For quite some time (since the lockdown), my ability to concentrate on books has been poor. I couldn’t figure out why, as usually my concentration is pretty good.
I chalked it down to a reading block, and assumed that like many of my friends, streaming entertainment was winning over books. And then this week, a lightning bolt struck. I got a new pair of noise-canceling headphones recently, and I happened to be wearing them while reading, and voilà, that’s made all the difference.
It no longer feels like I’m trying to work/read in a marketplace (my house is particularly noisy now because of the kids staying home, and my house becoming the defacto base for all their friends to come hang out). I love having them home and seeing them have fun, but I hadn’t realised just how much they affected my concentration.
Now with the headphones on, I can set up clear blocks of time when I am working, reading, or blogging – and it’s made a world of difference to my productivity.
So expect to see more book reviews from me 😊.
About the Book
Twentysomething Poppy became a cliché when an accidental pregnancy presented her with a forty-nine year-old husband. But Luke Norton isn’t any old husband – he’s the anchorman for television’s Seven O’Clock News and his ruggedly handsome face is beloved by the nation.
Life isn’t coming up roses thanks to the first Mrs Norton’s popular column, My Husband, The Bimbo and Me. Luke’s having a midlife crisis and going AWOL, his former lovers are circling like sharks and Poppy’s left holding the baby, her once glitzy modeling career a horribly dim memory.
My Review
I like reading chick-lit that’s slightly out of the norm – that doesn’t check all the boxes in the genre. And because of that, I quite liked The Model Wife. Julia Llewellyn takes all the clichés of a man’s mid-life crisis and turns it into something unexpected.
For one, the book is written from the point of view of Luke’s two mistresses. Poppy is the dimwit who gets pregnant with Luke’s baby and finds life as his new wife quite discomfiting. The second woman is Thea – a long term FWB (friend with benefits), who is secretly in love with Luke.
Usually such stories are written from the point of view of the betrayed wife, painting the other women as harlots. Here the wife is someone in the background. It’s Poppy and Thea who move the story forward.
Another unusual aspect is Julia doesn’t try to make them particularly likeable. Poppy is a dimwit. There are no attempts to airbrush that, or try to clean up her character (spoiler: she cheats on Luke). Neither is Thea so great – she acts unscrupulously multiple times in her attempts to win Luke.
Third, there’s no great romance in the book. Sure, there’s a happy ending for one person, and a somewhat ok ending for another, but this is not a romance. This is more of a finding yourself style of book – a book about making mistakes and learning from them.
It’s also a quick, light read. I finished this easily within a day, and enjoyed it tremendously (all thanks to my new headphones ❤️).
