** spoiler alert ** 
 When I first started this book I'll admit that much like other reviewers, I had a hard time separating this from The Handmaid's Tale. The books share some similarities, but where THT treated the idea of multiple women as brood mares for rich men in a realistic tone, Wither sugarcoats much of the drama. 
 The book does eventually pick up speed & become unique enough to where I was able to see it as its own story, which is a very good thing. I have to say that despite Rhine being the main character, I was more intrigued by her sister-wives Jenna & Cecily. They were far more flawed & therefore, more developed in the character departments. Rhine mopes & pines, but it's Jenna who gives her the occasional kick in the pants Rhine needs to stay with her dream of escaping their gilded cage. Cecily was interesting because despite her youth & eagerness to jump into the sister-wife lifestyle, she's ultimately only a 14 year old girl & subject to the naivety & other foibles of being so young. In many cases Rhine was just "there" while everyone else's character unfolded around her. I can't help but hope that we see some of the sister-wives in the next book. (Can't get anymore specific without posting a spoiler.) 
 My only other big gripe is spoilery, so if you don't want to know this part then please don't finish this paragraph & just skip straight to the end. I got really irritated with the book's ability to keep Rhine from actually consummating her marriage. She lives in a world where women are stolen & forced to become brides. Where women who aren't chosen get shot in the head & people who go against the big bads find death in one form or another. You'd think that eventually Rhine would have had to sleep with her husband or risk herself or someone else falling prey to an "accident". Even if you count in the "looks much like Rose" plot point, that's still not all that realistic. If the book hadn't already strove to make the world a gritty post-apocalyptic one, I'd have ignored this but DeStefano goes to great lengths to emphasize this. I just found it ridiculous that Rhine & Gabriel didn't get hurt or killed for their relationship or Rhine's constant refusal of Linden's physical affections. Housemaster Vaughn had killed his own infant grandson in order to punish Rose for trying to escape, so I can't really understand why Gabriel managed to avoid being killed. After all, at several points in the book it's shown that if not for him, she'd probably have fallen for Linden & bedded him by this point. (Maybe not the same kind of love as she had for Gabriel, but enough for her to get by.) 
 Final Diagnosis: The book is easy to get into & I have no doubt that this will probably be well loved by many people, especially ones who haven't already read The Handmaid's Tale. 
 (ARC provided by Amazon Vine)