Title: The Affair:  Never Let Go
Author: Beth Kery
Publisher/Year: Penguin Group 11/4/14
Length: 78
Series: The Affair #8

Overview

Upon her return to the Breakers, Emma makes a bracing decision—her affair with Montand will end, but only to make way for a deeper relationship with the man she loves. But Montand’s aunt Vera has plans, too. Vindictive, obsessive, and unsettlingly territorial, Vera insists that Emma leave the Breakers and never look back. And she has the weapon to make it happen: a final secret about Montand that even he doesn’t know, one with such devastating implications that it would surely destroy him and ruin any chance of happiness he might have hoped for with Emma.

Loathe to plunge Montand into despair, Emma decides to heed Vera’s warning. But as Emma first learned when she arrived at the Breakers eight weeks ago, Montand’s family promised many surprises. And there is one more to come that could change everything.

My Thoughts

I was waiting for the other shoe to drop for a while and it seems like it certainly does in this final installment of the series.  It’s not 1 but 2 things that happen to put us in a bit of a tailspin for the last few chapters.

We’re coming upon our return from France – and there’s a fire at one of Vanni’s factories which keeps him in France while Emma goes back to the US.  While we never get resolution there as to what happens, although there’s a point in the story where Vanni hints to complications and that he’ll tell her about it later – it’s still up in the air.  part of me thinks sabotage – but since it’s never resolved, i don’t know that it really matters.

It’s really what happens once Emma is back in the US – she goes to the Breakers as Vanni asked her to, and when she gets there Vera is there in full force.  She tells Emma that Vnani’s going to be further delayed – into the next day and then continues to spew her hatred onto Emma in the sense that she feels like Emma isn’t suited for the family, isn’t going to last with Vanni and should just high-tail her butt out of there.  When that doesn’t seem to work fast enough, Vera unleashes some dark family secrets in the hopes that blackmailing Emma to leave will work – and it does.  Emma leaves, Vanni comes home to an empty house, and things go from bad to worse fast.

If that wasn’t enough, Emma’s trying to move on in her life, without much success, but yet at times still just a bit, and then there’s a car accident.  This is always the point in these types of stories when folks are forced to make a choice – do what makes them happiest or make the choice ot walk away – and i think that in this instance, what we see happen afterwards shakes things up.  Secrets that were meant to be kept secret aren’t / weren’t – and relationships are broken up because of that.

Since it’s such a short novella – i don’t want to get into anything more – but i think that the underlying bit of this story is a really nice one about not just love, but about forgiveness and balance and setting yourself free.  Vanni needed all of that and Emma seemed like just the person to do that all for him, or at least take him down that path to do it.

The one thing that i’ll say is that Ms. Kery is very consistent in what she gives us.  The way that she designs her characters and her stories always intrigue me and suck me in, and i can’t wait to see what’s next.  In the case of this story though – i kind of wish that i had waited until more of the installments were out before reading – since i feel like they were a bit short in the mid-point, and there wasn’t as much substance as i would have liked.  but all in all, i’m very happy with this one.  Enjoy!