Rachel and Austin Sanders have been together for half their lives. Together, they’ve raised two girls on their ranch. Things had always been good for them. Austin tended the cattle while Rachel kept the household running smoothly.
But when Austin’s mother needs caregiving for a brief time, the stress it brings to their lives starts to show the cracks they hadn’t noticed developing in their marriage. Rachel begins to wonder if there is more to her life than just cooking and cleaning, especially when their girls could be leaving the nest in the next five years.
In her desperation to find a solution to her growing unhappiness and the apparent financial woes of the ranch, she decides to pick up photography again. Having spent her high school years with a camera attached to her face, it gives her something to look forward to when she’s done with the work for the day. Even better, it could be the answer to their growing money concerns as she contemplates starting a business with it.
Austin, however, doesn’t think it’s a good idea. First, it’s a concern over stress, then the money needed to begin, and then the type of photography. With every answer Rachel has for his objections, he seems to find something new. Frustrated with her husband’s stubbornness in not supporting her dream, Rachel contemplates her future with a heavy heart.
When all his friends tell Austin he’s wrong in this, can he get over the actual issue at play? Will Austin and Rachel realize what matters before it’s too late for them?
Tropes: adoring husband x loving wife, existential crisis, great side characters, married high school sweethearts, major life disruption revealing unhappiness, small town, I need something for me, something that’s mine, marriage in trouble, grand gestures
Available: Kindle – Kindle Unlimited – Paperback
Content Warnings
Infidelity- mentioned off-page, not MCs
Reference to Violence- Another character punched someone. It happens off-page but is discussed
Sexual Coercion- There is discussion of an event where a friend of the group tried to force his way into another character’s bed, off-page
Parental/Spousal Death– (cancer, heart attack, murder, brain aneurysm) off-page, historical. Several characters have parents who have died. None of the deaths occur on page. They are referenced in passing.
Caregiving An Injured Parent- Austin’s mother injures her ankle, and they move her into their guest room for a time
Strained Relationship with Parents- The parent they have staying with them causes a large amount of stress on the characters and their relationship. A parent of a friend is referred to as being controlling. Several side characters have strained relationships with their parents over religious intensity.
Divorce/Marriage Ending- There is discussion of friends’ marriages that ended in divorce, and contemplation of MCs about a possibility of separation and divorce. One of the MCs goes and spends the night at their friends’ house against the other’s wishes.
Existential Dread- FMC realizes that she doesn’t really have anything that is hers as she has focused on others for the past decade and a half. As the looming threat of her nest emptying approaches, she wonders what she is going to do all of her time. She meets resistance when she tells her spouse about wanting to start a career, making her wonder if they are even the same people they were when they got married and whether she will have to choose between starting a career or staying in her marriage.
Inappropriate Touching- Discussion of an event in which another character was touched inappropriately by another
Slut Shaming Language
Explicit Sex
Shonna Preston 