Hidden Wives- Claire Avery

Sara dreams that she and her sister, Rachel, might escape their abusive father and his four wives, who constantly vie for power in their overcrowded household.  Sara wishes to choose her own path in life.  To go to school, to get a job, to marry of her own free will.  She wants the same for her beloved sister.

But that is not Sara’s destiny, nor Rachel’s.  Trapped in a secret, polygamous cult, the fifteen-year-olds are overdue to be married to husbands selected by their Prophet.  Sara—too smart and willful for her own good—is terrified when she learns she will be sealed to her already-married uncle.

For Rachel—a stunning and loyal beauty—the Prophet has a different plan.  Sixteen men, including some of the most powerful elders of their Church—seek Rachel’s hand.  But a forbidden love is blossoming for Rachel, one that will change her forever and threaten the entire community.


MY REVIEW

Hidden Wives was a fascinating, though at the same time, depressing novel. Mari and Michelle very aptly crept into Sara's and Rachel's minds to bring the reader their emotions and thoughts about the type of life they were born to, raised in, and expected to embrace. The first sentence had me glued closely to the pages to find out the why and how. The pain and angst are so vivid I felt them as if they had been done to me, the teach so clearly protrayed, I almost understood them.

The story is told in the third person point of view from both Sara and Rachel's viewpoint. Most of the time both girls are there, so it is not difficult to keep track of who feels and says what. There are a lot of secondary characters in the story, vital to the plot, but sometimes confusing me somewhat at times. The primary characters could perhaps have been fleshed out more, as well as a few of the secondary ones.

In one way, there were a lot of questions about the sect that were not fully addressed, but this was two sisters stories, not a story about the sect.

All in all, I really enjoyed this novel, not wanting to put it down. I also look forward to more novels written by the sisters known as Claire Avery.

I received this book free from the authors in a contest. The review is honest, and the opinions are my own. I would recommend this book to the discerning reader, but not as a fact on how the fundamentalist mormons live.