Title: The Unexpected: Wives who Have Affairs and the Husbands Who Love Them
Author: Chris Dawson
Publisher: Toplink Publishing, LLC
ISBN: 978-194826606
Pages: 389
Genre: Romance
Reviewed by: Jason Lulos

Hollywood Book Reviews

The Unexpected: Wives who Have Affairs and the Husbands Who Love Them is both provocative and thought-provoking. Here, we have a group of stories in which wives engage in multiple affairs and are “unexpectedly” enthusiastically supported by their husbands. While it seems as if this is an odd niche group, Dawson suggests this is more common than one would think. In fact, he argues, in many instances, this can strengthen the marriage. Aside from this debatable argument, the author succeeds in tapping into the formulae of sexual liaisons with the twist that it is the female rather than the male who is patted on the back for sexual promiscuity.

In each scenario, a woman decides, is seduced, or is initially pressured into an extramarital affair. She is conflicted with feelings of guilt and excitement; in each case, excitement wins out. The author describes each story in sensual detail as any effective brand of erotica should. The wife’s feelings of guilt and secrecy with these affairs parallel a kind of heightening to a climax. Cleverly done, in each story, the husband inevitably accepts his wife’s new promiscuous life wholeheartedly. This acceptance strengthens the marriage and spices up the married couple’s sex life, resulting in another (pun intended) climax in the evolution of their relationship.

In one story, a woman is seduced by her boss. In another, told from the husband’s perspective, he develops a fetish for voyeurism and encourages his wife to have more encounters. Yet in another story, a woman realizes her desire to be dominated. While the urges are diverse, what each example has in common is that the husband can’t get enough of it. It is an interesting twist in an old double standard. Traditionally, although affairs are socially discouraged, men seem to have been given a pass on them because they have some natural urge to sleep around. This book argues that women have this urge much more than men. It is not to say that women should be given a pass, the author argues. Rather, it is natural for them to indulge.

 The Unexpected: Wives who Have Affairs and the Husbands Who Love Them is formulaic and decently written descriptive sexual fantasies along with the “unexpected” twist the husband is totally on board. Is the author, Chris Dawson, correct in the underlying social arguments that monogamy is counter-intuitive (mainly for women) and inherently selfish? Most of these stories show women breaking free and realizing their sexual potential. But one or two seem like men agreeing to share women in a kind of patriarchy club. In one instance, the woman is pressured into her initial affair and the wake of the #metoo movement, the “realizing her sexual potential” argument is sketchy. Much is sociological food for thought, but for the most part, these seem like consensual fantasies and therefore not applicable to that social context. The book concludes with an epilogue and a guide to the cuckold relationship – if you dare.

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