As MAKING IT LAST begins, everyone in the Clark immediate family has gone to Jamaica for Ellen and Caleb's beach wedding. As they makes plans to go back home, a rich Aunt gives Amber Clark the chance to stay in Jamaica for a few days to relax without her three children. Her husband Tony takes the children and goes home, but quickly comes back alone. There are cracks in his ten year old marriage to Amber, and he doesn't know what to do to fix it. He and Amber don't talk much anymore, and she holds back from him, keeping her growing unhappiness to herself. Unfortunately, the gaping hole in their marriage can only be closed if they actually start communicating with each other.

This story is absolutely nothing like the reader will be expecting; which is some cooing, loving, and exciting sex on the beach. (Well, there is the fan-worthy and memorable role-play sex scene). Instead, we are treated to a look into a marriage, a real marriage, warts and all. Tony works all the time trying to keep his construction company afloat; and Amber has subjugated all her dreams to be a mother to their three sons and a helpful wife. She has slipped into apathy, crying bitterly when she's alone in the house. Amber is silently enduring, more and more as time goes by; and has ceased to communicate with Tony. The kids think they are going to divorce, and Tony is not so sure himself.

There is a bit of an issue on how Amber let the problems in her marriage get to this point without communicating at all with Tony. There is no way he can know or understand how she is silently suffering. He's a man, and men are notoriously ignorant about these types of things. Amber should have stepped up to the plate sooner to air out their problems, long before their marriage problems got this bad, and the marriage itself got on such shaky ground.

Despite these small concerns, this is a deeply enjoyable story. More than just some excellent sex, it was a thoughtful, intelligent look into a long-time marriage that was still in good condition; but just needs a little repair work, and a lot more communication. This is not going to be a read for everyone, for sure; a single woman will likely not empathize with this story. Anyone who has been married even a few years, however, will see numerous events in this story they will recognize and identify with. MAKING IT LAST is a highly personal very good read. The story is insightful, speaks to the reader, and makes them think; and really, nothing more can be asked from a story than that. MAKING IT LAST is a highly recommended read.

Book Summary

A hotel bar. A sexy stranger. A night of passion. There's a part of Amber Mazzara that wants those things, wants to have a moment—just one—when life isn't a complicated tangle of house and husband and kids and careers. Then, after a long, exhausting "vacation" with her family, her husband surprises her with a gift: a few days on the beach . . . alone. Only she won't be alone for long, because a handsome man just bought her a drink. He's cool, he's confident, and he wants to take Amber to bed and keep her there for days. Lucky for them both, he's her husband. He's got only a few days in Jamaica to make her wildest desires come true, but if he can pull it off, there's reason to believe that this fantasy can last a lifetime.

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