I love reading fiction and nonfiction about the Tudors, so a re-imagining of Henry VIII and his six wives in a contemporary setting was just too tempting to not read. This book is like a guilty pleasure, to be enjoyed with wine and chocolate, and manages to be both familiar and different enough to keep one entertained. Those who've dug into Tudor research will likely take issue with some of the interpretations of the wives (to be fair, historians have been reinterpreting those women for centuries now), but overall this book is just plain fun as long as one doesn't get too picky about the history. ( )

I wanted to read this book because it was modeled after King Henry VIII. I was briefly obsessed with learning about this historical figure and his wives but really became more when The Tudors, the television show aired back on Showtime.

All I could picture were the cast of the television show as the characters in this book. Which I am not complaining as I have a crush on Jonathan Rhys Meyers. So, that helped a lot. While I did appreciate the author's modern retelling of this story; I felt like it should have just stayed in the present. The back and forth from past to present was a bit much and not required in my mind. Plus, if this book had been just modern, it would have helped me to separate the past better.

Harry is definitely a womanizer. He is the type of guy that women may want to sleep with but they should not marry or date. Thus the trail of wives that Harry leaves behind. There was a lot of time spent on each woman. The story could have spent some less time on their stories and still been good. Overall, I did not like this book. However, I am willing to give this author another try. ( )

Updated review after finishing the book:

I see that I am in a very tiny minority about how I feel about this book, but I just have to tell the truth as I see it.

I am having such difficulty getting through this book, maybe because I don't know anything about King Henry the VIII (except for Anne of a Thousand Days -the movie!). You don't need to know your British History to read this. However, this book is a frustrating and disgusting look at a man who can't keep it in his pants, ruined so many lives and the spineless, heartless women who couldn't "resist" him *ugh*.

I can see the parallels between Harry's life and Henry's life and I do understand British history enough to know that Henry did what he did for an heir. It is just difficult for me to have compassion or even care about a man in recent past history to behave the same way. Unfortunately, the way this book reads, Harry didn't do it for such a reason he did it because he was a horny, uncaring bastard.

I haven't quite finished this book (I did finish it) ...and I'm not so sure that I care to know what will happen to Harry in the last quarter of the book, but I'm close and I will update this review and the rating as needed if curiosity gets the best of me and I do finish. ( I finished the book and it does get a bit compelling towards the end...a bit of a page-turner to see if Harry will get his comeuppance -well he does and he doesn't if you can understand what I mean.

I do need to say that the author did pick a perfect time in history to make this parallel- the" Greed is Good" era. ( )

Wife After Wife by Olivia Hayfield is a recommended modern retelling of the life of Henry VIII.

Hayfield spins the story of Henry VIII into the tale of a present day womanizing media mogul. Harry Rose is head of the Rose Corporation and our stand-in for Henry VIII. The narrative opens in 2018 and then goes back to 1985 and progresses forward in time covering every affair and dalliance Harry was involved in. For those familiar with the story of Henry VIII, Hayfield includes a list of the cast of fictional characters and the person whom their character is based on. The list is at the opening and continues at the end of the novel. For those of you who already have a vague idea about history or don't care, you can read the novel without knowing what character correlates to what real person.

The story is told through Harry's point-of-view and then the various women in his life. Hayfield deftly handles the historical aspects, covering how Harry acquires his wives and later eliminates the unwanted, and wraps it around a compelling story. As is expected, Harry is unlikable, a misogynist, and a self-centered cad. You can talk about how good looking or charismatic he is, but it seems that today women should be a little more aware - this includes in 1985. Of course money is an allure.

A plus to the story is all the pop culture touch points and popular songs of the day that Hayfield includes throughout the story. This made the story interesting and placed in firmly in the time periods in which she set the plot. It is an interesting update to the story and Hayfield does a good job creating her characters and writing the dialogue. I will admit to getting a little tired of the tale; it was the totality of Harry's bad behavior and womanizing.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Penguin Random House.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2020/01/wife-after-wife.html ( )