If you know me, then you know I'm a SUCKER for books that torture me. So, of course the headline on this one got me. Her husband doesn't want her anymore, and the guy next door would do anything to have her? SIGN ME UP! I was prepared and ready for all the angst, the bad decisions, the forbidden touches and looks. And let me just say, Jessica Hawkins did not disappoint.

In fact, she surprised me.

Because here's the thing. I've read plenty of angsty books, plenty of triangles, enough to the point where I feel like I know what's going to go down. But Hawkins did something I'd never seen done before - she gave me an unreliable narrator. I'm talking like Gone Girl/Girl on the Train unreliable. She basically had me hating Nate one second and then wondering if maybe there was more to the story that I didn't know the next. I would start to really get into Finn, but then like an expert, Hawkins would hold me at arm's length, making me question whether I should or not. Around halfway through the book, I sat back and actually worried that maybe I wasn't going to love either of the men. I was INTRIGUED by them, but I didn't trust myself to love them. Was it because of the narrator? Was it on purpose?

When the end came around, I knew it was on purpose. No spoilers, but just know that every emotion you feel is for a reason. This book was so brilliantly crafted, I am still floored 4 days after finishing. Bra-freaking-vo, Hawkins.

What I loved most about this book was that Hawkins wrote a broken marriage like she's lived one. It was so heartbreakingly honest. It's never one or the other, we all have to take blame in our relationships. And, like a pro, Hawkins took us on a roller coaster of emotions that come with that - fear, denial, depression, rejection, anger, and even the need to get even. At what point does the person "trying" give up and fall in line with the example set by the other person? We all have our limits.

I highlighted so many parts of this book, but here are a few of my notable favorites:

It may be the wrong man. It may be the wrong apartment. But I got my wish. There is someone waiting for me after all.

The last light disappears fast, as if turning a blind eye - let the dusk deal with the cheaters and liars.

This is what happens to a man consumed by a woman he can't have.

"He can't have you." My heart stops, and I stare into the dark as Nathan's words sink in.
"What?"
He pauses. "He... can't... have you."


I mean !!!!!!! right?! RIGHT?! Ugh I'm still reeling guys. Slip of the Tongue is a brutally honest account of love's limits and our need to break them. 5 thanks-for-making-me-sweat stars! <3