REVIEW for The Pretend Wife

A big thank you goes out to author Bridge Asher for sending me a copy of this book!!!

TITLE: The Pretend Wife

AUTHOR: Bridget Asher

GENRE: Women's Fiction

RATING: 3 Stars

I am a big fan of chick lit and while I would like to say that The Pretend Wife falls into this category it would be untrue. I would definitely squarely say this book is more along the lines of contemporary women's fiction.

As in Asher's previous book, we find our main character is somewhat disillusioned with both her life and her husband. Although in The Pretend Wife, Gwen's husband Peter is not dead, the subplot of this book almost makes me feel as though he is - the marriage certainly feels dead as the story develops and the storyline in which Gwen's old flame, Elliott, suddendly appears back into her life, at a time where Gwen feels at her lowest is a little too contrived for me. Also, the basic premise was a little "out there" for me. Elliott asks Gwen to act as his "pretend wife" for a weekend - as she meets his family and gets closer to both Elliott and his apparently wonderful family - while her "real" husband is still lurking somewhere around.

This just did not work for me. As I mentioned, the book just felt a little too convenient and farfetched to me. The premise I did enjoy was the whole question of "the one that got away". I think that most woman have "one of these" in their lives and this book certainly makes it fun and "ideal" to be able to actually live the "what ifs" - but that is about the extent of my commitment to this one.