Wife After Wife by Olivia Hayfield

ARC from Berkley in exchange for a honest review.

Book Blurb:

Master of the universe Harry Rose is head of the Rose Corporation, number eighteen on the Forbes rich list, and recently married to wife number six. But in 2018, his perfect world is about to come crashing to the ground. His business is in the spotlight–and not in a good way–and his love life is under scrutiny. Because behind a glittering curtain of lavish parties, gorgeous homes, and a media empire is a tale worthy of any tabloid. And Harry has a lot to account for.

My Review: 4 stars

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Wife After Wife is a modern take on King Henry the VIII. As a huge historical fiction fan, I was excited to delve into Hayfield’s vision for this. That’s where we meet Harry Rose – media mogul extraordinaire. And I was not disappointed!

The book starts with a three-page cast of characters – what their names are in the novel & who they were mirrored after from King Henry’s reign. I thought this was a cute introduction, but a little confusing. Almost every character throughout the 400-page book was listed and I found myself stopping where I was in the book to flip to the cast and see who they were – sometimes there was a relevant tie to King Henry’s reign, other times they were just a character thrown in to move the story along.

This story is told from different point of views and as it went along, I kept flip-flopping which character I was rooting for. As each chapter changed to a different character’s story and POV, I found myself empathizing and cheering them on. But then in the next chapter, I found myself rolling my eyes at the previous character based on new information. It kept the momentum of the book going.

Right from the start, you can tell that this was a well-researched novel, including realistic parallels to King Henry’s life while incorporating modern day references that would have affected the king, such as financial crisis of 2008, the #MeToo movement and the introduction of the internet. Hayfield wanted to explore if Henry VIII would have fallen victim to the same suspicions and misgivings he did if he were a 20^th century Harry Rose and it was a delight to see what she created! Overall, I was thoroughly entertained by this book and you don’t need to know anything about Tudor history to enjoy it. Sequel is on its way.