Very confused how this book is branded as a romantic comedy, as there is little to no comedy. The most likeable character in the book was Freddie, but they were supposed to be a secondary character. I did not find Lina to be likeable at all, and I did not feel like there was any character development. The overall story was a little slow for me, and watching Lina and Brown fail to communicate made me feel like I was an uncomfortable third wheel to a long, drawn out argument. As the two characters did not show much, if any, growth throughout the book, it is hard for the reader to really feel that the book had a happy ending as the same conflict is likely to return in a few months. The Sophie part of the story was also left unresolved.

DNF at 15%
Unfortunately this author's writing style is not for me. I always dislike when current events or pop culture references are brought into the plot, especially the pandemic. These two factors resulted in a DNF for me.

This book highlights the fact that marriage isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. The butterfly feelings that you had while dating, on your wedding day, and through the honeymoon period do not last. Real life sets in. Both husband and wife may work, maybe he leaves socks all over, or maybe she leaves hair on the bathroom floor. What was once adoring is now annoying. While these are not the exact scenarios between Lina and Brown, it is somewhat like this. I enjoyed reading about Lina because I saw a lot of myself in her. I was quick to say things like, “this isn’t working” until I realized that things do change. It was nice to see Lina realize that maybe she was too quick to act. Also, already knowing that these two did have a connection, and reading about how they got married, made the scenes and feelings between the two very realistic.
One issue that I had with the book is that I felt like there was too much focus around the reason Lina and Brown were having to fake their marriage – keeping their old building. I wish there was less focus on that and more focus on the relationship and the friendships. It almost felt like that was the main point of the book rather than the fake relationship. The other issue that I had is that the book is self-described as being funny and I didn’t actually find it funny.

Overall, this was a nice, easy read with a happy ending!

How to Keep a Husband for Ten Days is Jessica Hatch’s latest romantic comedy featuring a divorcing couple pretending to still be happily married while trying to save a building from destruction. Lina is an attorney married to bartender Brown. The story jumps around in time in order to provide the backstory of their relationship.

How to Keep a Husband for Ten Days begins with descriptions of Progressive Dinner Parties (PDPs) that occur in Lina and Brown’s apartment building. It’s the last night for them in their wonderful apartment before they move into a house. Fast forward two years later and Lina is mad at Brown for not cleaning up after himself and berates him, so he leaves the house and she files for divorce the next morning. Then she learns that their former apartment building has been sold to developers and will be torn down. She wants Brown to pretend that they are still in love to fool their friends who are coming to visit. She also organizes their friends to fight the demolition of the apartment building.

I did not enjoy How to Keep a Husband for Ten Days because the story didn’t make sense to me. There was way too much detail about the PDPs. I didn’t understand how Freddie went from being the super of the small apartment building to owning it, and why he subsequently sold it knowing that it would be torn down. Lina had to know, as an attorney, that she couldn’t save the apartment building after it was sold to developers. Lina treated Brown badly, and I don’t now why he would want to stay married to her. I didn’t find this book to be funny.

I received an Advance Review Copy (ARC) from NetGalley and Bookouture for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Saving their marriage is saving the building....

Lina and Brown are married, but in the process of getting a divorce. They stopped working o ntheir marriage and it was over two year after they bought a house. Now, they are pretending they aren't getting divorced while trying to save their old rental building. They have a great support system in that buildimg, along with PDP's. There's time shifts (past and present).
Just wasn't too involved with Lina and Brown as leads, as I felt everything was just told to me, sans the humor.
3.5

How to Keep a Husband for 10 Days by Jessica Hatch

Published: February 8, 2023
Bookouture
Pages: 293
Genre: Romantic Comedy
KKECReads Rating: 4/5
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.

Jessica Hatch writes hilarious, heartfelt romantic comedies for the girls who grew up rooting for the main character's best friend.
She loves to develop quirky, high-concept scenarios and then drop her characters into them, escape room–style, to see what happens next. Her work spotlights characters and locales the reader can fall in love with and aims to explore real-world issues that women and nonbinary people face. (She also enjoys loafing around, largely ignoring her characters and binge-watching Netflix instead.)

“Not if she didn’t let them slip away.”

Lina had a charmed life. She met her husband and best friends while they all lived in the same building. When Lina and Brown moved out, everyone was afraid things would change. They were all naive. Now, Lina and Brown have to figure out how to keep their secret while trying to save their old building.

I enjoyed the themes of this book and that it focused on a real problem. I loved seeing people fight for housing and creating affordable housing. That was beautifully done.

The characters were all dynamic, diverse, and well-constructed. I didn’t care for the lead character, Lina, very much. But I loved Freddie, Mara, and Brown.

The relationships all felt authentic, and the things this group went through were struggles real people have. I enjoyed the dynamic and connection between these characters, and the balance between their personalities was outstanding.

There was a lot of heart in this novel, and I appreciated that. I would love to see Freddie get a book; this character has a lot of personality, sass, heart, and a story to tell!

Enjoyed this novel, the concept was fun and entertaining. Seeing Lina and Brown try to work together despite their divorce was interesting. Loved their bickerings.

I signed up for this book, as the title and blurb made it sound quite funny. Unfortunately, this book was rather a dud for me and I could not finish it. The writing is clunky and feels unfinished. Sadly, I couldn't get past 20% of it.

How to Keep a Husband for Ten Days was a cute rom-com about a couple who got married during the pandemic but somehow grew apart after two short years of marriage.

After a bad fight, Brown left for some space and came back to his house, locked out. Lina made the quick decision to change locks and file for divorce.

With mutual friends coming into town, the pair decide to pretend their marriage isn't heading to splitsville.

Lina begins to question her choice to call it quits after a few lingering touches and one scorching kiss.

I struggled a bit with the change of timeline and scenes. There were a few pages I had to read several times to make sure I understood what was happening.

Overall I thought the idea was really cute, and story was pretty good. I would have loved more of Brown and Lina falling for each other again versus the save the building plot. Brown was always trying so hard to make Lina happy and it was clear they did love each other. My heart wanted more of that.

I loved this book and really invested in all the characters in this story. I really routed for Lina and Browne to make things right after falling in love with their love story and their old apartment block where I want to live. This is a lovely warm hug in a book.

This was really tough to get through, I wouldn't have finished it if it wasn't for NetGalley. The cover was captivating but the story & characters fell flat. Attempts at humor were met with crickets. The plot jumped all over the place, and characters didn't get enough development. I also didn't really like the main character; she was whiney and I didn't like the way she treated her (almost) ex husband. I would not recommend this book or audiobook.

I enjoyed the first part of this book far more than the latter parts. A couple on the verge of a breakup isn't really a favorite trope of mine so this could just be a case of "not the right book for me." I didn't think the writing was bad or anything craftmanship wise, I just couldn't connect with the characters.

Wow! I know the lack of communication in a marriage is one of the biggest reasons of separation/divorce. And I understand how being in a happy bubble can blind you to these red flags! But wow both of them can be infuriating!

Having said that, I believe both of them totally rush to their decisions. I liked that she is going to therapy and understanding her feelings. I didn’t like that when she finally realized she still love him now due to a misunderstanding he is blocking her out!

I picked this book based solely on the cover and title. Sounded like a cute romance. I made the mistake of not looking at the author. So when I started reading this I got this horrible feeling deep in my stomach that this terrible writing felt familiar. And alas, I found that it was in fact the same author that wrote my least favorite book from last year. I should have just DNF'd it, but I hate to leave unread books on my NetGalley page so I powered (or suffered) through it.

Hatch's writing is like a bad Wattpad story. I've never read another author that writes such unlikeable characters. If possible Lina, the main female character, was even more unlikeable than her previous novel's MFC. I didn't think that was possible at the time, but here we are. Also the whole plot of this book is so boring I don't even know where to start.

Lina (a self centered brat) is divorcing her husband, Brown, because she thinks he is unorganized and doesn't live up to her standards. Now this whole issue could have been settled had she just told him her problems, but instead she decides to serve him with divorce papers. Now their friend, Mara, is coming into town so Lina panics and tells Brown they have to pretend to be married so they don't upset their fully grown friend. Let me just reiterate how unlikeable Lina's character is.

The flow of the book is confusing. They're trying to save an apartment building that their friend had already sold to some corporate man, then another friend shows up from California and I think screws them over?? (this "twist" makes no sense and is never resolved). Then Lina and Brown are in love, but not and some friends know and some kind of know. If your confused about this last paragraph imagine how I felt reading it. Again the author uses the word "Shyeah" and talks about how her friends thought her and Brown were "endgame."..It's written like a very poorly made ABC Family teen show.

The blurb of this book also said it was "absolutely hilarious and totally addictive." I didn't crack even a hint of a smile the whole time I was reading it. It should have said this book is "infuriating and mind numbing boring. It's about 246 pages too long" (I think it clocks in at 247 pages). I refuse to believe that this book had an editor and found a company to publish it.

When I saw the name and the premise of the book I was all in! I really wanted to love it, and it had so much potential. There were a lot of things I did love, like Brown and how you could see how much he still wanted to be with his wife. He was confused and he was sad and he was hopeful that they could reconcile. Lina was a different story for me. She was all over the place. We could see how much she did love him, but we also could see just how she was running away from her feelings and communication.
I liked the premise of the story, where they are still pretending to be married, because I really felt like that could bring them back together. I think the story line went off the rails a few times, but I did enjoy the times that the couple were together.
Lina's inner dialogue had me shaking me head a few times because there were things she was thinking of saying and never did and I wanted to scream at her to just SAY IT. The lack of communication is real life though. It is easier to cut and run sometimes than have hard conversations and that is just sad. I loved the love story, but the rest was a bit on the meh side.
Thank you to Bookcoture, Netgalley and Jessica Hatch for an early copy.

LOVED this one! This was such a fun and witty read and is written so well! The characters are loveable and fit the story so well

This wasn't what I was expecting I guess. It started out cute and nostalgic as the couple remembered their good days in their apartment. Then it turned into to much bickering between them as they prepare for divorce. And they're keeping it from their friends. I thought there would be more rom-com. It just wasn't a win for me.

A positive read about a couple who are about to throw in the town of their marriage.
Lin and Brown were the most solid couple among their friend block, but then they moved out of the building and two years later are ready to move out of the marriage. But their old building is in danger, can they fake their marriage for a while in the interest of the building?
I was interested in the book since many years ago my ex and I faked getting along and it was the one of the worst feelings and weekends ever.
Mine was a different outcome than this book but it all turned out all right.

Thank you to netgalley for giving this ARC, and this doesn’t influence my review. The synopsis was not that interesting, as a married couple will obviously have chemistry and might not divorce…. And the plot was slow as well. I only saw chemistry at the end

Firstly, I want to thank netgalley and the author for letting me read this early. I had high hopes going into this thinking it’d be the opposite but just as funny and good as how to lose a guy in ten days. The synopsis tells a different story than what’s actually in the book, there’s hardly any humor so I would not even consider this a rom com. At best it was a story of hardships in a marriage that was figured out through trying to save a building, which actually became the most interesting part of the book. At worst, it was just kind of boring for what was expected.
Lina and browns relationship was honestly maybe 30% of the book, and there was hardly any chemistry between them in my opinion and there were no moments where I felt any type of heat. Even the parts where they were supposed to be heated while in the old building felt boring.