Sometimes Mine

From the author of the runaway bestseller Best Friends comes an engaging new novel of love, loss, and enduring friendship.

Forty-something Genie Toledo has compensated for the mistakes she's made by throwing herself into her work as a top cardiologist in Columbus, Ohio, and holding everyone-including her college-age daughter-at arms' length. Only Mick Crabbe-the charming, famous, married college basketball coach with whom she's had a decade-long affair-can penetrate her shell. That is, until an unexpected turn of events forces Genie to realize just how dependent she is on him and the other people in her life.

From the author of the national bestseller Best Friends an emotionally affecting story of midlife romance and learning to value the people in your life.

Genie Toledo is a spitfire who too young married the wrong guy, had a daughter, quickly divorced, and now, in her forties, has filled the emotional gap by throwing herself into her work and holding friends and family at arm's length-even her college-age daughter. The only person to penetrate her thick shell is Mick Crabbe, with whom she's had a decade-long affair. He's a charming guy-famous even, a well-known college basketball coach-but the fact that they live in different states and see each other only once a week, and that Mick is committed not only to his wife and kids, but also to his basketball team and all those fans, suits Genie just fine. She can take care of herself. She doesn't need him.

That is, until Mick becomes fatally ill and the nature of their relationship is forced to change. Genie sets her heart free for the first time and is ultimately altered by the experience. As she becomes intimately involved in Mick's care, and makes herself known to his family, Genie finally understands the importance of making connections with others, and earns, even from the outside world, the extremely moving validation of her significance in Mick's life.

Narrated with the warmth, humor, and compassion that readers have come to expect from Martha Moody, Sometimes Mine is an emotionally engaging story of learning to appreciate the value of the people in your life, and the realization that sometimes the most meaningful relationships are those that go unrecognized.

Publishers Weekly

Doctor-novelist Moody (Best Friends) again zooms in to examine the many facets, features and fissures of a relationship, this time in the story of Genie Toledo, an Ohio cardiologist who has a 12-year-long affair with a married college basketball coach. From medical technology to billing bureaucracy, saving lives to losing patients, Moody shows the demands of medical practice and then treats readers to an almost equal display of insight into the world of college basketball as Genie's lover, Mick Crabbe, prods and nurtures his team to national prominence. Their time together expands from a weekly two-hour tryst after Mick's daughter becomes Genie's patient. Mick's wife further complicates matters when she begins confiding in Genie. And when Mick is diagnosed with cancer, Genie becomes further enmeshed with his family. Moody probes new layers of emotion and personal connection as Genie the heart doctor comes to understand the intangible aspects of the human heart. Instead of applying the clichés of traditional romance to a midlife heroine, Moody introduces readers to a woman who never stops learning about work, family, people and possibilities. (Aug.)

Martha Moody is the author of the national bestseller Best Friends and The Office of Desire. She is a practicing physician.