I am in the minority on this one. this was my first DNF of the year. the plot seemed like it would be fun but i just couldn't get into it. i will admit i have loved Jenna book pick this year but this one was a miss for me.

Holly Gramazio’s book, The Husbands, really impressed me. It’s premise is fun and sounds frothy – Lauren, a single woman in London, returns home only to encounter a man who claims to be her husband, and all of her friends appear to know him, and photos of him have suddenly appeared on her phone. However, as soon as the man climbs into the attic to change a lightbulb, he disappears. In his place, a new husband descends, bringing with him an alternate version of Lauren’s life. Once Lauren realizes that her magic attic is producing new husbands, she starts hopping from husband to husband and life to life.

Lauren’s adventures in husband hopping are an engaging and kooky indictment of modern dating culture. Each husband represents a conceivable man Lauren could have married, as well as conceivable paths her life could have gone down. And yet, she can’t seem to settle on one husband.

Initially, I thought that the book’s clever premise might be too thin to power a full length novel. However, Gramazio threw in a number of twists that kept the story fresh and kept me up late reading. Highly recommend this funny, thought-provoking, page-turner of a novel!

Thank you to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for the ARC!

What would you do if all of a sudden your partner......wasn't? They didn't die or break up--they just aren't themselves anymore. I don't want to give too much away but that's the first glimpse I can give of this amazing book because I don't want to ruin it! Truly one of the best books I read this year.

Thank you NetGalley and Knopf [Doubleday] for a chance to read "The Husbands" by Holly Gramazio. The plot was great, but I struggled to keep up with the number of husbands! I kept waiting for something different to happen, and felt it was quite repetitive. The idea was enticing but I believed the ending was not executed well, for I was left unsatisfied. I wanted more from the main character because she felt flat.

The concept was incredibly intriguing and unique, but the execution fell short. We were introduced to a multitude of husbands, yet spent so little time with each of them that their personalities and potential relationships remained underdeveloped and vague.

[4.25 stars]

I almost skipped this debut novel because it has a magical realism premise, which I often have trouble with. But, The Husbands turned out to be fun (and the rare Brain Candy book that's not a romance or a popcorn thriller)! Lauren is single, living in London, and is coming home from a night out with her girlfriends when she finds a strange man in her flat acting like he’s her husband. She confirms via pictures on her phone and around her flat that they’ve been married for years. When this "husband" goes up to their attic to change a lightbulb, a different “husband” returns in his place. And, this continues to happen. Reminiscent of The Measure by Nikki Erlick and The One by John Marrs, Gramazio changes one thing about her fictional world and then plays out lots of different scenarios that make you think about what you would do in that situation. On a deeper level, it makes you think about what you would be willing to tolerate in a marriage and what are your true non-negotiables. And, this one is highly discussable!

genuinely really liked this book - it was fresh and funny, but also gave you something to think about. it's not going to explain things to you, so you definitely have to be willing to go along for the ride, but I hope you do.

This is one of my favorite books of the year. It was a clever concept remarkably well executed. The author thought of everything I might have wondered about the main character's unusual situation. Given the premise, there's a risk that this story could have started to feel repetitious after a while, yet the author's boundless creativity meant that it never did. And it was funny! I was really impressed.

This was one of the better books I've read recently, and I really appreciated the opportunity to read it! I will recommend this book.

The Husbands is insanely popular for good reason. A truly unique concept and plenty of humor. I was venturing outside my usual preferred genres and it wasn't for me. There are many, many husbands, and I did not finish. Just not for me but I know millions will enjoy the witty writing and speculative story.

So many husbands! I would have given up long before Lauren. There were funny parts. I am glad there weren’t cringy husbands. It was a quick read and great to cleanse my thriller palate. I hope there are more books by this author that I can read someday.

This was a really interesting set up for a novel, and I liked that we got to learn more about Lauren through her interactions with the different husbands that she produced. It also provided the opportunity to explore a lot of the ways that marriage can play out, but in a very concentrated period of time and with only one person. I was rooting for Lauren, and am definitely happy with the way this novel ended.

Speculative and enthralling. The plot kicks off immediately with our protagonist Lauren returning home from her best friend's bachelorette party to a man in her home seemingly playing the role of her husband- Lauren has never been married.
And thus, the husband-dispensing attic phenomenon begins.
Lauren realizes that every time one of the husbands entered the attic, a new one would descend. As the novel unfolds, we see Lauren grappling with how to continue to live in a world that essentially has an undo button and no choice or action is ever really permanent. I felt that this was the true question of the novel - certainly beyond any romantic entanglements Lauren found herself in which due to the nature of the plot were numerous and mostly hollow. As a reader, you could not get attached to any of the husbands when they could be replaced - it is a unique position to be grappling with the same dilemma as the main character.
The audiobook was especially engaging. The delivery of the prose and the pacing were so appealing to listen to!
Thank you to Netgalley for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Gimmicky, and like most books of this type, the plot backs itself into a corner and is clumsy blustering its way out.

I requested this book because it sounded like a really fun concept. The ever changing husbands, I was curious to see how it would affect the main character and what antics would ensue.

Unfortunately, the book didn’t work for me. I didn’t particularly like either the female or main lead characters and even the ending left me unsatisfied and disappointed in the characters choices.

I think this book may work for many readers, I would have preferred to see character growth between the female and male leads to enjoy the story m Re.

This story was so unique, and off-beat in the best way. In a world where we all have our own attic of never-ending choices, it was interesting to see this play out to the extreme, and consider what it says about us and what we're seeking--perfect? Or perfect for us.

DNF at 50%

I may have liked this better if I hadn’t been on a plane reading straight through and taken breaks instead. But it was too repetitive with sending the husband up to the attic to see who would come down in his place.

What a unique concept, this was an intriguing read. It did get a little slow after the halfway point, but it was still a very enjoyable book.

Thank you netgalley for the prerelease ebook.

The Husbands is FUN and that in itself could be enough, but…

I am who I am and because of that I wish the book had a bit more depth. Through the protagonist’s rotating cast of husbands who appear via a magical attic, there’s a clear message about the disparity between the choice to stay in a relationship and commit through the good and the bad, along with choosing to be alone/when the right moment to end something is and, on top of it all, taking agency over your own life, but I only experienced these complex topics on a surface level, which felt a little off. I wanted to underline passages and feel bigger emotions while reading.

Don’t get me wrong, The Husbands is a strong debut and a cute concept, I just don’t know why Holly Gramazio would bring up such intense life topics without a little more emotion behind them. Where she really thrives in her writing though is in capturing the absolute monotony and tediousness of dating, leading to a breaking point that was built up to perfectly. It was also a *funny* book that reflected the similarities and differences that one life has despite different paths/choices being taken.

As with any solidly good debut novel, I look forward to seeing what Gramazio writes next and if she prefers to keep the tone lighter or if she has some room to grow as a writer on that particular topic.

I loved this crazy story. I’ve really been into magical realism lately and this was an incredible book in that genre.

One of my favorite things is that we jump right into it. There’s no backstory to why the husbands were coming out of the attic. They just were. I almost felt like I was in the same boat as Lauren. Learning how to deal with it as they went.

I feel like I fell in love with the ones Lauren deemed “the good ones”. Carter. Ugh Carter. What a loss. And then to find a friend in Bohain. There were so many special moments in this book.

There was a moment when the book felt a little long. Like it got a bit repetitive when Lauren was switching through husbands fast. But I still liked that that’s probably how she felt too. I also didn’t enjoy the moments where she was mean to the husbands and forced them upstairs. It was hard for me to like her in those moments but I’ve also never had random men coming down from my attic.

Overall I was really surprised by this book. I would definitely recommend it to others!