Martha MoodyMartha Moody

Sometimes Mine, a novel by Martha Moody

Sometimes Mine

Genie Toledo is a spit-fire who married the wrong guy young, had a daughter, quickly divorced, and now, in her 40s, has filled the emotional gap by throwing herself into her work and holding friends and family at arm's length, even her college-age daughter. The only person to penetrate her thick shell is Mick Crabbe, with whom she's had a decade-long affair. He's a charming guy-famous even, a well-known college basketball coach-but the fact that they live in different states and see each other only once a week, and that Mick is committed not only to his wife and kids, but also to his basketball team and all those fans, suits Genie just fine. She can take care of herself. She doesn't need him.

That is, until Mick becomes fatally ill and the nature of their relationship is forced to change. Genie sets her heart free for the first time and is ultimately changed by the experience. As she becomes intimately involved in Mick's care, and makes herself known to his family, she finally understands the importance of making connections with others, and earns, even from the outside world, the extremely moving validation of her importance in Mick's life

Narrated with the warmth, humor, and compassion that readers have come to expect from Martha Moody, Sometimes Mine is an emotionally engaging story of learning to appreciate the value of the people in your life, and the realization that sometimes the most important relationships are those that go unrecognized.

An Excerpt from Sometimes Mine

I know not everyone can understand the person I was then. On Thursdays I left my office at the early for me time of seven and drove eighty-four miles by interstate to a Marriot hotel in Marietta, Ohio, a mile from the northern bank of the Ohio River. I was eleven years into an affair with a married man I saw for two hours once a week, and I was delighted with those hours. They were enough for me. I wasn't suffering with doubt or angst or anger, although if I read the books Tessa gave me, I suspect that they would tell me that I was. They weren't judgmental books. They wouldn't call what Mick and I were doing immoral. Their concern would be my happiness and fulfillment. They'd tell me that I was being used, that I shouldn't settle, that I was a deserving person in the process of becoming so much more.

I was more. In Mick's and my hotel room, my serious clothes and shoes were off, my beeper was in my car, and no one but the man I loved knew exactly where I was. How could I taint such peace with pleadings for divorce or separation, or practical plans for the future? I read somewhere that astronauts, freed from gravity, find that a small space becomes enormous. In Mick's and my hotel room, we lost gravity. Not every meeting was perfect, but most weeks, for at least some minutes, Mick and I were tumbling through the air.

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What Others Have to Say

"I laughed, cursed, cried and mourned for these wonderful characters and found the story enchanting if not very heart breaking. Martha Moody provides an engaging love story of what could happen if only you were to live outside the box."

"The story was vibrant and well-done. I feel like I know and like these two people flaws and all."

Also see Words to Mouth Interview with Martha Moody about the writing of the book.

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