"relationship drama"

Leslie Coxwell is stunned to wake up and find her spouse Matt's side of their bed not slept in. She knows tongue twisting his tonsils will not solve what is bothering him though that has worked for the eighteen years they have been together. When she finds Matt he is drunk. Yesterday he lost the Laforini case to his brother James the prosecutor while his disappointed father committed suicide. Matt tells her she is no longer there for him and takes one last kiss before leaving. Stunned Leslie has to get their rebelling teen Annette off to school, save her job from Dinkleman the hot shot barracuda, and find a way to get back the man she loves, who left for New Orleans.

Matt has two goals; neither involves competent Leslie though he admits he still loves her. He plans to appeal and get freed his client and he will fulfill his dream that he tabled to please his father by going to law school instead of becoming an author and writing a book. What Matt never factored into his giving up on his current life is Leslie who has not given up on the man she loves even if he is with his former fiancée.

Though there is a legal procedural subplot, ONE MORE TIME is a relationship drama starring a middle aged man no longer willing to settle for anything less than his dreams even though he assumes that means giving up on the woman he has loved for almost two decades and still loves. Readers will empathize with Matt who cannot take it anymore, but also frown on his fleeing responsibilities as everyone cannot just walk away. Still they will root for him to regain his compassion for life while also hoping for a second chance at love for him and Leslie.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted November 5, 2006

Summary

Can you know what you want before you have it?
Or do you have to lose it to know for sure?

Mild-mannered Matt Coxwell has finally found something worth fighting for. In fact, it's only after he's left his marriage that he realizes he hasn't fought this hard for anything since he fell like a ton of bricks for his wife Leslie. How did their marriage shift from idyllic into idle? And is there any way back?

Leslie Coxwell, long rumored to be the most organized working mother alive, is suddenly having a tough time coping. Her job's in jeopardy, her teenage daughter has attitude to spare (well, that's not new), and her formidable mother-in-law has moved in unexpectedly...with two very large poodles. She could juggle it all with the right motivation. Unfortunately her husband, Matt—the motivation for everything Leslie has ever done—turned into a sexy enigmatic stranger right before he walked out the door. Even better, he's gone to stay with his free-spirited ex-fiancé, the one woman who makes Leslie feel as sexy as dirty dishwater.

The only good news is that Leslie still has the greatest lingerie collection known to womankind and she's prepared to use it. After all, to give her marriage one more chance, to take the chance on falling in love one more time, she'll need all the support she can get...