Ever felt overwhelmed by the mental load you're expected to carry out each day? In charge of remembering every event? Planning each event? School forms, vacation planning, packing? Well, what if you could pay someone to do all of that for you? What if there was an app for that? These are things the book The Wife App by Carolyn Mackler tackles.

Three best friends, fresh off one friend's divorce from her cheating husband, come up with the idea of The Wife App. The book follows the women through the first year of the app, showing how their lives grow along with it.

Madeline, Sophie, and Lauren were very compelling characters, and I found myself instantly drawn into their stories. I was fully invested in each woman getting their happy ending. I felt the pace of the novel was great, and the idea of the plot brilliant. I couldn't put the book down. I needed to know each woman would be happy when everything was finished.

If you're looking for a fun read that will make you laugh, make you cry, and deliver you a happy ending, this is the book for you!

I received this advanced copy from NetGalley, and I'm leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you @SimonBooks #SimonBooksBuddy for the free book!

“Every woman who has children struggles with whether she’s made the right choices. It’s never easy, especially if you’ve been told you can have it all.”

Omg ladies WE NEED THIS. Someone smarter and more tech savvy than me make this happen please! And thanks. 😊

The premise of this book is genius. An app where you can “hire” someone else to do wifely duties that you either don’t want to do or don’t have time for. Can’t plan that fifth birthday party because you have a big case? Use The Wife App. Need someone to make emergency medical appointments and fill out the paperwork? Yep. The Wife App.

Three divorced women friends put their minds together to try to solve one of the most common complaints from wives…that wives themselves could use a wife. You follow their stories as they navigate single parenthood, remarriages, old flames and, ultimately, success.

Three women, sick of being undervalued by kids, ex-husbands, etc., decide to create The Wife App; if you do the chores, you may as well get paid for it, right? This was a fun read with multiple POVs. I enjoyed getting each of their perspectives throughout the book. This book definitely tackled important subjects like gender inequality, socioeconomic status, and the interworkings of relationships, in a funny and genuine way.

OMG I need this app in my life for real for real!!!!!! We meet 3 women, Lauren, Madeline and Sophie, best friends, divorced and moms. Lauren is newly divorced, and she went through it with her ex, and throughout that stage and having the support of her friends, she came up with the Wife app. Now this app is genius, pretty much you hire a wife to do things around the home at a fee, so pretty much do everything the wife does, except the sex, for a fee. I am telling you, its genius.

I love a great character buildup in this book, the women al had a story to tell, and we got to see what they went through, they are all so different, but they go through all of this together and on their new journey as entrepreneurs. I love the topics being brought up in this book about anxiety in children, and sexuality, it was so well done. I loved the humor, and the fact that they find their happy endings along the way. This journey was about self-discovery, knowing your worth and living life in your own terms.

This book is a Gem worth reading. Thanks Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon and Schuster and Carolyn Mackler for an advanced copy of this book!!

When I first read the concept of this book I knew I needed to read it! Three divorced women decide to monetize the mental load and unpaid labor that wives, mothers and caregivers do that go unnoticed. I recently became a mother and knew that this was going to be good and I was definitely not mistaken!

The concept of this book was obviously incredible but so was the execution. You get to know all three main characters individually and really connect with them. You get to see their inner feelings but also what’s happening around them in their own individual lives, even though they are embarking on this venture together!! This book is fun, unique and so funny. I laughed out loud but also felt so validated as a mom and wife. I loved this book so much I had to own a copy for myself and can imagine I will reread it. I also know that I would and will recommend this book to everyone I know because it was absolutely incredible. I could read hundreds of books about this friend group. I loved it so much!

The Wife App- Thank you so much @simonandschuster for the gifted copy! This one follows 3 best friends who decide they’re finally done with their ex-husbands taking their work as wives and moms for granted. They’re ready to monetize the mental load, stick it to their exes, and have a wild ride in the process. This was such a cute concept and totally out of my comfort zone genre wise, but I loved these characters! Such a cool book idea 😍

Super relatable & funny!! 3 best friends are all divorced now living in NYC. Over drinks, they joke about how wives should get paid for everything they have to do and are expected to juggle. So they create an app because there is an app for everything right? Lots of family drama & kid drama and friend drama to keep you entertained and reading the whole way through.

This was heavily consumable, and I didn't want to put it down! I was surprised to hear that this book is the author's adult debut, and they typically write for YA audiences.

If you're a mom, you should definitely read this book. I am not yet a mother, but I especially liked how she wrote the main three women in our featured friend group and how they interacted with their children.

I identified with most of them, and had some flash backs to relationships I've had in the past where I carried the majority of the Mental Load. The woman I least identified with was Madeline, but I appreciated some discussion about privilege through her story line.

There is some good queer representation in the novel as well. One of our core three characters is queer, and several side characters are as well. Some are brief mentions of a classmate who has "two dads," but things like that are lovely to see as just normal. There's also a great storyline with one of the moms helping out their child who is questioning their gender identity. Additionally, on the Wife App, men and nonbinary people are also free to become Wives.

I would love to watch a movie version of this.

CW: infidelity, drug use (mentioned, off page)

The Wife App is Carolyn Mackler’s debut into Women’s Fiction and is a celebration of female friendship.

Three New York City women who have been close friends for 10 years decide to get revenge against their ex-husbands for taking them for granted. They have borne the mental load as wives and mothers with no consideration from the men in their lives. They’re ready to make money and get revenge on behalf of all women.

Lauren, a former computer programmer, is the mother of 12-year-old twins. She looks at her husband’s phone and discovers that he has been paying for sex. After she confronts him, he begins a sexual relationship with their girls’ 24-year-old babysitter.

Madeline is a wealthy divorcee whose life revolves around hook-ups and her 14-year-old daughter. When her ex expresses interest in having their daughter spend a year with him in London, Madeline feels abandoned. She relives her father’s death from when she was a teen-ager and works on repairing her relationship with her own mother.

Sophie is an elementary school teacher who was the breadwinner of her family while her husband smoked marijuana and played in a band. After they divorced, he married a successful attorney and had a beautiful baby daughter. Sophie struggles to meet her young sons’ emotional needs and her finances are stretched tight. She is obsessed with following her ex’s new family on social media.

During a night out to celebrate Lauren’s divorce, they come up with an idea to build an app to monetize all of the tasks that wives perform for free. Lauren writes the code and Madeline uses her business expertise to create the Wife App, the fastest growing start-up in New York City. Meanwhile the ladies’ romantic lives all take unexpected twists and turns.

While I found parts of The Wife App funny, I just couldn’t relate to any of the three heroines. To me, Madeline seemed obsessed with sex, and I was glad when she seemed to pursue a relationship with an old boyfriend. I was not prepared for the lesbian relationship nor the trans teen-ager. In some ways The Wife App reminded me of Olivia Goldsmith’s The First Wives Club, and in others a Judy Blume novel. While this story was not for me, there was nothing wrong with it and I’m sure that many readers will enjoy it.

I received an Advance Review Copy (ARC) from NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Three divorced women are done with the roles married women are expected to play for men. Too many women become cooks, cleaners, child bearers and carers, and so much more, while their husbands are only expected to go to work each morning. Lauren is software engineer and has some experience with app development, so she decides to monetize the work women too often do for free. With the Wife App, 'Spouses' can request and pay for the services of a 'Wife,' like booking doctor's appointments, overseeing home renovations, or picking up children from school. But without any funding, Lauren and her two best friends have to do the work of the 'Wives' to start, and their app just went viral...

What I Enjoyed; This book is a quick and easy, and I read it in one sitting. The author's use of three different female perspectives works well, as she offers multiple attitudes toward marriage, divorce, motherhood, and work/life balance. There is some character development for each woman over the course of the short novel, and I especially enjoyed Sophie's chapters, probably because she is a literacy teacher.

What I Didn't Enjoy: Though I liked the author's feminist perspective and her interest in equitable marriages, she could have been subtler in communicating her commentary. After reading the epigraphs for the novel, I understood the point of the book, and yet the characters directly state the idea repeatedly over the course of the story. I found myself starting to skim early on, as the premise and plot were predictable throughout.

I think the idea of a 'Wife App' is really interesting, but I wish the author had grappled more with the issues and conflicts she presented about equity, inclusion, and the work of a 'wife.' This book had a tidy, 'happy' ending when the underlying ideas are actually much more cynical

The idea of a 'Wife App' would make a great episode of Black Mirror. Instead, this book is quick, cute, and uncomplicated.

This one was not for me, but maybe it will be for you!

FULL REVIEW HERE:
https://aishasbookworld.wordpress.com/2023/06/26/review-the-wife-app-by-carolyn-mackler/

Imagine this: an app that allows you to get rid of all the work you do as a wife and for which you aren’t paid, because someone else will do it for you. Would you use it?

I love the dynamics between Lauren, Sophie and Madeline. Is the best asset this book has; they have this Sex & the City vibe without the corny scenes and cheesy dialogues. And way more funnier.

The Wife App is my first book from Ms. Mackler and I really enjoyed it. It was well written, although I didn’t liked much the beginning, which was slow and lacked of context. At the same time, even though the full story is alluring and you can’t stop reading the book, it wasn’t solid enough in specific parts of the plot. With topics like mental health, anxiety, LGBTQ, feminism, family and romance, this is a book a lot of women will enjoy and relate to this gorgeous heroines.

ARC given by Simon & Schuster via Netgalley. Thanks for your trust.

What an interesting concept! Wives getting paid for the things that automatically become their duties in a marriage, like making doctors appointments and baking cookies for the PTA.

This was a super cute and fun read. The story is told through the eyes of three best friends who are navigating life after divorce. None of them are perfect, but they are doing the best they can with their given situations.

I flew through this story! It was a good read.

This is a must read novel for the 2023 summer season! I would recommend this novel to any mother who has mumbled, "I am not a camp counselor." under her breath as she drives her children to yet another enriching activity.

The Wife App follows three divorced moms who are fed up with the division of labor between them and their former husbands so they create an app that allows them to make money off the mental load of others. Someone has to fill out those camp forms and schedule their children's dental appointments, right? Lauren, Sophie and Madeline might as well be paid for the work that is deemed too "domestic" by their husbands.

The plot is a fun and a realistic look at the division of labor in many modern families.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the opportunity to review this novel.

What wife wouldn't love a little bit of help on occasion? Whether you have kids or not, a disproportionate amount of work always seems to fall on the shoulders of the wife. So, what's a wife to do? She creates an app to help out all those women - and a few men - struggling with their overloaded mental loads. Enter The Wife App!

Lauren is probably going through the roughest time of the three. Recently divorced and struggling to find her new groove, she's giving it her all to do and be everything. Right up until she can't any longer. I loved her drive and determination, as well as her devotion to her children and her friends. It was both fun and frustrating to watch her achieve her goals while fighting for every inch.

Sophie, for me, is the most relatable. Both Lauren and Madeline are well off and not in fear of losing their home, feeding their kids, etc. On the other hand, Sophie is your every day sort of single mom. She works, cares for her kids, and constantly struggles to make ends meet. Her resilience is the hallmark of so many others just like her. Sophie also gets bonus points for not hating on her ex's new wife for the sake of hating on her. I respected that.

Madeline, however, was the least relatable to me, at least for the first three quarters of the story. She's not just well off, but wealthy. Has everything she could ever want and has the option to be nothing but a mom. As the story progresses though, her façade cracks and she becomes much more interesting.

As both a (former) wife and mother, the description of this book immediately caught my attention. The things I could have used it for when my kids were little! I could relate to so much of what the original wives - Lauren, Sophie, and Madeline - went through, that it only drew me in more. The way they dealt with each other and their children rang true to me, which only made their struggles feel more real in the end. Both funny and heartbreaking at times, The Wife App was an enjoyable read. I'd love a sequel, even just a novella, to let us know where the wives are now.

Thanks for a copy of The Wife App by Carolyn Mackler. It comes out on Tuesday - June 27th.

When 3 best friends come up with an app idea after discussing how their ex-husbands took all of the things they were doing for granted. They decide to call it The Wife App after the mental load that usually falls on wives or mothers to try to monetize their work. When their App starts to be a hit they are working through trying to make their idea take off as they each have different life complications.

I wanted to like this more than I did. There were good points made about mental load, privilege and the gig economy but overall I was kinda bored. There were few funny scenes but overall this was just meh to me.

After their own failed marriages, three best friends decide to create an app that will take the mental load off of wives. The Wife App is a place where people can hire a "wife" to do tasks that are often left to wives to take care of - whether its creating a packing list, scheduling doctors appointments, or anything in between, The Wife App can help with that. While this idea starts as a bit of a revenge joke between Lauren, Madeline, and Sophie quickly turns into a popular and fast growing start up. But while the app is growing, their personal lives also get interesting as well.

I flew through this book in one sitting by the pool. This is a unique idea to make marriages and partnerships more equal and help balance the heavy mental load women often take on. I loved the idea behind the app and each of the women's unique storylines. The character development was amazing, the girl power vibes were incredible and overall the story was fun! I look forward to reading more from Carolyn Mackler.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the advance copy.

I really enjoyed the friendship between the three main characters and the way they kept their friendship intact while also building a business together. They supported each other through major life challenges and they all experienced a lot of personal growth as their lives changed rapidly after the development of The Wife App. I found the idea of paying people to accomplish jobs that usually are done without compensation interesting and the development process of the app was fascinating. The reasons behind the need for such an app create a lot of heartache, humor, and second chances that make this story a pleasure to read.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the #gifted ARC and a digital NetGalley copy in exchange for my honest opinion. The Wife App will publish on Tuesday and if you're intrigued by apps and women in technology or if you're looking to lighten your Mental Load as a wife, I think you'd be interested in checking this book out.
I tend to switch back and forth between reading a lot of books at the same time - otherwise I find I read too quickly and forget what I've read. But I picked up The Wife App yesterday late morning and basically read it straight through without touching anything else (with a slight audiobook break when I was cooking dinner last night!). After having read a number of thrillers lately, I knew I needed something different, and this was the perfect palate cleanser to whet my appetite for a different genre.
I'm not a wife, but I understand the book's documented problem - that overwhelmingly women take on the Mental Load of a relationship, especially when children are involved. The novel follows a group of three girlfriends as they celebrate the third's divorce and decide to find a way to monetize the way they've been wife-ing. I identified most with Sophie, the public school literacy teacher, but I really enjoyed all three different perspectives from which the book is narrated. There is NB and queer representation in the book which was unexpected but welcome. As a feminist I was cheering for these women and the Wives the represented to succeed throughout 💕

Did not finish this book. Was looking for light relief with a few laughs and this sounded like just the book. The first chapter was interesting with smiles. Then the author began the backstories of these women and it just went on and on. Like reading what any bunch of women from the neighborhood were going through. And on and on until I put the book down. Just not interesting. Have enough of that every day. Tried several times to get into it but no good. Too bad as the concept was such an Interesting one.

Thank you to the Simon Buddy program through Simon and Schuster for a physical copy of the ARC to review.

This book was out of the normal genre that I chose to read, while it does have some elements of romance, it is more contemporary fiction than a romance. It was a very quick and easy read, but it definitely made me contemplate some aspects of my life.

The premise of this book is that wives are taken for granted. We do things that take on more of a mental load than some husbands do in a relationship- like register the kids for camp, coordinate play dates, doctor appointments, get groceries, organize parties, etc. In this story, the men rarely if ever, assist or even acknowledge all of the things their wives do. This book did make me think about my relationship with my husband, but thankfully our relationship is not like the ones in the book.

The concept of this book was somewhat frustrating because it was true. I felt like it didn't show any men except for maybe Colin, that were decent men.

The idea of having an app similar to TaskRabbit is honestly really smart and I think it would be used by wives, husbands, partners, etc. So I want to see if something like this pops up after the book is released.
The relationship between the parents and the children in this book was complex and I enjoyed that every relationship between parent and kid was different. Each kid had their own thing they were going through and the parents didn't have a one size fits all solution.

Overall an enjoyable story and I would suggest it if you like Contemporary women-centered fiction.