Misery of His Unlove Wife review

First-impressions review: based on the free opening chapters (1–3) and the official synopsis. We will update the score once we have read further.

One thing first, because it matters more than anything else in this review: although CrushRead lists the language as English, the free chapters of Misery of His Unlove Wife are written in Tagalog, with English phrases mixed in (Taglish). If you do not read Tagalog, you will not be able to follow it. If you do, there is a sharp, very familiar marriage drama waiting for you.

An anniversary nobody else remembers

Chapter one opens on a burnt-out candle. Twelve days before Christmas, the narrator, Yuri Ann, has cooked her husband’s favourite seafood for their wedding anniversary, even though she is allergic to it and had to take an anti-allergy pill afterwards. By ten at night the food is cold and the housekeeper, Aling Susan, is asking whether to clear it away. Her husband, Zade Larzon Dela Merced, CEO of DELAMER’s Group of Company, is not coming.

She finds out where he is from the television. Her older sister Atasha is walking a fashion show runway, and the camera cuts to Zade in the audience. When Yuri calls, she watches him look at his phone on live TV and decline the call. It is a small, cruel detail and the best scene in the opening.

Two lines and a decision

The next morning brings dizziness, nausea and an untouched pack of sanitary pads. Zade has always told her he does not want a child with her and gives her contraceptives; she forgot, or chose not to, take them. A doctor confirms the pregnancy, and Yuri makes her choice on the spot: Zade does not need to know, and she will let him go.

Chapter two explains the marriage. Three years ago, on the night of Atasha and Zade’s engagement party, Yuri woke up in the guest room beside Zade with no memory of how she got there; his conservative parents had them married by a judge that same night, and the marriage was kept secret. Yuri overhears Atasha on a garden swing asking Zade when he will leave her, and Zade promising an annulment. At dinner with her cold mother, Natasha Montefalco, and her distant father, Gener, Yuri drops the meek act, takes off her glasses, calls out Atasha’s “expensive” secondhand gifts and asks Zade for a divorce in front of everyone.

His side of the story

A short switch to Zade’s point of view keeps him from being a cardboard villain. He blames Yuri for that night, believes the Montefalcos are kind parents, and is thrown by how different she suddenly seems, down to noticing her light brown eyes for the first time. Chapter three adds a lifeline: Yuri’s best friend Moira Sebastian, who waits outside the gate in a red car with fried tofu as a “just released from prison” joke, an apartment she found six months ago, and the news that Yuri’s paintings sold out at Moira’s mother’s gallery.

What could be better

The language is the big caveat for an English review site. Beyond that, the setup is very familiar (the favoured sister, the night she cannot remember, the secret pregnancy), and Atasha is pure villain so far. The narration also leans heavily on Yuri’s inner monologue about being unloved. We left the reader score off because there are only a handful of ratings so far, and the story is still ongoing at 423 chapters.

Who should read it

Tagalog readers who enjoy secret-pregnancy marriage dramas and a heroine who walks out before the husband realises what he had. English-only readers should skip this one.