A Review of If Only for One Night by Victoria Christopher Murray and ReShonda Tate Billingsley

This is a story about two people who are unhappy in their marriages who for one night give into the temptation of being with each other. They believe they are soulmates but they have to decide whether the connection they feel for each other is strong enough to leave their partners.

Angelique and Blu met playing Words with Friends, a word game on an app. Angelique is married to Preston, a consummate workaholic more interested in the financial state of his marriage than its emotional state. Blu is a faithful husband and father of two children but can’t seem to connect with his wife Monica who has been suffering from depression since the birth of their second child. Playing the game was innocent enough until Blu messaged Angelique then they met for coffee, then drinks, then dinner, then finally culminating into a night of passion after Preston didn’t show up at Angelique’s Black Girls Magic (a major foundation in Houston, Texas) gala at the Westin hotel.

For the most part, I liked both characters and I empathized with the struggles they were having with their spouses as well as the ambiguity of stepping outside their marriages. While this situation does happen, it is never an easy thing to address especially when both spouses found out about their relationship. Nevertheless, I felt the story dragged a bit and I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t more of an explosion especially as it relates to Angelique’s anger at Preston’s mistress…his work.

Good read though.

Side note: At the end of the book, I read an excerpt of It Should’ve Been Me by these two authors and I’m already hooked!

Some of my favorite lines:

I laughed, then covered my mouth as I glanced over at Preston. But it seemed like he couldn’t hear me above the sounds he made.

TruBlu had never messaged me before, so this was cool.

Snuggling back, I sent this man my own message:

Oh, it’s on, now.

Dots appeared on my screen, indication that TruBlu was responding:

I’m not from Missouri, but show me!

There was no way my smile could have spread wider. I didn’t get it, though. It was just a couple of little messages. So why did I have that butterfly feeling?

Snuggling back even deeper into the pillows, I began to type:

I can show u….

Rating: 3.5 Stars

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