I started this book with high hopes, but with a cast of extremely unlikeable characters and a story that wasn't a favorite, it was a disappointing read. With "best friends" like these who needs enemies. It was very hard to believe that their so called friendship would last for their ill fated first year of college, let alone for twenty additional years! There was something there since I kept turning the pages, just not enough.

I've been wrestling with myself since I finished this book, trying to determine if I liked it or not. To be honest, I'm still not sure! The writing was okay, the pacing was okay, the story unfolded... a bit slow for me but as the story progressed, I got why it started where it did. Sometimes just wanting to know what happened at the end keeps me turning pages.

It starts and ends with Kate. The rich co-ed paired with two unlikely women as roommates and then as... well, they call themselves friends, but I see so much deeper than that surface, base word. Kate would like to think that both women *want * to be friends with her (because who wouldn't want to be friends with the lovely Kate) but Aubrey at least uses her. Jenny is there to catch Kate, should she fall.

Throughout college, after the "incident at the bridge" and beyond, the girls maintain their roles in the friendship-- everyone protects Kate, Kate never has to take responsibility for anything, Jenny cleans up the mess. The characters are surface and a little bit stereotypical... like why does everyone worship Kate? She's a spoiled, selfish brat of a woman. Aubrey is self destructing and Jenny is pretentious do gooder know it all. Maybe they all needed each other and came together at the right moment in time.

When Kate returns from what I'll call a long hiatus, however, Aubrey is ready to assume her role... but Jenny isn't. She's powerful, now. They all have secrets now.

It's a wonderful moment to see the transition in Aubrey's long held love for Kate. How and why it changes, I'll not spoil but the set up is smart. Aubrey isn't the poor, dumb freshman girl anymore... and Kate will pay.

I admit that this book, the way it was reading, had me right up until the end. I thought the outcome was going to be very predictable and you know how I dislike predictable crime novels. I was ready to be very ho-hum about the ending... and then I got to that last page.

What a kicker.

It's Always the Husband read slower than I like, and I don't mind a slow burn, so long as I feel the plot trotting along. At times I felt like I was being given information that would have served me well from another vantage point. It wasn't a terrible read, however it's not one I'd clamor to read again.

2.5 stars

The title grabbed me from the get go, and I have to say that there was potential for a really good thriller here, but unfortunately it just didn't deliver.

Unsympathetic characters don't typically bother me, but these 3 'Whipple Trips' had my head spinning. The story revolves around these 3 characters from the time they met in college to their adult lives. The conundrum for me is were they supposed to be friends? I think that was the intention, but...
The author was a bit all over the place with how these 3 interacted. At times they were supportive, caring, protective. At other times they were manipulative, backstabbing, and selfish. I just never knew who to root for or who deserved my sympathy.

Then I have to address the plot. It wasn't bad. The problem was the pace at which it was told.
It wasn't until the half way mark that anything actually even happened to create some tension. The first half was all devoted to backstory, and it was just too much and took too long to get the story moving.

I had higher hopes for this one, but they all can't be 5 stars.

ARC provided by NetGalley

It’s Always the Husband was a page flippin’ contradiction for me. There were parts I loved and thought were clever and parts I hated. My feelings were similar to the traits and relationships of the characters themselves.

Aubrey, Kate, and Jenny come from different worlds, placed together as roommates in their first year of college. Looking forward to new starts and the best years of their lives, the trio forms an unlikely friendship despite the odds being against them. One girl is poor as dirt from the other side of the country, one is a middle class “townie” with high ambitions, and the other has friends in high places with the world bowing at her feet. The story switches perspectives from past perspective to present day, 20 years after the girls’ freshman year. It follows up with their married lives and their mysterious strained relationship from events happening in their early college days. As we delve into each character’s psyche at different times, we unearth new tidbits about their less than stellar friendship, despite the women still classifying themselves as best friends.

It is a challenge to review a book with such despicable characters. Each person within the pages was selfish, shallow, egotistic, and only involved with the others for the benefits they could reap from the friendship. Yet, the women loved each other deeply. I’ve probably never read of such flawed characters before! While the story featured some mundane hum-drum in the lives of the women, it was essential to understanding the dynamic between each character and was crafted perfectly. The characters are train wrecks, and despite my frustrations with them and the story being a bit slow for the first half, I kept chugging along to find out what disaster would befall them next.

Normally I enjoy a faster paced mystery, with more excitement and angst. I also rarely enjoy reading about the lives of rich people because their lifestyles do not appeal to me. However, I am glad I stuck it out for the ending of the book. My favorite part was being able to see the book’s title worked into the story. The “Who-Dunnit” conclusion piqued my interest more than I expected in the first half and I found the ending to be a bit of a shocking surprise.

As a contracting story would go, with equal measures of love and hate, I find myself on the fence about my feelings toward It’s Always the Husband. For that reason, I had to stay in the middle of the road and give this novel 3 of 5 stars. I didn’t love it or hate it, but found it interesting enough. I would still recommend this story to fans of this genre due to its unique story.

It’s Always the Husband is releasing on May 16th, so be sure to check this title out then!


Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for providing 5171 Miles Book Blog a copy to review for our readers!

This was a great murder mystery, unlike any I have ever read. Starts off with a death of a woman, whose identity isn't revealed until you get far deeper into the story. The deeper you go, the more suspects you find as well. This mystery keeps you guessing until the end. And just when you think you have been given the true killer's identity, it laughs at you, pointing and screaming "Guess again!"

This is a unique take on a mystery in the sense that it makes you become enamored with the three main characters, Aubrey, Jenny, and Kate. Then it reveals the victim, who had the most to gain from their death, and ultimately the real killer's identity. Highly, highly recommending this to any readers I come across in the future.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review. Wow! What a page turner.stop whatever you see doing and read this book!!!

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin'S Press for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of It'so Always the Husband by Michele Campbell.

Aubrey, Jenny and Kate met at Carlisle College their freshman year.. They were roommates. The girls come from very different backgrounds and have very different personalities. Kate is very wealthy, loves to party and has an outgoing personality. Her dad sits on the Board for the college. Aubrey has dreamt for years on attending Carlisle. She comes from a poor family, but she was fortunate enough to receive a scholarship. Jenny comes from a stable, hardworking family. She is studious and wants to achieve her goals.

Now fast forward twenty years later. The girls are married and some have families, but they have kept a secret since college. Life has brought them all back to live in this small college town.

This is a book about friendship, loyalty, marriage, adultery and murder. This book will keep you guessing to the end.

great read and easy to follow story line. look forward to reading more from this author.

Rich Girl, Good Girl, and Poor Girl, first meet when they are Freshman roommates at Carlisle College in New Hampshire.

It's "The Bermuda Triangle" ....Three-Way-Friendship!!!!!

College days are centered around drinking, drugs, sex, and frat parties.

The Trio girls -Kate, Jenny, and Aubrey - love them or loathe them - are a unique breed of sisterhood. When there are 'three' people in the mix, 'struggles-to-deal-with', become a whole new ballgame.
A TRIO- BFF - is the most complicated type of friendship bonding there is.
Someone often feels left out....or less than. There is usually some subtle competition and judgment. When a boyfriend is involved, things get more complicated. All these things are true for the 'Trio-Tribe', in "It's Always the Husband".
I don't think we ( the reader), are suppose to LOVE the Girls ---but it doesn't matter....it allows us to look at 'group-friendships' - community friendships -especially 3-way women friendships. I'd like to believe these friendships 'work'. I'd like to believe I have the maturity and skill to empower all my other friends -friendships......
but 'being human' ....a 3 way friendship does have challenges.
The author creates a microcosm scenario of the 3-way female friendship over a 20 year span -- from college days to marriage and the complexities of husbands.

Speaking of 'husbands' .... Fast forward 20 years later. The title of this book hints to
trouble in Paradise. AND things get interesting!!! The mystery keeps rolling!

Author Michele Campbell captures the destruction- and vulnerability of Kate, Jenny, and Aubrey through their differences: social status, secrets, lies, betrayal,
extended family situations, discrepancies, squabbles, corruption, and a couple of horrific tragedies.

Suspense & murder mystery - weave together with friends and perpetrators.
I didn't guess the ending!! So-- 'that' in itself was cool!!! I was definitely kept in the dark- the author had me guessing - and re-thinking my assumptions a few times.

My personal views on did I -- or did I not 'LIKE' the characters: I really don't think it mattered. Nobody pushed my buttons. I felt clear enough about myself. I didn't feel the need to change -fix - or control anything about any of the characters. Their characters brought texture.....and I was aware they were created 'with purpose'.
The entire story was plausibly imagined for me. I found this to be a fun page turning wild roller-coaster ride. A one-sitting triply-ride at that!!!

Bridge Under Trouble Water - ***SING ALONG***
"When you're weary, feeling small
When tears are in your eyes, I'll dry them all
I'm on your side, oh when times get rough
And friends just can't be found
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down". Simon & Garfunkle

Thank You St. Martin's Press, Netgalley, and Michele Campbell ( congrats on your first novel)!

This one definitely kept me turning the pages but I just didn't care enough about the characters to give it more than 3 stars.

It’s Always the Husband was a mystery, hailed as a book in the same vein of Lianne Morairty’s Big Little Lies. (Which I read and loved.) However, I’m sad to report that it was nothing like that novel. The characters in Moriarty’s book came alive and were likable in different ways, but Campbell’s characters did not hold the same charm. The characters felt flat and forced to me. I wanted to love it, but as the mystery unraveled I found that I just wasn’t invested in the story. If you enjoy a novel that keeps you guessing until the end you might like it. The ending was kind of shocking, but I think that was in part to an overabundance of missing information.

Recommend- No (I feel bad saying that, but I really wouldn’t)

I was of two minds about this novel. There were stretches of the book that I absolutely loved and couldn't wait to turn the page and there were stretches where the book felt more like a homework assignment rather than a page-turner. I feel like with a little more editing this book could have been an absolute homerun. That is not to say that this was an un-enjoyable story, I did indeed like it, I just wish that I was 'in love" with the book.

Kate, Jenny & Aubrey, although coming from very different backgrounds, become friends when they room together at college. After all, as Kate says, “They say your freshman roommates become your best friends for life”. But it soon becomes apparent that their friendship has serious flaws.

The book starts out promising with a well-written scene of an unsuspecting woman being led to a bridge and then being encouraged to commit suicide there. Then it switches to 22 years before when the three young women arrive on campus and first meet each other. I at first liked the girls but that soon started to unravel. I wasn’t really interested in their daily activities but something certainly did keep me turning those pages. The first half of the book, which covers the college years, seemed to read as a young adult novel, which I don’t personally care for. I thought that I would become more involved in the story when the second half of the book starts with the present day occurrences, but unfortunately by that time I didn’t really care enough about which one of them ends up on the bridge or who had led them there. I didn’t find the ending to be surprising.

But as I said, something kept me turning those pages to find out what happens so I’ll give this one my “It was okay” rating of three stars.

Loved this one. Kept thinking about it long after I finished it. The characters seemed both a caricature and very real at the same time. Almost like peeking behind the curtain at an outrageous celebrity. Highly recommend.

I would like to thank NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Michele Campbell, for the ARC or "It's Always the Husband" by Michele Campbell for my honest review.
The genres of this story are Women's Fiction, Fiction, Mystery and Suspense. The timeline of the story occurs within a 20 year period exploring the past and present.
The setting of the story is in a college and college town. This is where we meet the characters.
I find that the author describes the characters as complex, flawed and complicated. Kate, Jenny and Aubrey are introduced as three young college roommates. The three girls have different personalities, and come from different backgrounds.
Kate is extremely wealthy and on the one hand seems to feel entitled to many things. Kate's father is involved with the Board of the College. Kate is out-going, appears confident, loves partying, and breaking the rules. At other times, Kate seems very unhappy.
Jenny comes from a stable hardworking family, and is motivated to achieve success. Studious, staying on task
and achieving her goals her very important to Jenny.
Aubrey comes from extreme poverty and has been lucky to get a scholarship. The author portrays Aubrey as an insecure, innocent, lost and naive.
Somehow the three roommates become friends, and have ambivalent feelings towards one another. They do promise to be friends for life.
During their college years, there is a tragic event, which places stress on their relationships with further consequences. There are twists and turns and lots of tension.
Twenty years later, the three women have married. The author shows us how the characters have changed and shown growth, in good and bad ways. The women live near each other and stay in touch.
In this story there is loyalty and betrayal, jealousy, adultery, and murder. Of course any of the characters could be suspect. Somehow the police focus on the husband. "Is it always the husband?"
There is heightened suspense, and the ending is quite a surprise!! I certainly was caught off guard.
I would recommend this intriguing and suspenseful mystery.

Kate, Aubrey, and Jenny met in college when the three were paired together as roommates. The girls were as different as different can be but despite that they still formed a bond that has lasted into their adult lives. Bonded together all those years ago the trio could best be described as having a love hate relationship between them much of the time.

Now twenty years later the trio finds themselves back in the same town yet again with one of them standing on the edge of a bridge and someone else urging her to jump. Just how did things go this far and end up where it has? What secrets did the girls share that brought them to this place in there lives?

It’s Always the Husband is told switching the timeline back and forth between Kate, Aubrey, and Jenny meeting back in college and how their friendship forms along with what the girls endured during those years and now in the present with them coming back together. The three of them couldn’t be any more different from one another with one being the spoiled rich girl, one the local townie and then the other coming from a rough family background.

The story is one that I was on the fence throughout reading this book as to whether I was enjoying it or not. Quite honestly I never did really care for any of the three main characters at any point during the read, they’ve all got their issues and weren’t really appealing to me at all. There’s also some other issues like a sheriff that wasn’t a bit realistic and a few other things here and there I didn’t care for either. But that being said the story did rather engage me wanting to know was it the husband? Or even just what had happened in the past and present before it was revealed so I decided to rate this one right down the middle since I was still interested in answers while reading.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

If for no other reason, I think I decided to read this novel because of the title. It is a cliche that drew me in. What did the husband do? This is a novel about the three stratospheres of life in the USA: poor, middle class, and wealthy. Those economic classes are represented by three young women who gather, as freshman, at a prestigious college in New Hampshire (cue Dartmouth). The story is interesting, the girls are far from stereotypical in the development of their characters. Unfortunately, the rich girl, Kate, is a mean girl and Jenny, the townie whose parents own a hardware store, is super ambitious and kind of mean as well. Aubrey's mother is a Las Vegas waitress and her back story is truly sad.

Enjoy this novel with its twists and turns. Try to figure it out, I didn't, not even at the end when I was practically hit over the head with it.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and St. Martin's Press (May 16, 2017).

It's always the husband is a excellent book centred around 3 friends and a death. It flips between past and present in a way that keeps you gripped and guessing and really allows you to picture the characters. A well written book would def recommend!

I received a copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the twists and turns in this book. It is a hard review to write while trying to avoid spoilers. I want to be sure each reader gets to enjoy the thrill ride I had as well as the surprise ending.

If you like Liane Moriarty’s (Big Little Lies, Three Wishes and more) writing style you will enjoy this book. The beginning of the book starts at the end. Just like Liane Moriarty’s you don’t know who the characters are in the opening scene until you finish the book. I enjoy the guessing as the book goes on who were the opening characters.

My only negative comment:
The writing style wasn’t as seamless as Liane Moriarty. There were times I wasn’t sure which characters view point I was reading. Several times I felt the character’s decisions were unrealistic and for me some of those part dragged a little.

When you return to the character’s in their 40’s it is very fast paced. Characters from their earlier years reappear.

Overall this was a great book. Well written and lots of fun twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat. I would recommend this book.

If you liked Big Little LIes, Three Wishes, or Gone Girl you will like this book.

I actually enjoyed the idea of this story. It is interesting. However, I felt reading it that it was a little cluttered and muddled at times. There were some intriguing characters though and I thought that there were a few surprises that made an impact. I would read this author again.