TEMPTING FATE by Jane Green I have been reading Jane Green's books since my early twenties and have 'grown up' apace with her and her characters it sometimes seems. After her move to America, Green's books took on a different style which eventually began to wear on me;though I continued to read them all there was something missing for me in some of them. I am very glad to say that her latest novel Tempting Fate has picked up the pace and was certainly more than tempting - it was fulfilling and like greeting an old friend, although still focused on a more domestic setting rather than her original single girl about town novels, it nevertheless displayed some of the old grittiness and fire. Gabby is a forty-three year old mum of two, happily married to Elliott, a doctor who finally has the loving and close family she felt she never had a child. On a girly night out with friends Gabby attracts attention from a good looking, younger man and for Gabby, who has been feeling a bit dowdy and unattractive lately, feeling her age and with her daughters growing up, the attention come at an opportune time, making her feel younger and alive and that she hasn't quite lost it. But Gabby would never take it further than a little harmless flirting, even when she tracks Matt down via his website and begins a flirtatious texting relationship with him, she knows it will never go further; she loves her husband too much, end of. Except. When best friend Claire tells Gabby and Elliott she is pregnant with her third child, Gabby's world is rocked for Gabby has always wanted a third child but six months ago, and much against her wishes, Elliott had a vasectomy, putting paid to Gabby's desire and Gabby has not really forgiven him for that. It is this that prompts Gabby to look up the gorgeous Matt and begin the texting that gradually becomes a meeting but even then Gabby knows to stop, telling herself it's all harmless flirting. Until she passes the line of flirting...... Finding herself pregnant with a child that cannot possibly be Elliott's, Gabby's life pitches into turmoil as she finds herself at 43, and after 20 years of marriage, single and very pregnant; no longer in touch with Matt, ashamed, alone and deserted by Claire, Gabby has wrecked everything she wanted so badly for one small mistake and has to find the wherewithal to pick up the pieces and carry on. A fascinating scenario that kept me gripped throughout the book. I could totally understand Gabby's need for another child and the loss and hurt she must have felt when Elliott undermined her feelings and went ahead with the vasectomy. Gabby is portrayed very sympathetically although there is no covering up her own betrayal of Elliott and she certainly pays the price for that. You can imagine that that is how it really would be if it happened to someone you know and I thought that the reactions and emotions were accurate and the facts were there with equal amounts of blame and regret on all sides, no one was painted as the bad guy, it is simply a human story of betrayal, regret, hurt and love; a mistake is made, the consequences delivered and yet love and human nature win through despite everything.