The Other Boyfriend by Sylvia Massara

The Other Boyfriend Reviews

• 
  Rachel Eliason

  The Other Boyfriend by Sylvia Massara is a light hearted chick lit/romance. The main character, Sarah is on the cusp of forty and her biological clock is ticking. She wants to get married and start a family but her boyfriend Jeffrey still hasn't managed to leave his other girlfriend Moira.
  
  The book is set in the far east among the ex-pat community. Sarah is involved in "network marketing" which as an American I hadn't heard of but assume is some sort of direct sales sort of job. She works in the UK, Hong Kong and Taipei. Jeffrey and Moira both work for the same company. Jeffrey claims that he and Moira have a loveless and platonic relationship but their business is heavily intertwined and "it's complicated" for him to move on.
  
  Sarah asks her friend Monica, who is an investment banker in Hong Kong for help. They hatch a scheme to set Moira up with a new love interest. They figure if she had a new boyfriend she would let Jeffrey go. Enter Mike Conner, a devastatingly handsome banker from Hong Kong whose recently been dispatched to Taipei.
  
  Sarah is immediately attracted to Mike but he rubs her the wrong way. He suggest that they should also make every appearance to be dating, in hopes of making Jeffrey jealous. The plan quickly becomes increasingly convoluted and uncertain as Sarah struggles with the twin questions: Does Jeffrey in fact ever plan on leaving Moira? and why does Mike want to spend time with her?
  
  I liked this book. It's funny and light hearted. I really, really did not want to like the main character. She is, for all practical purposes, dating a married man. She should have more self respect than that. She should have more respect for Moira than that. I didn't want to like her. But I did. She's lovable and lost. She seems to have a good heart.
  
  As an outside observer I can see through Jeffrey's excuses, but I can also see why she buys into them. She frequently misinterprets Mike's actions and feelings and again as an observer you can see this. You end up rooting for her, wanting her to wise up before it's too late. You want her to end up with the right boyfriend.
  
  The Other Boyfriend is an easy read. It's light hearted and fun. It's not a life changing drama by any stretch of the imagination but it would be a great book to have on your ereader on a long trip, or to curl up with at the end of a stressful day.
  
• 
  ѦѺ™

  “Men always want to be a woman's first love - women like to be a man's last romance.” - Oscar Wilde
  
  Sarah Jamison is very much in love with Jeffrey and wants him all to herself but he can't seem to end his relationship with Moira. Sarah wants to settle down soon. facing 40 and the inevitable big M (menopause) are not in her favor. she also has to work hard in establishing her network marketing business in Taiwan. Monica, her best friend, comes up with an idea and handsome Mike Connor enters the picture. despite Sarah's attraction to him, she hates the man for being so smug and sure of himself. she needs his help though as her "other boyfriend" if she plans to get Jeffrey away from Moira forever.
  i love the way the author portrayed Sarah's character. she may start out sounding so pathetic with her desperate moves but she is actually a good person and is full of love. just like any other human being, she hungers for companionship and simply wants to be loved back as well. with the support of her mother and best friend, Sarah learns to let go and finally finds healing, forgiveness, respect and true love.
  another endearing character is Sarah's mother. she is such a hoot. together with her friends, she operates a seemingly innocuous website on cats but it is actually a cover for a private investigation network.
  what is it then about love that makes one do or say stupid things that seem so illogical and outrageous to other people but make a lot of sense to the enamored? why is it that one also fails to hear the alarm when warning signals suddenly go off? are we plain stubborn or just acting out what our "flesh is heir to?" readers may find themselves saying "oh, i've been there done that" as i have while reading the story.
  Sylvia Massara's debut novel The Other Boyfriend is a funny, real, feel-good book and though the author herself labels it as "chick-lit," i believe that male readers may see themselves in a character or two and learn valuable lessons about falling/being in love and about the women they love or pursue.
  
  Disclosure of Material Connection: i purchased this book at Smashwords through a coupon provided by the author. i did not receive any payment in exchange for this review nor was i obligated to write a positive one. all opinions expressed here are entirely my own and may not necessarily agree with those of the author, the book's publisher and publicist or the readers of this review. this disclosure is in accordance with. the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255, Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
• 
  Stacey

  Sarah Jamison is the "other woman". She is in love with Jeffrey, a man that is in a relationship with Moira which he claims is too "complicated" to end just yet. With the help of her best friend Monica, Sarah concocts a diabolical plan to find an irrisistable man to sweep Moira off her feet clearing the way for her and Jeffrey to be together. What she didn't count on was falling in love with Mike Connor the willing pawn in her game.
  
  This was a fast, fun read. Everything in me wanted to hate the main character and repeatedly found myself thinking what an in idiot she was to put her self in that every predictable position of believing a cheating man when he says he will leave his wife/girlfriend for the other woman.
  
  But just when I had written Sarah off as a helpless and naive female she would do something that I could completely relate to and redeem herself and I would find myself rooting for her. In the end I discovered I really liked Sarah not to mention her kookie internet spy of a mother.
  
  I have two criteria a book has to meet for me to judge it a good read. The first being whether I struggle to put it down or not and the other being whether or not I think about the characters when I am not reading the book, sort of like long lost friends. This book more than met both criteria.
  
  I absolutely recommend this book and look forward to reading Sylvia Massara's other work.
  
  
• 
  Clarissa Cartharn

  The Other Boyfriend" is about a mature, independent woman, Sarah, who believes she is in love with a senior, Jeffrey, in a multi-level marketing company. However there are complications as Jeffrey is still tied into a relationship with his supposed former girlfriend and is unable to fully commit to Sarah. On the insistence of her friend, she seeks out the help of a very eligible bachelor, Mike, in an attempt to sway Jeffrey towards her.
  
  I found the novel takes on an exciting turn when Mike is introduced. I loved the chemistry between Sarah and Mike. Their ‘push-pull’ relationship successfully draws the reader in. As their relationship develops, I found myself breezing through the novel with an eagerness to know what might become of it. The novel is largely set in Taipei which makes it quite relieving from the usual, common place Western or European backgrounds. The novel certainly contains a lot of light humour with comic relief provided by characters such as Sarah’s mother, who I particularly loved the most. For those who are chick-lit fans, you will certainly enjoy reading "The Other Boyfriend".
  
• 
  Vicki Tyley

  “You want me to help you find a boyfriend for your lover’s partner?” – The Other Boyfriend
  
  You can’t help whom you fall in love with. Unfortunately for Sarah Jamison, she’s fallen for Jeffrey Williams, a man who is not only married to his job but is already in a relationship. With the help of her best friend, Monica, Sarah hatches a plot to get Jeffrey all to herself that involves finding a boyfriend for her lover’s partner.
  
  The Other Boyfriend is a light-hearted, entertaining read but also quite sad. Maybe sad because I’ve had friends throw away their prime years on married men. That aside, though, Massara crafts an engaging story – one with a moral.
  
  I liked the character of Sarah (except when I wanted to shake her) and her fetish for throwing imaginary ashtrays and also that she was older than your average chick-lit heroine. Jeffrey, I wanted to… well, I’ll leave that up to your imagination.
  
  Highly recommended.
• 
  Tahlia Newland

  This is a chick-lit romance and the first I have read in this genre, so I cannot compare it to others. It’s a light, quick, basically enjoyable read about a woman in a relationship with a man who won’t leave the woman he’s living with. She has to learn the truth about him before she can open herself to other options. Although the inner workings of the main character’s mind were well done, I found the story predictable and the main character slow to accept the reality in front of her. The regular formal usage of words like ‘he did’ instead of ‘he’d’ didn’t fit with the modern characters and setting and pulled me out of the story.
• 
  Darcia Helle

  The Other Boyfriend has humor, romance, a few little twists and characters that many women will be able to relate to. While this book is a light, fun read, it is also full of substance. Sylvia Massara has a gift for storytelling. She makes her characters feel so real that I expected Sarah to step off the page and into my living room. I cared what happened and, for me, that’s the sign of a great author.
• 
  Sandy Wolters

  I am so glad I picked this book to read. I was in a bad mood and suffering from a bit of depression. All I wanted to do was escape into someone else’s life for a while but this book did much more than that for me. It made me laugh and I didn’t want to put it down. If you are feeling like you need something to lift your spirits, this book is for you. I promise. You will thoroughly enjoy it. THIS IS A MUST READ.
• 
  Literary Chanteuse

  3.5 stars