Book Review: The Pretend Wife

The Pretend Wife by Bridget Asher

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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 fulfill his dying mother’s last wish. But as Gwen finds herself drawn into Elliot’s quirky, wonderful family—and uncovers a few secrets about her own—a pretend relationship just might turn out to be the most real thing she’s ever known.

I picked this book up because after reading the synopsis I couldn't help but wonder what happens in the end... because obviously it couldn't possibly end with everything being wrapped up pretty with a nice shinny bow. However, Bridget definitely tried her hardest, I mean the mother who had been on her death bed with cancer, doesn't actually die in the end. Instead she makes a complete turn around and is suddenly in remission.

I think the main reason I ended up actually enjoying the book is that it was filled with sentences that propelled you into deeper thoughts. Thoughts on life, the ups and downs of it but most of all the love that creates and surrounds are very existence. Also, I loved that even though the book was geared in a scientific world Bridget never said there wasn't a God, sure they talked around the subject but appropriately so I think. Staying true to who the characters are and how they'd been raised, but she never said it is absolutely impossible and I liked that because I know it isn't absolutely impossible.



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