All Comments on 'No Anniversary'

I really enjoy those stories where the potential betrayer comes to their senses, and is honest enough to see their problem and transgressions. Nicely done!!

Most Excellent! Homerun and five stars!

Nice twist!

5

Good one. Excellent finish

5stars

Well done. Loved it. Thanks.

Well, can't say I wasn't warned. No, not a BTB, but it didn't automatically mean it should be an RAAC either. Personally, I dislike these near miss stories because if it happened once, it almost assuredly will happen again. It's generally just a matter of time.

The part of me that saw this as a happy ending said 5 stars, but the part that saw the extremely smart wife outmaneuvering him said 4 stars because she was being pragmatic and realized that her lover was a jerk. If he had pictures, then there should have been a bit more scepticism on the part of the husband.

She pivoted quickly. Very opportunistic too - she was hoping to get the best of both worlds until the last moment. Merits keeping a decent eye on her afterwards. The risk is she hasn't learned the actual lesson.

A women who makes sure she is always riding the wining horse. All her decision points weee forced by circumstances and not any good will on her part. The perfect survivor

Having an attractive wife pursued at work is very profitable. All men should get their wives to lure superiors into making advances. This is so simple, yet so rewarding. Imagine if every man with an attractive wife used this ploy. What would it do to the bottom line of big companies all over the country? They would have to budget for paying off unhappy spouses. In this story, the wife did a 180 after ten minutes of the husband complaining. Now all is good, especially after she was so well paid for wavering in her marriage.

Appreciated very much the commentary by Harddaysknight.

It’s a good story, but Bradley being the experienced seducer that he was, wouldn’t fall for the rejection of his latest conquest, Brenda, who was fighting back after a few words of enlightenment from her husband the lowly paper pusher.

Five stars to an excellent new talent.

10 Big Blazing Stars for this ultimate Burn story on a slimeball Boss out to seduce a hot wife. Great Writing, amazing surprise in the wife turning around from the edge of cheating at the last second. Thanks, Buster2U

good story

I have to say, I was sure this was going to end up yet another sad “she’ll regret it all!” tale. Glad I was wrong. Very nice.

She wised up quickly and showed her true self. Great story.

I just wondered if brad's wife got to hear the recording directly or just hear everything second hand? And of course there is the other women, but that was all beter left to our imagination.

@Harddaysknight I tend to agree in those stories where the husband sues the company because his slut wife 'succumbed'. And I thought about it would be a career in itself for a cute 25 year old to get seduced by her boss and then retire with a 7 figure bounty. It would make being a trophy wife obsolete.

But in this case, Bradley went way too far. He admitted his intentions and threatened to blackmail Brenda. That takes the sexual harassment claim to a new level. He was not just talking offering her a leg up or help for her future. That is something the company would pay to squelch.

Great story! Major plot hole....Bradley mentioned pictures? She never mentioned those....so did she sleep with him or not?

Sincerely,

Payenbrant

A close call, here's hoping the knot continues to hold, with true strength from both leads.

I don’t line a near miss story where there’s no reckonning for the spouse. No lesson learned.

Totally unbelievable one-sided tale. No good at all.

Really good for first 75% - but just needed a more thorough and convincing finish

Not commenting about the argument, but here's an advice: think of all the things that can be said in a break up conversation with a cheating wife and *spread them among 4 or 5 stories*. The woman could have gone cheating, have a baby with her lover and raise him to adulthood by the time the main character stopped blabbering.

This was a very visceral read. How do you come back from such treachery. How do feelings of love and affection remain the same after being confronted with such blatant disrespect. She was one smart cookie, she thought she could have her cake and eat it too. When confronted and she couldn't she made a executive decision and fell back to the tried and faithful hubby. I understand 20 odd years of being together but what will the next 20 be like after that?

Very well written and told. I’d still be keeping a very, very close eye on the wife, probably for years but their staying together is plausible, maybe even likely. Being married for 25 years can’t be understood unless you’ve lived it. It changes things profoundly and can lead into this type of resolution, albeit with a ton of trust but verify going forward.

Harddaynight’s review was bothersome. He seemed to be reviewing the trope and the mass of stories that came before and used it. That’s not fair to this or any other. Review and comment on this story, instead of using it to grind an axe and make this author pay for the accumulated sins of others that seem to have built you up to a breaking point.

I liked how you FINALLY had the MC give her a chance….and she figured out a great way to take it.

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Just in time.

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Nice story.

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4 ****

I really liked the confrontation at dinner. Not sold on her sudden "come to Jesus" turnaround, in the real world the near miss is a hard betrayal to overcome, but eh, still a really good story.

Well written. Fun read.

Anyone fooled by bitch's tears is an idiot. She was gone to the dark side before this dinner. If he had gone to HR after wifey fucked her boss and did the sue the company thing, the story , well...

Hated the plot overall.

You started very strongly, setting the dominoes carefully. The MC had absolutely NO uncertainty. He never said "Unless you ..." opting instead for a "You WILL be served at 6:30 AM tomorrow." Perfectly understandable, since:

Wife's actions were inexcusable and disrespectful. There was no question where the cheating wife was going. Or what she had already done. She had obviously moved on, just as her husband noted.

And then what happens? The cheater turns on the waterworks, and the husband folds like a cheap suit. All his determination becomes a wet noodle. Wife did NOTHING substantial except CRYING and somehow it's all BETTER? This is white-knighting at its worst. She was caught in her perfidy, cries, and its all forgiven.

The RAAC is in the run-up COMBINED with the lack of actual consequences. He made threats with such insistence and then FOLDED, rendering everything up to then meaningless.

Reminds me of bad parents who threaten consequences to misbehaving kids, never follow through, and then wonder why the vermin continue to be brats.

This is NOT how to write a believable reconciliation. A very disappointing ending

Was going towards a 5 star rating until Brenda did a 180 turn and.the story turned into another.dumb RAAC.

1 star for ending with the allegedly smart guy proving to be just another spineless cuckold.

It would have been better without the repeated, repeated, repetition before the phone call. Still a good story

Great story. I wonder what kind of pictures he had of her? He stopped her from cheating but she wanted to. It would be tough to just take her back. How can you love two people and she was excited when she thought he would let her have him. I would think a lot of counseling would be needed before I took her bakc.

Very nice job of detailing her cheating, her changes of attitude and actions, but it all seemed cold. He says he hurts, really hurts, but the story never brings that out.

"A look of anger took over her face." - It's telling that she's angry at him, when he's telling the truth.

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"I shouldn't have to fight for you" - Nice, short stopping the "Why won't you fight for us" argument.

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@Tx77, I assume the pictures of the kiss, nothing that she had to fear.

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I wasn't crazy about her anger at him, when he was 100% right.

Keep the PI on speed dial -- it's just a matter of time.

It was good until he accepted her cheating. You put a kill shot on the story with that ending. Sucks.

Dump the slut

@ Buster2U, she didn't 'turn away from the edge of cheating', she went right over; it's just you using the ridiculous premise that cheating hasn't occurred until sexual intercourse takes place. Have you forgotten how badly a certain ex president of the US was discredited for applying that skewed logic?

What we have here is an MC who has been on a mission to self sabotage all his adult life by constantly browbeating himself, insisting to all who will listen that he's not good enough for the woman he loves and who loves him and placing her up on a pedestal like some goddess of whom he is not worthy, Is it any wonder that after a quarter century of listening to that she finally started to believe it was true, that she was better than he deserved?

For me it doesn't chime that a man so down on himself suddenly had an explosion of self esteem and ambushed his wayward wife so brilliantly but I have to say it did make for a good read and I hope that this doofus is finally convinced that he's not actually punching above his weight.

JR

That's what I call cutting it close. She is one smart lady to nail the predator the way she did. Nelson's flaying of her is one of the best I've read in LW. Great story.

I liked it. A bit light on the price paid by Brenda, but still a win.

Not sure she can be trusted or that Bradley would be stupid enough to say all of the over the phone. But, still, not a bad story.

It finally picked up at the end, but it was too late to save it from the tedium of you repeating yourself multiple times and dragging the story out. Heck, you even broke the news twice that Martha Juno was his Monday night girl.

It doesn't need to be another 750 word attempt, but you could tighten up this story into something much better at about 3-4K words.

She slipped so easily this time and only changed when caught out, she could have done the right thing and recorded the previous failings and not done the the cheater run up actions with the other guy. She says she will change. But her heading out this time will happen again but cover it better. Piss her off while you can and keep the what if's away from your future. Like a lot of wives they forget about all the good you done and only remember any small failings. " People dont look at her as being so hot like you do, your appreciation of her looks dont matter " why do others thoughts mattter if she wants your continued love, only your thoughts should be in her mind. Another one is "You play your cards right l may give you some tonight. " lmplying she only has sex with you for your benefit and she does'nt get anything out of it. What bullshit.

I have started to dislike the “give them rope and let the hang themselves” stories. Nice to see someone fight before the worst cheating happens.

Would have been better if after they get the buy out from the company he still goes through with the divorce. He just gets a larger settlement. She cheated, was going continue to cheat, and will still cheat.

Toothbrushes in one stand are great! But have the stars returned to her eyes when she looks at Nelson now? Or are her eyes, empty and sad, scanning space in search of a new bright "Star cluster", but now a thousand light-years away and, preferably, hidden behind some kind of "Nebula"?

I don't object to the reconciliation but I thought it happened a lot too easily. While in the end she does the right thing, she was in a sense coerced into it, she didn't come into that on her own.

Her actions exposing Stevens don't cost her anything, in the end she ends up coming out on top. So where is the amends on her part? Where is the penance? Nelson could rightfully think she could do it again, how is he convinced she won't since she really didn't suffer much pain.

It might have been better if she quit the job but didn't file with HR, bc she was giving up the career she had gone back to. IRL if she filed a complaint with HR it likely would be the end of her career, lawsuits like that rarely go anywhere unless it can be proved he threatened to fire her or have her husband fired if she didn't play ball. If it was consensual they wouldn't care. In that scenario it would be a sacrifice because word gets around with 'troublemakers'.

I honestly think they also would need to separate so she knows he is serious & would need counseling.

cheating is a calculus. Everyone has a number...

Good story, but that was a big swing from denial to confrontation in just a short amount of time.

Yeah, right.

After all her betrayal,

her love turns back to her husband, on the dime.

It you'll buy that,'I've got some ocean front property in Arizona.

From my front porch you can see the sea'.

A good idea for a plot.

4 out of 5 from me.

Uh. Sure.

Liked the story, quite a bit, except it wrapped up abruptly with a happily ever after. IMO, there is a LONG way between where he is ready to divorce her and she has ready started cheating on him (yeah, so they haven't actually had sex yet), and happily ever after together. It was abrupt because she was 1 day short of having sex with the snake, and then abruptly turns on him. And were she so smart, why the hell did she keep lying, defending the snake and not apologizing to the husband? So yeah, I was fully with the story, until the abrupt change and end.

She needs to eat about 50 lbs of crow, I wouldn't have minded an epilogue that showed that. But still very good.

Seems to me like Nelson would have asked her what the pictures Bradley had would show besides the kiss he already knew about?

Well done !!

Left unanswered if he could ever truly trust her again, but well told. 4.4*

Like just_words stated, I thought the swing was rather abrupt. I was hoping that the wife would offer to immediately quit and run to Bradley's wife to confess everything, to fall on her own sword to prove her love to her hubby. I think that would have had a far greater impact than Nelson dictating the terms, and would have made her later actions with the recording feel more natural. Still, I greatly enjoyed the story. Thanks for sharing it. 5*

I thought it was great and gave it 5 stars all the way. Speaking from experience, sometimes we need a wrench upside the head to make us see how badly we have fucked up, and that second chance is a life ring.

The abrupt ending did little to salvage a storyline that was 9/10s him lecturing his wife dialogue included while she is a 1-dimensional bimbo description aside. So typical of LW category.

@payenbrant

In my opinion, there is no hole in the plot here. Bradley persuaded her to wear sexy underwear last Thursday. Apparently, she demonstrated it in his office, where he installed hidden cameras. They kissed and he touched her. That's why she came out of his office so enthusiastic and radiant. Probably, bragging Bradley meant that he literally got into her panties. For now... It was with these photos that Bradley blackmailed her.

Yeah i’d probably ant to keep her too… and feed her lotsa daily dick…. Nothing like a good skull fuck

No women changes her mind that fast. Even in LW

I really liked the story, and the way he confronted her, with a litany of what her husband was and did during their lives together, but an unanswered question that I'm surprised was ignored was what pictures her boss had of her ?

He thought they were enough to use as blackmail, but in the car ride, they were mentioned but not explained... the only detail I thought that was not explained to her husband.

As detailed as he was described as being, I'm surprised that detail was left open.

But... it was not enough to keep the story from getting five stars from me with a follow to read more of your work.

Nicely done !

Wow, I'm not so sure that Nelson won anything. Like has been said, where is the shine in her eyes, where is the desire to be with Nelson and not just to protect her nest? I personally think she had gone much too far to make a believable retreat. A friend of mine, years ago, married a woman who had questionable decision making abilities when it came to new bosses at work. Was a miserable few years for him. But, well written from a reading and understanding stand point. I'll do the 5 stars for sure.

Should not a marriage between two people truly committed the one to the other, truly "in love", be able to survive an infatuation? And especially when the object of that infatuation is a slimy predator who might be found out at every moment? Everyone should answer "yes". Because: why not? It is obviously within the realm of possible outcomes. But here in LW the overwhelming response is "NO!!" "Once a cheater..." et cetera, et cetera. Why is that? Is it because LW readers are wiser, more pragmatic, more attuned to reality? Or, perhaps, because we are a collection of wounded souls with a tortured outlook on life.

Talk about cutting it close. She knew what was right. She knew what she had to do to save her bacon.

So … was she working to get him fired for harassment all along, or (as it seems) did she finally realize what she had to do to save her marriage?

I loved it. Proactive instead of reactive for a change. 5-stars.

Enjoyed the story, but he’s gone from jilted husband to pimp. A sad ending for him.

What a croc of shit ending. He should have dumped the bitch

Cliche’ ridden

Okay story but that went from a divorce to a RAAC at the speed of light. You might have put a little more information in at the end to explain her actions and actually show it. But I know, it couldn't be 750 words. By the way, who is Shelley?

Good story except the end. Forced the reconciliation. She still did what she did. The dinner, the skirt, the kiss, the date, etc. She was already quitting, all she did was pad her landing if Hubby went with the divorce. No acknowledgement of wrong doing. Nothing to warrant keeping her except "she's so beautiful".

Don't think they make it. He will never forget this. Always be jealous. She has proven to be a hussy. How many other men would be my question.

She turned on old Brad pretty quickly, and burned him down completely. Best keep a close eye on the Beauteous Bren for a good while. She might be tempted again.

Nice story, although in my understanding, she has cheated. At least emotionally, even though she has not yet slept with her boss. Good thing she agreed right away to resign.

Nice! She was one meeting away from making him a chuck . People can be swayed into anything . Indoctrination is all around us. Did she really realize the error of her ways?? This world we live in is so messed up at this time. Politicians who lie about everything and dictators who kill without a second thought.

Can you trust her? You caught her and forced the issue. She was ready to cheat.

Great! A straight up conversation.

Close, but not without A Lot of counseling and some therapy. She was Definitely going to fuck the asshole predator sooner or later, and had lost her self respect and respect for her husband. So What Happened to turn her into this stupid naive almost a slut? That needs to be examined and fixed. He may have averted the train wreck this time, but the train and the track need some work.

Congratulations to the husband for browbeating his wife into abandoning her current plans for sluttery, even though she persistently resisted acknowledging the truth when confronted with each piece of evidence. At least she looked good while she was lying. Apparently, being the most beautiful woman on the planet carries with it the right to betray your husband in all ways possible, except fucking another man, and face no consequences for your actions. Might even get away with the fucking part too, as long as you promise to keep your legs closed in the future. Just remember to look often at the cuck adoringly and to put your toothbrush next to his in the stand every night.

Wake up and action. Been did the right thing in the end. He will need to keep a close eye on her while they finish that bucket list.

Currently at 4.27★ so I won't even rate it by pushing a 'button'. I'm not sure it rates a 5. But giving it a 4 would pull down the current rating.

The ending was too abrupt and Stevens deserved more damage. Eating instant Ramen noodles for the rest of his life as the consequence of his divorce is just a start. Maybe his ex wife could stay "unmarried" until her youngest kid is over 18, milking him like a Guernsey cow for child and spousal support.

And while the woke Bren finally saw the light and snapped to the reality of her situation, she still owes Nelson BIG! The real question is how to repay him? How does you pay somebody back for the damages done to their trust, love, emotional health,... all of those intangible things damaged by having an emotional affair and setting up the start of a physical one? Is she going to offer him sex? Devotion? To be trustworthy? She should have been doing all of these things already, not thinking about offering it to Stevens. How does someone pay an unpayable debt?

Personally, I think Brenda’s better off without him . He’s a whiny little bitch.

Just make sure she doesn't talk to other guys lol. I think he just delayed it.

Lousy. Did not have to be BTB, but should NOT have been RAAC. Just get divorced. Could NEVER live with her after what already happened the past week. Story is just too much bullshit.

What happened with the pictures he threatened her with? Did nerd boy get to see them?

5 stars for good writing, 1 star for him keeping the cheating disrespectful bitch with absolutely zero punishment or downside (he himself said she ALREADY cheated and disrespected him, fucking or lack thereof wasn't important). He could have at least demanded a post-nup. Hell, HE had to tell her what to do (and she didn't send the tape to his wife, either). 3 stars overall.

Even tho in the end she did decide to stay with her husband she STILL was prepared to cheat until he gave her the ultimatum (jaybee186)

Her shift in attitude didn’t quite fly. She had left him mentally, and his reminders of their long life weren’t sufficient for the reader, if not the author, to accept her making such an about face convincingly. Perhaps if she hadn’t continued to defend her actions, and her chomping at the bit when she thought her hubby might agree to her having a chance to explore her relationship with Bradley, the resolution wouldn’t have lacked credibility. Otherwise, until the point of her about face, the tale was very well done.

That's the perfect counter to her calling him insecure bullshit. " if calling me insecure helps you feel better about your betrayal so be it..."

She's the lucky one, not him. She clearly planned to cheat, and had already established disrespect, lies, gaslighting, ect. I would love to hear her aude of the story because she's written as very smart, but her plans to cheat and her established flirting reek of stupidity.

"Are you going to wear that short blue skirt for me again?" - Wear if "for him," AGAIN?

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Why did she need to hear Bradley confess before realizing that her husband was right?

I liked it. A lot. Perfect denouement. Five stars. Toothbrush? An excellent line.

JPB

I wanted trust her at all.

Great, now he's stuck with someone he knows he can't trust and he gave her all the tools and information to weasel out of her impending divorce. He was just a whiney little bitch. Now he has to keep a constant eye on his cheating whore, waiting for the other shoe to drop. What a life!

She literally only decided against it when she learned of the other women?

some people must not like a happy ending ?? we all have faults,we all make mistakes we have to live with . didn't like it ?? go on to the next and stop whining . if i start reading a story i don't like for whatever reason,I go on to the next one .

She ain't worth it.