Spiraling 2nd Edition
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Quick Pitch:
Spiraling is a fictional novel about reconciliation after cheating, laced with a twisted story of true friendship (with no male bashing).
Synopsis:
Spiraling vividly explores the lives of four friends who fight to win back the hearts of their significant others after they get caught cheating. One salacious summer changes their lives and who they are as individuals.
Harley, Avery, Simone, and Jade, also known as the foursome, are best friends who are in different stages of their intimate relationships. Harley is dating, Lorenzo, the man of her dreams. Avery is happily married to Laina; and they have two children. Simone is married to Bryson, a man who adores her. Jade is engaged to the love of her life, Isaiah. Unfortunately, love was not enough to keep the four friends faithful. They indulge in unscrupulous behavior. They get caught cheating, entangled in webs of infidelity, lies, and reality. One by one, their lives start spiraling out of control. While fighting to win back their significant others, Harley and her friends discover more than they had expected.
***Main Characters, Spiraling excerpt, and Book Club Questions****
The Foursome: four best friends (Harley, Avery, Simone and Jade) in their mid to late thirties
*Harley: Entrepreneur, owns an art gallery
*Avery: Attorney at Law
*Simone: Marketing Director
*Jade: Executive Admin
The Spot… Their place of solace, convivial gatherings, and where they over indulge in adult fun.
Excerpt: The foursome at The Spot after they get caught cheating…
Simone taps her fingernails on her glass. “I’m scared. Right now, I’d take loneliness in my marriage instead of my situation.”
Avery glances at Simone. “You and I are in the same situation. Both of our marriages could end in divorce.”
“I didn’t even get a chance to get married. My man left me. It’s all my fault.” Jade shakes her head. “Isaiah was a good one too. I messed up big time.”
Harley pins up her hair. “If the three of you get another chance, give it everything you’ve got. Of course, it might cost you. I thought Lorenzo and I would talk, he’d take me back, and things would simply go back to the way they were. I was wrong.”
“I’ll bow down and kiss Isaiah’s feet if he gives me another chance,” says Jade.
“With everything that has happened to us, one thing is for sure.” Harley sums it up, “Karma is a bitch! We should have known better.”
Book Club Questions
(SPOILER ALERT! Suggestion: Discuss these questions after reading.)
Dear Book Clubs,
Thank you for reading Spiraling. It is intended to be entertaining and therapeutic. I hope you enjoyed the spiraling ride. I have crafted 15 questions for your book discussion. Enjoy!
Thank you for your support. Have a Blessed week!
Spiraling has a lot going on, from the foursome’s (Harley, Avery, Simone, and Jade) twisted friendship to their unwavering attempt to reconcile their intimate relationships after they get caught cheating—hence the title Spiraling.
- What are your overall thoughts about Spiraling?
- Some of the messages in Spiraling: (1) Don’t cheat; it’s not worth hurting your spouse or mate (2) A healthy inner circle of friends is golden, (3) Acknowledge and address your past and shortcomings to be the best you, (4) Indulge in self-care to ensure your healthy mental and emotional well-being, (5) Relationships cannot be forced, (6) Be accountable, and (7) What couples do for their relationship to work/last is their business. What other messages did you discover in Spiraling?
- The author thought that making the characters relatable (personalities, demeanors, relationships, experiences) was more important than identifying their race or ethnicity. How did you picture the characters in your mind, specifically the main characters (Harley, Avery, Simone, and Jade) and subcharacters (Lorenzo, Laina, Bryson, and Isaiah)? To which character(s) do you most relate, in part or in whole? And how? To which couple(s) do you most relate, in part or in whole? And how?
- What do you think about the effectiveness of different reconciliations demonstrated in Spiraling through: Trust and open communication? [Harley and Lorenzo] Counseling and empathy? [Avery and Laina] Self-help and honesty? [Simone and Bryson] Personal growth and open communication? [Jade and Isaiah]
- In the midst of the reconciliations, the author shifts the focus from the strong bond between Harley, Avery, Simone, and Jade to them focusing on their significant others to show that their intimate relationships should have always come before their friendships. How do you think having the strongest bond with a spouse or significant other benefits a couple’s intimate relationship?
- What are your thoughts about the twists in Spiraling . . . Lorenzo’s suggestion to Harley to strengthen their union? Laina’s response to Avery’s adultery? Bryson’s confession to Simone? Isaiah’s surprise at Jade’s support-group meeting?
- Though they vary with couples, Spiraling shares elements that help relationships last (respect, trust, understanding, empathy, compromise, faith, love, patience, open communication, peace, space). What do you (and your mate) think it takes for your marriage or committed relationship to last?
- Spiraling illustrates varying degrees of cheating (anything from flirting to emotional infidelity to sexual intercourse). Do you think there are varying degrees of cheating? If so, what are they?
- The author states through Lorenzo, Harley’s boyfriend, that cheating is whatever your spouse/significant other thinks it is. What does your spouse/significant other consider disrespectful or cheating? What do you do to yield to that temptation to prevent issues of infidelity?
- After they got caught cheating, the self-reflection of the foursome seeded their personal growth. What good things have resulted from times when you self-reflected after doing wrong?
- The author shows a majority of the men in Spiraling as good. What is your definition of a good man? Which men in Spiraling do you see as good? What makes each of them a good man?
- Harley, Avery, Simone, and Jade try to keep things spicy in their relationships with their significant others (great sex life, date night, quality time, traveling, just-because gifts). What do you and your spouse or significant other do to keep things fresh and exciting in your relationship? How do you all keep your sex life spicy?
- Spiraling is centered around the close friendship between Harley, Avery, Simone, and Jade. They realized that they should’ve called each other out, instead of validating each other in their wrongs. Thinking about your inner circle of friends, in which situations do you all: Validate each other? Call each other out?
- The foursome (Harley, Avery, Simone, and Jade) shares an extremely strong bond –with Harley and Avery being slightly closer because they’ve share a special bond since college. Do you think friends [of the opposite sex] can have a purely platonic relationship (absolutely no sex)? Explain. How does the closeness you have with each person in your inner circle of friends vary/compare? What secrets do you all have that you have not shared with anyone else, specifically [not shared] with your spouse or significant other?
- If you wrote a book, what would it be about?