First off, this would make for a fantastic book club selection. So much for the ladies to talk about!
.
Nora and her husband Hayden are looking for a bigger home to accommodate their growing family. They attend an open house in a neighborhood that Nora immediately is drawn to but Hayden is on the fence. As Nora get involved with the ladies of the HOA she is taken in with how accomplished they are and how perfect their marriages seem. Nora and Hayden are struggling with work/life balance and Nora is desperate for help. The ladies of the neighborhood are very eager to help and Nora is sucked in. Anyway, things are definitely not as they seem.
.
There isn’t much more I can say without major spoilers. The book is a little dark and doesn’t have the most satisfactory ending. Nora’s life is better off but not everyone gets what they deserve. The struggles Nora has trying to do absolutely everything while facing tremendous gender discrimination was interesting. I can’t say eye opening because it’s not.
.
I really enjoyed the book. It’s mysterious, a little creepy, and relatable. Thanks to @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for an advanced audiobook copy of this book. This book will be released on 8/3/21.

My thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for allowing me to listen to this audio to review.

Nora Spangler is an attorney trying to work extra hours to make partner in her law firm while juggling her 4 year old daughter Liv, a useless husband Hayden who she is trying to get to step up and help more, working on a wrongful death case, trying to buy a new house in a gated community. Dynasty Ranch while trying to figure out while all the successful women she met have helpful husband's.

I got the feel of the Stepford Wife role reversal. I also felt like I was reading bits of The Whisper Network from the corporate feminist office part. This book was engaging, brought up topics that should be talked about and are relevant, and enjoyed the narrator, but on the fence with this. Nora was a character that complained all the time and was all about her.

A little slow to start, however it was a very entertaining and interesting read. There were some really interesting observations about the disparity in the roles of husbands/fathers and wives/mothers, but also a little harsh/unfair to some of the great men out there!

Yet overall, this domestic drama is slow to start and then over the top in the end. I pretty much saw where this was going right away and found it a bit frustrating that no one else (particularly the main character Nora) even had a clue. I get it, this is supposed to be overly dramatic in order to prove its point, but personally, I think that more humor and less weirdness would have gone a long way to make it more entertaining and engaging.

The Husbands by Chandler Baker (Author), Allyson Ryan (Narrator)

I loved this book! It brought up important conversations around the role married couples have in the household. Do you ever wish your spouse took more responsibility taking care of the home/children/pets or does this mostly fall on one person. Are you tired of nagging and being responsible for delegating tasks / holding the headspace for everything in all of your lives? This book tells the story when a group of women get fed up and change their husbands through creative means. It was very entertaining and also made me think, which is one of my favorite things about the author.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book will remain with me long after I finished listening to it. It’s hard to put this book into one category, It’s a thriller, it’s women’s fiction and it’s a mystery. With amazing characters, truths about motherhood and a real mystery I would highly recommend this book!,

What happens when a utopia for a working mom ends up being the meanest dystopia? Curious? Well, this book has answers for you! Nora is looking for a new place for her growing family and she stuck on this house in kind of a gated community. Women living there are bold. Doing their jobs without distractions and they achieve amazing things. And most importantly their husbands are incredibly supportive. They do anything and everything.

Pressure is building on Nora: she is about to pop another baby but this is also her year for partner promotion. What does her husband doing btw? Sending her videos of their toddler throwing tantrums?! Supportive husband that is… Nora is getting more and more tangled into this prospective neighbor group as she agreed to look into a fatal fire happened on the premises. But this relationship didn’t stop at the professional level.

While Nora is trying trying so hard to be accepted as part of this group, she started to recognize things that she was blindly ignoring for a good deal of time. Now it is up to her to how to react and be the super mom that she intends to be

The storyline of a gender flipped Stepford Wives is exactly the type of story I want to read. This was much more of a quieter, domestic drama and not as much an in your face thriller. I was expecting a little more of an overall unsettling tone. However, I still really enjoyed the story. I loved the commentary of gender roles and society today. The MC was full and I definitely grew to care about her journey. Her husband, and some other husbands, really drove me crazy and the book was definitely successful at triggering me and my feminist heart!! Highly recommend this to everyone (just do expect an in your face thriller). I have now loved both of this author's work and I am excited to see what she does next. This would make a great miniseries!

The narrator of the book was perfect and fit the MC's voice and personality perfectly.

A successful lawyer is trying to balance home and work life without much help from her husband gets pulled into a group of women at an exclusive neighborhood who seem to have all the answers - except what have they done to their husband? This Stepford Wives twist follows Nora who feels like she works a full-shift at work and then comes home to start her second shift of taking care of the house and her child (while being pregnant) and her husband does nothing (she's not wrong.) When househunting, the couple stumble upon Dynasty Ranch, where some high profile women live with their super supportive husbands. Nora agrees to help with a wrongful death lawsuit with one of the women and soon starts wondering how far someone would take it to have it all. Is murder out of the question?

This is a biting critique on gender roles and the current domestic situation in which women also take on the bulk of the family life at home while also working full-time jobs. I felt like if Nora's husband could have shown a tiny, itty-bitty initiative, I could have been more into this, but he doesn't. He is literally an annoying lump who does work a job, and that's about it. If he's asked to do anything, he whines and if Nora brings up anything he accuses her of having a "tone." Frankly, I started wondering if Nora is doing everything (and she is) then what exactly does she need him around for? He doesn't need Stepford Husbanded, she needs to dump him!

I liked the narrator for the audiobook and the story is definitely engaging.

Like her previous novel, this one also involves women and how we try and juggle everything. I really enjoyed the main character and could relate to her daily grind and found myself nodding my head to many things Nora would go thru and feel. Loved the ending and look forward to more stories from this wonderful author!

I enjoyed the audiobook of The Husband very much. The narrator did a fantastic job with portraying the different characters.

The Husbands is a complete twist on The Stepford Wives, placing the husbands right where women have been for centuries. Baker creates a riveting world where it's possible to program men to take the brunt of the parenting and domestic duties, so their wives can do what it takes to make it with successful careers. The setting is a housing community in Austin, Texas, ruled by an HOA of strong women, in all different fields. They have one thing major thing in common: they are successful and their husbands do everything possible to support their careers. The story is told from the perspective of a newcomer, who is feeling the strain of trying to make partner in her law firm while caring for a toddler, and being pregnant. She is drawn to the women and their seemingly perfect lives, but the more she discovers, she may be in over her head.

This is a look at what women really endure to have it all - and the price. I loved the great perspective of working moms in this book and the acknowledgement of how hard it really is. This was a fun, fascinating, and cathartic read!

This book pulls you in from the beginning and doesn't let go. At the beginning we meet a seemingly normal couple Nora and Hayden, who have a toddler and a baby on the way so they start house searching. Nora falls in love with a home in a community called Dynasty Ranch. But more than just the home, Nora falls in love with the community and her potential neighbors, so she is blinded by the weird things that keep happening.

The narrator was fantastic. The perfect voice to keep you hooked. She made it hard to put this audiobook down.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to review this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the early listen. What an amazing, captivating and thrilling story. The narrator did a phenomenal job with tell the story and giving each character to have their own voice. The author and narrator both hooked me from the very beginning. Highly recommend!

Creepy and terrifying, this was a wonderful and surprisingly thought-provoking book. A captivating read with amazing character development. I enjoyed the strong female leads as explored the secrets behind the perfect housing development and the couples/families that live there. Allyson Ryan's narration is captivating and provides the perfect tone for this twisty tale. Highly recommend!

When Nora and Hayden see the home for sale in Dynasty Ranch, it feels like a dream come true. When they meet the neighbors, it seems almost too good to be true--high achieving women, the best in their chosen fields, and husbands that shoulder more than their fair share of the household responsibilities, so their wives can concentrate on their careers. As you can surmise, there is more to this neighborhood than meets the eye. The Husbands is a suspenseful mystery, a modern-day Stepford Wives. ​

Every working mother will relate to the second shift, and will empathize with the strong women
​in this book who have found a 'solution'. Though there are not a lot of surprises, the book was an enjoyable read, and kept my interest to the end. The audio version is excellent, with a narrator whose voice adds depth to the characters, and fits with the personalities.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for providing an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for this advance listener's copy of The Husbands by Chandler Baker, narrated by Allyson Ryan.

The Husbands is the story of Nora, overworked mom of one, pregnant with a new baby and trying to make partner at her law firm. All she needs is more help from her husband, Hayden. When Nora falls in love with a new house in the exclusive community of Dynasty Ranch she falls in love with more than just the house. There's also the potential new neighbors, all successful professional women with devoted and supportive husbands. Nora is convinced that a move to Dynasty Ranch will be the answer to all of her marital woes. What lies behind the perfect facade of Dynasty Ranch may be more than Nora bargained for and a move to the perfect house may not be the answer to Nora's problems after all.

The Husbands has a lot to offer thriller fans. Complete with a creepy subdivision, sullen teenagers lurking in the shadows and an ineffectual husband, The Husbands has all of the ingredients to keep the reader entertained. I especially liked it that it was set in my hometown of Austin, Texas and referenced local landmarks enough to show me that the author really knows the territory that she is writing about. I didn't see the ending coming, which is a great thing for someone who reads as much as I do. I was a little disappointed in the choices that the main character makes in the end of the book but I understood Baker's motivation for writing it that way. The narration was very well-done, although it came off as kind of podcast-y sounding at times. Overall. a very good read. Well worth a listen while you're having a pool day.

The Husbands is a definitely beach read! The characters immediately draw you in and are extremely relatable! The more you go, the weirder things get and you are hooked! Nora is an overworked lawyer who wishes that her husband would do a lot more without her asking. As a couple they are living for a new home and stumble upon a private neighborhood which is full of secrets. When Nora is asked to represent one of the residents for a wrongful death suit, she starts to uncover just how weird things in this neighborhood get! I loved the step ford wives vibe that this book has, it really helped keep things interesting!

I listened to the audio version of The Husbands by Chandler Baker. First and foremost, I enjoyed the gender inequality issues discussed in this book. As a mother of small children and wife, there are so many things that I either could relate to or have seen friends struggle with. It is far and away the best part of the book. Better than the plot or characterizations. It was a bit obvious where the plot was going and frankly Nora, the main character, was always so riddled with angst or second guessing herself that it got tiresome at times. I would have liked to have gone deeper into either how marriages cope with the issues or other characters’ POVs. But that said, it was quick and easy and relevant to today’s times. The narrator of the audiobook was perfect for this character. Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for a copy in exchange for my review!

I listened to the audiobook version of this book. So good!!! I had ideas where I thought this was going and then was thrown in a totally different direction. The twist and turns kept me off kilter (just like Nora) the entire time. The characters are all completely relatable and I enjoyed the narrator very much. It was a quick read (listen) I finished it in a day because I had to know what was going on.

3.5 stars

Stepford Wives, shed your mind control; now, meet the Stepford Husbands! This is an easy women's fiction/thriller mashup that could work well as a beach read or even on a road trip, if your tummy can handle the reading-while-cruising scene.

Nora, the m.c., is an attorney, spouse, and mother of one (plus one on the way) in her mid-30s, and she has a lot of feelings about the generalized plight of women who have families and careers. I would have loved to see some more originality in this aspect of the novel, as she shares nothing new. Anyone picking up women's fiction is going to be familiar with the struggles women have - specifically (and maybe even more so at this stage of the pandemic) - with striking a balance in the face of judgement and misunderstanding. The conversation around these details feels endless and at times detracts from the action and forward motion of the plot. Get ready for a lot of interest in what her husband - Hayden - is not doing, where her mom guilt comes from, and how the older/cis/het/white dudes at her job will never understand why she is more productive than they are even when it appears she has a life outside of the office.

While Nora has a lot happening already, she finds herself in an unusual situation when Hayden and she tour a potential new home. This event snowballs into a new client and group of contacts, a possible husbands under mind control situation, and a whodunit murder query. But Nora always returns to home base: women's balancing acts.

All of these pieces fit together in an entertaining novel, but I found Nora - and perhaps this is due to the audiobook narrator's interpretation of this work even more than Baker's intentions - EXASPERATING. She's the kind of person who might let out passive aggressive deep breaths and sighs in place of transparent communication.

If you need an easy-to-follow and entertaining listen and are cool with the above caveats, pick up this audiobook.