Judith’s review of Now She’s Gone by Kim Corum

“We stared into each other’s eyes, getting lost in the lust as we always did. Once we were together, nothing else mattered. He did that to me. He made me forget all the bad stuff in my life.”

Bruce doesn’t know what happened to his wife, Sandy. All he knows is that she disappeared without a trace. But just when he’s about to give up his search, he uncovers her journals which give him a closer look at her, her past and her secrets.

Now She’s Gone is an erotic novel about love, betrayal and desire. Please keep in mind, however, that this newly reissued edition contains adult situations and language and is intended for a mature audience.

It’s not the easiest romance novel I have read and it certainly is not one of those warm fuzzy kinds of stories.  This novel is a gripping and gritty story of two people who had tons and tons of personal baggage and who allowed that baggage to go when in the grip of their lustful coupling.  But as we all know, personal baggage hangs around, and so it did with Bruce and Sandy.  Did they love each other?  I think they did.  But as I have so often commented to clients in my counseling days, love really doesn’t conquer all.  It may make it easier to bear, but the personal baggage always reappears to demand that we deal with it.

I often wonder how I would deal with such an occurrence as having one’s spouse just up and disappear without a trace.  How distressing and heart-breaking!  It is made worse by the fact that Bruce really believed that he and Sandy had a solid marriage.  So why is she gone?  Her journals are captivating in their immaturity on the one hand and compelling with their honesty on the other.  Sandy is a deeply troubled woman and even though she and Bruce managed to keep the realities of their issues at bay for a while, their love and lust cannot make those issues go away.  Suffice it to say that reading Sandy’s journals was not only a journey of discovery about what was going on behind the scenes in Sandy’s life, her heart and soul, but it was a time of relentless probing into Bruce’s own inner being as he tried to make sense of Sandy and deal with his own responses to the revelation of her betrayal.

This is a relatively short read and one that seems to “hook” the reader.  I have to admit that I am not usually a fan of novels that are fraught with flashbacks and journals and diaries and such.  But this book captivated my imagination, possibly because there was so much mystery to Sandy’s inner workings and that irrepressible desire in all of us to find out if there might just happen to be a HEA for Bruce and Sandy in the end.

Again I reiterate that this is not a soft and satisfying read but it will probably get your literary juices flowing.  Many will be highly offended at the realities that make up Bruce and Sandy’s relationship and the hurt and betrayal that Sandy’s immaturity causes.  Yet there is always value in examining another’s relational experience if for no other reason than we are all made stronger in the best of ways when we examine the foibles of others.  .

I give this book a rating of 3.75 out of 5

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place.

This title is available from New Tradition Books.  You can buy it here or here in e-format.