All Comments on 'Anniversary Ch. 04'

I think in the end that it wasn't Karen that won Brian back, but that Brian wanted to be won back.

An ex-wife winning back an ex-husband can be an interesting thing to develop, and there are well-known and unknown examples of people who have remarried.

Sorry, but I didn't like the concept of Karen and New Karen.

1) because it involves frequent to-ing and fro-ing between the old and the new. Plus, sometimes you seem a bit lost.

2) there are a few things about this concept that bother me. It doesn't feel authentic, it doesn't feel true. The old Karen is still there, fully-fledged, 100% present. It's more like playing a role or a split personality, but not a profound change from the original person.

Didnt work for me. I am all for reconcilliation but this story was almost as bad as satindesires recent story with a wife who pretends to be two persons. The psychiatrist never worked on her real issues and instead encouraged her to pretend to be someone else. And in the end I am asking myself how the new Karen even won Brian over. There was nothing that convinced me that 'new Karen' was somehow better than old Karen. They did nothing else than talk like before and the talk was always about how sorry old Karen was, like before. But with the undertone that old Karen wasnt at fault. Only Oliver was. It was Oliver who apparently 'took' control and old Karen never had any agency. Even though old Karen did everything consciously and voluntarily. Lastly, Brian shouldnt lead people like Mary on. He knew he wasnt open for anything at all because the divorce was only on paper. Still he let Mary believe that he is free and never told her otherwise. Even going as far as letting her embarrass herself when she was at his place and Karen came over. Quite the asshole move.

The British are weird

I loved it, I thought the whole story was really entertaining. Good character development and the will they, won't they element was spot on.

Well done, 5 stars and a definite favorite from me.

Sorry, didn't work for me at all. And what's with the fuckin cats?

I totally get the old/new Karen role playing. I've seen people do it. It is a way to discuss the past and future with some emotional detachment. I think it is a legitimate artifice and I think the counselor would go along with it, so long as both people knew and agreed that it was role playing.

/

Given that old Karen = New Karen = Karen, we still have that New Karen is the woman that lied, stole, and planned an infidelity with the belief that what he did not know would not hurt him. How could she think that when he was clearly communicating his distress? Well maybe she thought that it was an acceptable level of hurting your husband. It was not resolved within the story. Maybe it was off-stage.

/

I don't buy that Karen was not in control. The counselor should have called her on that. I do buy that Brian thought that another man was controlling Karen and that threatened him.

/

Karen knows now that her behavior came at a cost. Brian can probably safely assume that she will be more reluctant to do it again or will hide it better. Maybe he is OK with her doing it so long as he doesn't know. He never raised the issue. Maybe he accepts it. That would explain a lot. This seems to be a widely held belief in some circles.

/

There is another way to read the story. Brian wanted to reconcile and was just looking for Karen to make a genuine effort. She did, and he took her back. That is very realistic and happens often in real life. That is the only way the story works for me.

Phew! That's a relief. I worried that it wouldn't all come together at the end but you brought it home safely. The two Karens was a risk that didn't always come off. There were times when it was confusing and others when it didn't ring true. But, overall, it worked for me.

I really enjoyed the story and fully agree with an earlier comment (@netsorb30) that the British are weird but can also be interesting.

Well done and thank you

I think this all belonged in Loving Wives. I'm not feeling much romance in this, just love and dysfunction oddly overcome and an eccentric couple

Nice story! The new Karen old Karen game was a bit strange but entertaining. Remarry her? Seems like a poor plan. Fuck buds maybe but no commitment is probably the maximum ongoing relationship that would be sensible. Too bad Katie the kitten was just a throw away character. She could easily have been worked into the story as providing the final link that led to the reconnect. 5 stars for an engrossing read about the antics of two off kilter characters.

Not a single likeable character, every one of them is schizophrenic, including the psychiatrist. The new/old Karen thing just didn't work, you seldom even bothered to explain which Karen was even talking, making this entire story very difficult to read. I thought she quit drinking....

VeracityHeterodyne, your last one is spot on.

A good but not great conclusion. The sexual pyrotechnics sounded like an awful lot of work, but different strokes. . . . The two Karens was probably necessary to make for a plausible reconciliation, but it got stretched to the breaking point. Still, all in all, an excellent story.

Hopefully they will succeed but there are no guarantees in life!

5

Decent finish to the series. General comments are I think you dwelled on the “two Karens” too long, especially after he specifically said it was irritating him. The sex throughout their separation wasn’t connected to their emotional state and the implications it had, good or bad, regarding reconciliation. 4.4*

I enjoyed it, turned into a fun fulfilling tale!

Now, he ought to pee in her fertile pissy and give her a real new name-MOMMY. That will complete her change of attitude. She may make a good mother...

I enjoyed the story but was disturbed by one issue. How did the entire rugby club know about the psych therapy including details about both Karen’s? The comment about the number of psychologists and psychiatrists in the club pointed to a privacy violation. Seemed like someone should have had words with doctor Jane.

Excellent story. Great job with the characters. I enjoyed your story. 5stars

Great series. Well done.

Four chapters of pure crap.

Well done. Four good chapters and well written. You know you’ll get the usual comments from the BTB fans but I like a worked for reconciliation. Thanks for the work.

Thanks for this story. Though well written, I'm not sure I'm a fan of your particular style - though having said that I still read it all. The fastest way to turn me off is violence to women, yet your scene depicting that was very well handled and felt right within the storyline. I found the split character hard work, and have no idea if there is anything like this within modern treatment practices - but it did make sense.

You have obviously put a lot of work into this. Thankyou - you guys do this for nothing, and I really appreciate it.

A fitting ending, I think a very good story from start to finish, nice characters and you set them out in fine detail, the plot was easy to see where it was going but you led the reader along in a gradual way. Nicely done.

You disguised story of a pussywhipped husband as a love tale

Rated 1 *

Totally agree with Nitpic

Helluva story. To borrow a movie line, “I might have gone a different way” were I the mc but damn good story

Well done. You pulled off the two Karens. Got a little long here and there...especially in this chapter, but over all well done. Engaging, moved fairly well, very well written. Thank you very much.

The worthiness of Karen's character shines through.

This whole thing is constantly contradicting itself. So he's pissed at her but then he's buying her flowers? You create conflict and then rush the resolve soo fast the conflict was pointless. Every time in this series when she did something bad and he was "pissed" you just knew it wouldn't last long. What was the point of the divorce if he was just going to keep seeing her? Just to make him look like he has a spine? Apparently her loses that every time she shows up naked. It's an interesting idea but the MC is kind of a simp.

I liked this series. Thank you.

Liked it

4/5

Crazy and wild but somehow intriguing. She clearly had issues and Oliver found her weakness for compassion and being controlled and exploited it. But understandable why thr husband had to divorce her. Individually each part was (perhaps) forgivable and fixable, but together even though it did not acfually happen (due to his intervention), her intent was clear and her deceit, ignoring his warnings, her planning for 2 weeks, and scheduling the "compassion" tryst for their tenth anniversary. Her husband actually saved her as if he had been clueless, Oliver would have blackmailed her and out of guilt and shame as he would have repeated the sex until she destroyed herself. The two Karens was an artifice of hers to deal with the trauma she caused their marriage. While not remotely common, it is a known psychological reaction for some people to extreme trauma (rape, committing murder, torture, sex abuse, etc) but usually not for intended adultery. As the story progressed it is clear the new Karen is different enough from the old Karen (who faces to black over time). I wouldn't suggest looking to deep into her psychological state. Yes she had issues even before the confrontation with her husband and parents, and even before Oliver showed up. She certainly was naive. This shows in her happy reaction to seeing her husband at the dance club. But she could be victimized and was nearly so by a predator and in the process, broke her husband's heart. Again the two Karen's is an artifice but it is also a lifeline for her ex husband to grab onto to convince himself to reconcile with her. Wouldn't always work but they really did love each other. Yes she put Oliver first for a few hours a week for a few weeks and was about to commit a major deathblow to their.marriage, but unlike other LW stories, she can honestly day she never stopped loving her husband. She was just so naive, compassionate, and just enough submissive that an asshole like Oliver could exploit and would eventually debase. Of the husband was clueless, and thr blackmail (rape) sex took off (as it probably would have), she probably would have committed suicide when discovered and kicked to the curb, or maybe even committed suicide after several months of being raped. Her husband's intervention saved her life but killed their marriage. But also gave them a way to get back together. And unlike some commenters' opinions, Mary was desperate, he never gave her signals of active interest, and her last ploy was so stupid that even Karen saw right through it. He never asked for it, and Mary was oblivious. She saw him want three times total over like 9 months. Please. He owed her nothing beyond basic courtesy. This was his and Karen's story.

Nice more needed

The last two chapters got weirder and weirder the more they went along... The two karen thing has to stop even the writer is getting confused. Allowing this two part person to keep identifying as such is unhealthy and is just plain crazy for you to expect us to enjoy your story. You are going to lose readership for sure. If this is carried on further into another chapter I will be done reading your story which is not a big deal and no threat to anyone, simply telling it like it is. take care...

1 ridiculous and way too loooooong.

Too long and fell off after the 1st chapter. Felt like they were just going around in circles and all I saw was her asking for dates and intimacy otherwise nothing about trust or anything

Chapter 1 was very good; the rest has been lots of squeezing but almost no juice. The two Karens thing is just strange and honestly makes no sense. It's borderline schizophrenic and too much trouble to keep it straight. More importantly, Karen keeps going back and forth rather arbitrarily between being "old Karen" and "new Karen." If the MC gets divorced because he could never tolerate reliving Karen's infidelity (she didn't fuck Oliver but she would have) on each future anniversary, then simply calling herself "new Karen" is a stupid artifice. She apparently toughened up and he becomes convinced that she has changed; that's enough for him to get back together with her. Bottom line: Chapter 2-4 are an irritating waste of time in my view. I like this writer's work but if I scored the later chapter they would get 2**: I didn't like them.

I enjoyed it very much. One thing confused me though. At Doctor Janes, she says about seeing Oliver "I was in control". I thought, that was a very interesting statement, which made me curious because it opened many possible directions. But it was not followed up at all.

RAAC crap.

OK but too much waffaling. Still a great read.

Honestly, a lot of people who get seduced into affairs, particularly women, think they are in control of the situation... until they are not. It's the same as people who use alcohol or drug. Karen with her naturally empathetic and submissive nature would be more or less easy pickings for any halfway decent looking seducer and it's actually rather remarkable that she fended him off for so long, but he was persistent, experienced, manipulative and ultimately probably the ying to her yang. I think it's the last thing that pushed her right up to the edge before Brian caught her out. The clues are there all throughout the story - there are multiple times where Karen basically gives Brian the opportunity to assert himself over her, but he fails to do so, instead he begs and pleads with her. This is the opposite of Oliver who relentlessly pursues her with his own agenda and puts demands on her that whittle away her defenses and exposes her submissive nature. The entire problem between Karen and Brian surfaces when she shows up to his house and demands that he punishes her. She needs it, she needs to be put in her place, to have Brian assert himself over her, but he's reluctant, he can't hurt someone he loves even if she needs it. It echos their personal life, Brian wants a more equal partnership, but Karen can't do that where she was because it's not in her nature. This is why "New Karen's" changes become important to the relationship - it's not just that she's playing a game to be a different person, she's making herself into a different person, primarily she's learning to be more assertive and for two reasons - first, so that she has a defense against men like Oliver who see through to her submissive nature and secondly, to be a more equal partner to Brian. Hell, she even proposes to him at the end. It's a big step for her, it's not just because she's in love with Brian, she's been in love with him all along, it's that just like in Brian's shitty tennis analogy, she's starting to "serve" in their relationship rather than just returning. Sure, she probably still likes to be topped in the bedroom, but in her personal relationships "New Karen" is more pragmatic - she's come face to face with her tragic weakness and has been studiously building a wall in front of it and the outside world and using this process as a way to be a better fit for her husband. Personally I feel like this is a great, 5/5 story to me. It's very well written and the characters and their conflict are very engaging. I'm a bit disappointed that so many commentators don't see to "get it" when it comes to the story and Karen's progression/change. I don't think they understand just how tragic of a figure "Old Karen" was in a lot of ways. Oh, they think she's stupid for sure, but I don't think that. I think she was exploited by someone good at exploiting people and then she got burned and learn the depths of her own weakness, a weakness I should remind people that was tacitly supported by her husband in many ways for years. A little bit of personal information here - my wife was very much like "Old Karen" for the first couple of years of our marriage, but unlike Brian, I didn't put up with it and I purposely set about hardening her up. There were ALOT of talks and arguments and I ruthlessly exploited her need for validation from me and eventually she saw what she was doing was foolish. There were friends that she deemed "not friends of our marriage" - they went away. She stopped oversharing with people she just met and became more circumspect about intimate details with close friends. She decided there was no such thing as "male friends" and doesn't have any. This was an entire process but ultimately what it really was, was her growing up a bit and realizing that she couldn't trust herself not to be manipulated by people who didn't have her best interests at heart. Hell, she even says to me still after nearly two decades of marriage that she knows I can "manipulate her at the drop of a hat", especially after 2 kids and 20 years of marriage. So ultimately, our resolution was a lot different than Karen's even though my wife did develop that outward facing cynical demeanor - unlike Brian, I never really desired a fully "equal partnership" and neither did she, hell it's why she married me in the first place. Like I said earlier on - ying and yang. We fit together. I think Brian and Karen had probably a 90 or 95% fit, damn near great for a marriage, hell better than most people, it's just that the remaining 10-5% left a gap wasn't minor stuff - it was a massive weakness that could (and was) exploited, nearly to fatal consequences to their relationship. Again, great stuff and it obviously gave me a lot to think about.

This series left me pretty ambivalent about it all. The first chapter was good, could be even a stand-alone story. The rest is just waffling and play pretend. Nurturing split personalities is unhealthy, and there is no psychologist who'd promote that. They'd be pushing for accepting and improving oneself instead. The whole separation and reconciliation feels contrived and after the first chapter I completely disconnected from the characters.

I wish I stopped reading after the second chapter but I caught myself into the usual "let's see where it's going it might be worth it" fallacy.

Pretty good stories, over all. However, too long. All that new-Karen, old-Karen crap was boring as hell.

I would say she will make darn good and sure the next guy really is in trouble before going that far again.