Wife 22 by Melanie Gideon

Review based on ARC:

Also, my book group, Desert Girls, read the book.  See the group's review at desertgirlsbooks.blogspot.com.

I thought the book was OK.  I didn't hate it, but I found it cliched and predictable.

I found the characters to be somewhat dull and 2-dimensional, and a lot of them seemed to have a lot of anger and negativity.  The so-called best friend of the protagonist seems to love her friend by offering good advice, but seems to turn her back on the emotional sufferings and baggage of bad decisions.  She was a friend who seemed present only when it was convenient for her to be so.  The various "mother" figures in the book were interesting and ... well, probably the only likeable characters that were really there. 

The writing and the story-telling, however, were quite good.  I thought Gideon did a *great* job interweaving various social networking, texting, emailing, etc. to tell the story.  I also felt that there were a lot of realistically drawn characters, but I felt that the "resolution" was altogether too easy for the lack of self-reflection and growth the characters seemed to exhibit or experience in the story.

Overall, I would recommend to someone who likes suburban stories about the emotional struggles that we experience as a result of our own decisions.  The book isn't challenging, but it's funny at times, light at times, thoughtful at times, and written well enough to not throw.