All Comments on 'Candle in The Window'

Damn it, it sucks enough that faithful partners get screwed over in real life. She emotionally let him go for 7 years after having an affair with a self centered prick and only after figuring out what she traded did she seem to care about what she lost in her husband along the way. What a miserable marriage for both of them. Clay may have been clueless until the second time that she came back but if his motivation was keeping the family together for the kids, then being raised around parents who are at best roommates can't be great.

He should have divorced her and tried to find someone who felt a connection with him again. Or maybe the threat of divorce would make her finally come clean, "just let it go" my arse.

And yes I know that this is another version of "February Sucks" apparently this one is if the night with the celebrity happened far away with no chance of the husband finding out, like Linda from the original this one thinks that once it's all over she can go back to her life like nothing changed, and like Jim insisted, it did change a lot.

Sorry it's a fair good story but the end really upsets me 3/5.

It's strange, this fascinating habit of taking responsibility away from ourselves, or transferring it to someone else.

I sincerely believe that this is a major cause of our society's ills.

She's the one who breaks up the family by lying, deceiving and cheating, since the consequences were pre-established in discussions between them. Adultery leads to divorce.

Sounds logical, doesn't it? When an agreement is broken, the responsibility falls on the defaulting party.

Well, no, it's the husband who's responsible.

Poor Clay. She might as well have put a 9mm through his heart herself. She is a selfish cunt.

Dope story, Mr. 1957. Looking forward to your next. Those who remember can tune in on St. Patrick's Day for our eighth annual story festival and read another good story from Hooked1957, or other such writers. I always recruit the best I know. Thank you again, sir. Randi.

SKANK!!!!!

Different!

5

This was a good story . . . a bit of a tragedy, and well told. She was a coward AND a fool (and several other terms) but they did make it work for the kids, and perhaps in honor of the love they once shared and to honor his original vows to her (and try to redo hers to him).

What a weird feeling to know you've really screwed up for 7 years, and then realize it can't be entirely fixed, but realize it can be maybe 3/4 as good as it could have been . . . and ask yourself, "Is that enough?".

Well done!

Isn't amazing how the innocent seems always take the punishment?

I know that it was mentioned in the story that Seattle was largely paparazzi free, but in this day and age people with cell phones would have caught the initial night of dancing if they saw an A List star. With social media, I would imagine that knowing the time frame of her first trip to Seattle and doing a broad search would have gotten something. Her husband had to have been a saint to live with her for the next seven years regardless of doing it for his kids.

⭐⭐ Just my opinion.

She wasn't a good person. When she should have been doing everything to make her husband her number one she failed him.

Great story although a a bit sad for Clay

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Just my opinion

Sad, but women create situations like this without counting the future cost.

Silly woman.

The emotions of pain, anger and overriding sorrow really build through this story. Its a shame that while Clay was only a part player in the story that he was the one who really lost. Siobhan treated him like crap for seven years and he couldn't quite pin it down. While it wasn't said, it felt like she was using her memories of lance.

For me the story ended a little too early, I want to know more of the pain she felt after he died, did she regret killing her husband or did she just shrug and move on. I unfortunately feel with how she acted that it would be more of the later than the former. Again I feel for Clay.

You always write such emotionally charged sorties and this, a very sad story, is no exception, thank you.

A well-written but a sad, tragic story. Why didn’t Clay hire a pi for the 2nd Seattle trip ? 4 stars i

February Sucks -- times 7! The not knowing for sure what transpired nor knowing the why -- Clay died from emotional cancer.

Wow....

A tragedy... Very deep.

Five stars

Cagivagurl

Meh he got what he deserved with staying with her.

Well written, as usual. However, I'm always perplexed by people that refuse to communicate, and those around them just accepting it.

Thoughtful, realistic but sad story. Well done. 5*

Well done, as usual. 5.

That was one of your best stories. It certainly was different. Good job and full marks from me.

What drew me in was wondering what she would say later when the guilt never left. Beautifully done. 5*

Maybe I misread, but I thought he had a PI follow her on that last trip? The last paragraph infers he knew she had an affair, I think? Good story overall, but killing off the husband is the lazy way. If you're going to do it, take her down with guilt as well. Have him throw pictures of her cheating from hears ago on the coffee table, then go upstairs and die. (Yeah, I know I should...LOL!) 4.1*

Normally I reserve a 1 star rating for willing cuckold stories but I'm making an exception here. The cheaters get away Scott free and a good man suffers fir the rest of his shortened life.... 1 star

This is one of the hardest stories i had to write on so far. I gave it a five for that reason. To say I understand, would be an understatement, it took me awhile to get there. Nicely done, thank you.

I'm at a loss as to what to say about this one. It raised a ton of conflicting thoughts and emotions.

It made me think of the song Two out of Three ain't had. During those 7 years she showed love for their two daughters but, not Clay.

Heartbreaking, well written story.

Sorry Hooked this one just didn't reach your usual standards. It was well written, but there was no satisfaction at all for the husband. Just a miserable life followed by a sudden death at a young age. The wife's remorse came too late and as not inspired. Three stars

1 star. Need I say more?

Real life, real consequences. Excellent story, well written and developed.

Your writing, as always, is very skillfully done. As a reader I do not feel it is my duty to rate whether or not my feel good button got tickled. On the other hand when a story makes my asshole start to bite a hole in my chair I have to give full credit to the writer. You deserve my five and a bill for a new chair is in the mail

Profound, but I think I would have missed it without the subtitle. Yep, when the connection is gone, it gone. When the trust is broken, it stays broken. When the music stops, it doesn't restart. When the magic dies, it stays dead. It wasn't a matter of letting it go. It was the impossibility of fixing a wound that had been untreated and repeatedly opened for seven years. It eventually closed itself leaving a mass of scar tissue. Five stars.

A tough story to read

The world is rarely black and white but Siobhan was truly despicable. She made him miserable for years.

I'm a big fan of Hooked, but this one just left me flat. I kept waiting for the story to happen. It never really did and then it died when he did.

A lot of marriages follow a path like this without any adultery (or any husband is aware of). Wife loses sexual interest in husband. He tries to reach her until he just gives up. They limp along until one dies. The end.

Really well-written, and a surprising departure from your other stories. As ofthers have mentioned, definitely tough to read, no happy endings for the good guys here. But a depressing story can still be a good story, and this definitely is both of those things. 5 stars.

Wow a touching profound story! 4.5*

Poor guy. His people were never able to give him the proof he dreaded, so he was left knowing something had destroyed his marriage, but she would not tell him what happened. Maybe the blue dress tipped him off, but that's unclear. All the doubt and her withdrawal had to grind on him. Her request that he "just let it go" was her only utterance about the problem and then he was gone. Our only solace is knowing her silly infatuation with her dream lover had been crushed by Lance as he used her as a piece of meat. She emotionally abandoned her husband for a dream, I can only hope the guilt eats at her for a long time.

If there was any justice in the world, she would have died of embarrassment instead of him. Perhaps her guilt (if she even has any) will be punishment enough. I doubt she could have maintained her attitude and posture for seven years, but it’s a story, and people do stupid things like that all the time. I was expecting a no-fault divorce, but his passing makes a kind of sense too. The children are done, my job is done, fuck it, time to go.

What a bummer that ending was. I expected him to engage surveillance for her last trip. He would have seen her wearing the blue dress for the asshole that she wouldn’t wear for her own husband. Then he could have her served at the airport when she returned. Instead, he dies of a broken heart.

Most women are liars at heart, and their marriages are fake. Their men are blissfully ignorant of the whores they are.

On the one hand, this is far more realistic than the ‘I am going to fuck a guy on Friday’ story. Women just do it and take it to their grave.

/

Would have preferred a less downer ending. But as always, a quality piece of ass. Take my number! 😉

I enjoyed this.

The realism is likely weighing down the score. I kept waiting for the discovery and retribution to come, but it didn't. This story is probably more lifelike than most of the other LW stories (mine included). I do prefer happy endings. But maybe keeping the family together was the MC's happy ending.

Thanks Hooked, and I look forward to your next one.

Good story. I like stories that mimic real-life even though it's fiction. 5*, I've decided.

He didn't have to die. Just ghost her. D

5/5 - good on you, Hooked.

The realism sealed it, for me - it was great!

So. How does she make amends to herself? That was where the story fails for me. Tends in an unnatural place. Life carries on. Here with it. If this had been a vignette, well all right then. But it isn’t. So, ending it this story this way cheats your audience. She realizes who and what she is. What does she do about

Very underrated story.

I really enjoyed the story and the metaphor of a ‘candle in the window.’ There’s an old saying that the eyes are the windows into the soul. Because he dies at a young age, she gets to feel guilty through along widowhood!

P.S.

I really enjoyed this one from Hooked. It was well written and very different from his standard work. It was gut wrenching in it’s realistic portrayal of a relationship ending with a whimper instead of a bang

10 Big Blazing Stars for one of the Greatest writers on Lit. Amazing Story, Great Idea, Great Effort, Great results, Great imagination. So heartbreaking, similar to other stories, but with its own devastating results and heartbreak caused by a cheating slut wife. She will go to her grave someday, punished for the rest of her life by her guilt. Most of us know guilt and feel remorse for things we have done. This poor woman deserves the punishment just like we all do. To live is to learn and suffer. thank you for your excellent work. Buster2U

You write so well and the storyline almost invariably around a wife’s infidelity and the betrayed husband’s often vengeful reaction. That is the main idea of so many LW pieces invariably with a strong moral message bordering on outrage. Too often in the typical LW storyline, he is depicted as near perfect, shocked and instantaneous outraged by wife’s behavior followed by a cunning/often high tech response/retribution; she becomes a clueless near airhead despite initially painted as bright, beautiful, successful and near perfect wife. I get the fact that I don’t have to read pieces with a storyline I don’t like, but I read, at least skim, in hope of finding the more deeply etched, creative piece. This piece is one that fits the theme but shows 3-dimensional, believable main characters, real angst, well scripted emotional pain and partial resolution that feels real even with the “broken heart” closing. OK, People magazines sexiest man of the year may be a bit over the top but Lance is not a MC rather a tool/expensive prop in this short well scripted story. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It probably won’t score all that well because the raw meat eaters won’t get retribution and a younger better looking replacement for the cheating wife. But, it’s one of his best IMHO.

Even tho it was pretty dull, this seems more realistic than others

Great story and different fives

One has to read a lot of emotions into the story for everything to make sense, but there is just enough to make that possible.

Good story, well-written and sufficiently realistic.

Thank you.

Didn’t like the story at all, absolutely nothing to redeem it!

Nothing to see here foljs. Please keep moving.

⭐⭐

Well written, sad story. This was a more realistic story than 99% of the stories on the site. Still, the story was missing any sense of satisfaction on my part about any, well Karma, I guess. No balancing of the scales of cosmic justice. That doesn't make this a bad story by any means, just hard to really get behind a story that leaves me unsatisfied, even when I realize that this was all by design by the writer. Hooked1957 is still absolutely one of my favorite writers on the site, if not my top.

As with most stories that attempt to be realistic and not engage in fantasy, this is unavoidably less dramatic than most LW tales. But in real life, cheaters' "great love affairs" are usually only in their own fantasies as they rationalize their sordid betrayals, and wronged spouses who choose the road of "keeping the family together for the sake of the children" pay a steep price in lessened love and happiness and higher instances of depression and stress that negatively impact their health and ultimately may even shorten their lives. Clay "settled for 75% of perfect" for the sake of his children, but that 75% turned out to ALL be his children, and once he felt his duty to raise them had been fulfilled he had nothing left in his life worth going on living for. So his last sacrifice for the sake of his children was to leave Siobhan in the one way that wouldn't poison whatever illusion they may have had that their family was "together."

I can’t believe the low rating on this well crafted story. Hooked, it’s a very good, thought-provoking story. Appreciate you!

I get the attempt at whatever the opposite of a "life well lived" concept that was placed here, but I feel it was poorly conceived. Not quite the best, but decent.

4-stars.

-JMFC

I thought that story was well written and enjoyed it a lot... but that story was filled with a lot of things left unsaid, angst and sadness. Very little closure. :(

As a husband, that story left me angry at the wife mostly, and a bit at the husband too. they were both brave at holding back pain but cowards at revealing their truth.

A compelling and sad story how betrayal can cause death by Broken Heart Syndrome. 5*.

You are a very talented writer who related a very shitty story. Siobhan didn't deserve Clay, while Clay deserved MUCH better.

Wow this is really bad. And I don't mean it's bad because it's a depressing sad story. The wife suffered absolutely no consequences of any kind. NONE.

.

it's bad enough that she has a one night stand and lies about it for years and years. But she emotionally and physically withdraws from her husband and appears to be perpetually angry at him.

..simply because Clay is her husband.

.

Even worse because the story glorifies stupid people and specially stupid men. The husband knows that something something happened on the trip to change his wife. Yet he never pushes the issue. Go back and take a look at the sequence of events.

.

They used to have sex three or four times a week. Now they have sex once a week and the wife doesn't participate in the sex with any sort of emotional connection for over a month. Then when she finally does start having sex with some enthusiasm she's clearly thinking about somebody else. Yet throughout all this time the husband never asks a question what happened on your trip. YES technically the he did ask one time but clay never pushed the issue when he knew something had happened on the trip because his wife was so demonstrably different.

.

Clearly whatever happened on the trip could not be business related because it wouldn't affect your sex life and cause her refusal to have any sort of emotional or psychological connection to her husband. Again just thinking about this for 5 minutes would tell the husband so much about what's going on and what lines of inquiry to pursue.

.

Instead he says nothing and then a few years later he dies. And again the wife pays no price. None

I think you need to scrap this and start again. The wife is just impossibly evil and impossibly stupid with it. She just begs to be discovered by withdrawing from him emotionally and physically. And even after he's gone, the best she can do is call herself a coward. She's not a coward, she's just evil.

Finally, the ending is infuriatingly maudlin. You don't die of a broken heart. An acceptable ending would be for him to cut the knot now the kids are older and get on with his life.

No consequences for the slut. Crappy story. Your MC needs balls.

Sad …

5 stars

Fairly well written, but without consequences a good man is disrespected and lied to in the most heinous ways possible. I know in fiction and real life things like this happen all the time. It's just disappointing that the story had no consequences for her bad behavior. Didn't like that - therefore didn't much care for the story.

Hate it Hate it Hate it What a cheating conniving slut she was Wish it was her that died not Clay (jaybee186)

Seven years as an alpha widow, that's certainly enough to kill the light in her husband's eyes.

I hate the character of Siobhan. She cheats on her husband Clay by engaging in a celebrity affair with Lance. When she gets home she cultivates her dissatisfaction with Clay's non-celebrity status. She allows her attitude towards Clay to fester, fantasizing about Lance when she is with Clay, continuing her emotional affair in her heart and mind. She continually ignores Clay's pleas to talk about their relationship for seven years letting him steep in the uncertainty of what he has done wrong.

After seven years, like a dog returns to it's vomit, she returns to Lance. The second affair is lacksluster, not glamorous like the first. Siobhan finally sees Lance for what he is and returns to Clay in a disillusioned state. Then she wonders at the state of her husband's lack of enthusiasm. Then when she sees that Clay has lost his adoration of her, without ever discussing what she did, why she did it, or how she really feels about Clay. All she can say is "Can't you just let it go, Clay?" Really? Well written story, but absolutely tragic! The feels for Clay, the desire to have Clay just grab Siobhan and shake the ever loving snot out of her! To tell her to fess up, come clean, admit she's cheated. Good! But frustrating!

⭐⭐⭐⭐

No!!! Why!!! That ending blindsided me. I hate how it ended, but it was well written so I'm settling for 4 stars.

You sir, are evil. 😔

It started off nice but became confusion on her second trip. Then when she returned home there was no reasoning of how her husband knew that she had cheated. Proof reading would have helped.

After the wedding reception for their second child, Clay and Siobhan returned home. They went into the family room, decompressing with a nightcap after all the excitement.

"It wasn't perhaps the way I wanted it to be, but we kept the family together," Clay said with a heavy sigh.

He finished off the remainder of his drink in one gulp.

"Whew! I'm dead tired! Nite, Siobhan." He slowly got up from his chair and went upstairs to bed.

He was gone an hour later when Siobhan went to join him in bed. The doctors had no answers for Siobhan as to why Clay died in his sleep that night. They said his heart just stopped from natural causes at 56 years old. An autopsy and a bunch of tests came back without answers.

Problem started during trip to Seattle. PI found nothing during next few trips. 7 years later she's going to Seattle for the first time since the she crashed.

.

I might hire the PI one last time...

She was a cunt plain and simple, Clay deserved better.

Famous Hollywood heartthrob not being followed by photographers, clearly a fantasy.

I wouldn't even say that it would be 75% perfect, only 50% because he was only happy for the kids, after losing the connection, he really shouldn't have been stuck with her. I wouldn't even had been at the airport for her after 7 years or call her out. Or he probably knew something, but like someone said in today's day and age, someone would have taken a pic, considering that he's driving a Porsche and she instigated the lovemaking again, after he basically called her a slut, she didn't deserve a happy ending in the slightest, going to have to read something different to get this taste out of my mouth because yeah, she gets to take her infidelity to the grave, unless she confesses in a part two.

Sad story but great to be reading another one from you!

Feel so sorry for the emotional damage Clay suffered in silence. I hope his wife suffered after his premature death of a destroyed heart.

It was well written but I am not surprised.

This is from one of the talented writers in LW.

But did I like the story?

Not one iota of a bit.

Because I hate cuck stories.

Very sad, tragical story. Though I think that it could be longer, either with descriptions of years between, describing Siobhan's failed attempts to reconcile, or some kind of epilogue when she finally confess what she did.

EIther way, 4/5

Always go with your gut instinct. If you feel something is off, that’s probably because it is.

No, not my type of story. She was a bitch, he knew in his heart she was cheating but he couldn’t prove it because of the peculiar circumstances with her 7 year delusion of the affair she lived,

She was a selfish c**t and worst of all she got away with her behaviour, an awful ending.

I see Cagivagurl liked your story to the tune of 5/5, that fits that authors view of the world without a doubt.

So because of that vote l know my 3/5 is on the right track.

This was a very average story from you, not what you are capable of.

Better luck next story.

I wasn't left satisfied with the resolution of this story. Somewhat like real life. Too bad he was the one to die because the narcissistic bitch sure won't mourn him. And after showing his kids what a weak sister he was they will just pass it off as a relief. Unloved and unlamented.

Did you say that someone actually edited this shit?

Very sad for both. What effect did it have on the children? I could not like it, although it was well written.

I know that experience of something changing in the one you love. My wife had a breakdown after 9 years of marriage, and something in her died, never to return. Three years later we divorced.

A most disappointing story from this author.

Idiots all around.

I once knew a woman like this who couldn't keep her legs closed. Now she gets to enjoy her life alone.

You can't have your cake and eat it too. The pluses of a good marriage far outweigh the minuses.

Holy shit, did someone hack Hook’s account? No dreck BTB cut and paste? Are pigs flying?

Not your finest hour, Hooked. Aside from the comparison with 'February Sucks' this also seems incomplete, with no explanation of why she chose to betray her husband in this hideous way or how she expected her shifting the blame onto him to play out. It was also lacking the most important element of a LW story; a proper confrontation between wronged husband and cheating wife. Sorry but this missed the mark. JR

Once again one well crafted story BUT soooo SAD

other2other you are so RIGHT about this one

Hit too close for me, not the cheating, dying of broken heart all alone!

Yeesh. Dismal shit right here. A pussy whipped hubby overlooks his slut wife's affair for the sake of his family, then up and dies? Honestly... you've written better. Then again, so have some first time authors.

If this bitch is so hot, then Clay cant be that bad looking, and would surely have his pick of the litter when in comes to divorced hot moms.

Pathetic story.