The Wife App by Carolyn Mackler is a refreshing, validating, hilarious look into what wives do for their husbands and kids - and what happens when they've had enough!

Lauren, Sophie, and Madeline are long-time friends and divorced/separated wives and mothers. Experiencing the daily grind of juggling full time employment and running a household, they feel beaten down, exhausted, and burnt out. This trio comes together often to lament the struggle of being a mom and the constant demands that are put on them, despite having an "active parent" in their children's lives. While channeling the feelings of EVERY MOTHER ALIVE, the ladies decide to create The Wife App, an iPhone app that would allow spouses to hire out the mundane tasks that bombard them, from completing school applications, picking up dry cleaning, and even flying their kids cross-country to stay with another parent!

Full of laughter and insight, this novel had me nodding along and empathizing with the characters. It's about time that spouses understand what a "default parent" goes through and this book accurately details the experience while also bringing a light, comedic aspect that allows readers to relax and have fun with it. Overall, I enjoyed this book immensely and desperately wish I had a Wife app that would save me too.

The Wife App follows the story of three women who are best friends with vastly different backgrounds, and how they create this app as revenge for all the free labor they did for their ex husbands. The story is told through alternating perspectives of the three women which provided interest and depth to the storyline. The characters are well-developed and their stories are realistic. I was interested throughout the book as it addressed the issues with compassion as well as light humor. I enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it. I was fortunate to receive this novel from Netgalley as an Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book I have read by Carolyn Mackler. I have to be honest, it was slow moving at the beginning & a couple of times, I debated continuing to read it. But then it picked up and I am so glad I read this book in its entirety. The story is a great idea, it is about 3 divorced friends that have had it with their ex's. So one night over drinks, the idea of The Wife App comes up as a pie-in-the-sky idea. But, as women often do, these three friends put their heads together to bring a dream to reality. Loved it and yes,mental load is exhausting! I highly recommend this entertaining read!

An interesting premise that as a wife and mother myself I can relate to. Who wouldn't want to get paid for being the keeper of calendars, the head organizer, the emotional support, the person who keeps the household running, the finder of all lost things? 3 best friends each dealing with divorce and the fall out from it decide to make money doing the things that women tend to be expected to just do for free as a wife. I could back that theory 100%. The book starts off slow but builds up steam. The main issue I had was how quickly issues are resolved without being discussed and it feels like some of the story lines need a bit more depth.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the ARC.

Thank you NetGalley, Carolyn Mackler and Simon & Schuster for the ARC of The Wife App. This is my personal review.
I started reading this book with high hopes it would be a winner. The concept of the book sounded very interesting. But the book did not hold my attention because I felt it was very scattered in what the author wanted it to be with the characters and the plot. I wanted to like the characters but just could not connect with them.

Soooooo why isn’t the Wife App a real thing? The concept of reducing a wife’s Mental Load is so completely overlooked even in modern society…this thing would make millions!!

The whole time I was reading this book, it reminded me THOROUGHLY of my own life and the lives of my friends…who would all benefit from something this simple. Unpaid labor takes such an extreme toll on our physical/mental/emotional health…and we can’t escape it!

I thought the characters were so well-written, and the plot? Both the characters and plot could have been pulled from my own life (aside from actually developing an app; the people I know are hopeless w tech). But the startup? The pitfalls and successes? The friendships that prove to be bomb proof? The relationship struggles as we move from eager 20-somethings just finding our way in the world to mid-40’s moms of teens? All of it spoke to me.

I can’t recommend this book highly enough. The writing was quick and engaging, the characters were sharp and modern, the parenting was spot on, and the plot itself? Please find a way to make that app happen!

Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and Simon & Schuster for a review copy!

I love when a book is entertaining but also thought provoking. Husbands should read this book. Although it is interesting, the characters are not consistent. Madeline for example is described as crass (and she is) but she’s also obsessed with her daughter and cowers before her mother. That doesn’t sound like the beautiful badass she’s described to be. And she gets over her emotional turmoil in less than 10 pages at the very end. Without giving away spoilers I will say Sophie’s romance at the end is so rushed and unbelievable. Also, Sophie describes laying in bed not moving after you first wake up as “soaking”. That is not what soaking is. Soaking is a pre-marital sex loop hole is the LDS community. A “happy ending” was also incorrectly defined as well.

An app that pays women for the things they do everyday is a great idea.
This book is such a good idea. Three friends, whose personal lives are crumbling around them, decide women should be payed for all the “little” things they do everyday without adulation.
The writing in this book is great. I felt like I was hanging out with my friends and listening to them tell me their problems.
I think everyone should read this book so that they understand what women do to keep everything in order.

Three best friends, Madeline, Lauren, and Sophie, are navigating life as divorced moms trying to juggle jobs as well as their children’s activities. While celebrating Lauren’s recent divorce, they come up with an app idea where people hire a “wife” to help them with things that their husbands took for granted when they were married - school applications, doctor’s appointments, and housework. As their app grows, they maneuver through their own family issues and love lives.

I enjoyed the book and reminded me of The First Wives Club. I found it hard to keep track of who was who and who belonged with whom though. Everything seemed to wrap up except for one persons’ relationship and wish that was more resolved.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley. This was a quick, light read and I was intrigued by the concept. However, I found the characters generally unlikeable and felt like the book was a bit scattered - it tried to tackle so many issues and characters that each one felt very surface level and did not fully develop.

Fun, entertaining, and fluffy read. The pace is fine and the writing is descriptive and appropriately light. However, at times it feels like the author had a checklist of issues she wanted to cover and forced the plot to accommodate, usually through the child characters.

While tackling the very real relationship dynamics of unpaid emotional labor, some characters were more sympathetic than others and their romantic relationships needed more depth. It took way too long for the characters to evolve.

There’s a brief mention on the exploitative nature of gig work but not much more. The story is more entertaining if this hypocritical structure is ignored, but it’s disappointing that the resolution wasn’t more rewarding. Recognizing women’s unpaid emotional labor by outsourcing it to gig labor is a good start to the conversation but the story’s resolution is unfulfilling.

I did enjoy some of the characters and very much felt seen regarding my own emotional labor. Just don’t expect that story to be anything more than lighthearted and fun!

Thank you NetGalley for an Advanced Reader Copy of The Wife App by Carolyn Mackler. This was a cute, quick read. It didn't leave as much of an impact on me as I would hope, but it was enjoyable. It was a unique concept. I would recommend this to authors who want something quick and light to read!

What a fun read! It was such a page turner as you learned more about the three women navigating their various circumstances. Will definitely be recommending to friends!

Thanks @netgalley for this book! Three women, frustrated with ex-husbands and the mental load of mothering develop an app to help spouses fulfill the daily demands of being a "wife" while navigating their own lives in NYC. It was a cute easy weekend read.

The Wife App was fantastic! I love the concept and the book was so engaging. I wanted to see how each character was progressing and loved having the chapters change perspective throughout the book.

This one had me at the premise: Three friends join together to create a new app to outsource typical wife jobs like filling out school paperwork and running errands. I found the story entertaining but some of the relationships were a bit over the top.

I loved the character development, riveting plot and smart, surprising conclusions of storylines (Sophie’s HEA was well played and I never saw it coming). It’s a nice and promising start! I am looking forward to read the future books by this author!

This was a delightful book. What if wives (and some others) could have a "Wife" take over their Mental Load? Need cupcakes for a birthday at school, need to arrange carpet cleaners, appliance repairs, installing new tile? Just assign it to your "Wife" via the app. This is the surface story, but below the surface is how the wives and former wives who came up with the app learn the facts about being wives while being "Wives" on the app.

I would definitely recommend this as a good read in women's literature.

This is a story of three women, best friends, all single mothers, but living in different circumstances. One is wealthy, one is a tech professional who just dumped her cheating husband, the other is struggling more and has a self-absorbed ex. In a bar they come up with an idea to monetize the work wives do via an app. Over the next year they make it a reality.
This is a review of an e-Galley provided by NetGalley.

Reading the description of this book I thought it sounded pretty intriguing. I liked the idea behind it and premise of the story and loved the idea of an App to help simplify everything wives do at home. I was entertained and liked the behind the scenes stuff about developing the app and troubleshooting once its launched. I will say I never really connected to the main characters and wasn't that invested in their lives or really rooting for them. I'm rounding up 3.5 to 4 stars in this one because I was interested in the story and genuinely wanted to see what would happen. I want to thank NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the digital arc in exchange for an honest review.