This book was fine, which sadly means I would not recommend picking this book up, unless you are really intrigued by the blurb.
This book felt bloated in a lot of parts, and could definitely have had parts removed to make it more of a quicker pace as I sometimes felt parts of it were was too slow and unnecessary.
Some of the characters felt too exaggerated and almost cartoonish, however given the state of the world at the moment they ended up actually being quite accurate and made for some great villains.
I enjoyed the plot, but just think it took too long and the payoff wasn't there for me. Also make sure you check out TWs for this book, although I do not think they are used in a gratuitous way.

I struggled to get in to this book. I didn't like the main character so I didn't finish reading. Not for me sorry


I received an ARC of this book in exchange for a voluntary and honest review.

DNF

I did not read this book and I know longer have any interest in reading it. This was during the beginning of my NetGalley “everything looks great so I am going to request it without looking into the book. I have definitely become more selective in choosing what books I want to request and read.

I really had a hard time getting into this one, and the two stories combined into one thing didn't really work. I wanted more of a Washington politics feel to it, but it was more of a romance.

The Senator's Wife sounded like it would be a great Washington scandal story. I was disappointed the story did not go into more of the Washington politics. This book may have been originally published as 2 separate stories, but combining it into 1 made for 1 long story that I think took away from the merits of both stories. We are all routing for Marie to be happy and strong, but she never fully gets there in my opinion.

The first half of the Senator’s wife was an interesting romantic story, which then became more interesting as Gabriel avoided an obvious happy ending and created a much more complex and interesting novel. What started as coming of age novel for a newly separated woman who suddenly had the freedom to make her own choices became a thoughtful story of betrayal, redemption, friendship, family and restoration.

Originally published as 2 books- Drawing Lessons and Chiaroscuro.
I only read a section of Drawing Lessons before I relegated this one to my DNF file. Modern Romance is not my bag.
Standard modern romance. Woman's husband/boyfriend/fiance leaves her for another woman who is blonde/vapid/"different than her" and from there her whole life becomes a fart. In this case, Marie's husband (a Senator) leaves her for a gossip blogger.. Then she is gifted drawing lessons and through her teacher's accent and general frenchiness she rediscovers orgasms and passion.

If romance is for you, you might like it. As I said, it's not for me, and I didn't finish it, so maybe I got it all wrong. But I was bored and didn't care to see if I was wrong or not.

*I received a copy of this book from netgalley in exchange for my review.

I loved the idea of this story based on its description but I just didn't love it. It was just too long and too drawn out and never hooked my attention.

I tried to read this for quite awhile and it just never hooked me. It had potential to be a really juicy political fiction read that I just devoured but it wasn’t and I never could get around to finishing it.

Great, fun book. A light story that was interesting to read in between my mysteries. .

The Senator’s Wife is a light read good for a weekend at the beach. It is a mixture of the political world and scandal. Can you imagine?

I had a hard time getting into the story, but it was a nice summer read. I didn't fully agree with the choices the characters make, but once I let that go, I could enjoy it more.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Good beach read. Predictable. It reads like a steamy Lifetime movie of the week.

This is usually not a book I read but I was pleasantly surprised with this one! I loved the story line and was very impressed with the writing style. Julia Gabriel did an excellent job on this novel and I cannot wait to read more from her!

(I generally don't consider something that happens in the first 5% of the book to constitute a spoiler, and, moreover, I think it's important that I talk about the plot in this instance. But, fair warning, I'm discussing an early plot point in the next several paragraphs.)

I struggled to get into this book, despite the description having attracted me to it in the first place: "An irresistible story about the power of friendship, standing on one’s own two feet, and the sensual pleasures of art … this is Julia Gabriel at her funniest and sexiest" = yes, please. I think maybe I just didn't read enough of it to enjoy the plot like I thought I would. I was interested in following Marie as she moves on from her marriage and (seemingly) becomes more independent. I love reading about people coming more into their own. But, I'm DNFing The Senator's Wife at 7% for a bigger reason than my just not being able to get into it: Inappropriate sexual advances.

I get that there's this trope of the mercurial man who suddenly kisses the woman. But this is wrong: "Then before Marie knew what was happening, Luc's arm was on her back and pulling her body against his chest. She opened her mouth to object, but found her lips quickly sealed over with his. She tried to free her lips from the kiss, trying to speak, but the only sound that came out was more akin to loud humming than any meaningful protest. Pushing at his chest only made him tighten his arms around her more securely."
^ That interaction is not okay. She did not consent to being touched in such a way. Her reaction is an attempt to physically push him away, and his response is to make it harder for her to stop him. The scene continues:
"He lifted his mouth away from hers for a split second, just long enough to say, 'Relax, Marie. It makes a kiss more enjoyable.' Then he resumed the kiss, his hand now cradling the back of her head, pulling her lips further into his mouth.
The nerve of the man! She squirmed in his embrace, trying again to free herself."

No. That's not okay. Even if she comes to enjoy it a minute later. Even if he's this sexy, mysterious French art teacher. Even if she's in the midst of a divorce and starved for attention and touch. He kissed her, she tried to end the contact (more than once), and he did not allow her to do that. He forcibly kissed her. That's not romantic. That's not sexy. That rises to sexual abuse in some locales, and sexual assault in others. This sort of a scene reinforces the idea that men are allowed to do what they want to women's bodies, regardless of how the woman reacts.

I understand that a surprise, forced kiss is a trope; that Gabriel didn't invent this sort of behavior; and that she isn't the first to suggest the reader should find it romantic rather than inappropriate, creepy, and dangerous. But this is not a book for me. (I gave it two stars as perhaps others can look past this and enjoy the rest of the book. It really did seem like an interesting and potentially promising premise.)

(Thank you to NetGalley and Serif Books for an e-arc in exchange for honest review.)

Didn't really enjoy this one. I didn't like Marie's character from the get-go. Starting a highly charged sexual relationship with your art teacher after one or two encounters feels ridiculous. I"ve never really read romances (and not sure if this book is supposed to be one) but maybe that's typical in these books. It just didn't feel realistic to me and left bad impression for the rest of the book. The story also felt long and disjointed at times.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand - I was sucked in and had to finish reading to find out what happened. On the other hand - many parts of this plot were not well thought out and just plain implausible. I enjoyed the first part of the book more - while I found some of the events outlandish I was willing to suspend belief. However, there is a time gap between the first and second parts. I thought it was a cop out for the author not to walk us through what happened during that gap. I found those events, as they came to light, to be difficult to believe. I almost think this was glossed over simply because it was hard to believe.

Also, from the title I was expecting this to be more political than romance. The entire politics aspect is minimal and confined to the first part of the book. The main themes are love/romance/sex, which is all find and good.

Overall, I would not recommend this to someone unless they are interesting specifically in romances.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the first half of this book. It reminded me a bit of the TV show The Good Wife (but defiantly a more soap-opera version, with a lot more drama and scandal). Marie and Luc were likable characters and as a reader, you were really rooting for them as a couple.

Then there was the second half of the book. I almost felt like we were reading about two different characters, in a complete different book. The way the characters acted and the decisions they made just didn't seem like the same characters in the first half. I felt as though the first half could have had a more definitive ending and just left the second half out completely.

4 Stars - Because I just really couldn't get myself to like the second half of this book.

Perfect chick lit! I loved the premise and the characters were well developed! I recommend this for anyone looking for a light and fun read!

The Senator’s wife is based on a politicians wife involved in scandal. Her husband is divorcing her to marry his mistress. There were parts that I enjoyed but there were parts that were lengthy and I lost interest unfortunately. Thank you to netgalley for this free digital copy to review,