.  The question is, does she really want to?

Leo, a journalist, asks Ellen to accompany him to California to photograph a major interview he has with a big-time celebrity.  Ellen knows this will be good for her career, but turns him down as this wouldn't be the respectful thing to do to her marriage.  Leo in all his persistence manages to make it happen anyway and Ellen finds herself on a plane to California with her sister to do the shoot.  Of course she mentions none of this to her husband or her best friend.  The shoot goes very well and as they return to New York, Ellen and Leo feel a lot of feelings return from many years ago.  Ellen still listens to her mind and says goodbye to Leo upon returning to New York.

As weeks pass, Ellen finds herself not only still thinking about Leo and their past, but also begins to notice how lack luster her and Andy's relationship really is.  The passion she and Leo had just doesn't exist with her and Andy, but she loves Andy and knows he's a great husband.  Her conflict grows and she begins to take it out on her marriage.  Then Andy drops the bombshell and tells Ellen he wants to move back to Atlanta near his family and join his father's firm.  This should be good news as Ellen loves Andy's family and she would get to live near her best friend.  But she feels an impending sense of doom.  Ellen loves New York and the life she has built here.  What if Atlanta robs her of her identity?

Atlanta proves to be what she had feared.  The stay-at-home and take care of the house life is just not for her.  Their new friends are also well-to-do and a little too "judgey" for her tastes.  It also doesn't help that she still has Leo on her mind.  So as soon as her and Andy get into an argument, she emails Leo about their last shoot and he begs her to do another one with him.  She debates it but as they talk back and forth, she finds out that her so-called best friend kept something big from her all those years ago. You see, Leo cam back for her, but Margo never told Ellen.  Was it too late?  Could she ruin her marriage to go back to Leo?  What should she follow between her head and her heart?  She had to find out so she took the job and made a plan to see Leo. To do this one final job then see what transpires, but on the night before she is to leave, she confesses it all to Andy whom obviously is not okay with this.  She knows if she goes she'll lose him forever, but if she stays she will always wonder.    What is a girl to do?

Emily Giffin definitely threw in her infamous plot twists with this one.  I honestly could't predict the outcome as I read.  The internal conflict Ellen was facing was evident.  You could feel those intense, raw emotions she had for Leo, but also knew she loved her husband so much.  There were often times I was mad at her, just because I knew what I wanted her to do.  Which to me shows good writing because I was hooked from the start.  A great read if you are in the mood for a suspenseful love triangle for sure.