Suffer Love by Ashley Herring Blake (review)

Though Hadley’s parents are still together after her father’s affair, the family is flailing. Meanwhile, Sam Bennett and his sister, Livy, have been displaced by the infidelity of their mother, who blames her family’s disintegration on Sam for exposing the affair. Hadley doesn’t know the identity of her father’s mistress, but when the two meet, Sam quickly figures out their connection. Thinking at first that he will just use Hadley to punish his mother, he soon finds himself falling for her; similarly, Hadley discovers that she wants something more from Sam than meaningless makeout sessions. Their developing relationship is sweet but doomed, since Sam can’t bring himself to tell Hadley the truth. The main themes here may be taking responsibility, granting forgiveness, and moving on, but to Blake’s credit, none of the reconciliations come too easily nor too dramatically; instead there is a solid recognition that both adults and teens make bad choices that radiate out in emotional shrapnel that scars everyone involved. Sam’s and Hadley’s best friends bring both comic relief and external consciences to the mix, and Sam’s relationship with Livy, as well as his understanding of a bone-headed friend, help craft him as a good guy whose anger is righteous but not all-consuming. Hadley, on the other hand, has no such foils, but her first-person narration, which alternates with Sam’s, gives enough insight into her feelings to keep her sympathetic even when she withdraws, deflects, and lashes out. No important character gets shortchanged or caricatured in this book, and even the happy ending recognizes that the effects of extramarital affairs far exceed their expiration date.