I lost my reading mojo during the Coronavirus lockdown. Not completely, but work, other hobbies etc., have just been 'calling to me' more. However, all that changed when I picked up this enthralling and compulsive psychological thriller which I was up half the night reading as I just couldn't put it down. I love Tarryn Fisher books as you can guarantee that they're going to be warped and twisted and play with your mind, and with this book, she's done it once again. Another corker.

Many thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this ARC for which I have given my voluntary and unbiased review.

Provocative, perplexing, and unorthodox.

Seth has three wives - they are Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Even though Thursday doesn't know the others, she believes herself to be comfortable with this arrangement as she plays the dutiful housewife, cooking Seth's meals at their home in Seattle. The other two wives, Monday and Tuesday, are based in Portland, a place that Thursday has never visited until the day she finds a note in her husband's pocket with a woman's name on it. This arouses her curiosity and she goes in search of the mystery woman, Monday, also named Hannah, and then turns her attention to the third Wife, Tuesday...

Gosh, was a fabulous and remarkable story! It certainly had me ruminating about what I might do if I was just one of three wives and I was presented with an opportunity to snoop around the other women's lives. I realised that Thursday was an unreliable narrator because of her willingness to believe everything was hunky-dory. As the tale took a much darker turn, I found that this novel wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be. Shocking or maybe shamelessly manipulative (I am not sure which), The Wives was certainly a fun, dark and twisted read. Tarryn Fisher cunningly played things up with the menacing and horrifying behaviour. Her writing was clear and concise and every word was masterfully used to advance the story, expand on the characters, or highlight a salient plot point. I was satisfied with the conclusion and awed by it's unpredictability. I could not put The Wives down once I had started reading. It is terrifying, it is brilliant, and it is a solid 5-star release from Tarryn Fisher. She is a new author to me and I cannot wait to read another book by her.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from HQ via NetGalley and this review is my own unbiased opinion.
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I've read all of Tarryn Fisher's books and she always knows how to capture you.I thought this book was very gripping and I could not put it down. From the first chapter until the last I was engrossed; this story took me on a roller coaster of emotions. A physiological thriller of the best kind.

The start of this book was intriguing and held my attention as the confusion in the storyline set in I wasn't sure where the book would end up.

I didn't like the ending and at the end I felt like I had wasted my time reading it.

I know a lot people liked this and gave it rave reviews, but sadly I'm not one of them.

I really tried (I pushed myself to read atleast 40% of it!) but it just didn't do it for me! I found Thursday really annoying and I found it hard to believe that someone would willingly put themselves in the position she puts herself in. Her obsessive, stalkerish behaviour didn't help either.

Anyway, it's a no for me and I personally wouldn't recommend it to others.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read this book.

Wow, what a gripping read! I had heard great things about this author so couldn't wait to dive into this one. I can see why!
I couldn't put this book down, it was gripping and twisty and a few dark bits in between! Loved it.

‘The Wives’ is the latest book by Tarryn Fisher.

You’ve never met the other wives. None of you know each other, you see your husband only one day a week. Thursday. But you don’t care, you love him that much. Or at least that’s what you’ve told yourself. And then, one day it all changes. You thought you were fine with this, with only having a fraction of a husband. But you can’t help yourself, you start to dig. You begin tracking them down, the other days… Who is Monday and why does she have bruises on her arms? Is she being abused? By who? Her husband? Your husband? What else is he keeping from you? And who is he, really?

I spent one evening with my head absorbed with this book. It’s an unsettling, psychological story that throughly gripped my attention.

The story is seen through the narrative of Thursday who’s married to Seth. Seth is a polygamist and along with Tuesday, has two other wives. They have never met each other but Thursday has a curiosity to find out who the women are that he is married to. Thursday then begins on a slippery journey of delving into social media and befriending whilst finding out that Seth isn’t quite the charmer that he makes himself out to be.

This book is one twisted story. Thursday is an interesting narrative, she’s complex and is content to have one night a week with her husband whilst the other wives have his attention. But as the story progresses, we see a different side to her and the perfect relationship, as Thursday begins to question everything that Seth has told her. He’s the perfect man, charming, successful with a dysfunctional childhood that makes up for his misdemeanours. Thursday as also a bit of an unreliable narrator and sometimes it was challenging to see what was fact and what was fiction.

The story is set in Seattle and Thursday is a nurse and for me, the story was written like a darker version of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’. It was a sexy and gripping story about love, obsession that really made for compulsive reading. Atmospheric from the first page, ‘The Wives’ is fantastic and thrilling page turner. Fast paced with drama and suspense throughout, the story is an emotional and psychological thriller that will keep the reader hooked throughout.

You can buy ‘The Wives’ from Amazon and is available to buy from good bookshops

What a twisty thriller this was, It was really good!

It keeps up the pace throughout and definitely keeps you guessing. There were some really shocking moments that were unexpected.

It was interesting reading it from Thursday's point of view because she isn't the most reliable narrator and it definitely makes it more interesting. I couldn't put this one down, I was constantly thinking one more chapter.

Overall I really enjoyed it, it was fast paced and well written!

Thursday is the second wife of polygamist Seth. Her life starts to unravel as she finds out what Seth’s other wives look like and try’s to follow them and find out more about their time spent with her husband. After going into hospital in the psychiatric ward Thursday starts to get confused about what is real and what are the people in her life trying to make her think is real. This is quite a read as you follow Thursday trying to unravel all the twists and turns she discovers along the way.

Read this if you:
🤯 Enjoy phycological thrillers
📖 Are looking for a fast paced read
🗣 Love an unreliable narrator

Happy pub day to this amazing thriller! I finished this one last week and couldn’t read it fast enough. We are introduced to Thursday, a nurse from Seattle who doesn’t get to see her husband very often, due him having two other wives! With the three wives living separately and having never met Thursday’s curiosity gets the best of her. She begins to play detective to find out more about her competition. Her life quickly begins to unravel and as she spirals deeper and deeper you will begin to question what is real and what’s not.

This book is everything I love in a thriller; twisty, shocking and full of suspense. Thursday was such an unreliable narrator and I loved it! She had learnt how to become “the perfect wife” but underneath facade she was incredibly broken. There is a midway twist I didn’t see coming and the suspense held my attention throughout.

The Wives will take you on a journey with so many twists and turns you will not know which way is up! It’s an intense story of trauma, abuse and manipulation. If your looking for something that will get your heart racing then this is the book for you.

I have never read this author before, but I was instantly captivated by her writing style; her building of a scene with startling clarity and her use of words is extraordinary!
I found this book very absorbing, as it went on I began to find it more and more chilling, the last couple of chapters made my jaw drop. A really well written book, unpredictable and different to any psychological thriller Ive read before, I look forward to reading more from this author. I recommend this book highly.
Thank you to Netgalley and HQ Harper Collins for the ARC and the opportunity to review.

The Wives by Tarryn Fisher is a very fast-paced domestic thriller. Expect many plot twists and disturbing revelations.

Synopsis:

Thursday is married to Seth. But he has two other wives, that he sees during the week. Thursday gets to see Seth on Thursday, while the other wives each have a day for themselves as well. The main rule is - she is not supposed to know the other wives, nor contact them.

When Thursday finds the name of his newest wife, Hannah, in Seth’s pocket, she does what every woman would - looks her up. She meets up with Hannah under a false name, trying to find out more about her and the husband that they share. But Hannah is not only pregnant with Seth’s baby; she also has bruises on her body. Is Seth capable of that? The Seth she is married to?

Realising she might not know who Seth really is, Thursday is on a mission to find out as much as possible about him and the other two wives, before he realises something’s up. With many twists and turns, Thursday realises things are not as they seem. At all.

My Thoughts:

The first half of the book gives us the idea of the situation. From Thursday’s point of view, we get a glimpse of a very rare situation. How a woman feels when she is sharing a man with other women. The challenges and worries this entails. The constant battle to be better than the others, even though she doesn’t know them. The constant curiosity to know how they treat him, whether they are more beautiful than her, whether they can give him more than she can. The battle with herself, on why isn’t she enough. Why does he need other women to be happy? The loss of her baby, that changed everything.

The second half of the book is filled with plot twists, and I cannot say much more without revealing anything. It involves finding out the truth, violence, mental health hospital and many lies told by many people. I was very disappointed with the ending, and I will have to explain why below.

SPOILER ALERT - The below paragraph contains spoilers.

During the book, we kept having more and more plot twists. The story started becoming more and more twisted and tricky to unravel. And then, a few chapters before the end, the author explains this as one of Thursday’s delusions. Seth divorced her when they lost the baby, but she could never move on and started believing this delusion that he has multiple wives. However, there are many inconsistencies to this, and they are all left for us to believe they are part of Thursday’s delusions. Also, there are facts that don’t correspond. He still came to see her every Thursday (which was explained as cheating). Furthermore. he stole money from her bank account. He brewed some weird tea for her before she lost her baby. Somehow, I keep thinking that the plot became too twisted for the author as well, and she just decided to blame it all on Thursday’s delusions.

SPOILER FINISHED.

I am still unsure on how I feel about this book. Perhaps I would’ve been more satisfied if the explanation and the ending were different. The very last scene was shocking, and completely out of character. I cannot understand why this is how the book ended and I am very conflicted. This type of plot seems very similar to other books I have read before, and I don’t find it unique. However, I read this book in a day and it did intrigue me to find out more. Once you start reading, you cannot put this book down. But once you get to the ending, there is the conflict of whether it was a good ending of such a twisty book.

I definitely recommend it, if you love this genre. It will keep you on your toes. It also might make you think whether your husband has other wives as well. Just kidding :)

I must admit that when I started to read 'The Wives' I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I wasn't sure whether or not it would be a thriller or chick lit. So I started to read the book with an open mind. Having just finished reading 'The Wives', all I can say is 'WOW'. I thoroughly enjoyed reading 'The Wives' but more about that in a bit.
It didn't take me long to get into this story. In fact by the time that I got to the end of the first page of the book, I knew I wasn't going to be able to put the book to one side for very long. I was intrigued by the story, by the characters and I had to know what happened to the husband. The pages turned increasingly quickly as my desperation to find out what happened just grew and grew. I wasn't able to read the book over the course of a single day because boring things like life got in the way but I was able to read it in just under 72 hours, which is still good going for me.
'The Wives' is really well written. The author certainly knows how to grab your attention from the start and draw you into the story. Tarryn has certainly created some interesting characters. I can't say that I warmed to any of them and as for Seth, well the least said about him the better. For me, 'The Wives' was perfectly paced. The story hit the ground running and maintained the fairly fast pace throughout. I had a feeling that I knew how the story was going to conclude but I couldn't have been more wrong if I had tried! I was so convinced by Tarryn's writing that I felt as though I was part of the story myself and I even tried to interact with the book- by that I mean that I would occasionally talk to the characters as if they could hear me.
In short, I thoroughly enjoyed reading 'The Wives' and I would recommend it to other readers. It's one hell of a twisty psychological thriller. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.

The protagonist in this book is Thursday (yes, it is her name), and the whole story is told from her perspective. I was very mesmerized with Thursday, she is a very strange character, and her personality made me annoyed sometimes, with all her excuses and willingness to please a man she is obsessed with. I loved her, but she drove me mad at the same time, AND I LOVED IT! 😀 I really liked the choice of the characters in this book, they all are very different and interesting personalities.

The narrative of this novel is unbelievably well thought through and delivered. It had everything I like in the good psychological thriller, it is extremely deceptive and mind-blowing with all the twists and turns, amazingly built up suspense and its constantly changing events, that left me pleasantly confused and even more determined to find out “What the hell is going on here?” (that was the question I was asking myself over and over again 🙂 ). The topics discussed in this book were mental health issues, miscarriages, polygamy, men pleasing behaviour, obsession, social seclusion, and many more.

I loved the writing style of this book, the author is a master of deception and I loved everything about this book, from the language used, to the overall delivery of this story. The chapters are pretty short, and this book is so fast-paced, the pages just flew by for me. I loved the ending of this book too, I think it rounded the story brilliantly.

So, to conclude, it is an amazing psychological thriller, filled with beautifully crafted, complex characters, and the narrative that is filled with illusion, amazing twists and constant suspense. I really loved the writing style, and the other books by this author are already on my wish list. 🙂 I would strongly recommend this book to all thriller lovers because Tarryn Fisher is a very pleasant discovery for me, and she has bagged herself a new fan here.

I really enjoyed Fisher’s book, which was my first by her. The Wives is a suspenseful and page turning thriller full of suspicion and intrigue. The whole novel is told from Thursday’s perspective, telling us about her polygamist husband and his other wives. It took me a while to be okay with this concept! It constantly had me guessing and just when I thought I had it figured out something would happen to change my mind!
All in all I think I guessed one tiny, miniscule part of it but I’m taking that as a win! The book itself was so easy to read and it is nice and short at under 300 pages, definitely a perfect holiday read and one to keep your attention. I think there is a lot of pressure these days with thrillers to try and fit twists in so I was glad this one rolled along smoothly and didnt feel forced.
As a character, Thursday was a bit of an oddity for me, I’m quite strong-willed and independent (thanks Mum) so when I read a character who is completely besotted by a man like this I’m always a little disjointed in my connection but I could see where her feelings had come from and it made me really cheer for her when she started investigating her husband and his other wives. I really enjoyed thinking about how everything was going to tie together. If you like a good twisty thriller, pick this one up!

The Wives by Tarryn Fisher is a 4 star read.
Thursday is determined to be the perfect wife, she shares her husband Seth with his two other wives, Monday and Tuesday named after the days of the week he spends with them, but Thursday’s curiosity gets the better of her after she finds a receipt in Seth’s pocket and she starts to dig into his life away from her.
This was a great book, the storyline had me hooked from the start.
I voluntarily reviewed a gifted copy of this book through Netgalley.

Loved the book but it is very difficult to give a review without giving away the storylines.
It is a story of love betrayal and obsession
It grips you from the very first page and what you think is happening is not the reality
Brilliant keeps you on the edge of your seat to the very last page

When I chose to read The Wives, I set myself a challenge. Take the first line of the blurb ‘imagine your husband has two other wives’ My mind went blank the first time I read it. I couldn’t imagine it, unless stuck with an unfaithful husband in the usual way affairs usually go. But there is no affair here. Imagine agreeing to voluntarily share your husband with two other women. No, no, no, no, no. That was the point that had me going ‘what would make a woman say yes to such an arrangement?’ There lay the issue for me. My interest was picked. Could an author make this authentic and real enough for me to accept the idea and connect in any way with the characters?

Tarryn Fisher explains through Thursday, wife #2, how their life works. Seth’s wives are referred to as Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. He begins his week with wife #3, young and pregnant. Wife #1 shares his Tuesdays, and then he travels to Thursday. The perfect calendar for the hubby, and so far, no wife has complained!

When the novel opens, we take a good look at Thursday’s life. One day a week, she gets to live the life she wants. The rest of the time, she is a nurse, a friend, but her marital situation has built walls between her and the world. Who could understand why she agreed to share Seth? Her loneliness is palpable, so is her love for the guy. Tarryn Fisher really paints her main character in such a way that I found myself – if not understanding – at least admitting her reasons were valid. They say love make people crazy. Well, The Wives is a good example of how far a woman would go for the man she loves.

At least until she gets a glimpse of his other lives. Careless Seth leaves a note in one of his pockets. Typical! If previously, Thursday managed with nonchalantly asking a few questions here and there about the others, this tiny bit of paper is a tangible proof of his different lives and she soon wants to know more.

I went through different emotions while reading The Wives. I was outraged at Seth’s perfect life. I was furious with the wives for allowing a man to be their sun, only revolving around him in a dance he was leading. Then I got curious. I enjoyed Thursday’s search for answers. What did the other wives bring to Seth? How different were they? How different could Seth be with them? It didn’t take much for Thursday’s happy façade to crumble, but the author did a great job at not making it too quick and evident. She built a case against Seth, throwing hints of his other lives at Thursday until the very compartmentalized days blew up and so did Thursday’s trust in Seth…

The Wives was completely different than what I was expecting. I could have said it took a turn and went to explore a part I hadn’t thought of, but I am not sure it even began where I thought it would! It was definitely a surprising read. I was expecting a war of wives, but I read about a war of love and loss. Tarryn Fisher explored sensitive subjects with tact and authenticity, all the while fuelling my hatred for a man who had been taking advantage of women for too long… But the road was not as straight as it seemed and Thursday happened to be even more complex than I had first believed.

Some twists and the ending left me somewhat confused, leaving a taste of over-the-top in my mouth, but the overall read was an enjoyable experience.

I did enjoy this book even though it was a tad predictable, it’s hard to give an honest opinion without giving anything away! Definitely worth a read but not totally enthralled by it.

2/5

The Wives just didn't hit the mark for me. I liked the concept and I think it had potential, but it just wasn't executed very well in my opinion. It used a trope that is currently very popular and overused in thrillers, which meant it was predictable from the outset. It definitely got more fast-paced towards the end, but that didn't necessarily work in its favour as there were so many confusing plot twists.

TRIGGER WARNINGS:

- Adultery
- Miscarriage (forced)
- Molestation/Sexual Assault
- Domestic Abuse
- Physical and Mental Abuse
- Mental Health Hospitalisation/Psychosis
- Drugging