I feel like I am a bit biased. I’ve been following Brian since he began his RH reviews. I didn’t even watch any RH until around three years ago, and while it’s enjoyable, I enjoy Brian’s reviews more.

This book was insightful! I learned a lot of the background, and it was a quick read. Now, to finish the rest of the RH Franchises! ( )

A quick and interesting read about the monster that is the ‘Real Housewives’ franchises on Bravo TV. I halfheartedly watch two of the shows and found it a quick read filled with interesting tidbits. It is not a ‘tell all’ about the casts in any way, as a prior reviewer mentioned Bravo really puts a clamp down on who can talk about the show and what they say.

How it cale about and the community of fellow fans is discussed at length.

This is not a book where you will learn how to save the world or great literature but it was page turning light reading for someone with some familiarity with the shows. It raised some interesting points, why is it generally a female experience and why is it scoffed at as a guilty pleasure as opposed to men who religiously watch sports? ( )

The Housewives is a must-read for any die-hard Real Housewives fan – even if you don’t watch all of the cities. I “only” watch Orange County, Beverly Hills and Salt Lake City. And my summer project is binging RHONY – I just started season six so I have a long way to go. I’m powering through though! Anyway, even though I haven’t watched all of the cities, I still enjoyed this book a lot.

It’s important to know that The Housewives is a behind-the-scenes look at the franchises themselves and to some extent Bravo as a network. There is not much scoop on individual housewives’ personal lives off-camera. However, that didn’t bother me at all. Sure, I love dirt but I’m also fascinated by the inner workings of the shows. Especially since Bravo is notoriously secretive about how Housewives works. This book finally answers everyone’s number one question, “Who pays for the trips??”

Bravo’s extreme concern about keeping everything confidential is one of the reasons this book doesn’t have more scoop on the housewives themselves. The author says that when he told them he was writing this book, instead of helping him like he was hoping, Bravo told all current and past housewives not to talk to him under any circumstances. Luckily, not everyone followed instructions. Also, Brian got plenty of former production staffers to talk to him and they provided some great stories.

I listened to the audiobook, which is read by the author. His delivery is a little stilted but once I got used to his style, I was hooked. He is a super-fan and clearly loves the shows, but he is delightfully snarky about them at the same time. I especially loved the chapter about when he went on a retreat that Vickie Gunvalson (of RHOC) put on in Puerto Vallarta. He whooped it up with Vickie!

Towards the end, he discusses some of the academic research that has been done about the Real Housewives phenomenon. Yes, academics are studying the show and writing serious papers about it! It turns out some benefits of watching it have been found. If you feel at all guilty about being a fan, this book will make you feel better about it. Recommended for Real Housewives fans everywhere. ( )