I loved the premise of the story - so unique and creative. However, I did not feel as if there was enough substance to the story. We don't get to really know the main character. She goes through over 100 husbands in the first half of the book - and we only get to know one of them... barely. I wish that there was more substance, more interactions and more banter between the characters. I wanted to get to know these husbands - how they differed, the good and bad, how the main character really felt about them. And even to see how she changed herself for them. Instead it was all very surface level. I still enjoyed the book - and it was a quick read. I just stepped back when I finished it and realized not a lot actually happened and I felt that I barely knew the characters.

Lauren finds a man in her home after a night out. After discovering that she is married - she gets concerned. When he goes to the attic and a different husband comes down the stairs, she discovers that her attic creates an infinite supply of husbands. When she has had enough of one, she can send him to the attic and a new one will come down. As time goes on, Lauren begins to wonder, is this as great as it seems?

Thank you Netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

The Husbands is an offbeat debut novel by Holly Gramazio. The novel’s premise is unique. After returning from a hen party, Lauren finds a stranger, Michael, in her flat claiming to be her husband; but she was never married. As she tries to unravel the mystery, Michael goes into the attic to change a light bulb but instead of Michael a new husband emerges. Her life takes a surreal turn when multiple husbands start appearing and disappearing from her “magical attic" and she can send them back if she does not like them. This cycle repeats throughout the book

While I found the story enjoyable, and I loved the humor, the story was too long. The plot seemed to slow down, and it was a struggle to keep track of the numerous husbands introduced. The ending left me feeling a bit unsatisfied. It felt rushed and left loose ends that I wish was resolved. Despite this, I would still recommend this book to anyone looking for a unique, captivating, and thought-provoking read.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Doubleday for the advanced review copy.

In this novel, Lauren returns from a Hen Night (The British term for a bachelorette party.) where she has had a lot to drink having fun with her friends. There’s a man in her home waiting at the top of the stairs. At first, she thinks she must be tipsy and she’s in the wrong apartment. But the man knows her name. She worries it’s a burglar and threatens to report him, but when she goes to unlock her phone, she notices a photo of herself and this man, standing on the beach, arms around one another. She’s running through a million different scenarios about what in the world is going on and things in her home are off. There’s a rug where there wasn’t one before. What she will soon learn is that this man is her husband, even though she never married him, because she has a very special attic door and when her “husband” goes through the attic door, a new husband emerges. I know I’m in the minority here when I say I’m not a fan of the movie Groundhog Day, but Holly Gramazio takes this structure and works wonders with it. Lauren is now left to manage these husbands for as long as she’d like. When she gets sick of one, she sends them to the attic to retrieve something and poof, she has a new one. This is a really funny book about desire, agency, and Lauren’s sexual awakening. It’s funny, but also filled with lots of reflection in terms of Lauren exploring what she wants out of life. I loved it! Thank you to NetGalley and to Doubleday for the advanced review copy.

Title: The Husbands
Author: Holly Gramazio
Publisher: Doubleday Books
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Four
Review:
"The Husbands" by Holly Gramazio

My Thoughts:
'The Husbands' was quite an exciting read. Lauren Strickland comes home from a bachelorette party to find a man named Michael in her apartment who was supposed to be her husband. But she didn't know of him because she had never been married. This is one of those stories that went in many different directions; you must keep up with how this author presents this fun read to the readers. This story was interesting as different guys came out of the magic attic. To understand all of this, you must pick up 'The Hustbands' to see what I am talking about as you see the 'humor and crazy differences between the characters of each world' that are presented.

If you are looking for a read that is not only funny, unique, and somewhat charming but also very thought-provoking, this book will keep you turning the pages to see what will happen next for Lauren as the story jumps between husbands. What will happen when Lauren finally 'figures out a drastic way to settle on just one man?' The story had an exciting ending.


Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

I have to give the premise of this book 5 stars! The idea of men going into an attic and transforming is hilariously creative. I'll be thinking of that idea for a long time! I also liked the publisher's little insertion at the beginning: that this might be an allegory for dating apps. Gramazio presented such a unique take on this concept that so many of us are familiar with.

Overall, I found myself wanting to know more about these emerging men. I wanted to dig into their dynamics and know them as characters, even for a few pages, before they disappeared into the attic again. At times Lauren spends more time describing the banal details of her daily routine than she does interacting with/describing these husbands. 3 stars for the lack of characterization, even if that was sort of the point. It just didn't work for me.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I had so much fun with The Husbands, a debut novel by Holly Gramazio. You have to be willing to suspend disbelief for this premise: Lauren comes home to find a strange man in her flat, and he turns out to be her husband. He’s not the only one though — any time her husband goes up to the attic, a different it husband comes back down.

After figuring out what is happening, Lauren goes through many (MANY) husbands, trying to choose the one that she wants to spend the rest of her life with. I found it such an interesting thought exercise to consider what kinds of annoying things we overlook in our loved ones since we know all their fantastic traits too. What would be a dealbreaker?

I’ve seen some criticism that there were too many husbands, but I didn’t mind! The more important ones stood out, and the less important ones blended together sometimes, but that was fine. I thought Gramazio did a great job of keeping the story going and giving the reader breaks periodically when it got too chaotic.

I inhaled this book in less than a day. It’s rare for me to find a light fiction book that’s not a rom com that works really well for me, but this was it!

Big thanks to Netgalley and Doubleday for the review copy.

Imagine trading in your husband when he isn't the exact right fit, cool right? When Lauren returns to her flat and London and discovers she has a husband she is shocked and confused...because she's not married. It appears the basement can produce all types of husbands and if one doesn't match well she can send him back up to transform into someone new! The only problem is if Lauren thinks one isn't quite right and sends him away,then realizes he was the best match, how can she get him back. Lauren is not sure how this happening to her but so many wonderful things are happening in her life and also so many confusing ones too. When can she realize the path she should be on and avoid getting hurt, she'll just have to trust her heart.

The Husbands is about Lauren who upon returning home drunk one night finds a husband she didn’t have when she left. It’s the first of many husbands that get exchanged when one goes into the attic—each new husband’s emergence from the attic propelling her into a new version of her life with him. It’s completely outlandish and silly and wonderful. What would you do if your life had no real consequences? If you could exchange it for a new one just by luring your current husband back into the attic? Who would you want to spend your life with if you had an endless supply of husbands just waiting above? What might instantly give you the ick? In the process of answering some of these questions Holly Gramazio also probes deeper ones like what makes a successful marriage, what’s worth settling for, what are your most personal boundaries, what are the true limits of our identity and personality and what is based on circumstance, and is the dating world we’ve grown accustomed to serving us?

This was such a lovely book and I loved every second of it—trying to take my time and make it last. I love books about the multiverse, and I love how Gramazio executed this one. Of course you need to suspend your disbelief a bit, but it’s so easy to do it when it’s written in such an off-the-wall endearing way.

This book had such a creative premise and I was really looking forward to reading it. It started off strong, but the deeper it got the more repetitive it was. I wondered if she would ever stop getting new husbands. I thought Lauren was really vain, whiny and sometimes bratty. It somehow felt rushed that we never got to really know any of the husbands but then also felt like it was 100 pages too long. If it were shorter and maybe not as many husbands, I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more. I don't think we really got to learn much about Lauren as a character and that was a missed opportunity.

Thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday for my digital ARC of this book which publishes 4/2.

Thank you @prhaudio, @doubleday and @hollygramazio for the chance to Read/Listen to this early ARC

Are you a fan of Magical Realism? If yes, this is a good one for you

Lauren arrives home one night and is greeted by her husband, Michael - funny thing though, she’s not married. As she tries to figure out, Michael goes to the attic to change a lightbulb and disappears. But then, a different husband emerges. Realizing that her attic contains an infinite supply of husbands, Lauren confronts the questions: how do you know you’ve taken the right path? When do you stop trying to do better and start actually living?

This is a unique concept, and strange, and also somehow relatable. Anyone who has ever looked at their life, even in passing, and wondered, “What if I’d made another choice?” will find a thread of commonality. What resonates most, is the frenetic exploration of finding contentment in an age of vast choice and endless options - from groceries, to fast fashion, to online dating platforms, and more, more, MORE.

The concept was certainly interesting, but I’d like to keep my one and only husband. The audiobook held my attention and was well narrated. I do wish there had been fewer husbands and the as a result more character development of both Lauren and, maybe, at least a couple of the husbands.

Lauren, who lives in a flat in London, discovers that when she sends a husband up to the attic, a new husband comes back down. Once she decides that the new husband won't work, she sends him up to the attic. Some times she keeps husbands for mere minutes and other times she gets to know them. An interesting premise for a book but it was not the book for me.

It starts after her friend's hen do one night when she arrives home drunk only to find her husband Michael waiting for her. Only problem, she's not married and has no memory of this man even though her family seems to know him and their whole history together. The next day he goes to change a light bulb in the attic and another husband emerges in his place. And every time, her life resets-- new furniture, new job, money in the bank.... even any injuries are magically gone. As she cycles through different husbands searching for the perfect one, some only lasting seconds, others weeks, she starts to realize that there will always be little imperfections with every one and always searching for something better might not be living her best life at all.
This is such a unique story. I was fascinated by the endless variety of men popping out of the attic and how her life changes with every one. Time moves on and the people around her for the most part stay the same, never realizing how drastically her life is constantly changing. And the ending, while abrupt, left me with a feeling of hope for her future. This was a great debut novel and I look forward to more books by this author!
Thanks to Doubleday Books through Netgalley for the advance copy of this book. The opinions in this review are my own and given voluntarily.

Wow I read this book in two days & it is amazing!!!!!!!! It is thought provoking, entertaining, heartwarming, got great characters, every thing a great book needs. I will for sure be excited to read what Holly Gramazio gives us next to devour

Full disclosure: my four-star rating is really quite generous. Were I to break down my entire experience with Holly Gramazio's The Husbands, I'd have to give it five stars for concept, four for writing style, but just two for characterization and overall execution. Upon reflection, my loudest thought is this would have made one hell of a short story.

Yes, this book is far too long. The only thing that would have made it worthy of its final length is had readers somehow been able to champion one of the three husbands with any promise. To avoid spoilers, I'll identify them only as the husband she wanted to keep, the husband who understood her predicament, and the husband with whom she shared a history. Had any of those characters been approached slightly differently, then the ambiguous ending may have felt well-earned. Instead, it felt (like most of the husbands) arbitrary and halfhearted.

It's not that The Husbands was bad, exactly. It just felt like the author had maybe lost a bet about how many shallow characters she could cram into one novel.

Holly Gramazio's THE HUSBANDS is an entertaining romp through romantic relationships and what it means to share a life together. Who do you fall for -- and why -- and what do you do when the impossible keeps on climbing down from the attic, a different husband arriving with each ascent into that everyday, average storage area? I found it tough getting into the story, but when I did, I enjoyed seeing what Lauren would do next, laughing out loud and deeply moved by how she realizes what she wants and starts living in her here and now. I received a copy of this book and these thoughts are my own, unbiased opinions.

3.5 rounded up to 4. This book was kind of nonsense to me, but I was fine with it? I did laugh out loud multiple times, but other than that I think I was confused more than anything. I wish there was more explanation of the 'why' or it was made clear if it was just two people in the whole world who had this kind of portal-ish magic?
 
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and PRH Audio for the advanced reader and listener copies of this title.

Synopsis:
Lauren returns to her flat one night to discover a husband she never knew existed - and when she sends him back up the ladder into the attic where he appeared from, that husband disappears and a new one arrives. What follows is Lauren over the course of a year-ish examining all the what-ifs and various loves and lives she could have had.

Thoughts:
Overall this book was entertaining enough for me, but not one I'd highly recommend. The premise is fascinating and I'm a sucker for any type of magical realism. All of the funny quirks of the hundreds of husbands Lauren tries out were really entertaining, and the introduction of Bohai (a husband who is experiencing the same thing just from the POV of being the one continually showing up at new places with a new spouse) made for an interesting twist that I thought we would get more of.

But the first half of the book felt very repetitive and surface-level. Lauren had nothing interesting herself as a character, and exhibited very little growth or true conflict. The second half, after she has met Bohai and finally starts showing some thinking behind the revolving door of husbands, picked up and held my attention longer. The climax and conclusion were creative, but abrupt. As a reader I was left with a lot of what-ifs about Lauren and her future life.

Additionally, I would categorize this as women's fiction, not romance. It is fairly light throughout, but it does not have the tone of a romcom.

I found this book rather delightful. I was afraid with the opening premise that the storyline might get stale, but it never did. Recommended for something light, but entertaining.

THE HUSBANDS is an entertaining and imaginative debut. As a fan of stories where magical realism and romance collide, I enjoyed the novel a lot and read it in one sitting. I believe everyone has had a "what if" moment in their life and this is the manifestation of that. There were some studs and some duds and some laugh out loud moments and some sighs, but the story carried itself along at a good pace. I agree that it would have been nice if there had been more development on some and less volume but I really did think that it was a unique way to describe how the life you live is impacted by the person (or people) you live it with. I would definitely read another novel by Gramazio in the future.

I received an advanced copy of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Imagine if dating was as easy as sending one husband up into your magical attic, and having a new one come down the stairs. Lauren finds herself coming home from a night out to a stranger in the house and discovers they're somehow married. She tries to adjust to this new reality, but when he goes up into the attic to change a lightbulb a new husband emerges. At the first sign of a flaw she continues to switch husbands and resets her life - but at what point do you stop? What makes a perfect relationship?

I really enjoyed this book! I thought it was really creative, all the unique husbands and personality quirks that the author was able to come up with were believable and even humorous. I enjoyed Lauren as a main character and found her relatable in most situations. The introduction of Bohai made it really interesting too! I will say I was not expecting the book to end when it did, it seemed a bit abrupt. I do wish Lauren had formed deeper relationships with several of the guys, as most seem like a revolving door. But I think it would be hard not to treat this magical attic situation like Tinder too!

Overall this was a really fun read! If you like butterfly effect type stories, or ever wonder how different your life would be depending on who you choose for a partner, definitely give this a try. I want to call it a rom-com, but I don't know if that's the best description. I received this book from NetGalley as an ARC for my review. 3.5 Stars rounded up to 4