Book Review: Chelsea Wives by Anna-Lou Weatherley

"This is Desperate Housewives meets First Wives Club set in the glamorous borough of Chelsea. On the King’s Road, revenge is sweeter than champagne…

They are the ultimate ladies who lunch: Imogen, the beautiful ex-model, Calgary, the glamorous, former fashion editor, and Yasmin, the feisty ex-party girl.

But life isn’t all champagne and canapés. Plagued by personal tragedy and united by failing marriages, they mastermind a shocking plan to turn the tables on their husbands.

Set against a backdrop of exotic locations, designer boutiques and London's high society scene, these Chelsea Wives are about to join forces and risk it all for the ultimate revenge…"

Rating: 5/5


As a bit of a fan of reality shows like Made in Chelsea, when I first heard about this book I was really excited because it sounded right up my street! I also really liked the fun cartoon style cover, with its bright colours that looked really different to other ones out this month. Although author Anna-Lou Weatherley has written a couple of teenage novels before, this is her first foray into adult novels, and I was hoping she would be able to put her skills as a teen author to good use and create a very readable summer book. Luckily, I was right and she did - I loved everything about Chelsea Wives, and here's why!

3 women living in London's posh Chelsea borough are about to get a bit shock in their personal lives. Firstly, there's ex-model Imogen, who is unhappily married to husband Sebastian and wants to start her modelling career up again, much to her spouse's chagrin. Then there's her best friend Calvary, who turns her a blind eye to all of her husband Douglas' indiscretions, but there's one that she just can't overlook and that is threatening to ruin her marriage for good. Lastly, there's new girl on the block Yasmin, a young party girl who has married a rather elderly Lord, and has everyone is convinced is just with him for the money and title. But there's something Yasmin is hiding, a dark secret that can threaten everything. Join the 3 Chelsea Wives as they decide to start in place a plan that will have the men around crumbling in their wake - revenge if you will. But what is it the wives must avenge?

I have to confess that I loved this book from the start. With larger-than-life characters which really get you engrossed into the book, and a plot that is somewhat ridiculous yet utterly brilliant, I found everything about this book very readable and enjoyable. Weatherley takes the time to set up the plot behind the revenge well enough that it seems plausible the women would act in the way that they do, and I found myself really rooting for the Chelsea Wives! My favourite was Yasmin, the young party girl who has everyone fooled about her real motives for marrying her elderley husband, and her story is revealed slowly throughout the book, and you can begin to understand her pain. I also really liked Imogen, especially as she starts to concoct her plot, which I found surprising in several parts, and quite clever.

As you might expect, there's a lot of name dropping of designers and posh brands in the book, but unlike in previous books where I have found it annoying, it seemed necessary in this book and quite fun to read consequently. I liked how Weatherley has invented this world for the women, and her descriptions of everything made it very realistic to read, even though it's a world I won't ever really get to experience myself! I found the latter half of the book where the women start to take their revenge to be very good, and the pace picked up as well. I enjoyed the twists and turns along the way towards the end, and found myself wanting the women to be successful! The men in the book were just so dislikeable that you couldn't help but want them to be screwed over by Imogen, Calvary and Yasmin!

This is a fantastic debut adult novel from Anna-Lou Weatherley, and the perfect beach read! It's escapist fiction at its best, and it goes to show that even if you have all the money you could ever need, it doesn't necessarily make you happy. With an outlandish cast and fantastically crazy plot, Chelsea Wives deserves to be a huge success because it's utterly fab and readable. I found the three stories easy to follow, loved how the world of the Chelsea Wives was carefully created and it made me realise it isn't a world I would want to be a part of! Join Imogen, Calvary and Yasmin on the adventure of a lifetime and pick up a copy of Chelsea Wives, you won't regret it! (Please note that Calvary is called 'Calgary' on the back cover and blurb of the book, but is called Calvary throughout the story, hence I've called her that too).

You can buy Chelsea Wives as a paperback or an eBook now.