Coming Clean

The climactic conclusion to the "Monkey Business Trio" (after Playing Dirty and Getting Rough) sees onetime adversaries Cassidy Whalen and Shaw Matthews team up for their biggest challenge yet: parenthood. Three years after a risky childbirth, Cassidy and Shaw are feeling the strains of domesticity. While Cassidy chose to stay home with their son, Abe, she can't help but feel slighted (and envious) as Shaw continues to climb the ladder at the prestigious sports firm where they formerly competed as equals. Shaw, meanwhile, is buckling under increasing professional pressure and his promise to give his son a better life than the one he had. Tension seeps into all aspects of their marriage, particularly in the bedroom. Through Dr. Katya Minkov's "hands-on" sex therapy, Cassidy and Shaw rediscover the inimitable passion that makes them excellent competitors and even better lovers. Parker flickers between the disparate personalities of her main characters with ease, balancing Cassidy's weary nostalgia for her life before motherhood with Shaw's dark humor and mounting insecurity over his role as father and family provider. The heavier moments of the novel are tempered with scorching-hot scenes of a lost couple finding each other once again.