5 Reasons to Leave a Lover by Carolyn Moncel

In 5 Reasons to Leave a Lover, author Carolyn Moncel offers up a fresh batch of stories based on love and loss. As singer/songwriter, Paul Simon so eloquently suggested in a famous song from the 1970s, there are many ways to leave a lover. However, Moncel's characters demonstrate that the reasons for leaving in the first place are quite finite. Encounters in Paris` Ellery and Julien Roulet return, picking up their lives where the short story, "Pandora`s Box Revisited," ends. This time the Roulets are involved in a love triangle, and along with two other couples, must explore how love relationships are affected and splinter due to abuse, ambivalence, deception, cheating and death. This bittersweet collection of tales proves that some breakups are necessary; while others are voluntary; and still others are simply destined and beyond anyone's control.

Goodreads Summary

This book contains 3 terrific novellas. The first one concerns Ellery and her husband. Ellery feels betrayed-as she should-by her husband and decides to take revenge. The author infuses her words with humor so as to lessen the damage Ellery inflicts upon her husband's possessions. The way Ellery restrains herself beyond the initial blow-up was inspiring, she was a truly likable and good character. Her character may be flawed, but that makes is so much easier for the readers to connect to her. This is the first novella and will leave the reader with an intense desire to read the next novellas.

The second novella concerns friendship as well as "how to leave a lover." Cinnamon will draw the reader in and will come off as naturally a warm and kind person. This is the sweetest novella of the bunch. The third novella is much sadder than the first two. What happens when your soul mate dies? The author does not attempt to answer this question, but does a beautiful job of detailing one man's grief in taking care of his dying wife and the "what happens after" portion. Overall, the three novellas were well-written and intriguing, recommended to adult readers.

4 Stars

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Biography – Carolyn Moncel

A virtual media and web consultant by day and author by night, Carolyn Davenport-Moncel moved to Paris from Chicago, her hometown, in 2001. In Paris, she started the first English-speaking Virtual Assistance firm. Known for her online articles on media relations, Moncel owns MotionTemps, LLC (www.motiontemps.com), a Digital Project and Web Content Management firm with offices in Chicago, Paris and Geneva; and its subsidiary, Mondavé Communications (www.mondaveinc.com), a media relations training and publishing company. She has written, placed articles and been featured in such diverse publications as Entrepreneur.com, Expatica.com, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, Wired News, International Herald Tribune, Wall Street Journal, Working Mother, Bonjour Paris, and PrissyMag.com. Author of Encounters in Paris – A Collection of Short Stories, Carolyn currently resides in Lausanne, Switzerland with her husband and two daughters. Her latest work is called 5 Reasons to Leave a Lover—A Novella and Other Short Stories. Her next collection of short stories, Encounters in Chicago – A Collection of Short Stories will debut in fall 2012. Discover her other works at www.carolynmoncel.com.

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