Picture Perfect

I've decided to keep following my Jodi Picoult book trend, and have been reading another book written by her entitled Picture Perfect. This book is about a woman named Cassie who is an Anthropologist and is married to a famous actor named Alex Rivers. Behind their luxurious perfect lifestyle is a hidden secret that the couple keep, that Alex has anger management and abuses Cassie. Despite the moments when she is being beaten by him, she continues to love him way more than she loves herself. Therefore Cassie continues to stay with him, knowing that two minutes after he starts beating her he'll come back to reality feel sorry and hold her begging for forgiveness. Since this book shows all sides of the story, you get to read about how Alex is truly not a bad guy and loves Cassie so much, but can't control his rage when he loses control. This book really makes you have trouble figuring out your take on the situation, whether she should leave or stay. The reason being that while they are in good times, it's more perfect than you could ever imagine a relationship to be and you find yourself thinking why would anyone ever leave that. It goes back in time and you read about how they met on a movie set in Africa and how they had a private wedding there, and then how they came back to the US and Alex protected her from the insane papparazzi and public. But then when you read through the moments when he loses it and starts beating her, she always forgives him right after and tells him it's not his fault and that she forgives him. It always made me so angry that she could never stand up for herself and let him take full advantage of her forgiving nature.