The Housewives

By: Brian Moylan

4/5 Turtle Times!! 🐢

**I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review**

Well, receiving the e-ARC of Brian Moylan's The Housewives was probably the best birthday gift I could ask for! If you love the Real Housewives of any city, than this is the book for you! However, I do recommend you watch all the series before reading this. I've never seen Dallas or DC or any international ones, and I haven't finished Atlanta, so there were parts of the book I was a little lost in. I'd say OC, BH, and NY received the most attention, however.

Anyway, right off the bat, Moylan's sarcasm is tangible. He has no problem roasting the housewives, which can be seen in one of the first sentences regarding "a bar as open as NeNe Leakes would say Kim Zolciak's legs are to married men." It's this little tidbits that make it essential to know the series inside out. The minor jokes and subtle-to-not-so-subtle sarcasm leads to laugh out loud moments. (Trust me, I was reading this in the airport and couldn't have been more grateful for the mask.)

Moylan's deep-dive into the behind the scenes of The Real Housewives was fascinating to read about! It was a bit of a bummer that Bravo was so adamant to not give Moylan much to go off of. If you want to read about all the drama and tight-lipped culture of Bravo, then this is the book for you! I don't think Moylan holds back in that regard. Despite this setback, Moylan is able to get quite a bit of insider information. It's most fascinating to read about the start of OC and how it developed into what we know now.

Honestly, there was a lot of information I didn't know; however, a lot also focused on Moylan's own experience and his love for the series. I will admit that I was bored at times, but he always managed to draw me back in. I was most bored when Moylan was talking about his own Housewives convention/trip with Vicki. It was interesting at first, but I wanted to hear more about the show and less about his vacation.

My only other complaint is that Moylan is so close with Ericka Jayne that he was putting her on a pedestal. He didn't so much as utter the legal and financial trouble that's looming over her. Quite frankly, I think Ericka deserves what's coming and is absolutely disgusting if she was aware of her husband's dealings. I know the case isn't solved, so I think Moylan would have only been able to add a footnote, but even that would've been better than his clear love for Ericka. Of course, the book could have been edited long before these transgressions came to light.

Aside from these complaints, the book was absolutely wonderful! Moylan's recaps of popular episodes made me laugh because I could picture them so clearly. I don't follow the housewives outside the show (unless there's juicy legal trouble or something posted on Reddit), so a lot of this was new information to me. It sounds like if you enjoyed Bachelor Nation, you'll devour this read!