The Wives by Tarryn Fisher

Happy April! I hope you are all staying safe in this weird time. Our March read was The Wives by Tarryn Fisher! It was recommended to me by one of you after we finished up Where the Crawdads Sing. If you have any recs for April’s book, let me know 🙂

The Wives is centered on Thursday, Wife #2 of Seth. He’s a polygamist who fled Utah but has accumulated three wives. Thursday calls them Monday and Wednesday. He splits his time between Seattle with Thursday and Portland, where Monday and Wednesday live. The only reason Thursday agreed to this arrangement is because of her immense love for Seth. He’s the perfect man… so what if she has to share him?! One day, everything changes when Thursday discovers Seth may not be so perfect after all.

ADD TO YOUR LIBRARY

If you haven’t read the book, stop reading now! Spoilers ahead!

None of my friends had read this book, so I was going in blind. However, I know this author is well-respected, and the reviews online were good, so I kind of assumed I would enjoy it. I was correct!

At first, I didn’t find myself really liking either Seth or Thursday. They are the only real characters in the beginning, and they both were “meh” people to me. I felt a lack of connection to Thursday because of her willingness to stay married to a guy who only sees her one day a week and wasn’t exactly what I viewed as “perfect” when they were together.

Wednesday, who we learn to really be named Hannah, is who I warmed up to instantly when reading. Once I felt I had a character I liked, it made the book more interesting and also helped me start to like Thursday more when she took Hannah under her wing. Speaking of characters… Thursday’s mom seems insufferable!

I liked that this book moved fast. It kept me reading page after page, chapter after chapter, even when I told myself, only one more. It was night and day from the courtroom chapters from Where the Crawdads Sing, which seemed to draw on and onnnnnn.

The ending was a twist I really did not see coming, though looking back I can see where little breadcrumbs were planted by the author to try to lead us there. Was Regina telling the truth? Was Hannah? Was Thursday? Was Seth? At the end, it was a really good and well-written surprise.

Roses

• fast-paced and smartly written
• dynamics between Regina, Hannah and Thursday
• a really well done twist ending

Thorns

• unlikable protagonist in Thursday
• the whole idea of polygamy and sharing a husband made me a bit detached from the story

This was a fun read! 3.5/5 stars for me. I will be sharing April’s book on stories soon, and would love your suggestions 🙂