Romance isn't my usual go-to genre however I do like it as a palette cleanser from time to time and find it a really fun read around the holidays. When the publisher offered me a chance to read and review The Husband Material, I didn't put much thought into it and took a chance. Well, I can firmly say it was a chance that paid off.

Charlotte Rosen is nearing 30 and her career is really taking off. She loves numbers and analyzing things and just happens to have a job at one of the biggest social media firms in California. However, she also has a big secret - she has been a widow for the past five years. Charlotte is trying to find the perfect man using her pilot dating app when her husband's ashes show up on her doorstep. This new development sends Char reeling and she finds herself turning to people she shut out of her life years ago. But who knows what she will discover along the way.

I really loved the fact that this book was not all about insta-love. In fact, Char has been celibate since her husband's death. Yet she is still looking for her happily ever after. The Husband Material has a wonderful cast of side characters. Char's Gothic roommate is a treat and forces Char to do things outside of her comfort zone. Her boss Zareen is a typical boss with a soft side and Brian, Char's husband's best friend and new doctor, is cute and complicated.

So basically The Husband Material contained a lot more plot than I anticipated when I began. Char shows some great character development and I never found the plot predictable. It also contains the cutest flashback marriage proposal ever! Hint, it involves an adorable dog named Leno. If you are looking for a romance with more, then give The Husband Material a go!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Husband Material by Emily Belden will be a well loved book for anyone that is a fan of the rom-com genre! Charolette is living a great life in LA, she has a great job, a roommate who doesn't bother her, and uses her numbers-driven brain to develop the ultimate dating app to find her perfect match. However, Charolette has been hiding a very big secret; she has been a widow for 5 years. Suddenly, when the ashes of her husband show up at her front door along with her husband's best friend, Brian, she has to bring her past into the present.

This book was really cute. I thought Emily Belden did a great job of not making this your bread and butter rom-com. She really focused on the difficulties Charolette was going through and brought to light difficult topics such as mental health, grieving, and finding love/connections in the present time while still making it a humorous and fun read. This was a great read to start the year. I highly recommended for anyone who needs a quick, fun read (it is the perfect beach read)!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

Husband Material wasn't a bad read, but a book that should have been finished in one sitting has been lingering for two weeks. There was nothing that compelled me to pick it up and continue, when I was reading I was easily pulled away. I came across a spoiler in another review and while I'm curious to see how THAT all plays out, I'm not curious enough to continue the book.

Charlotte thinks she's moving on with her life after her husband's sudden death, but she finds out that in reality, there's a whole lot she doesn't know and her journey isn't quite over.

That's the story in a nutshell.

I did enjoy this book very much. More women's fiction than romance (although there are elements of romance), I was captured by this story and couldn't put it down. Inhaled it. I have to give Emily Belden kudos for a story that could have been a very tear-y read. She kept things positive and enlightening for Charlotte. I really liked that about it.

I'll be looking for more titles from this author in the future.

A complimentary copy was provided for review.

Emily Belden's first novel, Hot Mess, appealed to me because it was set in the restaurant world, and my husband and I owned a restaurant at one time. Her interesting characters and sharp writing style (which had lots of clever lines that made me laugh out loud) hooked me right away.



I was pleased to see that she has a new novel, Husband Material. Her new protagonist Charlotte, who works in analytics for a social media influencers company, is hiding something from her roommate and coworkers: Charlotte lost her husband five years ago when he died of a sudden stroke.



Charlotte is working on a new dating app that analyzes a person's social media posts and history to predict if the person is the perfect match. It gives her stats on how likely a second date would be, how likely they would be to marry, and how likely they would be to divorce. She has been trying it out on herself, but to no avail. Her Tinder dates haven't gone any better.



She brings a disastrous first date to her best friend's wedding, a setup by her best friend. He looks like a contestant from The Bachelor, and unfortunately he acts like one too, or as she puts it "he reminds me of a guy who gets sent home on night one of The Bachelor." Charlotte is so appalled by his comments and behavior, she asks him to leave before dinner is served.



When she returns home from the wedding, a package is waiting for her. The mausoleum where her husband Decker's ashes resided burned during a wildfire, and now the urn with his ashes are in her apartment. A letter accompanying the urn states that the company is no longer in business and she may do what she wishes with them.



This throws Charlotte for a loop, and brings back people into her life she hasn't seen since her husband died. Charlotte goes to the home of her former mother-in-law, a wealthy woman who has no love lost for Charlotte since she blames Charlotte for her son's death.



Charlotte also reconnects with her husband's best friend Brian, now a pediatrician. Brian offers to help her find another resting place for Decker's ashes, and then asks her if she'd like to go to a baseball game with him.



Husband Material contains the interesting characters and sharp wit seen in Hot Mess. (I wonder if her next novel's title will be two words beginning with H and M?) Brian's fancy car has air vents that can be customized to release scents like "freshly baked waffles", and Charlotte lamenting that her "aerobic capability caps at power walking to my Ubers before I get charged the late fee" are two examples of her wit.



While it would have been easy to make the mother-in-law strictly a Wicked Witch of the West character, a plot twist near the end shows a different shade. The plot twist is one I didn't see coming, and it certainly throws a interesting curveball.



Emily Belden's second novel Husband Material is even better than her first. I liked that it's not strictly a romance, it's more a story about Charlotte facing her future by dealing with her past. I highly recommend it.

This was a sweet, thought provoking story that I really wanted to love more than I did. Following the aftermath of her husband's death, the story focuses on Charlotte and how she is dealing with life after becoming a widow at such a young age. We pick up 5 years after her husband's passing, when his urn appears on her doorstep out of the blue and all the progress she felt she has made in processing it all suddenly starts to crumple.
We are introduced to a wide array of characters from her quirky roommate, the mother in law that she clashes with, and her husbands best friend, Brian. I felt the story started out pretty strong but sort've lost steam as the storyline progressed. I really wanted to be on board with the whole relationship between Charlotte and Brian but I just didn't feel that spark between the two. There were dashes of humor sprinkled throughout this otherwise quite serious read. It was not a terrible story, in fact I was intrigued the whole way through it just fell flat for me once I was all finished with it. I really liked Charlotte and thought she was such a strong, snarky main character who had to go through such a terrible thing and came out the other end stronger. I'm giving it 3 out of 5 stars.

This was such a cute rom-com and I enjoyed it. This was great for beach reading and and I was quickly taken in by the story. It was a quick, light read and the characters captured me.
Many thanks to Harlequin-Graydon Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Sometimes the past can come back to haunt you unexpectedly, which is undoubtedly the case for Charlotte. Faced with both the choices she made in the past and new decisions that arise, she handles it….okay. I thought the author kept the plot moving at a decent pace while allowing Charlotte to grow and come to terms with events both past, and present. A little twist of mystery adds some intrigue. All in all, it was an interesting story of personal growth with a bit of romance thrown in. For more thoughts, please visit my blog at Fireflies and Free Kicks Fiction Reviews. This review was written based on a pre-release, digital ARC of the book.

3.5
I think book had a lot of potential to be an amazing emotional book. It just feel short for me. I thought it was ok but I didn’t love it. There was a plot twist in the book and it just didn’t work for me. There was some romance in it but I felt like it wasn’t needed. I feel like all the pieces of the book just didn’t click for me. However, I liked how she took a chance and was able to have a lot character development throughout the book.

This is my first book by Emily Belden, and right away I knew I liked her writing. Her main character Charlotte has a quirky kind of snark about her that is right in my “I love you, we should be BFFs” zone.

Charlotte works at a social media company that specializes in bringing couples together using the beloved “algorithm” (we are all familiar with that wonderful thing, the use of that word throughout this book just cracked me up). But Charlotte doesn’t seem to have much luck with relationships on her own, either. She is only in her 20’s and has lost her husband 5 years ago. When his ashes suddenly arrive on her doorstep unexpectedly, it causes her to have to “man up” and finally face her past and the emotions she has been struggling so hard to move on from for so long.

This wonderful romcom was a quirky way for the author to address the serious topic of grief and the loss of a partner, and I really enjoyed it. Talking about grief and loss and finding a way to move on is not an easy topic, and there is no way better (in my opinion) than to grab a laugh out loud kind of romance with a snarky protagonist to help make the heaviness of the subject matter land a little softer. I think Emily Belden did a brilliant job with this book, taking on more of a serious topic, reminding us that romance doesn’t always give us the Tom Hanks ending we want. There is a great cast of characters and a ton of stuff all of us can relate to. I truly enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading more of Emily’s previous and upcoming books. 4 Star read.

Thank you so much to Emily Belden, Harlequin Blog Tours, and Graydon House  Books for a gifted copy of this book for my honest and unbiased opinion.

I read Eighty-Sixed from Emily Belden years ago and it made me want to read all her books, so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to read Husband Material. I ended up giving the book three stars. I liked it and it had some really great moments, but I felt like it took awhile to get into it or for things to happen. I struggled a little bit with it and it wasn’t what I expected it was going to be. That doesn’t mean it was bad book though, because I did like it and I really liked the characters. Charlotte had to navigate life the best she could after losing her husband. She battled with her own demons and guilt in regards to that and things from her past resurfacing. There were a couple little things that I didn’t see coming, so that was a plus. I’m glad it wasn’t too predictable. While I didn’t love Husband Material, I did enjoy it. I would still recommend checking it out.

Husband Material by Emily Belden was such a sweet read. The writing is lighthearted and charming, and the story of Charlotte, the MC, is both touching and humorous. On the surface, Charlotte is a single, successful social media analyst, busy trying to develop a brand new dating app. Looking at her, you'd think - besides her kooky Craigslist roommate - she's the girl that's got it all together. But Charlotte is harboring a painful secret: she's a widow. It's not something she's shared with anyone and tries not to think about, but when her late husband's ashes arrive out of nowhere on her doorstep one day, Charlotte's carefully cultivated veneer begins to spiral out of her control. Now, she has to face the pain and guilt she's been running from, as well as the reappearance of her late husband's angry mother and his best friend. A best friend that comes with even more secrets, ones that make her question her entire marriage. Husband Material, at its heart, is a story about the pain of grief and the bittersweet beauty that comes with allowing new beginnings to bloom in your life. It's about love and forgiveness, about learning to open your heart, and take risks. All in all, Husband Material has tons of heart, and you will fall in love with - and laugh out loud at - Charlotte and her antics!

* I was provided an eARC copy of this book by Harlequin and Netgalley (thank-you!). All opinions expressed are voluntary and my own.*

Husband Material is a cute, refreshing read about a young widow who needed to get out of her world of numbers, stop hiding from the past and start living life on a whim. After an unexpected chain of events, will her life turn around?  A must read for fans of rom com novels!!

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing, Netgalley, and Graydon Books for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.

Sorry for the mix-up earlier fam. Spending hours in the ER and totally spacing on making sure I had this review up the right way was not on the priority list unfortunately, but here we are, and thanks for the early likes!

So this book pretty much broke my heart because I personally couldn’t imagine losing my husband like that. Even in general, I don’t know if I could imagine having to deal with my husband dying and then having to deal with the aftermath. So low and behold my true feelings when I read more about Charlotte trying to move forward in her life, and doing a very good job at it, if I do say so myself.

And she’s such a young widow too. It’s not common to have storylines about late twenty-year old widows, and while this immediately makes me think about young military widows – ha, my husband is in the military so that is a constant fear of mine whenever he has to go out to sea – I know that it’s not always the case. I also felt a certain type of way that she totally immerses herself into risk-analytics to try to make sure that she doesn’t take any negative risks in her life ever again. How sad is that though when you think about it? But if I was smart enough to calculate that too, I know I would do the same thing.

Charlotte even handles things better than I do because I don’t know if I would be able to handle having any memories of my late husband around me, mostly his mother or his best friend. It would just be too painful, and honestly I don’t know if I could even bring up the courage to talk to them ever again. I know their pain would probably be worse than mine, but still. Just don’t know if I could do it.

But despite some of the tears that this book brought up for me, there were moments of happiness, some silliness, and it gave me some sort of hope that Charlotte would be okay no matter what. Grief is a process and I think that this may be a part of getting through it.

The title of this book is extremely misleading - and at the same time, bitterly honest. Charlotte was widowed suddenly at 25 and has spent the last five years trying to get her life back in order. After her husband's death, she effectively packed up her old life and condensed it down to one small box. She has picked herself up and started down and entirely new and pretty successful path, career-wise, but it becomes readily apparent that emotionally she is frozen in place.

This book is very emotional and is much more a story about grief and the grieving process than a romantic comedy or romance. Don't get me wrong, there are some extremely funny moments and there is romance, but it is strongly tempered with a dose of cold reality and sadness. The characters are all real and very much growing and changing throughout the book - although most of the events take place within a two week period (with reference back in time).

Emily Belden wrote this book so beautifully. It is rare where you can read a book and see the characters so honestly - perhaps more honestly than they even realize themselves. Without apology or vowing to "change."
I also loved how Charlotte acknowledged the changes in others that had occurred over time, while she was in self-imposed lock-down. Initially she couldn't see them - and was stuck in the past, feeling that the people she was with at the time her husband died hadn't changed a bit in the last five years - but as she opens her eyes to the world around her again, she becomes open to the changes in others as well.

I highly recommend thank you make this a priority to read in 2020! Loved it!

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, but these opinion are all my own!

This was an interesting, poignantly humorous examination of the grief of a young widow and how she copes with the loss of her beloved husband at a young age. If you’re given to tears when reading, this is potentially a tear jerker, not because it’s unrelenting sad, but because it’s deeply emotional.

The premise is that five years ago, Charlotte lost her husband suddenly and it felt like her life spun out of control, through computer coding, she felt like she got some sort of control back and now she feels compelled to code and control everything which makes for much drama when her husband’s remains come back to her and she’s forced to realize that some things are and will always be outside your control.

This book definitely definitely falls into the “women’s fiction” category rather than romance. There is a very minor romantic thread in this but it’s not at all central to the story or the point of the plot. The heroine is not the most likable, but because of her experience and the fact that everyone deals with grief in different ways, it is easy to excuse her and cut her some slack for being not the greatest person and being somewhat hypercritical of others when she has her own flaws. Overall, I enjoyed reading this. It’s not a page turner and it has a tendency to drag a bit, but it was all in all enjoyable. Not everything has to be exciting and fast paced, sometimes you just want a gently humourous, deeply emotional story to fit your mood. I recommend this to people looking for women’s fiction dealing with grief but also want anyone who might be triggered by grief or loss to be aware that it IS central to the plot so proceed with caution.

I started to read this book, but wasn't into the storyline. It didn't draw me in right away, so I'm not continuing with it.

Absolutely stunning! I zipped through this one and loved every minute of this fabulous story with amazing characters and a topic that could go so wrong but in the hands of this author everything goes right. I read that this book was categorized as Chick Lit (not my favorite genre) but it's not. There's light to balance and the dark, and humor to offset the heartbreak. I fell in love with these characters and the writing pulled me in until I felt every up and down of Charlotte's journey through her grief to her happy ending. This is my first read by this author and I immediately bought another one of her books when I finished this one. Her writing is mesmerizing with uniquely complex characters and a storyline with all the feels when a young widow is catapulted into the past as she's trying to move forward and date again. Lots of laughs with that whole ordeal! I loved the way Charlotte divided her life into the Before and After and was successful in keeping the two separated until her husband's ashes makes an unexpected appearance. That one event opened old wounds, lead to a couple of twists that were shocking and provided several hilarious moments in the story. I laughed and cried and cheered for Charlotte as she finally worked her way past her grief with the help of an old friend to find love again. Her love interest was fairly obvious but their backstory was heart wrenching as it unfolds in flashbacks. The romance was wonderfully sweet and sexy and a lovely part of the story. I read a lot of books and this is one of my favorites. A must read! I voluntarily reviewed an ARC.

I loved the opening to this novel even if I did drag on a bit. I had to push through to get to the meat of the story but once there I was delighted. I thought the representation of a young window grieving was spot on and necessary in the genre, however I would use caution when recommending this because of that.

Favorite Quotes:

She’s wearing a size XL Slayer T-shirt as a dress with a choke chain and Dr. Martens combat boots. The cool thing about Los Angeles is that one man’s freak show is another’s fashion icon.

“Hey, can you hand me scissors from the junk drawer?” Casey instead pulls a switchblade from her bra and cocks it open with the flick of her finger. They must not happen often, but I can tell she lives for moments like this.

Not a single inch of her body jiggles, especially not her fake double Ds. That’s the difference between a New York girl like myself and an LA chick like Gemma. My closet has Spanx, hers does not.

He’s my late husband’s friend. Widow Code would say it’s a lane I should never swim in—even though I kind of cannonballed it once before.


My Review:

I struggled with this one a bit as the first person POV narrative was stuffed to bursting with observations and references to popular social trends, fashion, celebrities, text-speak acronyms, etc. I most likely would have gotten considerably more out of the tale if I were up to date on the cutting edge and viral influences, but alas, much of Ms. Belden’s cleverness sailed right over my unbleached head as I am long past the hip, chic, or cool brands and labels stage and have well and fully eased into the softly textured, comfortable, stiletto-free and gentle lifestyle that I plan to continue to indulge in between middle-age and the dirt-nap. However, I understood the intent even though I was unfamiliar with much of the what or the who she was inferring half the time.

I also found it a rather arduous undertaking to fully appreciate the main character of Charlotte, as she was rather obnoxiously self-involved, driven and fraught with tension. Charlotte’s narrative frequently seemed to spin with a negative frenetic energy that kept me on edge, yet I couldn’t quit on her, as despite my lack of ease with Charlotte’s selfishness, and my ignorance of the current icons of popular culture, Ms. Belden’s storylines hooked me while her wit and snarky humor reeled me in and kept a smirk on my face. I was intrigued and needed to know the full story while hoping I wasn’t heeding a siren's call that was luring me to meet my demise on the rocks… I’ve been fooled before.

I am glad I stuck with it as Charlotte’s tale was worth the effort as she finally retrieved her cranium from the dark recesses of her colon, gained some insight, and redeemed herself from her cold, uninvolved, and binary thinking. I enjoyed her epiphanies and evolution, although I was holding my breath for her HEA as I would have been stamping my little foot and creating new expletives for Ms. Belden had she not given her one.