A review by chelseakasten
The Wife App by Carolyn Mackler

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

The idea of the Wife App is quirky. A lot of this book was a relatively light-hearted take on the very true idea of mental load and “wife” burden, and honestly it worked when it was being light and focused on the app. But it felt clunky in a lot of places and like too much was being shoehorned in. 

There were multiple bare-boned threads about wealth equity that were so poorly worked in and minimally considered that it felt more insulting than just acknowledging that this app is for wealthy people to use and not-wealthy people to take on more mental loads for money.

Also, this is a personal preference, but I totally checked out around the 80% mark when the “new” personal stories were being wrapped up. I didn’t care at all about any of the new love stories; they were so peripheral and felt so forced. I actually mostly skipped Sophie’s final and Lauren’s next-to-final chapters. Sophie and

Beatrice? Come on. I was already over the possibility of that happening when I caught the thread as soon as Beatrice was introduced. And then they BUY A HOUSE TOGETHER after being together for like 2 months? Truly an insult to Sophie’s character. 

The ending really damaged a lot of the good will I had towards this book.