Queen of Broken Hearts

Cassandra King

Clare Ballenger is a divorce therapist in Fairhope, Alabama. She's a widow, her husband having died in a hunting accident around five years earlier. She counsels people, usually women, how to deal with life after a divorce.

Her best friend, Dory, had broken up with her husband Son after 25 years of marriage. Clare had never liked Son but tolerated him for Dory's and Mack's (her husband) sake. Son and Dory get back together, much to Clare's disappointment.

Besides Dory, Clare is good friends with her mother-in-law, a batty woman who never outgrew her hippie days and lives on the river with all her birds. There are also Rye, Mack's cousin, and Lex, the Yankee marina owner. Rye is her dancing partner and long time friend. He was the first person in Mack's family who made her comfortable when Mack brought her home. Lex's ex-wife owns a store in Fairhope, is from Boston, and can't decide whether she wants Lex back or not. Clare remains friends with both men, not wanting more.

Although Clare is an excellent therapist, she doesn't see what is happening in her own life. She misses the cracks in her daughter Halley's marriage. She can't understand why Dory stays with Son, nor does she trust Son to "be the new man" he promised Dory he will be be. She sees what Lex's ex-wife is doing to him. But she doesn't see the importance or feelings both Rye and Lex have for her. Nor does she want to acknowledge what happened with Mack or that she can't let him go.

Queen of Broken Hearts often brought me to tears. I got caught up in the characters and hated it when something went wrong, like with Halley when her husband moves out, leaving her with two small children. Despite their problems, the women are strong in this book and are (eventually) able to face down their lives and make things better.

One problem I have with the book is the way Cassandra King hints at back stories but never completely fills them out. We don't find out Halley's story until the second half of the book, yet her childhood had a great impact on both Clare and Mack in different ways. Mack's problems are alluded to, and affect Clare's current mental state, but are dropped and not picked up again until late in the book. Clare hasn't liked Son, nor he her, almost from the time she met him while he was dating Dory. Little is said about what the two have against each other other than both taking Dory's attention.

Overall, though, I liked this book. The characters are typically normal and weird at the same time - like any person is. The current day interactions are believable and carry through well. Any reader will completely appreciate Clare's mother-in-law and her lover. And more of us older readers would love to see a Lex or Rye walk into our lives...

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