Discouraged with story at first because it was just about a husband and wife in therapy with each complaining about the other. The time sequence jumped around a bit, but when the wife went to Charleston, SC, the story line picked up significantly. I then began to appreciate the wife?s problem in dealing with her trial separation from her husband and finding herself falling in love with her high school sweetheart. Not one of her best, but it ended up being enjoyable.

So glad I was able to attend the book signing at Litchfield Books today and get a personalized signed copy! I love Dottie! ( )

It was a nice story, not my genre -- and too much of a happy ending. It is a complete beach read for anyone who is interested in a story that does not take much thought. ( )

“You could tell a lot about the soul of an organization by the reading material in its waiting area.”
― Dorothea Benton Frank, The Last Original Wife

Love the quote. Did not love the book.

I liked it at first. Leslie was a fun character and interesting to read about. The book kind of reminded me of something Olivia Goldsmith would write.

Leslie is indeed "the last original wife". All the hubbys here have traded in their wives for new models. I sometimes really enjoy C hick Lit, especially when it has a trace of snarkiness, which I thought I might get here.

But it grew old for me first. I will explain why but will be including spoilers so for anyone who has not read:

SPOILERS:

I was let down by the turn it took. Once Leslie leaves or "takes a break" from Hubby, she rekindles a spark with her ex in South Carolina and they reconnect. But the book was primarily about that.

So, my main reason for not enjoying it was because what I had thought it was about..was not what it was about.

I just got bored with it. I am not as much into romance novels as I once was but beyond that, I thought I was getting something a bit more edgy and fun and as I said, a little snarky. I thought it might follow along the lines of "First Wives Club" or something. Bit no. The whole book was mostly about Leslie and new new guy and frankly I just a bit tired of reading about them.

The book might be better suited to lovers of contemporary romance. Like I said I do read romantic novels on occasion but I wanted a bit more meat in the story and just reading about this couple grated on me. ( )

This was a little slow to get moving but certainly picked up as the story continued. So sad that there are no more Frank books coming....... ( )

I'm not sure I understand why this book got so many bad reviews. It seems a lot of people thought the storyline was unrealistic. Well, the way I saw it, ofcourse it's not 100% realistic but it's fiction and I think we read it assuming there would be a happy ending.
I found it an easy read, the storyline is what you'd expect from the description on the book cover. And I wasn't sure until the very end whether or not Les would take Wes back. So, I didn't find it predictable and I did enjoy it.
My only complaint I guess is that Wes is a pretty unlikeable character. SOmetimes when I read a book, or watch a movie, and the lead character is with someone who is completely unlikeable I wonder why they didn't make the character atleast somewhat likeable. If they're not likeable at all, then why would the (presumably) smart lead character have been intersted in them for years? ( )

Dorothea Benton Frank has mastered Low Country Literature. She is adept at writing stories about women who learn to take charge of their lives. I totally enjoyed the subtle humor, the development of the characters and the descriptions of Charleston. ( )

Disappointing for this author. ( )

Normally I enjoy Frank's books, but I did not connect with this tale of a woman who after years of tolerating her husband decides to exert herself. It glorifies divorce, marital infidelity, and more. Too much of the book was set in Atlanta instead of the Charleston/Sullivan's Island area. I'm struggling with whether to continue to read her work or not. I love Charleston/Low Country settings, but the last couple of Frank books disappointed. Perhaps it's time to move on. ( )

Loved the audiobook! The narrator was perfect for the role. (Her biting wit reminded me just a little of Hildy in The Good House).

And there is a Havanese, Miss Jo, in the story. Luckily my two can't read and know how spoiled Miss Jo is :-)

This was perfect summer listening. ( )

There's nothing even remotely realistic about this book but its underlying message, that it’s never too late to dust off your self respect and stop being everyone’s doormat, makes up for the Cinderella-like storyline. It’s full of southern flavor and history, sassy dialogue, and well deserved paybacks. But some things in the book literally don't add up, and that distracted me. Almost sixty y/o Les had dropped out of college for a shotgun wedding and she’s now been married for nearly 30 years. Shouldn’t it be 40? And her then baby bump, now adult son, dropped out of his MBA program 3 years ago. Wait, this guy is pushing 40 himself. He's been a dropout a lot longer than any 3 years. His character is written as if he’s a young man but, if you do the math, he’s not. This didn’t impact the plot or character dynamics but it did cause me to do a lot of back reading when I thought I’d got things messed up when they didn’t add up. Take a hint from the cover and wear your beach hat – not your thinking cap – when you read this book.

I received this book for free through the Goodreads First Read program.
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I thought this book was funny in the beginning. Then it just got tedious and I couldn't wait for it to end. Being in the same age category as Les, I thought the interaction between husband and wife funny. However, I never let myself become a dish rag like that wife. Skipped the last few chapters and then read the end. ( )

Light read from Dotty Frank. Fun to see my city, and even the names of some people I know, pop up in another tale. This time, I even knew some of the Atlanta places! ( )

this is an entertaining yet sometimes sobering look at the marital difficulties of Les and Was, two southern sixty somethings. Benton Frank has Charleston and Atlanta down pat and the dialogue flows. The characters of Leslie and her brother Harlan and Miss Jo are easy to love and the literary ghost is a nice add on. Strikes a romantic comedy note. ( )

Nothing deep here, just a good, fun book. ( )

Read from June 25 to July 01, 2015

This is the first Dorothea Benton Frank novel I've read and it's probably going to be the last for a long while. From the other reviews I've read, this is NOT her best work.

The beginning started off well enough. A couple, Les and Wes (cute, huh?,) are in individual therapist sessions. We learn from these that things have not been going well in their marriage -- Wes is a controlling jerk & Les has recently left Atlanta to visit her brother in Charleston. (Her brother who is gay that Wes has practically forbidden her to see. Her brother isn't even allowed to visit them.)

After the first few chapters from the therapist chairs, the book switches gears and we go back to before the therapy sessions and before Les ran away to Charleston. Why we switched storytelling methods, I have no idea. I really liked that and it's the reason I started reading the book. Once it switched, I think it lost some sparkle and definitely lost my attention. Around the midway point I was tempted to just give up.

So in the end, it's all pretty predictable. Not the great summer beach read I was hoping for...this cover is SO misleading! ( )

Just what the doctor ordered for the dreary winter days. I listened to the audio book version, and found the reader, Robin Miles, a little tedious with her Afro-American, Southern accent. Frank illustrates the comical side of a man's mid-life crisis when he must have the Barbie-doll wife, and replace the old, original wife. Leslie and Wesley have been married for decades, but Leslie discovers a bank statement and feels that Wesley has cheated her of a glamorous life of dancing, dining, and traveling. So, Leslie throws in the towel and moves to her brother's house in Charleston, and begins to live. The story remains light-hearted throughout, but serious moments do surface. The vivid description of characters and setting give the reader a glimpse into Southern living with men in seersucker and women residing in spotless homes. Frank’s presentation of the two Barbie wives that cannot even spell correctly is priceless. After listening to Natchez Burning, this book was a laugh. ( )

Of course a 5 star, DBF never gets old or less stars in my book. I can't believe I let this book savor on my TBR shelf for so long but after 100+ inches of snow in the last couple weeks this was the perfect pick me up book about my favorite Low Country! ( )

I just finished the audio The Last Original Wife and loved it! I started reading the book; however, switched to the audio as it was so funny and full of southern humor – I did not want to miss a thing!

This is my third book by Dorothea Benton Frank this week – and becoming a huge fan. She is such a wonderful storyteller – she puts you in the mood and adore her detailed descriptions of the settings (when you are from the south the food, design, and style matters – as they love to entertain!

If you are over the age of 50 you will enjoy this book as I give it 5 stars and highly recommend! Having worked in the Charleston area and lived in Atlanta – loved hearing about all the great restaurants and this book makes you want to head to the Low Country as soon as possible. The characters were so engaging -- loved the way she used the first person sarcastic phrases from Les and Wes (awesome)! The narrator did an excellent job capturing the southern dialogue, as well and fell in love with the gay brother (would love to see a movie of this book)- it is movie worthy.
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I have to honestly say this was my FAVORITE read of the year. I loved Les, Wes, Harlan and all of the characters in this book that helped make this story so fun and entertaining. I smiled and laughed the entire time I was reading it and was truly sorry it ended. I have already recommended this book to several of my friends. I think that Dorothea Benton Frank is a very talented and extremely brilliant writer and can't wait to read every book she has written.

This ebook is on sale on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com for $7.99. Sale started on 06/28/13 not sure when it's going to end. ( )

A story with southern charm and the tone and cadence we have come to adore and count on by Dorothea Benton Frank THE LAST ORIGINAL WIFE is a story about marriage and how we come to define ourselves through the the scope of that relationship, but how it also needs to be cherished and taken care of and when it is not choices need to be made. More importantly it is about finding yourself and where you fit in the world despite the definitions and roles. To bust out on your own and find what truly makes you happy!!! This read was a fun story about how it is never to late to find ones correct path and to make ones life an adventure and not a chore!!!! 4 stars ( )

The latest book from Dot Frank is pretty darn good. Love all her stories from the Lowcountry, South Carolina. I always want to take a road trip when I wrap one of her little gems up. Frank's books always take place in the Lowcountry, from Sullivan's Island to Pawleys Island. Last Original Wife starts out in Atlanta but quickly moves to Charleston. The book also contains some literary tidbits on Josephine Pinckney. (The main character flees to Charleston to stay with her brother, who happens to own the former, haunted home of Pinckney.) Adds interest to this tale.

Easy read. Simple, basic plot. Leslie and Wes are married with two of the most ungrateful, lazy 20-something kids. Leslie, or Les, as she is most often referred to, is fed up to the yazoo with her family. Her husband, Wes, is inattentive and B-o-r-i-n-g. He treats Les like dirt, basically. Wes spends all of his free time on the golf course with his 2 best buds. All three of these weasels are suffering some form of midlife crisis and Wes' friends have replaced their wives, who also happened to be Leslie's BFF's, with very young wives. For obvious reasons, Les cannot stand these two little minxes. Wes drags Leslie on a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland, with said friends in tow, to play golf at the old famed St. Andrews Golf Club.

THIS is the beginning of the end of Wes and Les's marriage. In Edinburgh, after having lunch, the three couples were walking back to the hotel. Les accidentally falls into a manhole and it goes unnoticed by the entire group. For 45 minutes Les's husband did not miss her walking along side him. Not until the group returns to the hotel! Meanwhile, Les is rescued and whisked to the hospital in a foreign country. Making matters worse, Wes doesn't join Les at the hospital and enjoys 2 days of golf while his wife lingers at the hospital. Once home in Atlanta, Les makes the painful decision to leave and doesn't tell anyone where she's going or when she will return.

Leslie flees to the home of her brother, Harlan, in Charleston, SC. It is here where Leslie will rediscover what it means to live, love and find true happiness within herself. Self discovery. I think so.

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So this is my second "mid-life crisis" book in a month, but this one was sooo much better! Leslie and Wesley Carter have been married about 40 years, and have two grown children. The daughter is a "real estate agent" and uses her "job" to dump her 4-year-old on Leslie at any time and then "show a house" which usually turns into hanging out at the bar and coming back drunk. The son dropped out of college to become a travel photographer, currently lives in Kathmandu and asks his parents for living expenses monthly. Les is tired of cleaning up after Wes and doing everything he wants to do while she ignores her own likes, wants and even her family. Wes can't stand the fact that Les' brother is gay and has refused to allow him to visit them or for Les to visit him.

Wes and Les are best friends with two other couples, and one wife dies and the husband remarries a younger woman fairly quickly. The second husband leaves his wife to marry his young secretary. While in Europe so that Wes and a friend can play some famous golf course, Les falls down a hole and the group doesn't notice that she's missing for almost an hour, and then Wes is not really attentive. So Les goes to stay with her brother and figure things out.

The story is told from both Les' and Wes' perspectives, and both are hilarious for different reasons Robin Miles' narration is superb! The southern drawl she uses for Les and her brother against the uptight and stilted vocal patterns of Wes and his friends add to the humor. ( )

I'd picked up The Last Original Wife on one of those weeks busy with travel and dealing with tenants. It was so much fun escaping reality with this middle aged, caring, and still lovely woman.

Les (married to Wes) raised two children and often babysits her lovely granddaughter. Her daughter Charlotte is a real estate broker but doesn't take her career seriously and relies on her parents for childcare and money. Her son Bertie left graduate school and is spending time in Nepal. Wes, her husband is very successful and quite selfish. Over the years her social life has revolved around her husband, his friends and their family. She's reached the age where her husbands' best friends replaced their wives with women nearly twenty years younger and Les found herself surrounded by people that she didn't like or respect.

Instead of putting up with the same treatment without complaining, Les decides to step back. Fortunately, she comes across hidden bank statements and discovers that while she's been scrimping for years, Wes has plenty of hidden assets. Les is fundamentally honest and she doesn't go off and transfer the money to her own hidden account. Instead, she leaves her home and returns to her hometown. Les starts living for herself and finds herself well appreciated and entertained. As Les spends her time reading, exploring historic houses, and rediscovering things that she used to love.

Full of humor and likable characters, The Last Original Wife is a fun, summer read. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

ISBN-10: 0062132474 - Paperback $14.99
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (April 1, 2014), 368 pages.
Review copy courtesy of the publisher. ( )

Dorothea Benton Frank is one of my favorite authors of the genre often called "Southern Fiction."  This one did not disappoint as a work of fiction.  I won't say I liked the main characters, and I certainly didn't like the early choices made by Leslie Anne Greene Carter, the protagonist, but once she escaped the bounds of a manipulative, selfish and thoroughly unlikeable husband, I found myself rooting for her to develop her backbone and stop being a doormat.

I'm of the same generation, background and education as Leslie Anne Carter, but I would never ever have put up with the demeaning life she endured married to Wes, skimping on spending, ignored in favor of the golf game, subjected to being introduced to her husband's friends' parade of Barbie Brides at the country club and treated like hired help in her own home. I was alternately cheering for her to tell him to pound sand and plant his golf clubs where the sun doesn't shine and hoping that perhaps the two of them would get counseling, that he would somehow be able to give up his obsession with golf, and they might be able to salvage their relationship.  The resolution the author allows at the end is one I found satisfying emotionally and should be one that most readers can accept.  I won't spoil your enjoyment by telling anymore.

It was an enjoyable read, very well done in the audio format by narrator Robin Miles. ( )