MY ONLY

A husband and wife realize happily-ever-after doesn’t end at “I do” in Mosley’s novel.

Ayla Franklin sits at the kitchen table at 2 in the morning, staring at the now-cold plate of food she made for her husband, Hassani, hours ago. He’s never come home this late, and definitely not without calling or messaging her. When he finally does make it back, both he and Ayla are shocked to hear her utter the words, “I want a divorce.” Hassani has scored the job of a lifetime as the principal architect for a huge new development, and while he and Ayla both knew it would be hard and require a lot of work, neither of them realized how the long days and stress would pull them apart. Hassani loves his wife, and wants nothing more than to spend all his time with her, but no matter how careful he is, little mistakes and setbacks keep slipping through, causing late work nights. This wouldn’t concern Ayla nearly as much if these late nights didn’t also always involve Harper Royce, the project’s interior designer who, Ayla can tell, wants Hassani. In Mosley’s engaging spinoff from her novel My First, My Last (2021), Ayla and Hassani learn the hard way that love isn’t enough—it takes hard work to keep a marriage afloat. Told from shifting points of view and moving forward and back in time, the narrative starts with the catalyzing moment—the first mention of divorce—and then shows how it got to that point, deftly charting how Ayla and Hassani cope with the idea of separating and struggle to fix their relationship. These are strong characters who put the work in when it comes to their union and their dreams, and readers will be rooting for these two to find their way back to one other. Despite being a follow-up to a previous novel, this can be read as a stand-alone.

An emotionally moving love story that shows marriage takes work—and that it’s worth it.