The Marriage War

The Marriage War is a 1997 Harlequin romance by Charlotte Lamb, issued as a 186-page paperback and also printed in a large-print edition.

Sancha receives an unsigned note that insinuates her husband is being unfaithful, and the charge cuts against everything she believes about Mark and about the marriage. Her response is to confront him directly, and his reaction is described as something other than the denial or the confession she had prepared for. From that point the book is a contest rather than a misunderstanding. The note is unsigned and asks a question rather than making a charge, so there is no source Sancha can check and nothing specific she can disprove.

The complication is that Mark still finds his wife physically attractive and acts on it, while Sancha refuses to be managed by attraction before she has an answer, which keeps the pair in the same room without settling anything. The novel is written for readers of the Harlequin Presents-style line, where a marriage already made is the setting and the story is about whether it can be re-established on honest terms.