What She Really Wants

Title: What She Really Wants
Author: Barbara Delinsky
First Published: May 5, 2015
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Pages: 25
Genre: Short Stories, Women's Fiction
Format: Ebook
Source: Free Promotion
Rating:


Synopsis:

Is it really the thought that counts? Sarah Markham loves her husband Tom. They've been married for eighteen happy years, but on some level, she worries that he doesn't see her as she really is. And nowhere is this more evident than in his gift giving. It's not for any lack of love--Tom adores Sarah and spends lavishly--but he never quite surprises her with the perfect something. Enough. This year, when their anniversary rolls around, Sarah tells him, "I want you to think and to look at me and to see who I really am and what I really want."

Can Tom rise to the challenge? Will he be able to get Sarah what she really wants?

Review

I had a feeling from the synopsis that I might not enjoy this book, but I gave it a shot anyway. It’s a tough premise that will easily villainize the wife, but I approached the story with an open mind. An upper-class lawyer’s wife, Sarah, is dissatisfied with her husband’s lavish gifts, feeling that they aren’t really “her” and challenges him to pay attention and see who she is. On the surface, this seems really ungrateful, and it is.

But I can also understand the feeling of not being seen and understood, and how difficult that can be to communicate, particularly in a marriage. Sarah gives me the impression of being a character with gift-giving being her primary love language, expensive and materialistic gifts are not the goal, but instead something thoughtful, a tangible affirmation of love. The challenge does get her husband thinking, and he observes things about her that he hadn’t noticed before.

It’s a fluffy and low-stakes story held down I think because Sarah’s character just wasn’t convincing and she is unlikeable. Communication is key for the survival of any relationship and the way that she communicates her needs gives the impression of being self-centered and it will turn off a number of readers. The story didn’t quite nail it for me, but that’s nothing against the writer at all. I’d be willing to give Delinsky another try with one of her novels.

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