I got my wife the google home device after her badgering me for weeks about getting an Alexa. I avoided the Amazon product as I don't want to open another avenue to my wallet. I do hope to later connect it to other smart devices to help me control my house, but this is not a priority.
She loves it for running timers while she is working on things in the kitchen. She also uses it for playing music while working on stuff. Her and the kids ask it about the weather every morning. The kids ask it to tell them jokes (and we get the same jokes over and over). All things we did before we got the device, but through other means. No great advance, but no great cost (money or privacy), and it solved the nagging wife problem.
We haven't had any issues with it. It understands all of us fairly well unless the kids fumble 14 extra words and pauses into their question so nobody knows what they are really asking. It also doesn't talk or act up while unattended.
Oh, and she uses it to discover my scrabble/bananagrams words are real words and she lost again.