I'm so disappointed that I didn't love this book the way I thought I would. That's not to say that Tarryn is a masterful writer. The way she weaves a story is like no other. I'm not a fan of feeling confused after I finish reading a book, and I just feel like I was left hanging in a way. I know I'm in the minority with this book, so please don't let this review deter you from reading it!

The Wives is a wild ride of a book! Affairs, multiple wives, CRAZY. Tarryn did a fantastic job with the main character (the narriator)'s voice. The reader is unfolding the story at the same time that the main character is figuring everything out. At times, I was just as stubborn as she was and almost felt crazy myself! Very fun binge worthy book!

Thursday thought that she had met the man of her dreams when she met Seth. They were on their fourth date when he told her his secret; he was already married and was looking to add another wife to his family. He was a polygamist. His first wife, Monday, can't have children and he thinks that Thursday will be the perfect addition to his family. The only catch is that Thursday can have no contact with the others. Even when Seth adds a third wife to the family, Thursday has to take her allotted day with Seth and be happy about it. Until she finds a receipt in his pocket and she gets curious about the other wives. Who are they? What do they look like? And then she does the unforgivable and meets one of them when she does Thursday realizes that Seth may not be the man she thought.

Wow. The Wives one of those books that will leave your head spinning. You never learn Thursday's name, you will only know her by the day of the week that she gets to spend with Seth. You do learn the names of the other wives, though. Regina was the first wife and Hannah was the third wife. When Thursday first meets Hannah is when things really start to go off the rails with Seth. The author gets the reader caught in a web of deceit, you just don't realize it until the end. I want to be careful to not spoil anything - CLICK HERE FOR SPOILERS - but I am not sure that I have ever had such a "WTF" moment when reading a book.

Bottom Line - The Wives is a crazy story told by an unreliable narrator. But here is the thing, Thursday and Seth's other wives are a train wreck that you just can't turn away from and we all know that those are the best books.

Details:

The Wives by Tarryn Fisher
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Pages: 336
Publisher: Graydon House Books
Publication Date: 12.20.19
Buy it Here!
Thank you to NetGalley for the book in exchange for an honest review.

I am still trying to get my thoughts together about this book. I don't know what I was expecting but this darn sure was NOT it. I felt like I was right there with the main character, who we didn't seem to know the real name of until later on in the book. Days of the week. Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. I am just blown away by this story and I can't believe it took me so long to pick it up.

There were twists all the way up to the end. There was no figuring it out. None.

Thank you Harlequin for my gifted review copy.

I was so pumped to read this book! I do love a wild and crazy ride and was ready for it. This one is so nuts. Tarryn is definitely not for everyone, but it's bingeable, crazy & a wild ride.

Thank you for the opportunity to be an early reader.

This book was supposed to be everything! With the premise hinting at polyamory, how could I not want to read this book?! But what started off as a really cool story eventually gave in to the same cliched tropes as many other thrillers. 

From beginning to end, this story was propelling and I was compelled to read it. The chapters are quick and well-paced. There is always something happening to keep the reader's interest. I mean, even after the turning point, I still couldn't stop reading - so the author was doing something right!

I haven't really come across very many stories that deal with the concept of polyamory. While I have no opinion on it (live and let live is my motto in life), I was curious to see how the author would spin it, especially since this is a unique situation where it isn't mutual and the other wives are hidden away. The initial half of the story was all about Thursday discovering information about one of the other wives, and her curiosity forces her to act upon it. I was so excited to see where this would lead. 

The Cons: What ruined this for me 

At the halfway point, this story changed completely. I hated it. I rarely hate things but I'm irrationally angry over how things went with this story. With such an opportunity to create a unique story, the author succumbs to the usage of stereotypical tropes. It was such a let-down for me because this really could have been an amazing thriller, one that stands out from the rest.

I cannot stress this enough: MENTAL ILLNESS IS NOT AN EXCUSE! I am sick and tired of every thriller using mental health and "delusions" to explain away things that don't "make sense" in the book. Come up with something better because at this point, it just screams laziness to me. 

The ending surprised me ... but I didn't like it. Suddenly the protagonist feels the need to have a sanctimonious moment where she puts another character in their place. But it really wasn't effective for me and after what I had to endure with the second half of this book, I had very little patience for it. 

This book had me feeling so many things. While it was compulsive and the initial concept of polyamory drew me in, its eventual reliance on familiar tropes had me irrationally upset and more than a little disappointed. For those reasons, I'm giving it 2/5 stars.

The Wives by Tarryn Fisher is a total mind f*ck. With each turn of the page, I felt as if I was as crazy as Thursday. When I finished, I was like WTF did I just read. At times I was like, I wasn't quite sure what was reality and what was actually occurring.

Kudos to Tarryn. You got exactly what you wanted from me as a reader. I was left with emotions I haven't felt in quite a long time. Would I recommend this book to others. ABSOLUTELY!!

I’ve read a few of Tarryn Fisher’s other books and I loved them. I thought I was going to love this one but I have so many mixed feelings about this book, I don’t even know how to rate it.
It took me a while to get into the story, I couldn’t connect with the story or the characters, but once I did I was enjoying the dynamic with the characters. But then the ending just made my head spin (and not in a good way)
Fisher made you question everything that had previously happened within the story. There were so many twists and turns throughout that I got lost in them and didn’t know where I was!
The Wives has many difficult subjects including polygamy and mental illness. I think for the most part Fisher did them well!

Tarryn Fisher knows how to write books that just suck you in. She knows how to write main characters that you absolutely hate but that's part of the charm. Absolutely none of these characters were good people and yet, I loved it. I had a feeling that the twist at the end was going to be the twist so that was a bit of a letdown, but watching it all unfold was enjoyable.

Twistedly perfect. Typical Tarryn style of amazing writing and messing with your head. Wonderfully imagined characters. A story woven from the deep recesses of her brain. A+

This book had a very intriguing premise so when i read the description I had to request it. It's told from the perspective of a woman who refers to herself as Thursday, because that is the day that her husband comes to see her. She shares her husband with two other wives, and they live in a modern day plural marriage. However, even though she knew it was part of the deal when she married her husband, the situation has started to get to her. She accidentally stumbles on one of the other wives' names, and she can't stop herself from trying to make contact with her. Once she does, she can't stop the crazy consequences that hit them all like a freight train.

I really enjoyed this book and once I started it I had to keep reading to see how it turned out. By the end of the book, I started to question reality and wonder who was telling the truth. The ending was unexpected and surprising. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes psychological mysteries and possibly unreliable narrators.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC in exchange for this honest review. Also, i purchased a hard copy through my Book of the Month Club membership**

The Wives by Tarryn Fisher is being been touted as warped and disorienting (in a good way!) and I have found this to be true. Thursday, the unreliable narrator of this gripping psychological thriller, tries to be the perfect wife for Seth. The only problem is that she shares Seth with two other wives who live in another city. When Thursday finds out by chance the name of one wife, she gives in to the impulse to find out more. She soon discovers that Seth may be hiding some dark secrets.

I was loving the super fast pace and the story was super intriguing but unfortunately I didn’t like the direction the story took in the second half.

I have read many Tarryn Fisher books and although I enjoy her writing, her style isn't my absolute go-to. I was looking forward to this one though because I heard it was different than some of the other recent ones she had put out. I got it and have to say I wasn't disappointed. I love a good psychological thriller. It was interesting. It kept me pulled in and wanting to know what was going to happen next. This one for me was not a disappointment and worth reading if you like twists and turns and an ending that you didn't see coming. I know I didn't!

I'm new to the brilliant world of Tarryn Fisher, and OH MY HELL WAS I MISSING OUT! I'm STILL NOT sure what the hell I just read but I LOVED The Wives. I've been sitting her trying to figure out how I could write this review without giving anything away, so my blown mind by this EPIC thriller definitely helps with that. So yeah, Thursday has a husband named Seth, did NOT like him ONE BIT, who has two other wives that she's never met. She agreed to the chaos because she was so into Seth, until she wasn't. Or was she?! Again, I didn't like Seth at all, as I don't share well with others, and he simply didn't care because she agreed to it. Thursday had Thursday when Seth would visit, and she would play the perfect wife. I can't even fathom agreeing to such as stupid agreement, because you sure don't see a woman with more than one husband. The twists were NEXT LEVEL INSANE, as they turned in every direction, including upside down & right side up, while the turns were twisted up like necklaces in the bottom of a jewelry box. I promise you that you won't have a clue as to what is really going on, but boy the ride was FUN! I certainly CANNOT WAIT to read more by all the epic amazing which makes up Ms. Fisher, and if you like a book that will keep you guessing all the way until the end, and even further like in my case, then hit that one click button NOW! HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

The Wives hooked me immediately with its bizarre premise of a polygamist man with three wives who know the others exist, but nothing more. Lots of twists and turns in this fast-paced psychological thriller.

Overall, a fun read.

What a wicked, wicked ride The Wives was!

I swear, Tarryn Fisher never disappoints. She comes up with the most creative plots and every time I read one of her books, I just can’t get enough.

As soon as I read the blurb for The Wives I knew I needed to read it. One husband and three wives who know of each other but have never met each other? I mean it can’t get any juicer than that and oh how juicy it truly was!

I really don’t want to touch much on the plot at all because it’s one you need to read for yourself but I really liked how it was put together. It flowed easily with some mild suspense that kept you on your toes and there was a lot of shocking parts that I didn’t see coming. I defiantly stayed up past my bedtime to get to the end because I needed to know what the outcome of this twisty story would be.

Which also brings me to why this was a 4 star for me instead of a 5 star read. The ending. It was just way too much much for me. It also came out of nowhere too, which I usually am a sucker for crazy endings but unfortunately I just wasn’t very satisfied with it.

Don’t let that sway you to not giving it a shot though. I truly did enjoy this story and I think Tarryn did a fantastic job. If you are already a fan of her books then I guarantee you will enjoy The Wives as well. If you haven’t read anything from her yet, then you defiantly should!

This was a really interesting psychological thriller, following Thursday and her husband Seth, who is also married to two other women. There is a really interesting twist part-way through that I definitely did not see coming! Quick and interesting read for sure! The plot type isn't something I think I would normally read but overall I enjoyed the book.

Oh. My. God. That was an awesome roller coaster ride of a book.

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I could never tell whether the character was really experiencing certain things, or if she was having a mental breakdown, etc. Great story telling and way to keep us on the edge of our seats until the very end!! I had just planned to read a little bit and finish tomorrow but I just couldn't stop reading!!

4.5 I don't read much adult fiction, but I really enjoyed this twisty adult thriller. Readers a kept guessing what is actually happening through the story and you really feel for her as she unravels the story.