Family Affair by Caprice Crane

While I babysit my husband's cousin's kid, watching him torment my cats with a squeaker mouse from the corner of my eye, I have a few moments to get a new book review up. After a few months' hiatus from reading, I finally finished this book today while sitting in a local Caribou waiting for my car to get its brakes fixed and tire alignment aligned; it was a long time coming, finishing this book. Life, work, and the like tend to get in the way. Anyhoo. On to the book review! 

Family Affair is Caprice Crane's third book, another of her romantic comedies with twists and brutal humor. This one is slightly different because it shows a steady maturity in Crane's writing style and subject matter. How so? Let's run down her earlier works... Her first book, Stupid & Contagious, was about two unlikely people coming together despite of their stubbornness and quirks: your classic opposites attract love story; her second book, Forget About It, is about a woman's fight to reinvent herself and obtain the life she deserves: the redemptive love story. (I'm going to have to do proper book reviews for those two!) In this third book the reader is treated to a slightly skewed vision of a more mature topic: an idyllic marriage suddenly falling apart and how this upheaval affects all closest to the couple: the realistic love story. Layla and Brett are high school sweethearts who have been together since they were sixteen when Brett's family took her under their wing when after her mother passed away. In the introduction type part of the book, Caprice mentions that this story is semi-autobiographical, mirroring a relationship she had in high school, joking that if things had turned out a little different, she and this boyfriend would have turned out like Layla and Brett. 

When Layla was very little, her father left to pursue a music career, leaving her and her mother to fend for themselves. That lasted until Layla's mother passed away when she was in high school. Enter the Fosters and their son Brett. Layla and Brett, as mentioned before, have been together since they were in high school. When her mother passed, the Fosters brought Layla into their family and gave her the support and balance she needed. Eventually they got married, and Layla continued to be a major player in the Foster family, coming up with new traditions and events for the family, and forming strong relationships with every member of the family. Over the years, the lines between wife/daughter-in-law/sister-in-law became blurred. Soon, Brett and Layla's marriage grew stale; Brett viewing his wife less as his wife and more like a strange version of a sister. With this new relationship shift and the weird feeling that she was stealing his family away from him, Brett begins to feel jealous and that the spark is out of the marriage. They had been drifting apart for a while now, so something had to be done. At a rare dinner out, one where Layla thinks Brett is going to suggest they maybe start trying for kids, Brett drop the bomb and reveals to her that he wants a divorce. 

After that, a crazy domino effect is set into motion. Fearing that with the divorce her support system and only family she has left will be taken away from her, Layla goes on the defensive to keep her rights to the Foster family. A strange custody battle then ensues over the family, turning Brett's own family against him; Layla even resorts to hiring a lawyer to sue for actual custody of the family---or at least visiting rights on weekend. Nothing is sacred as the separation turns ugly: family get-togethers, regular restaurants, even trying to win the affection of the family dog (helped by smearing bacon grease on their hands). As the months drag on and Brett tries to move on from his failed marriage, but always gets dragged back by Layla's involvement with his family. And just when you think that there's no hope for this couple, then comes the twist when maybe Brett was wrong to let her go... but can he get Layla back before it's too late? 

There were times when this book was almost too hard to read. Like when Layla struggles to hang on to the one constant, stable thing in her life. Or when Brett is trying to figure out why his family seems to be turning their backs on him for his soon-to-be-ex-wife. The range of emotional depth to the struggles of both Layla and Brett, even the other members of the Fosters, make this an unforgettable read. Even though this was supposed to a romantic comedy or errors book, it is surprisingly full of depth, growth, heart-wrenching moments, and times when you get a little teary at some scenes. The reader can definitely tell that Crane certainly delved deep into personal territory to get inspiration for this work. I was even able to take some relationship advice from this book! As a newlywed, I learned that couples should work on communication and to work on not getting into a routine or taking one for granted. Never become too comfortable in your relationship that you turn from lovers to spouses to friends, or even the drastic level of mere roommates. 

I highly recommend this book. I really can't recommend any of Crane's book highly enough. More often than not, when I recommended friends (or any customers at Barnes & Noble when I used to work there) to read Stupid & Contagious, they would come back and thank me for telling them about that book and I would tell them about her other ones. There is a fourth book out, it come out earlier this year, called With a Little Luck. I have put it on my 100 Books in a Year list, so I will attack that one in a few months. As for my rating system, I give Family Affair a strong 8 on my scale of 1 (literary Hari-kiri) or 10 (literary orgasmic bliss), joining the other 2 of Crane's works in the 8 and up rating standings. 

Go out and read this book. You will not be disappointed. And if you should happen to be disappointed.... I will not be giving refunds on your "wasted time spent reading this *insert negative adjective here* book".