Review: Releasing Gillian's Wolves by Tara Woolpy

Releasing Gillian's Wolves is the story of a political wife forced to finally do something about her faltering marriage. We frequently see women standing by their Senator/Congressman/Religious figure husbands at press conferences as these men admit to all sorts of bad behavior. Releasing Gillian's Wolves explores what holds one such woman in place and what happens when she finally decides to let go. -Synopsis from Goodreads

I'll admit, it took me a minute to get into this story. I had a hard time connecting to Gillian, the wife of a Congressman up for re-election.She just seemed to be a sweet middle-aged woman who cooks all the time and lets her philandering husband walk all over her. A few chapters in, when Gillian finds a hotel key and realizes that her husband has taken up with a woman several years younger than their daughter, is when she begins to take a stand. It's a small stand at first but it's that first glimmer of hope that there is a stronger woman hiding under supportive political wife facade.

I don't have much in common with Gillian. She's closer to my mother's age than my own and I've never been a rich, political wife but I've been in an unhappy marriage and so I related to her on that level. My own failed marriage wasn't an issue of adultery or anything of that sort but I understood Gillian's hesitance in ending her marriage. It slowly gets to where it's easier to be unhappy than deal with the drama of ending it all. Gillian is in that place in the beginning and the entire book is her journey to find the strength to get through the drama and move on with her life. I've been there, so despite our twenty year age difference, I was totally able to connect with Gillian.

It was refreshing to hear of an older woman, picking up the pieces of her life and moving forward, finding happiness and even romance again. Too many stories focus on twenty and thirty-somethings that you almost forget that it's possible to start over later in life. It's nice to be reminded that new beginnings do not belong solely to the young. I found it a lovely story about standing up for yourself, and demanding a better life for yourself. I'd recommend it for anyone needing a reminder that it's OK to start over. 

*Disclaimer- I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for a fair and unbiased review