Cover for The Biography of Her: The Story of My Husband's Ex Wife

The First Ten Focus Group Feedback for The Biography of Her: The Story of My Husband's Ex Wife

Because The Biography of Her: The Story of My Husband's Ex Wife was Book of the Day, some of our most trusted members have carefully looked over the cover, the description, and other aspects of this book as a part of purchase-intent focus group. We then asked each participant in the focus group if they planned to buy and read the book, and why they planned to buy and read the book or not. Their answer to that question and reasons are displayed below. We call this awesome feature The First Ten Focus Group.

Keep in mind, the responses from the members are not reviews. This is purchase-intent focus group which means the participants are people who have NOT yet bought or read your book. A purchase-intent focus group is an important and extremely useful marketing tool for any product, not just books. For other products, you might walk on the street and show people an item in a package and poll them about whether they would buy if or $X or not. These kind of focus groups are one of the ways big marketing companies find the ideal price points for products and test the effectiveness of different packaging. The focus group can help you identify your market so you how to target ads of your book, and it can (but may not) provide you new useful info about your "packaging" (e.g. your book cover, your book synopsis on Amazon, etc.). The point of the focus group comments is to give you information from people who have not bought or read your book about why they plan to buy your book which will help you in marketing the book. These are not reviews or critiques of your book because they are not from people have read the book. This is a marketing tool, not reviews. The trick of book marketing and book advertising is that you have to convince people who have not read your book yet that your book is worth buying and reading. For marketing, it doesn't matter much if people love your book after reading it if you cannot convince potential buyers before they read it that they will love it.

IMPORTANT: Any score over 10% is considered very good. And any score above 0% is acceptable. This is because we only poll about 20 or so readers, and all readers have to say "no" to almost all books. Over a million books are published each year. Even a very active reader cannot come close to even reading 1% of books out there.

This is also why publishing books is such a tough industry.

Vickie Noel

249577
The title of this book sounds so attractive to me, just as if I was in on a juicy bit of gossip about the events that occurred in the author's life. As I read the sample, I had serious mixed feelings. The story appeared interesting, but I wondered about the morality of it all. How can a woman dedicate so much time to researching about another women for the purpose of creating a disastrous picture of her? At least, that's what I was getting as I read along. Granted, the woman may really be all that terrible, but honestly, is this book necessary? Doesn't Jillie have something better to do with her life? I mean, I had a terrible dad growing up, but you don't see me researching into his past to write up a book. Even if I did, it would be presented as fiction or perhaps a memoir, and that's part of my history and family, not about another human not actually related to me! I get the fact that Anna is properly the worst human on earth, but I really can't say I'm pleased that it's her ex-husband's wife who is relating the story. I'd have sympathized much more if the account was being told by any of her ex-husbands or even her children, the people who'd actually been there and had moved with her through different stages of her life. Thus, I'm having difficulty figuring out whether or not I'd keep reading the book. For now, I'd mark it as a no, but it's on my want-to-read list in case my curiosity gets the better of me. The book was professionally edited as I found no errors. I read an OBC review which piqued my initial interest in the book.

First Ten review added on October 13, 2019, at 4:59 am by Vickie Noel.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Aditi Sapate

1296030
Based on the cover, title and genre I wouldn't have chosen to read this book because I'm not a fan of memoirs. After reading the sample, I came to like the author's writing style. However, I do not like how the book focuses so much on Anna's external appearance in the beginning. The author also sounds imperious when she says Anna has children-like teeth while mentioning her perfectly white straight teeth. If these parts could be edited out, it will be a big improvement in the book. I will not be reading this book. The sample did not contain any grammatical errors so far and seems like it was well-edited. The book also had an official OnlineBookClub review, which gave me all the necessary preliminary information about the book.

First Ten review added on October 13, 2019, at 4:37 am by Aditi Sapate.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Alice Heritage

173569
I probably wouldn't have sampled this on my own as the topic seems odd. I also won't buy and read it today because the narrator seems mean-spirited. The OBC review was helpful in that it referred to this. This book appears to have been professionally edited as I did not notice any errors in the sample. I liked the drama of the opening where the author refers to Anna's scheme to meet her in person instead of sticking to the arrangements. I feel that the work could be improved if the narrator showed more compassion for Anna. She seems to lack this when she mentions showing off her own straight, white teeth in response to Anna's damaged ones. Her tone seems to imply Anna is to blame for the way she turned out when she's clearly a product of her environment. I also have a problem with this: "I respect each and every religion there is out there in the world - except for the ones that include blowing up Americans." It's not acceptable to associate a religion with terrorism. That is missing all kinds of points and shows an ignorance that is also reflected in the assumption that Anna could "choose" to reverse the effects of her environment just like that. It's possible, but it's not as easy as the author implies.

First Ten review added on October 13, 2019, at 4:26 am by Alice Heritage.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Ekta Kumari

896308
I wouldn't have read the book as the central subject does not hold my interest. Based on the sampling, the read seems good for those who like suspense and a little bit of drama told from a real life perspective. Frankly speaking, I didn't really enjoy the author's tone when she writes about Anna and her life story, so I wouldn't be reading the whole book. I did like that the storytelling is very much detailed, giving the readers all the necessary information. There were no error in the portion I read, so the book looks professionally edited. Others interested in the read can check out its official review.

First Ten review added on October 13, 2019, at 4:22 am by Ekta Kumari.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

va2016

119030
The cover and the title are indicative of the theme of the book. There are only 5 Amazon ratings. The Amazon summary is pretty interesting. Based on the Amazon summary, I would have sampled the book even if not for the First Ten program. As I sampled through the book, I found the narration describing the author meeting her boyfriend's ex and her daughter. As I was immediately attracted by the writing style, I am going to read this book in full. I found the sample professionally edited in terms of format, although there are several mechanical errors like missing commas. What I liked most about the book is its captivating writing style. As an improvement, I could suggest that each chapter be named and table of contents updated with those names. Although I found one OBC review on the book, my decision to read the book in full is based on my own sampling.

First Ten review added on October 13, 2019, at 3:17 am by va2016.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!

Annelore Trujillo

97769
I would not have sampled this book based on the genre, blurb, OBC review, cover and title. After reading the first ten pages, I won’t be finishing this book. I liked the beginning when Jillie first met Anna. It showed the craziness of Anna right away with her pretending that she tried to call when she obviously didn’t. However, I lost interest when it went into Anna’s background and I had a difficult time following who everyone in the background story was. The book did seem to be professionally edited.

First Ten review added on October 13, 2019, at 1:05 am by Annelore Trujillo.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Nisha Ward

1192566
The entire concept of a biography of someone your spouse used to be with is kind of interesting to me, so I picked this one up based on that. Needless to say, the clean editing and almost neutral prose impressed me. The author does have some opinions on how Anna's mother brought her children up, but overall, I enjoyed what I read, not having looked at the review first. I'm gonna pick this up

First Ten review added on October 13, 2019, at 12:44 am by Nisha Ward.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!

MsTri

255145
I thought that I wouldn't want to read this book as soon as I saw its cover and title. Reading the Amazon synopsis and OBC review (the only one I read) solidified my initial thoughts. I've heard enough "crazy" baby mama and ex-wife stories to last me a lifetime, so I don't need another. With that being said, I was glad that the sample seemed to indicate that the book was professionally edited. I did like the description of when Jillie met Anna. Even though I won't finish reading this tome, I don't have any suggestions for changes because it is written well for its genre.

First Ten review added on October 12, 2019, at 11:32 pm by MsTri.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Jsovermyer

1045410
The cover photo is nice, but it makes one think this is a happy, beautiful story. The title tells exactly what it really is about. This chilling memoir details ex-wife Anna's attempts to torment her ex-husband and his new wife. Her actions border on psychotic, and the new wife also becomes obsessed as she finds out more and more about Anna. The author seems petty as she describes, in detail, Anna's teeth and hair, comparing them to her own. She says Anna's teeth show she is either a drug addict or a heavy smoker. In comparison, her teeth are perfect and white. Then she tells about Anna's parents and her childhood. She seems to have little compassion for Anna's feelings. She is very much a stalker. The official review rated the book highly. It seems well-written, as I found no grammatical or spelling errors and believe it has been professionally edited. I didn't enjoy the story and felt sorry for Anna. I don't want to finish this book.

First Ten review added on October 12, 2019, at 11:27 pm by Jsovermyer.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Sarah_Khan

89585
At first glance, I would not have picked up this book because I do not read memoirs. The first ten pages seem well-edited. The plot is not exactly something I would read. I found it hard to like the narrator, her tone seemed very condescending (e.g. the ex's teeth). Since we can never know both sides of this story, I will pass on reading this book. I think the author should try to have a more non-bias view. I did not read any OBC review.

First Ten review added on October 12, 2019, at 11:13 pm by Sarah_Khan.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Mary WhiteFace

649293
Without the first ten program, I would not have wanted to read a book written about a women's husband's ex-wife. It seemed like an odd topic to write about.

The book did not seem to be professionally edited. There were multiple missing commas. One example at location 113: "Kay loved the ruckus (motherhood was not her forte) but Eddie was ready to bail." I would suggest a round of editing for punctuation.

Reading the OnlineBookClub review did not change my original decision, and I found the first ten pages to be a little degrading and insulting for my taste. One specific incident was at location 72 where the author called Anna's teeth a "dental freak show" and "dingy choppers" while referring to her own teeth as "perfectly straight and white". There were too many such insults and comparisons for me to enjoy the story.

The one thing that I did like was the author's ability to create scenes that were easy to envision, as well as her ability to project her feelings of loathing towards her husband's ex in such a palpable way. If the author were to write about a different topic I would possibly be more inclined to read it. I will not be reading this book.

First Ten review added on October 12, 2019, at 9:59 pm by Mary WhiteFace.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

AA1495

104697
Had I not sampled the book, I would not have read it. I usually read pure romance books. However, the book had a 4/4 OBC review and I was curious about Anna. Further, I found the cover simple but eye catching (with the image of flowers). Having read the sample, the index caught my attention. The fact that the book had 39 chapters made it seem tiresome to read. Further, the index did not have chapter names, which made it seem plain. Also, I felt like the introductory section was also rather small. I would have liked a prologue, some reviews of the book or a foreword. In terms of language, I found the book easy to read. Further, I thought that the author introduced Anna's character well. I found no major grammatical errors in the book. Since I do not read the genre usually, I will not be buying the book today.

First Ten review added on October 12, 2019, at 9:54 pm by AA1495.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Dolor

363055
I love to look at the cover of this book, but I personally feel this is intruding on the privacy of the ex-wife of the author's husband. Moreover, it unveils skeletons in the closet. I will bypass reading this book without The First Ten program. In the first ten pages, the author digs into the roots of her husband's ex-wife - exposing her origin, her mom's ex-husbands and lies. I take the narrations as one-sided - exposing the good side of the author, and the bad side of her husband's ex-wife. I saw some sentences with punctuation errors and lack thereof. Here are some examples:
"Ex Wife"

"She was supposed to just call my boyfriend’s cell phone and he would come out to get the little girl, then come back in and wait for his “past” and her “present” to leave before we all went back outside to his car."

"If she were telling her life story, she would trick you into believing she came from a wealthy start and she was properly raised."

This book will benefit from a round of editing. My decision is final. I will bypass reading this book. "The Biography of Her: The Story of My Husband's Ex Wife" by Jillie Jayroe is an intriguing #Memoir about a #crazy #ExWife of the author's husband.

#Divorce

First Ten review added on October 12, 2019, at 9:12 pm by Dolor.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

supernatural143

1401442
The cover is attractive - contrary to the dark secrets the author unveils about her husband's ex-wife. I mind my own business, so I will bypass this book without The First Ten program. Even though the author described how beautiful and cool her own self is, digging into some other people's roots and exposing their dark secrets bounces back the negativity into her. I myself could say she's not beautiful and cool enough for doing so. She won't do those things if she has those good traits. The book needs a round of thorough editing mostly because of missing commas and unnecessary articles ("a" and "the"). Here are the examples: "She was supposed to just call my boyfriend’s cell phone and he would come out to get the little girl, then come back in and wait for his “past” and her “present” to leave before we all went back outside to his car." "The bickering was a constant, and his drinking habit picked up a little more each year." "So, Eddie and Kay, with baby, decided to move to the Houston area to find a better job for Eddie." My final decision is to bypass reading this book and mind my own business. In "The Biography of Her: The Story of My Husband's Ex Wife" Jillie Jayroe talks about how her husband's ex-wife disrupted their marriage.

#Memoir #Divorce #ExWife #crazy

First Ten review added on October 12, 2019, at 9:11 pm by supernatural143.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

ritah

236447
Based on the genre and title, I wouldn't have sampled the book because I don't usually go for books in this genre. I read the official review and sampled The Biography of Her. I liked the author's writing style. The story of her first meeting with Anna and their assessment of each other was interesting to read. I liked that Anna was able to compliment Jillie even though she wasn't happy and wanted her ex back. The book appeared to be professionally edited (no errors were found). I will be reading the rest of the book because I enjoyed the easy flowing writing style and because I'm curious about the drama and the character Anna.

First Ten review added on October 12, 2019, at 1:00 pm by ritah.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!

Aubrey Lewis

197111
The overall appearance of the book is pleasing to the eyes, and the title is nice as well. When I read through the official OBC review, I became really interested in the book even though I don't usually read memoirs. It was the words "it reads like fiction" that caught my interest. When I finished sampling the first ten pages, I decided to read the rest of the book. The contents seemed professionally edited so far, and I even read further than ten pages up until I reached the end of the sample. That was how engaged I was. I really liked the author's writing style. It was straightforward and casual, and the fast pacing was executed beautifully, in my opinion. The only thing that threw me off a bit was the part when Anna's background was being presented; it felt like a huge invasion of privacy which made me feel uncomfortable, especially because this is a true story. However, it was also intriguing enough that I couldn't stop reading it. Therefore, I had mixed feelings, but mostly on the positive side of things.

First Ten review added on October 12, 2019, at 10:23 am by Aubrey Lewis.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!

Kajori Sheryl Paul

997537
'The Biography of Her: The Story of My Husband's Ex-Wife' is a book written by Jillie Jayrose. The title, blurb, and cover did a good job at convincing me to give this book a try.
The first ten pages leads me to believe that it is the biography of Jillie's husband’s ex-wife, Anna. Jillie did a thorough investigation and put out Anna's story quite nicely. I liked this about the book. I found some errors. The word “the" should have been used before “odd" in “Scott was often odd man out..” I do not think that it is professionally edited. I will give this book a try as I like the premise.

First Ten review added on October 12, 2019, at 10:12 am by Kajori Sheryl Paul.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!

Juliana_Isabella

1210914
I probably wouldn't have chosen this book because I usually prefer to read fiction, but I did see that it had a positive review. I didn't find any mistakes in the first ten pages, and I was intrigued by the behavior of Anna. However, I felt like Jillie was condesending in her descriptions of Anna, especially when she implies that she wasn't "properly raised". This is what made me decide not to finish the book.

First Ten review added on October 12, 2019, at 9:26 am by Juliana_Isabella.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Lorraine De Vos

140922
I would have chosen to sample this book based on the title. The curious nature of the relationship between exes is always fascinating. Even though I think the author took her research to the extreme, I still couldn’t pry my eyes away. The cycle of bad parenting and poor life choices is a hard one to break if those people are not taught how to break it from a young age. As much as I dislike Anna, I also do feel sad for her to some extent. The book does appear to be professionally edited, as I did not notice any errors. The official OnlineBookClub review was very well written and confirmed that I will be adding this book to my reading list.

First Ten review added on October 12, 2019, at 4:25 am by Lorraine De Vos.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!

Mbrooks2518

1121144
I don't usually read biographies or memoirs, so I would not have read the sample without The First Ten. I did find the official review's description of the book intriguing, but after reading the first ten pages, I am not interested enough to buy the book.

I found two editing mistakes. One was on page five and said, "she and her boyfriend Eddie would discover they were going to be parents." There should be commas around "Eddie." Besides these mistakes, there is nothing that needs to be improved.

First Ten review added on October 12, 2019, at 4:19 am by Mbrooks2518.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Fazzier

1170785
If I had not sampled the first ten pages of this book as part of this program, I would have read this book based on the title. Writing biography about husband's ex-wife made me curious. However, after sampling and reading the book's official OnlineBookClub.org review, I changed my mind about reading it since the subject it covers is not what I would typically enjoy. The author's contempt on how she discusses the ex-wife's humble family background was evident. As we all know, nobody chooses where to born. Reading this sample has actually left me filled with negative energy. So, I'm not going to buy the book and read the rest of it. On the other hand, it seems to have been professionally edited since I didn't find any errors in the sample I read.

First Ten review added on October 12, 2019, at 3:54 am by Fazzier.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Catherine Hsu

104096
If I had not read the sample, I would not have read the book as I did not think this was my drama. After reading the sample, I have not changed my mind for one main reason. There was an entire paragraph that was so full of typos and mistakes it was entirely incoherent: "Mr. all Mrs. Edwasrd O'Reil whe nothiw than protherd...(Yother'ver get than pictupeople.) This book needs heavy editing. I did not read an official review but that did not affect my decision.

First Ten review added on October 12, 2019, at 3:16 am by Catherine Hsu.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Cristina Chifane

418146
I wouldn't have sampled this book without the first ten program. Solely based on the title and Amazon blurb, I would have thought it merely as one woman's means of getting revenge on her husband's ex-wife. However, some readers believe that the author has a gift for storytelling and the story itself has a lot of emotion and drama. The sample did not disappoint in terms of narration and suspense. The scene of the meeting between Jillie and her boyfirend's ex-wife Anna is well-written, but expresses a unilateral perspective on the situation. I won't be reading the book mainly because Jillie's description of Anna seems too subjective and virulent to be convincing. The OBC reviewer mentions the same problem about Jillie's condescending tone when it comes to Anna and her life's story. As far as the editing is concerned, I only noticed one extra adverb: "Casey, four at the time, (then) shouted out, "Mommy, this is my Jillie!" (4% of Sample)

First Ten review added on October 12, 2019, at 3:08 am by Cristina Chifane.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

lavellan

403587
I probably would have not read The Biography of Her if it had not been a part of the First Ten program. While the Book of the Day review was positive, I'm not interested in memoirs. The book did not seem like it was professionally edited, and I noticed errors while reading. For example, a period is needed after the following parenthetical statement: "...lived in willingly. (You get the picture.)" I felt for Jillie's struggles with Anna; it must have been difficult to deal with a crazy ex. I didn't like Jillie's condescending tone. One example of this was when she compared her teeth to Anna's. As a result of this, I will not buy the book today.

First Ten review added on October 12, 2019, at 12:41 am by lavellan.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Kaitlyn Canedy

1401101
I really liked the title; it is very unique and I was interested in how it was going to turn out. I did read the sample and I was considering reading the rest of The Biography of Her: The Story of My Husband's Ex-Wife, but I decided not to after reading the Official OnlineBookClub review. I really like romance stories, depending on the reviews that I read about the book. However, I did not like what the review said about the book; it contains topics like divorce, drugs, and other sensitive topics. I don't think the book needs improvements at all; I just think that I was not the right audience for it. I did not see any grammar problems in the sample that I read, so I believe that the rest of the book will be just as polished as the sample is. I really like how the author relates to couples that are going through similar things. I know couples that are dealing with crazy ex-partners, and with a book like this those couples will not have to feel so alone.

First Ten review added on October 11, 2019, at 11:32 pm by Kaitlyn Canedy.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Kelyn

741624
If I had not been a member of this program, it is doubtful that the title or cover would have led me to pick up this book. The genre (biography/memoir) would have actively steered me away from looking at it. The title, cover, and genre clearly mark it as a biography/memoir, and that is not one of my favored types of books. I am not familiar with the author, so that would not have influenced my decision. Reading the blurb and several of the positive customer reviews might have gotten me to give it a look since most of them were very positive, and the blurb made the book sound unique and sparked my interest slightly. As far as I could find, there was no review from this program to influence me either way. Reading the sample, I must admit, was fascinating. I was very intrigued by the way Anna's life caught Jennie in its web and just led her further and further in. Unfortunately, I had to deal with too many of my first husband's exes to make me want to read about someone going through the same thing. I've had enough first-hand experience myself to last a lifetime. Given this, I made the decision not to continue to read the book. The book seems to be well-edited. I found no errors in the sample.

First Ten review added on October 11, 2019, at 11:26 pm by Kelyn.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

CrescentMoon

56447
After reading the blurb, I don't think I could read this book. I don't typically read non-fiction and this seems to be just one side of the story so I don't like reading about how other people, especially the mother of her boyfriend's child, Anna, is a monster, without reading Anna's side and her point of view. That's the vibe I'm getting from the blurb and the reviews, so I already am not really on the author's side, so I don't really care to read her story. After reading the first ten pages, I spotted a few errors, mostly missing commas. "The other days I caught a look at her she had no makeup on..." there should be a comma after "her." In the same paragraph, "That day her hair was all curled..." there should be a comma after "day." I do think the writing overall is pretty entertaining and fun. I feel like the author is speaking to me like she would to a friend which definitely gives the book a more personal feel and like I'm part of her story. However, I just don't really sympathize with her and I don't want to read the rest.

First Ten review added on October 11, 2019, at 10:55 pm by CrescentMoon.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Juliet+1

1385689
Based on the title, the cover, and the OBC review, I was quite sure I would not be interested in reading this book. I find stories of marriage and divorce boring to begin with, and a woman writing about her husband's ex-wife adds an extra level of unpleasantness.

The first ten pages did not change my mind. I will not be reading the rest of the book because I found it to be even less appealing than expected. There is nothing wrong from a copy-editing point of view, but the writing style is extremely informal, and the author's tone is often angry and condescending.

I can't think of anything positive to say about this book. If it does become less hostile after the first ten pages, I would suggest that the opening scene be rewritten to match the rest of the book.

First Ten review added on October 11, 2019, at 10:55 pm by Juliet+1.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Nuel Ukah

1285770
If I had not actually sampled the first ten pages as part of this program, I would not have chosen to read or sample this book based on the cover page, title, and genre because it doesn't look appealing to me. I am going to buy and read the whole book because I'd like to know what would cause a woman to write about her husband's ex wife. Reading the first ten pages did not change my mind from my original guess, rather it inspired me to want to read the entire book.

Based on what I read, the book seems like it was professionally edited as I noticed no error. What I like most in the bit I read is Jillie's funny statements. What I know about the book is that it is based on the author's findings of her husband's ex. Although the bit I read makes me feel like the book is a product of anger or something like that. I didn't notice anything that could be improved in the bit I read. The book has an Official OnlineBookClub review, which affected my decision by providing a brief, detailed overview of the book.

First Ten review added on October 11, 2019, at 10:15 pm by Nuel Ukah.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!

LV2R

708077
The book cover and title are both OK, but I was not sure about reading the book. The Amazon Blurb included the author’s curiosity to find out who Anna O’Reilly was and dug into her past by interviewing Anna’s exes. The obsession of finding out about Anna was going down a path of destruction. I was not sure about reading the book because it sounded quite dangerous. In the first ten pages, the author described meeting Anna for the first time and gave Anna’s dysfunctional family upbringing. Description of Anna’s mother and her behaviors seemed to have helped to understand Anna’s behavior. I best liked how Jillie described Anna’s appearance when they first met. It was humorous the way she focused on Anna’s little teeth and thought of them as “dingy choppers” and that she could not stop staring at them. I think this showed the author’s attitude towards Anna from the start. Jillie had perfect, straight, and white teeth. It showed how people sometimes judge someone from just their teeth. The book may not be edited well, as I found a missing comma at location 11%: “You see, the last few times we went to do a “pickup” I looked out the window to catch a glimpse …” (… we went to do a “pickup,” I looked out the window…) There were unnecessary commas at location 37%: “… but it was more than she acquired in her first, and second, marriages.” (…in her first and second marriages.) The OBC review mentioned that Anna tried to sabotage Jason and Jillie’s marriage. Jillie received anonymous letters about Anna that made Jillie go on a hunt to search the background of Anna. Her findings will interest the police as they investigate a shocking crime. I do not want to read this book because I do not want to know all about Anna and her terrible background of divorces and deceiving people. I also do not like to read about child abuse, divorce, and infidelity. I prefer to think of better and happier things.

First Ten review added on October 11, 2019, at 9:23 pm by LV2R.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

gen_g

697597
I have come across a positive review of this book, and it has piqued my interest. There are a couple of errors present in the story: at 1% in the sample, there is a pronoun inconsistency. At first, the narrator mentions that she is remembering a particular woman's entrance into her life ("...since she made her grand entrance...") – "she" is a singular pronoun. However, just two sentences later, "them" is used (...waiting...pickup spot for them...") – this results in a lack of clarity. However, I like that the author has included a bit of humour in the first chapter, where the narrator's boyfriend's daughter (Casey) with his ex inadvertently revealed that her mother (the ex) had woken up early just to put on makeup in order to look good in front of her (the narrator). I would suggest that the author run the book through another round of editing, as well as to include line breaks in between paragraphs to facilitate ease of reading. However, as the errors are distracting, I will not be purchasing the book today.

First Ten review added on October 11, 2019, at 8:48 pm by gen_g.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

KendraRobinson

1312645
If I had not read the first ten pages of this book, I would have picked it up from the title alone. [i]The Biography of Her: The Story of My Husband's Ex Wife [/i] by Jillie Jayroe promises a drama packed memoir. The OBC review I had read confirmed this notion, promising even more drama than I had expected, including a crime.

The first ten pages begin with Jillie recalling the first time she had met "The Bitch", AKA Anna - her Husband's ex wife. It was not very pleasant to say the least!

I am curious to see how this book plays out and would be interested in reading the rest. I did not particularly like the condescending tone the author had towards Anna, but I am also super curious to see the drama unfold. I feel like this book would be like a train wreck - you just can't look away!

I also hadn't noticed any errors in the first ten pages, which is an added bonus!

I will be adding this one to my "to read" list

First Ten review added on October 11, 2019, at 8:16 pm by KendraRobinson.
Do you plan to read the whole book? Yes!

Brenda Creech

1236408
Seeing the title of this book gave me pause immediately. I didn't know how a present wife could be unbiased in writing a book about an ex-wife. I read the sample, which was more than the first ten pages, and I knew my instinct was correct. I read the review and realized I wasn't alone in my thinking. I found the story of Anna to have a judgemental tone. I do not think anyone else should tell a person's story for them. Especially a rival. I have to say I did not find anything I can say I liked the most in what I read. What I disliked most was the author's opinion of Anna's personal feelings. Only Anna could know what she felt inside. I felt the author saw herself as superior. Sounding judgemental and superior bothered me immensely. For those reasons, I will not be reading the book. The author took a memoir and made a page-turning novel out of it, which takes writing talent. However, it was at the expense of another person. The book is well-edited. I did not find any errors in the portion I read. I think the book could be improved by changing the tone and stating facts while leaving out personal opinions. Anyone who has been through a divorce knows there are two sides to every story. I love the book cover; it is eye-catching.

First Ten review added on October 11, 2019, at 7:33 pm by Brenda Creech.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Washboard

1305922
I don't read a lot of memoirs, but the title and cover art for this one are eye-catching. The official review also makes the book sound interesting. I didn't notice any errors in my reading, but I am not going to continue reading this one due to the author's tone when describing Anna. She was immediately condescending about Anna's physical appearance. I imagine that the reader would understand the animosity more after reading further, but as an introduction, it makes the author look like a very judgemental person. I am not sure I want to read something from the perspective of a judgemental person.

First Ten review added on October 11, 2019, at 6:59 pm by Washboard.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Emy Katherine

94929
I would not have read the book without The First Ten program. As I am not interested in reading non-fiction books, reading both the sample and the OBC review did not change my mind. The OBC reviewer also mentioned the book included heavy topics such as infidelity and child abuse, so I am more than sure this book is not for me. Throughout her book, Jillie Jayroe shares how she spent years investigating the mysterious and turbulent past of her husband's ex-wife, Anna. I liked the author's writing style; it was conversational, with a touch of humor thrown in. As I found several punctuation errors, I am not sure the book was professionally edited; they were mostly missing commas. For example, there should be a comma after "school" in the following sentence: "As soon as Anna graduated from high school she was out of the house and moved into an apartment." (location 174 of 414 • 42%)

First Ten review added on October 11, 2019, at 6:22 pm by Emy Katherine.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Kelsey Hatch

1296448
At first glance, I was intrigued by this book. I love stories about marriages and divorces. The first ten pages did not disappoint, though I agree with the review that the character "Anna" is painted in a terrible light. That is the part I disliked most about the book, as I feel Anna could have been portrayed more realistically and justly. If this is the author's intention, however, it certainly came across. The part I liked most was the realistic quality of the characters, especially during their introductions. I noticed no grammar or spelling errors in the first ten pages. I will not be reading this book as I was a bit put off by Anna's character; however, I will remember it for other members of my family who have been through multiple marriages and divorces.

First Ten review added on October 11, 2019, at 6:04 pm by Kelsey Hatch.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

cpru68

517613
The opening pages of this book introduce readers to the author who is in a relationship with a man named Jason, who has a daughter with another woman who he was married to at one time. They are meeting his ex-wife Anna so that Casey, their daughter, can have a visit. They usually meet at a mall, and he was waiting for his phone to ring when suddenly he realizes the two are approaching him and the author. The exchange is somewhat awkward as his ex-wife sizes up his girlfriend. The author notices that Anna's teeth are highly discolored, which leads her to suspect this woman has some drug addiction. Anna smiles angrily toward Jillie, the author, as the two of them try to make it through the exchange amicably. Jason referred to Anna as 'the bitch' because of her behavior towards him. Anna leaves in somewhat of a hurry after taking in Jillie's appearance and doesn't say goodbye to her daughter. They see her get in a car with her boyfriend, Kyle. She is jealous even though she said that Jillie was beautiful.
The story then switches to the author going into an account of Anna's life, starting with her parents lying about the birth of their son Lance, Anna's brother. The two were high school students when the pregnancy occurred, but they claimed otherwise. Anna was born after they got married. Then a third child came along. There were alcoholism and domestic issues from the onset.

I won't be finishing this book as I am not interested in reading about an ex-wife and marital issues at this time. I understand how this may be valuable to those who are coping with it, and even for those who are entering into a blended family experience. Neither of these situations applies to me as far as the drama of it. I think it will resonate with those who need some encouragement or feel understood. I do think the writing was professionally edited as I found no errors in punctuation, spelling, or grammar.

I appreciate the opportunity to have read the sample pages of this one, and I probably wouldn't have found it without the online book club. I will send it out on my social media for others to enjoy.

First Ten review added on October 11, 2019, at 5:05 pm by cpru68.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Theresa Moffitt

857578
I like the title and the cover of this book. I would have picked this book up based on the cover alone. I haven’t read a review of this book yet. The book tells the story of the main charActer’s boyfriend’s ex-wife. They meet to exchange custody of the child and eventually the girl and the ex-wife meet. It is not a pleasant experience. The ex-wife gets all dressed up in an effort to intimidate the girlfriend. It seems to be a difficult relationship. I didn’t see any errors in the first ten pages. I will not finish reading this book. It doesn’t seem like the type of book I would enjoy reading. The girlfriend makes insulting comments about the ex-wife, especially regarding her physical appearance. I will read a review And may change my mind based on that.

First Ten review added on October 11, 2019, at 4:33 pm by Theresa Moffitt.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Chelsy Scherba

75151
It’s very interesting to get the story of Anna, the ex-wife, from the perspective of Jillie, the current wife. Anna’s overdone meeting with Jillie was amusing because she tried hard to look her best, but all she could say was, “she’s beautiful!” in reference to Jillie and run away quickly. I liked learning about Anna’s mother Kay and her origins as a teen mom in a chaotic marriage. I’m curious to find out what Anna did to make the author so obsessed with her that she wrote a book about her. The review mentioned the author’s tone is sometimes lacking in sensitivity, so I’m curious to see if I’ll feel the same way. The editing looks exceptional with no noticeable errors. I like the title and I’m a fan of memoirs, so I’ll definitely consider reading more in the future, but I’m not in the market for one right this moment because the child abuse situations are not really my ideal cup of tea. I can’t think of any suggestions for improvement.

First Ten review added on October 11, 2019, at 3:43 pm by Chelsy Scherba.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

ab2020

1394440
The official OBC review of this book was positive, but I don't think I would have chosen to read it on my own simply because the subject matter is so unusual. I did not find any errors within the first ten pages, but I found the tone to be rather annoying and haughty. I didn't enjoy the narrator's air of selfishness, and I don't think I would gain much from the story if I continued reading. Even though this seems like a very unique story, I will not finish the book.

First Ten review added on October 11, 2019, at 3:13 pm by ab2020.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Laura Ungureanu

620179
The bride on the cover makes me think this is a cheese story. The review offered me key information about the plot and the characters, but I wouldn't have picked this book on my own. The sample tells about the day Jillie met her husband's ex-wife, Anna. Jillie was introduced by Anna and Jason's daughter, Casey. I already hate Anna just from the first pages. I'm sad that a child was involved in this adult quarrel. I wouldn't change anything about the sample, but the story of the obsessed ex-wife is not something that interests me. The sentence "The other days I caught a look at her she had no makeup on" should probably be separated by a comma or a full stop.

First Ten review added on October 11, 2019, at 3:11 pm by Laura Ungureanu.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

HRichards

741384
I normally wouldn't have picked this book up because the topic didn't really appeal to me. Having read the sample I won't be continuing on with the book since I didn't really like the story line. The sample deals with the narrator talking about meeting her boyfriend's ex for the first time when she's dropping off their daughter. The ex-wife is very hostile to her ex's new girlfriend and the narrator talks about how the ex-wife made life difficult for the boyfriend. The book appears to be well formatted and laid out, but I did notice a grammar error in the line "clenched dingy choppers" that needs a comma after "clenched". The story seems like it would be interesting for those who like to read about family drama. The tone did sound a bit harsh for those just picking the book up for a casual read. I read the OBC review for the book and still have the opinion that I probably wouldn't like the material much.

First Ten review added on October 11, 2019, at 2:29 pm by HRichards.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Erin Dydek

1322609
This book had an interesting title but I had a feeling I was not going to want to read about someone’s ex-wife. The first pages confirmed that for me. Jillie goes into detail about the ex’s teeth and hairstyle and how it looked like she did drugs or was a heavy smoker. The four-year-old daughter’s comments about her mommy getting up early were humorous but the author sounded a bit condescending about the ex. I don’t know the whole story so I won’t jump to any conclusions but I’m not interested in reading a book about the skeletons in Anna’s closet. The book seemed well edited but I won’t finish reading this one.

First Ten review added on October 11, 2019, at 1:57 pm by Erin Dydek.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Scerakor

45879
From the cover, blurb, and review of this book, I wouldn’t have read it. Memoirs like this, although likely interesting to read, aren't my cup of tea. After reading the first ten pages I didn’t change my mind and therefore will not be buying and reading the rest of this book. I liked how Anna's crazy nature came out early on. Hearing that she yelled at her husband about how she should have married someone that could have taken her someplace nice for her honeymoon is a great example. That being said, there's just not enough in a book like this, mostly focused on family drama, to keep me interested. I didn’t see anything specific that I would have wanted to change within the sample that I read, but it did seem well written and edited. The official review did not affect my decision at all.

First Ten review added on October 11, 2019, at 1:45 pm by Scerakor.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

gali

50066
I wouldn't have sampled the book on my own, as I don't read memoirs. I didn't change my mind after sampling the book. The blurb didn't appeal to me, and neither did the sample. A book about the life of the author's husband's ex-wife sounds too invasive, not to mention defamatory. The book is written in the first person, from the POV of Jilly. I find it odd that Jilly went to all that trouble to dig in Anna's past. Although Jilly wrote she was sorry for her, it sure didn't look that way. I didn't care for her attitude and patronized tone. Her remark about Anna's bad teeth made me wince. Frankly, both women sound obsessive, and I didn't care for either one. I liked the atmosphere of the meeting between the two women. The tension In the air was palpable. However, I didn't care for the style of writing or the tone. I noticed a missing comma in the following sentence: "As soon as Anna graduated from high school she was out of the house and moved into…"(Chapter 2). I won't buy and read the book, as it doesn’t appeal to me. The official review didn't sway my decision either way.

First Ten review added on October 11, 2019, at 1:24 pm by gali.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

CataclysmicKnight

67089
I'll admit, the subtitle of this book caught my attention. I was curious why a woman would write a story about his husband's ex-wife, so I probably would've looked into this even if it wasn't the book of the day.

So far it's hard to hate the woman in question. The author begins with the first time she truly met his ex-wife, which went about as smoothly as one might guess. But then the author dives into the ex-wife's history. This would be great later in the book once I've come to despise the woman (or at least see why the author has reason to despise her), but this early in the book it feels more spiteful and obsessive than anything.

I didn't notice any errors, and the author writes very well. If the book was free I'd read the rest of it sometime, but regardless of what any reviews might say I'm not interested in buying a copy.

First Ten review added on October 11, 2019, at 1:20 pm by CataclysmicKnight.
Do you plan to read the whole book? No

Total ~ 17%

The Biography of Her: The Story of My Husband's Ex Wife earned a score of 17%.

In other words, out of the top-level reviewers who read at least the first 10 pages of this book, 17% plan to read the whole book.

IMPORTANT: Any score over 10% is considered very good. And any score above 0% is acceptable.

Over a million books are published each year. Any given person could not even read .0001% of the books out there. This means readers have to be very selective. Even taking the time to look over reviews and blurbs, let alone read samples, is more time than most readers can afford for most books. The First Ten is a powerful focus group that addresses those issues. It creates a helpful tool for authors, publishers, and other readers.

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