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4th out of 32 books
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The Pretend Wife
BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Bridget Asher's The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted.
What would life be like with the one who got away? From the acclaimed author of My Husband’s Sweethearts comes this bighearted, funny, fiercely perceptive tale about a happily married woman and the little white lie that changed everything.
For Gwen Merchant, love has always...more
What would life be like with the one who got away? From the acclaimed author of My Husband’s Sweethearts comes this bighearted, funny, fiercely perceptive tale about a happily married woman and the little white lie that changed everything.
For Gwen Merchant, love has always...more
Hardcover, 304 pages
Published
June 9th 2009
by Bantam
(first published 2009)
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Some books are black and white: you either love them or you hate them. Others are gray, bringing on feelings of indifference or tepidness. Then there are the books that surprise you, the books you thought you would adore, but ended up disliking or the book that started out dull and dry, but became a favorite.
Bridget Asher’s The Pretend Wife falls into the last category. When I first started reading it, I simply couldn’t connect. Perhaps it was because I had the television on in the b...more
Bridget Asher’s The Pretend Wife falls into the last category. When I first started reading it, I simply couldn’t connect. Perhaps it was because I had the television on in the b...more
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Gwen is eraan gewend weinig aandacht en liefde te krijgen. Haar vader, een zeebioloog, stortte zich na de dood van haar moeder volledig op zijn werk. En haar man, de altijd even beheerste en brave Peter brengt ook weinig opwinding in haar leven. Als ze plotseling haar ex-vriendje van vroeger, de uitbundige Alex tegenkomt, herinnert ze zich hun intense liefde als de dag van gisteren. Als Alex haar vraagt om te doen alsof ze zijn verloofde is zodat hij de laatste wens van zijn stervende moeder kan...more
This was by far the best book I have read in a long time. The book starts off with 2 men rolling around on the lawn fighting. Then we get the back story of how that came to be. Gwen Merchant is standing in line at an ice cream shop when a man behind her orders 2 scoops of Gwen Merchant. When she turns around it is a guy she knew had dated in college, Elliot Hull. She introduces him to her husband Peter and he ends up going to a party with them.
During the party Gwen chokes on so...more
During the party Gwen chokes on so...more
The main character of the book, Gwen Merchant, meets up with an old boyfriend from college, Elliott Hull. Gwen’s husband, Peter, invites Elliott to a party where Gwen chokes on some food and Elliott gives her the Heimlich. Peter is grateful and tells Elliott that they owe him. Elliott brings up the fact that his mother is deathly ill and he told her he got married to make her happy, when, in fact, he didn’t. This sets into motion Gwen pretending to be Elliott’s wife for the sake of his mother. W...more
For Gwen Merchant, love has always been doled out in little packets—from her father, who lost himself in work after her mother’s death, and from her husband, Peter, who’s always been respectable and safe. But when an old college boyfriend, the irrepressible Elliot Hull, invites himself back into Gwen’s life with a surprising proposition, she suddenly starts questioning everything she’s ever expected from love. Elliot, it turns out, is in need of a pretend wife, just for the weekend, in order to ...more
It will be difficult to give a review without spoiling the ending, but here goes.
There were a lot of things I liked about this book. It was well written. I also found the author had a lot of very insightful observations of relationships/love/perceptions of others. My favorite being: Marriage is a conversation that lasts a lifetime. (I read an article written by Bridget Asher in Real Simple that said this very quote and liked it so much I checked out this book.)
What I d...more
There were a lot of things I liked about this book. It was well written. I also found the author had a lot of very insightful observations of relationships/love/perceptions of others. My favorite being: Marriage is a conversation that lasts a lifetime. (I read an article written by Bridget Asher in Real Simple that said this very quote and liked it so much I checked out this book.)
What I d...more
When Gwen Merchant unexpectedly bumps into Elliot Hull, a man whom she had dated furiously for three weeks during college, her seemingly perfect life and perfect marriage are dragged under a microscope for examination. It isn’t until what could have been presents itself that Gwen begins to question the difference between love and marriage. At the encouragement of her husband, Gwen poses as Elliot’s wife in order to appease his mother Vivian on her deathbed. At the dying woman’s insistence, Gwen...more
Colleen
added it
"Gwen stumbles into an old boyfriend, Elliot, at an ice cream shop and it changes her life forever. Events lead Gwen to pretend to be Elliot's wife for a weekend. Elliot's mother, Vivian, is dying and one of her wishes is that Elliot settle down and get married. [return][return]During a weekend stay at a lake house, Gwen falls in love with Elliot's family and begins to question the relationship she has with her husband, Peter, and father. She also seeks more information about the death of h...more
I picked up this book thinking it would be light fluff reading (sort of a Janet Evanovich type book). And it was, to a point, but it had a bit more to it.
It is about a woman with some unresolved issues in a marriage that is unsatisfying; only she doesn't realize it is unsatisfying until she mets an old college boyfriend who needs her to be a "pretend" wife for his dying mother's peace of mind. Going through this experience shows her what is missing in her life and also h...more
It is about a woman with some unresolved issues in a marriage that is unsatisfying; only she doesn't realize it is unsatisfying until she mets an old college boyfriend who needs her to be a "pretend" wife for his dying mother's peace of mind. Going through this experience shows her what is missing in her life and also h...more
This book was kind of entertaining, but I agree with other reviewers who asked, "What about the main character could you fall in love with?" She was kind of lost, and didn't have many defining characteristics, if any. Also, the author seemed to be a believer in the sort of nebulous, squishy "working through issues" view of things. I have lost a parent, and I still wanted to yell at the main character, "Ok, you lost your mom over 20 years ago! Do you have to mention it on...more
It took me quite awhile to get into this novel. The first several chapters seemed somewhat predictable, and I wondered why it had gotten such a great review that I picked it up.
I finally discovered much further into this book, that it wasn't as cut and dry as it first appeared. The characters and their stories became much more complex, and the apparent chosen path less concrete.
By the time I was through, there was a real message there that spoke volumes to me. While it...more
I finally discovered much further into this book, that it wasn't as cut and dry as it first appeared. The characters and their stories became much more complex, and the apparent chosen path less concrete.
By the time I was through, there was a real message there that spoke volumes to me. While it...more
i loved this book. while there are cliches, they have some twists. (possible spoilers? nothing specific, but could be hinting) the message about analyzing yourself and really observing your own life and not just settling - especially out of fear - is powerful, and there's a sweet love story to go with it. some of it was definitely contrived and felt fake and forced (the knitting habit, for example), but the writing was good and it was an easy, interesting read. overall, a bit depressing, but ult...more
This was interesting. I thought it was going to be about a woman having an affair with a married man. Instead, she is asked to pretend to be a wife to please the dying mother of her old boyfriend. But that part of the story never quite rings true, the dying mother is not old-fashioned or anything. It seems more like a device to get the woman to just examine her current marriage and d3ecide if she wants to stay in it or not. I had trouble seeing why both men in the book were so in love with her, ...more
What would you do if you ran into your old flame from college? What would you do if he asked you to pretend to be his wife for a weekend?
Gwen Merchant has been thrust into this exact situation. She runs into Elliot Hull at an ice cream shop and learns that he has lied to his dying mother. But that’s not all! You see, Gwen is married. And running into Elliot is a painful reminder of the life (and love) she could have had.
So, Gwen does act as Elliot’s pretend wife. Sh...more
Gwen Merchant has been thrust into this exact situation. She runs into Elliot Hull at an ice cream shop and learns that he has lied to his dying mother. But that’s not all! You see, Gwen is married. And running into Elliot is a painful reminder of the life (and love) she could have had.
So, Gwen does act as Elliot’s pretend wife. Sh...more
When you start a book in the morning and finish it before bed without focusing solely on the book all day, you know you've read something you really liked. Well, that's true for me, anyway; I read reasonably fast but I'm not a speed reader. This book was one of those reads, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. My review from here will contain spoilers, so if you don't want them, stop here.
**********SPOILER ALERT****************
First, I liked the pacing of the book and...more
**********SPOILER ALERT****************
First, I liked the pacing of the book and...more
Was it just the right book, at the right time? I don't know, but I loved this book. I almost gave it five stars, but I'll have to read it again before I give it that honor.
I thoroughly enjoyed the characters, and the style of writing. I loved the metaphors she used, such as, standing in a field holding a rake over your head to ward off the eagles that might carry you off, to represent facing your fears. This book was such a good description of living an examined, thoughtful life. ...more
I thoroughly enjoyed the characters, and the style of writing. I loved the metaphors she used, such as, standing in a field holding a rake over your head to ward off the eagles that might carry you off, to represent facing your fears. This book was such a good description of living an examined, thoughtful life. ...more
After reading (or abandoning) three irritating books in a row, I needed a palate cleanser, so to speak. This fit the bill pretty well. Inane chick lit. Woman temporarily abandons her unsatisfying marriage to play pretend wife to her ex-boyfriend in front of his dying mother. Yeah, I know, it doesn't even make sense. Nor does it take a rocket scientist to deduce what happens next. But I give it an extra star because I liked some of what the author said about giving and receiving love.
This book was just o.k. The beginning of the book was well written, interesting and thought-provoking, but then got sloppy with the storyline. Although a big part of why the main character felt the way she did about life, there was no need to keep reminding us in every single chapter that her mother had died when she was young. I wondered what the author thinking when, in one chapter, she wrapped up what could have been a well-written book, by throwing together ridiculous and unbelievable even...more
Here's a good summer fluff by the pool read. People magazine recommended it for summer reading and it totally does it justice. If you ran into the guy that got away and he asked you to be his pretend wife for a weekend to fulfill his dying mom's wish- would you? Would you if you were already married to a good guy who said it was ok? This is a fun, sweet look into life and love and discovering what's important in life and relationships.
What a sweet book, really enjoyable. And in addition to being sweet, the writing was smart with none of that awkward diction or overwrought flourishes I associate with chick lit. And I liked how the central plot--a woman who poses as a former boyfriend's wife for the weekend because his mother is dying of cancer--actually foregrounds much larger issues of loss, history, regret, passion and "two paths that diverged in a yellow wood."
(Spoiler alert) I was liking this book until the end and trying to figure out how I wanted it to end. I was torn, because I wanted Gwen and Elliot to have their grand love affair, but I felt bad because she was more or less happily married. But, I lost a lost of respect for the author by wrapping it up neatly by making us hate the husband at the end. Should have kept the depth and not taken the cheap way out.
I picked up this one by accident as I was out of time and hurrying out of the library. Didn't realize I was grabbing a romance novel and a large print version of it. The title alone caught me eye. (It certainly wasn't the cover.) The Pretend Wife was surprisingly enjoyable although I began to expect an escalation in tension and more...something to really grab me but in the end I was a bit disappointed and I didn't like the fact that that Gwen left her husband for her old boyfriend.
Th...more
Th...more
Maybe even five starts, not sure. But I really liked this book. At first I wasn't so sure, seemed like it might be about infidelity, and I really don't like reading about that, or I thought maybe it would be a silly romantic comedy, but it turned out to be about love and grief and being truly happy. A really sweet, engaging story with characters you could really understand.
Hmm...the premise is pretty far-fetched...what husband would let his wife go spend the weekend as a "pretend wife" for another guy? I liked the easy writing style, but things were tidied up so nicely...too nicely for my liking...I mean, I love happy endings, but this was a little too "we all lived happily ever after" for me. A good book to check out of the library, an easy read!
Gwen decides to be the "pretend" wife of her college sweetheart and exposes the parts of her "real" marriage that may not be so real. A main theme in this book is how Gwen was impacted by her mother's death when she was 5 and how that impacted her romantic choices. I was pleased considering I just grabbed it off the shelf at the library without knowing much about it!
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"With still more to say about marriage, fidelity, and the importance of being wittily earnest, Asher (My Husband's Sweethearts) brings an abundance of warmth and wisdom to this tale of lost-and-found love."-Publishers Weekly
Listen to The Pretend Wife on your smartphone.
Listen to The Pretend Wife on your smartphone.
Irresistable! The main character gets the chance to be his 'pretend wife' to appease his dying mother allowing her the chance to 'try out' the life they might have had together. This premise could have resulted in a boring read, but the writing, perfectly crafted characters, and insights throughout resulted in an extremely worthwhile, and indulgent, read.
I thought it started off strong and went downhill from there. What seemed well-written at first began to annoy me, primarily because the main character wasn't very likeable. Her husband seemed pretty one dimensional, which didn't seem realistic. Also, the main character's constant references to her mother's death became tiresome.
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I was all set to give this book three out of five and then the plot changed and the author took something mundane and made it unique. It could have really turned out to be a typical romance novel and I really enjoyed this quick read. This is a perfect book when you are looking for something not too challenging for the summer months.
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Bridget Asher is a high-powered neurotic with an anxious heart that sometimes kicks up unexpectedly like a lawnmower motor in her chest. And because she's looked at the bios and author photos of a large number of other authors, she believes that she needs to attach a warning label or an advisory report or an apologia of some sort because...
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More about Bridget Asher...
Bridget Asher is a high-powered neurotic with an anxious heart that sometimes kicks up unexpectedly like a lawnmower motor in her chest. And because she's looked at the bios and author photos of a large number of other authors, she believes that she needs to attach a warning label or an advisory report or an apologia of some sort because...
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