The Mistresses's Revenge!!

So I just read this book, "The Mistresses's Revenge: A Novel" by Tamar Cohen.
I feel like the cover for this should have depicted heaving bosoms (a woman's, preferably), said woman looking sinister and potentially very very angry indeed, a sword and a swarthy looking man.
As I bought this on my kindle for 13.68 US Dollars (I was robbed) I obviously had no idea what the cover looked like. But then I can say (smugly) that I am not one for judging a book by its cover. So I've just gone and looked the cover up online and it's of some wilting roses..I see. Profound.

The fact that I spent the first paragraph of a book review (yes, that's what this is, I'm surprised too, believe me but we're here now so lets go with it) talking about what potential covers this book could have had should alert you to the fact that it won't be making the list of my all time favourites. I should say that I got this book because a magazine I read (struggling to remember the name of said magazine) had an article about great female writers, and because authors I really love, including Zadie Smith, the Bronte sisters (not you Anne, sorry) and Sarah Waters made the list, I said I'd give this Tamar Cohen a go.
It took me a while to get into this one, I kept getting distracted by shiny things but I also didn't find it hugely interesting until I was reaching the actual end of the book.

Generally I find myself drawn to dark books so it was probably no surprise I ended up reading the story (written in the first person through a journal) of a scorned woman's misery and evolving pyschological breakdown after the man she's been having an affair with for five years dumps her rather carelessly and unexpectedly. As for her revenge..well, lets just say I wasn't overly impressed. I was expecting something a bit more spectacular or at least a bit more...revenge-tastic, given the book's title. One thing I also noticed as I was reading it is that all the female characters are completely unlikeable, including the main character. At first I thought Tamar Cohen was some sort of awful female mysogynist but then it also occurred to me that all the male characters are horrible too, literally there are no characters with any redeeming qualities in this entire book. If that's your thing, then go for it. I'm now gladly moving on to something a bit more entertaining and less bleak and depressing. Hurrah!