Photo Credit: Goodreads
*Traveling With T received this book at BEA 2014 for review consideration.
The Objects Of Her Affection
Sophie Porter is on a hunt for a house. Not just any house. But the PERFECT house. The house that will give her and her family the stability she longed for as a child. The house that will be in their lives forever. A house with character.
Sophie finds the house- it’s an old house- it needs work. But it speaks to Sophie. It makes Sophie think of all the things she longed for as a child. It’s the house she wants her children to grow up in, the house that she always imagines being a part of the Porter family- their daily life and their memories. Sophie’s husband, Brian, does not have the same feelings- but since Sophie is more in charge of their finances- he lets her take the lead. They get the house. And wouldn’t you know that Sophie and Brian qualify for one of those amazing ARM mortgage rates? Sophie jumps all over that- not fully understanding what will take place in the near future. See, Sophie quit her job coding websites in the peak years- took time off to raise her children. Anxious to get back to work, she finds that the world of work has left her behind. Then she gets behind on her mortgage payments. She doesn’t want to tell Brian- he’s concerned about the museum, a backlog of items that need to be catalogued and stored correctly- and finding this special piece for a show.
One day, Sophie is visiting the museum. And without meaning to- a piece that hasn’t been catalogued winds up in her purse. She’s a bit horrified, yet not completely. She debates about what to do. Then she wonders if that piece will buy her a little time with her mortgage? When she meets Harry, a man who has great respect for the charming trinket she took, a beautiful friendship begins to develop. Sophie keeps her eyes out for “interesting” things and Harry sells them.
But all beautiful friendships must come to an end- and as Sophie begins to realize that she is “under-water” not only with her mortgage, but her life- she has choices to make. Before someone else makes the choices for her.
Traveling With T’s Thoughts:
When I saw this book at BEA, I was attracted to the cover and after reading the back, I thought ” Art Heist?! Yes! Could this be a book similar to THE ART FORGER? (Which I LOVED by the way!)” However, THE OBJECTS OF HER AFFECTION is less about a art heist- and more about a mother- a mother who wants to provide more to her children, than she received as a child. A mother who wants her children to have a sense of belonging. For this, Sophie will let nothing stand in her way.
The parts where Sophie interacted with Harry, their partnership and the tense interactions after the partnership soured- those were the best parts to me. Sophie would zig, Harry would zag- and you were never sure who would come out on top.
The other parts of the book- the marriage, the providing for the children- I understood why Sophie wanted that house. But, I was wishing that she would come clean with Brian- although I can understand why he made it hard for her to do that.
If you pick this book up thinking that it’s going to be a thrilling story about an art heist- you’ll be a bit disappointed. Because, that is just a small part of this book. Larger themes of motherhood and the lengths you will go to provide for you children are repeated in this book- with a healthy dose of why you should tell your significant other about money problems.
Overall thoughts: Interesting and definitely was worth a read. I look forward to what Sonya Cobb will write in the future.
*Traveling With T received a copy of THE OBJECTS OF HER AFFECTION from Sourcebooks at BEA 2014. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.
Happy Reading and Bookishly Yours,
T @ Traveling With T
Traveling With T 
I think I might enjoy this if I went into with the right expectations. I find that I usually don’t like a book if it turns out to be something too different from what I expected, with a few exceptions, but this book does sound interesting to me.
I went in with the wrong expectations to this book. I was thinking major focus on art heist-y things, maybe some suspense. It does have all that- BUT it’s also a book about a woman making choices for her family- some good, some bad- but all from a place of love and caring. With a heavy dose of “Can women have it all?” and “What happens to women who take breaks from work to raise families?”