Published by Aria on May 1 2016
Pages: 261
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Also by this author: The Girl I Used to Know
One man, three wives, too many secrets. A heart-warming story of love, loss, family and friendship. A compelling debut that fans of Freya North will love.
Paul Starr, Ireland's leading cardiologist dies in a car crash with a pregnant young women by his side.
United in their grief and the love of one man, four women are thrown together in an attempt to come to terms with life after Paul. They soon realise they never really knew him at all.
The love they shared for Paul in his life and which incensed a feeling of mistrust and dislike for each other, in his death turns into the very thing that bonds them and their children to each other, forever.
As they begin to form unlikely friendships, Paul's death proves to be the catalyst that enables them to become the people they always wanted to be.
✮ My Review ✮
This story was just beautiful and mesmerising! My Husband’s Wives has broken me. We start with three women who are linked all by Paul Starr. We never meet him, only through discussions between the women and through flashbacks, but are these links enough to move past the past?
We spend the first half of the book discovering the secrets Paul kept, and the wives, Evie, Grace and Annalise. Then Kaisa pops up and you are left trying to figure out who she fits in this puzzle, I mean she was in the car when he died (not a spoiler) but who is she?
The second half of the book is how the women all try to move on and deal with their grief and slowly how they learn to interact with each other. The one thing Paul did right, was to die (harsh I know) but because of it, he enriched these four women’s lives so much more by doing so. (Excuse me, something in my eye here).
The bond these women have by the end is something that is unbreakable and beautiful in an otherwise ugly situation. That is not to say there were not some shocks in this book and I found at the beginning of the book in one of Grace’s chapter a really difficult scene to read, it made me feel quite ill and nervous. Because it showed how intoxicating love could truly be and how depression could sink you so low, I think the scenes resonated with me a bit too much and definitely hit home.
Whilst these women are growing and rediscovering themselves and finding a way back to themselves and into a unit, Ms Hogan decides she was a bit bored of that and threw a lot of spice in a pan and set it alight. I began to fear for all the women and how it could impact them, safe to say that is when the tears started to fall, scrap that, they fell A LOT!!
I have never read anything by Ms Hogan, and I was drawn to My Husband’s Wives initially by the cover, as it had the Big little Lies feel to it. Read the blurb and I knew I had to read this book. I started listening to this on audiobook first and the narrator was absolutely fantastic. She voiced each of the four women perfectly, she breathed them to life. I loved each woman individually and collectively. I would love to have this group in my life because they all brought something to the table. I was totally immersed in this book, I just did not want it to end. When it did, through the tears I had a huge smile on my face and a warmth in my heart.
I am definitely recommending this to anyone who will listen to me! It is such a beautiful story of friendships, second chances, love and rediscovering your identity. I will also be picking up anything that Ms Hogan has put her name to!
Until next time xxx
Thank you so much to Vicky at Aria Fiction for the tour invite and the author for a copy of this book in return for my honest and unbiased review.
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nickimags @ The Secret Library Book Blog says
Wonderful review definitely adding this to Goodreads!
Zoé says
Thanks lovely, I hope you enjoy it! The beginning chapter with Grace was hard to read but then the book flows lovely xx