Entertainment
The stars of Bravo's Real Housewives franchise are certainly known for being open books, and many of them have used that skill to write actual books. From serious memoirs to guilty pleasure beach reads, here are the books written by Real Housewives stars that are sure to be page-turners for fans of the Bravolebrities.
Of course, many of the women have gotten their writing published as a result of their reality show fame. In her typical no-nonsense fashion, Bethenny Frankel made no secret of putting a spotlight on Naturally Thin, the diet book she was working on before The Real Housewives of New York City premiered in 2008. “It’s not that easy to get on television, and I’m writing this book, and I can use it as a platform,” she said in 2015, according to The New Yorker.
Others, like her fellow NYC cast mate Carole Radziwill, were successful writers prior to Housewife fame. An Emmy-winning journalist at ABC News, she left her job to write her best-selling memoir about her late husband Anthony Radziwill, What Remains: A Memoir of Faith, Friendship, and Love in 2000 — 11 years before joining the Bravo hit. Side note: The book jacket even boasted a seal of approval from Oprah Winfrey herself, who called her tome "stunning."
While not all of our lives are filled with diamonds and rosé, taking a page from Lisa Vanderpump's lifestyle book may help readers get somewhere close. And then there are juicy memoirs like Teresa Giudice's post-prison effort that take you behind the scenes of all the juicy tabloid stories. So go ahead and pour yourself a glass of wine and crack open a book from this Housewives reading list.
1'A Place of Yes: 10 Rules for Getting Everything You Want Out of Life' by Bethenny Frankel
If there's anyone who's living her best life, it's the Skinnygirl founder — and New York Times best-selling author — whose multi-million dollar business only continues to grow. In her personal, tell-it-like-it-is 2011 how-to guide, the business mogul aims readers to also "B" their best selves.
2'Rinnavation: Getting Your Best Life Ever' by Lisa Rinna
Rinna has described her 2009 tome as being about "my spirituality, my search for happiness, my sexuality, my motherhood, my marriage. Everything.” Eleven years after it's publication, it once again made headlines when the former soap star's 19-year-old daughter Delilah admitted to getting bedroom tips from what she described as her mom's "sex book" on the most recent season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
3'Turning the Tables: From Housewife to Inmate and Back Again' by Teresa Giudice
From flipping tables to turning them, Giudice took a break from sharing "ingredients-es" in her successful Italian cookbooks to recount her 11-month stint in federal prison in this 2016 non-fiction bestseller.
4'Never Make the Same Mistake Twice: Lessons on Love and Life Learned the Hard Way' by Nene Leakes
She may have married the same man twice, but The Real Housewives of Atlanta star is still highly qualified to spill the tea, as well as her tips for keeping life peachy in the memoir she published in 2011. Bloop!
5'Pretty Mess' by Erika Jayne
Beneath her exterior which some cast mates — *cough* Dorit — have called cold (that's not ice, those are diamonds) the dance chart-topping singer gets raw in her 2018 memoir about everything from her painful estrangement from her father and her "XXpen$ive" lifestyle.
6'The Widow's Guide to Sex and Dating: A Novel' by Carole Radziwill
Following the success of her memoir, Radziwill went the fictional route in 2015 with a more tongue-in-cheek comedic take on the tragedy. Her debut novel even won the approval of Sex and the City scribe Candace Bushnell.
7'Simply Divine: A Guide to Easy, Elegant, and Affordable Entertaining' by Lisa Vanderpump
Vanderpump's Beverly Hills darlings can learn how to throw shee-shee-shee soirees worthy of LVP with an assist from her 2012 affordable entertaining guide. Fair warning: expect lots of pink color schemes.
8'Love Italian Style: The Secrets of My Hot and Happy Marriage' by Melissa Gorga
Real Housewives of New Jersey fans are well aware that Gorga and husband Joe have no problem keeping their marriage spicy. In 2013, she penned a guide to help readers achieve the same heat level, along with providing a hilarious helping of her hubby's "joe-ments."
9'Class with the Countess: How to Live with Elegance and Flair' by LuAnn de Lesseps
Money may not be able to buy you class, but it can buy you a book about it, courtesy of The Real Housewives of New York City's (former?) Countess. After reading her 2009 book, fans can shed that feeling of being "all, like, uncool" in record time.
10'Let's Talk Money: Women's Guide to a Lifetime of Wealth' by Vicki Gunvalson and Dennis M. Postema
The OG of the O.C. has built a successful business and aimed to help other women follow suit with her 2014 financial guide. She was also quick to whoop it up when the book hit No. 1 on Amazon's best-seller list.
11'Wives, Fiancées, and Side-Chicks of Hotlanta' by Shereé Whitfield
Truth may be stranger than fiction, but Atlanta's Whitfield sure gave Housewives drama a run for its money in her delicious delicious 2017 novel about one women trying to keep up with with the Joneses and stay afloat among a group of backstabbing frenemies in Atlanta. Hm, sound familiar?
So Real Housewives fans should definitely add these books to their reading list, pronto.
