The Last Original Wife

"Wives are so easily gotten over and so easily replaced. We are an expendable breed."

"Do you really believe that?" To his credit, his expression was briefly ever so slightly incredulous.

"Yes, I do. The evidence is all over the place. Men wear us out, either bury us or divorce us, and then they just go get another woman to be their mother."

"Go on..."

"So I looked around at these second wives with their fake boobs and their Jennifer Aniston flat-ironed hair and their Michelle Obama toned upper arms and I felt more like a chaperone than a peer. They were all wearing skintight bandage dresses with spiky platform high heels and they had their spray tans and big chunky jewelry. I was wearing, well, something age appropriate, pearls, pumps,, and a nice dress. I realized over the course of the night that they had plenty of chitchat for each other, but when they talked to me, they deferred as though they were being respectful of their grandmother. That was when I came to the what I thought was a rather startling realization."

"And that was that?"

"That I didn't want to be there. I really didn't want to be there! Worse? I didn't belong there! All of a sudden I didn't care. Wes's friends were married to girls who are young enough to be their daughters. I didn't want to spend every holiday and weekend for the rest of my life with a bunch of Barbies. These men were Wes's oldest friends, and their former wives were mine. These insipid young women would never be my friends. Moreover, I didn't want them to be my friends."

That is about how Leslie Anne Greene Carter sums of how she feels being what she has labeled herself as the 'last original wife' among the people she finds herself sharing her free time with. Now that all of her husbands friends have married new younger wives, she takes a look back at her own life and realizes that she has spent 30 years living with Wesley Carter and they are no longer in love with one another. She suddenly finds herself the last original wife among their set of friends and finds she has literally nothing in common with their new wives or even anything in common with her husband any longer.

What does Wes think of their marriage at this crucial point?

"I don't beat her. I never ran around...well, not too much. She lives in a nice house. She's never had to work for a living. She drives a nice car. I take her to Vegas once a year. Is she crazy?"

"I don't know. Is she?"

"Look, I married her, didn't I" I stayed with her, didn't I? What they hell does she want from me? Why did she walk out on me? Was it her hormones?"

Now the story takes an interesting twist between the chapters in this novel toggling at first to the counseling session that Les and Wes have at the beginning and then a look back at what brought them to that place during the meat of this amazing novel. This is truly one to savor and spend your time enjoying in a wonderful place this summer. The story is unforgettable and I truly hope this one finds its way to the big screen. Women would LOVE it!

I received The Last Original Wife by Dorothea Benton Frank compliment of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review. I received no monetary compensation for a favorable review on this novel. Hands down I LOVED this one and feel it is truly worthy of a full 5 out of 5 stars. This is such a fun novel to savor the experiences of summer and of finding out where happiness lies for a women who has spent the last 30 years of her life, forgoing everything she has ever wanted and needed to care for an overly needy and ungrateful husband and their two grown children. I think every woman will find something wonderful in this story and I can't wait for more from Dorothea Benton Frank in the very near future. I think by far my favorite characters in this one besides Leslie is her brother Harlan. Oh how I wish I had a Harlan of my very own! You'll have to read this one to find out why!

For more information about The Last Original Wife, Dorothea Benton Frank, or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today for your summer reading list, please click on the links below:

The Last Original Wife by Dorothea Benton Frank

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ISBN: 9780062132468; ISBN10: 0062132466; Imprint: William Morrow ; On Sale: 6/11/2013; Format: Hardcover; Trimsize: 6 x 9; Pages: 368; $26.99; Ages: 18 and Up; BISAC1:FIC044000; BISAC2:FIC045000; BISAC3:FIC016000