Book Review: Soldiers' Wives by Fiona Field

Blurb: This page-turning soap opera interweaves the stories of three women trying to get to grips with military life.

Chrissie, orphaned young, finds solace in her career as a medic in the regiment, but will love for a married man prove her undoing?

Maddy, a brilliant Oxford graduate, is bogged down with a fretful baby and a super-ambitious officer husband. Will she be able to stand life as a regimental wife?

And Jenna - glamorous, bad girl Jenna, who doesn't believe in rules and regulations. Will she destroy her husband's career? Or will it destroy her?

MY REVIEW

 

I loved, loved this book. So you know throughout this review I’d be yelling at you to go get it.

It’s amazing when you pick chick-lit titles that focus on a group of women you’ve always been interested to read about. Hollywood Wives, Footballer Wives, Plastic Surgeon Wives, you name it. Then you read that title and you are enamored by these women you read about (except Plastic Surgeon Wives who go behind their husband’s backs because they are afraid to tell their husbands they aren’t the very best nose-job artisans). Soldiers’ Wives was no different. It’s nice reading about the backing forces behind these amazing heroes who constantly or occasionally fight for our lives when we are just waiting for that Friday night to go all crazy. What they are going through, their challenges, their high moments and even the very low moments when they can do nothing but constantly hit the bottle. Brilliant choice of topic.── ★

The execution of this book is worth-raving about, really. The storylines behind these Soldiers’ Wives. A bored mother with an Oxford degree who could have been a career woman but now spends time cleaning poop and attending club meetings listening to all the barracks gossip (Fab!). A medic who is wishing she could be more than friends with one married soldier (superb!). A bad girl turned soldier’s wife dealing with the strenuous rules in the military and trying her best to make it in life even though it means breaking a few barracks rules (spectacular!). These storylines well chosen by Fiona Field focusing on the different lives of very different women in various different positions in the army, bring an insightful and exciting variety to this book that makes it more entertaining than it would be if it had focussed on one Army-wife type. ── ★★

The three main characters were very-well developed. You’d love Chrissie for being so uptight and a fitness freak when you just want her to throw away all rules and dry-hump the married soldier she loves. You’d love Maddy for wanting more of life than being the shadow behind her husband and dealing with her baby’s colic. You’d love Jenna for wanting to be different and make it whatever way with whatever means even if it means destroying her husband’s career and cleaning out his bank account (OK, to be frank, I only loved her because she was hot).── ★★★

Supporting characters also make this worth-reading. Immi, the hilarious barracks clerk whose funny quotes and advice go a long way to help our main, Chrissie. Caro, the finicky gossip wife who’s considered the loose cannon amongst Sergeants’ Wives, helping Maddy with the latest gist and babysitting. Sonia, the mother who doesn’t approve of her son’s wife (Jenna) one bit. Phil, the medic who shares an interest in Chrissie’s taste for monochrome pictures and their soundtracks. Lee, the Zac Efron-lookalike soldier all you women would be dazzled by. All these characters made reading this title a blast.── ★★★★

Suspense on point. Humour on point. Sitting on the edge of your seat never seemed so exciting in war zones filled with cracking bullets and detonating explosives. It’s kind of the one trip to Afghan to notice the horrors of soldiers without actually visiting the place and losing a limb on the ultimate vacation. ── ★★★★★

My rating: Five out of Five stars.

You can get Fiona Field’s amazing Soldiers’ Wives on amazon.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves reading books concerning wives of certain professions. Anyone who wants to know what goes on in the lives of very different Soldier wives. Anyone who just wants their chick-lit field with real experiences of people sacrificing their lives doing the world’s shittiest jobs just to keep the food chain going.

My work not done here. Off to post my review on goodreads.