I loved this book so much and I haven't stopped raving about it. I knew it would be one of my favorites of the year when I was only about halfway through. First, there's the amazing premise, and the hilarious opening of the novel, with Lauren coming home to the husband she doesn't know, but who everyone around her does.
A premise this good is hard to do justice by over the course of a few hundred pages, but Holly Gramazio knew how to raise the stakes to great comedic effects. I devoured this novel in the course of a few days because I couldn't wait to find out how it would all pan out, and continued to be surprised every step of the way. It kept me guessing--and entertained--until the very last page. So. Much. Fun.

[I share short reviews and books I love on my Instagram account, @asjouhanneau]

4.5⭐️

The Husbands begins when single woman Lauren suddenly finds that her attic is providing her with an endless series of husbands- every time one goes back up in the attic, another comes back out. While Lauren struggles to figure out how and why this is happening, and what to do about it, we’re treated to more and more hilarity. Some of the characters we meet are just too funny.

With each new husband, Lauren’s life also shifts in some form, all byproducts of a different path taken. Lauren is left to decide again and again whether to keep searching, or to be happy where she is.

This was delightful. I loved the original take on something similar to yet different from a time loop, and while it had depth, it also had so much light.

Thank you Holly Gramazio, Doubleday Books, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

So you have to buy the premise: Lauren's attic has started issuing her husbands, one right after the other. If she doesn’t like one of them, she simply sends him to the attic and a new one comes down.
It all started one evening after a late night out with friends. She returned home to discover a man in her apartment—one she'd never seen before—and that she was apparently married to. Photographs, friends, and social media posts confirmed it. But after he makes a trip to the attic, Lauren's life gets re-set, and another husband appears.
Once she even starts to fall in love with one of the husbands, Carter, but when one day he goes to the attic to look for something, he, too, is gone
After trying out over 200 husbands, Lauren is ready to do something drastic, if only to get her life back to how it used to be.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest, thoughtful review.
With that being said, let's dig into The Husbands by Holly Gramazio:

Are you a "what-iffer"? Do you constantly daydream or find yourself wondering how your life would be if certain things hadn't worked out? If so, this book is must-read, a satisfying answer to one of the biggest, most private "what-ifs" people might have in life: "What if I had ended up with someone else?"

The Husbands begins with Lauren returning from a night out, only to discover that her husband - who she DID NOT have when she left earlier that day - is home waiting up for her. We get to join in on the mental rollercoaster of Lauren's adjustment phase, only to have her husband disappear after walking up into the attic - and be immediately replaced with a new, different man. As these exchanges happen again and again throughout the book, readers may find themselves, as I did, thrilled at the idea of a revolving door of potential partners, like a sci-fi take on Tinder where you get a real taste of what it would be like to settle down with someone, instead of only imagining it before swiping left or right. The big questions, which Lauren also explores for herself, are: how do you know you've picked the right person? Could there be someone better behind door number 2? or door 3? or door 561? What do you do when there's always an opportunity to find a life you like more?

Despite being a debut novel, this is very clearly written by a talented professional. Gramazio does a wonderful job of fully fleshing out characters, sometimes more than once; as the universe shifts around Lauren to accommodate each new husband, the ripples of reality make little waves of change in the lives of the people close to her. I found myself identifying with Lauren throughout the book, as well as her friends, husbands, and neighbors, as they are all so complicatedly, perfectly human. From the very beginning all the way to the perfect ending, Gramazio never makes the scenario of the story feel unapproachable or impossible. Everything is just as strange and yet just as normal as it should be if it were to happen to someone in real life, which is something I particularly appreciated. Everything is just the right amount of funny and reflective, like all good, comedies, and kept me laughing as I read it and thinking about it long after I had finished. This is a book I truly had fun reading from cover to cover, and found myself reprioritizing my schedule to fit in more time to sit and read it

And oh, the ending! I won't spoil, of course not, but goodness, you couldn't have asked for a better way to wrap things up. I was so satisfied with the ending that I found myself disappointed when the book disappeared from my digital database due to being finished - I wanted to go right back to the start and read it all over again.

This book is perfect for all the people who spend their time sorting other people on dating apps, all the people who check their exes' social feeds and think about what they did or didn't miss out on, and all of the what-iffers out there. Don't skip this book, so you don't have to wonder what it would've been like if you had read it after all.

I wanted to like this book as I was intrigued by the synopsis. I really struggled with their being so many husbands and not felling like there was any connection to one before we moved to the next. Some people will enjoy this one. It just wasn't for me.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for advanced copy, and I give my review freely

The Husbands had an interesting premise that could have been a little more in depth or shortened to a novella. All around an interesting "what-if" story but not necessarily one I would re-read.

What an incredible debut. "The Husbands" is unique and exciting, I can't wait for more people to get to experience this book. Gramazio has such a natural, kinetic voice. I cannot wait to read more from her.

When Lauren returns home one night after her best friend’s bachelorette party (hen party bc she’s British) , she’s greeted by her husband Michael, except she wasn’t married when she left for the party, nor has she ever met Michael before. However, how her apartment looks, photos and friends tell a different story. But then when he goes up to the attic to grab something, he’s gone and a new husband comes down, and everything changes, her apartment decor, photos, her clothes etc. She realizes rather quickly that her attic is is a husband portal and every time the current husband goes up a new one, and a slightly altered (sometimes very altered) life comes down. The men are real and exist in the world and they are all choices, good and bad, she could have made in her life, and each choice affects her life and the people in her life in very different ways.


I know this one is getting mixed reviews but once I understood what the author was trying to convey I really enjoyed it (the middle was a bit slow but I was still very engaged). Lauren’s personal choices (i.e. who she married) had far reaching effects, almost everything changed at some point with very few stable concepts (some ancillary relationships were so solid they remained so regardless of Lauren’s influence while other were married to different people depending on Lauren’s choices) - it was almost like the time travel butterfly effect but with spousal choice. I thought it was a creative book with a fun spin on how we fall in love and how we make choices in life.

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for the ARC to review

4.25 stars

I wanted to love this book, but it ended up falling a bit flat for me. I didn't really feel a connection to Lauren, the main character, so I think that was a lot of it. The beginning of the book was a bit too impersonal for my taste, since I knew very little about Lauren and the husbands were rapidly changing. We do end up getting to know Lauren a lot better as the story progresses, but I just never felt a real connection. The premise was definitely a unique and interesting investigation into "what if," with the paranormal twist of the magic attic, seeing how ending up with different spouses changed Lauren's life in different ways. I think I was secretly hoping for something that was more comedic or romantic, so this book just wasn't quite what I was expecting. It wasn't a bad read, just not quite the right book for me.

Thank you to Doubleday Books | Doubleday and NetGalley for the advance review copy of The Husbands. All opinions in my review are completely my own.

The Husbands
By Holly Gramazio
Pub Date: April 2, 2024

⭐️: 3.5/5

When Lauren comes home from a party to her flat in London, she is surprised when there is a man already there, and according to her phone pictures and updated decor, that man is her husband. While trying to come to terms with how she can have a husband that she does not recall ever meeting, much less marrying, he goes up into the attic to change a lightbulb and another, different husband appears in his place. Coming to the realization that her attic is producing an infinite supply of husbands whenever one goes up, she faces the questions of how this is happening, and how to make it stop.

A magic, husband producing attic is quite a novel idea for a book. The time/genre bending qualities of this book, and its commentary on how we make decisions about our lives given the multitude of choices we are faced with every day in the modern world is certainly interesting, but I felt that for much of the book, the execution was slightly lacking. I’m the first to admit that I find Groundhog Day themed time loop movies exhausting to watch, and that’s just watching. When books play on this time loop phenomenon, I find myself skimming to get to something that resonates, since the repetitive nature of the over-and-over-ness of the plot is just grating and quite honestly, boring. Although this concept is slightly different than a time loop, they occupy that same place of repetitiveness when it comes to reading about it, and I found the first part of this book to be a slog to get through, even if it was at times funny and entertaining. Eventually, I got more into the premise and it improved, and it was definitely a thought provoking book, even if the main character Lauren remained a little annoying and unlikable. I think it is ultimately hard to keep a book with this type of premise interesting, since it relies on being a bit circular. Ultimately, not a plot I think I’d choose to read again, but not a bad read overall either.

Thank you to @netgalley and @doubledaybooks for this free eARC!!

Lauren is a single woman dreading having to go to her best friend's wedding without a date, when suddenly a husband appears coming down her attic ladder. When he goes back up, a new husband descends, and so on. Lauren spends the next year cycling through hundreds of husbands, trying to find the perfect match. While ambitious, the main premise doesn't really work - new husbands, and new lives, but the larger world around her seldom changes. When she meets someone else in similar circumstances, her "resets" don't affect him at all and vice versa. The suspension of disbelief was a bit too difficult for me to handle. Additionally, all of the new circumstances and new husbands over the course of a few hundred pages really seemed to prevent the protagonist from experiencing any personal growth, until everything comes to a big climax at the end.

This was one of my most anticipated reads, and it delivered. A real blast! There isn’t much character development, but it’s just a fun, quirky story. Perfect for anyone who’s ever wondered what other paths life could have taken. I’m realizing magical realism might be one of my favorite genres.

The Husbands by Holly Gramazio is a fabulously creative, debut novel filled with romance, humor and a bit of magic. Basically Lauren comes home to her apartment one night after a girls' night to find a strange man living there and some of her apartment furniture just a little different. Eventually she realizes that her attic contains a bit of magic (or mystery depending on your perspective) and switches the men out every time they climb up the ladder. So begins the endless parade of men coming into Lauren's life as she has to decide how much time she wants to spend with each, and what they exactly "bring to the table".

As I said, a wonderfully original idea, but the ever revolving door of "husbands" leaves the reader with whiplash. In the beginning it is fun and non-consequential for Lauren to meet and direct these men in and out of her life, but the reader doesn't get much of a chance to connect with any of the men, and after awhile the in and out of characters gets tedious.

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Publishing for the chance to read this novel.

“When Lauren returns home to her flat in London late one night, she is greeted at the door by her husband, Michael. There’s only one problem—she’s not married”.

I liked the story well enough, not quite what I expected. I wish there had been less husbands and more getting to know them and maybe even why/how this is happening. Didn't know how it would end and felt it ended abruptly, It was a quick read, good for an at the beach, fun kind of book.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

The concept of a magical attic bringing new husbands into and out of life hoping for the perfect husband to appear was a bit of a stretch for me. I received an advanced reader copy from Netgalley. I found it interesting when a husband would stick around for a week or so. The husbands that came and went within minutes and hours were like swiping on a dating app. Each time a new husband appeared, family would know him and be able to relate stories. If you could start over and be married to old boyfriends, would you? How would your life be changed?

This book was great. I loved the suspense and mystery of it. The concept, what-ifs, and characters interwining together to create a good story

Thank you to @doubledaybooks and @netgalley for this #gifted danced digital copy.

“The Husbands” by Holly Gramazio, is a truly unique storyline where Lauren arrives home after a celebration as discovers she now has a husband. Or rather a magical attic that produces an endless supply of husbands.

This debut novel has a great concept and started off strong, with a mystery feel. However the books became repetitive relatively quickly. Initially Gramazio did a good job at developing the characters, but I didn’t continue to see that throughout the book in either the main character or any of the secondary characters. I applaud the theme of how do you know if you have taken the right path, but see the authors gaming background with infinite lives and leveling up rather than character growth. Overall, an interesting and unique book that had the right concept, but missed the mark for me.

The Husbands had a very unique premise. One day Lauren arrives home and has a husband! She has no idea who he is but there are pictures of him on her phone, text messages back and forth and her friends and family know him. We soon learn that Lauren has a magic attic. One husband goes up, another comes down. She doesn't like the husband, up he goes! This goes on throughout the whole book. In all honesty, it got kind of old. I kept waiting for character development, a love story...something!?!

There was a sweet friendship development when Lauren meets Bohai who is one of the husbands and travels through various door meeting his partners.

Overall, this gets a 3 for uniqueness but this one won't be memorable for me 😟

Well, this is one heck of a fun read, but it’s also a poignant and wonderful one. The Husbands is a surreal, sprightly and delightful sci-fi-ish romcom that takes a look at what happens when one woman is beset by a bunch of possible futures – and future husbands.

Lauren Strickland comes home slightly buzzed from her best friend Elena’s hen party, and is alarmed to be confronted by a handsome man. He claims he’s her husband – and, more shockingly, all evidence, including the memories of her friends and the pictures in her house (which has now been transfigured) point to this being true. Then one day her husband goes into the attic to change a lightbulb… and comes down as an entirely different person.

It’s not just the husband in question who shifts each time he goes up into the attic – her life, her plans, her job, her ambitions, most of her friends, the décor, and the worlds of her sister and downstairs neighbors also shift in time with the attic’s mischief. At first, Lauren just trades up husbands rapidly in her quest to find a date for Elena’s wedding; but eventually she finds herself exchanging husbands on a whim, turning them out whenever they present the least bit of annoyance to her, or sometimes for no reason at all.

But then the possibility of love tempts Lauren. What can she do about the attic if she’s found it, and is this Mr. truly Mr. Right?

The Husbands is, of course, a metaphor for the deathless pursuit of sex and love, and it’s thought-provoking and touching, funny and wry. It covers every aspect of the romantic experience from every angle. If you don’t dive into the novel expecting a grand solution to the mystery set before Lauren, you’ll find yourself quite content to live beside her, even as her missish quest for the right man makes her seem unlovable. But that is the ultimate point.

The supporting characters are fantastic, my favorite being Bodhi, Lauren’s only confidant in the matter of the husbands. Every other character feels truly well-drawn - well, at least the ones we spend time with. This is a romance in love with the idea of finding the right ‘one’, rather than a story about a real romance – so don’t get attached to any of those husbands. I loved the London neighborhood the author plunges her into, and while I wanted to know much more about the magical system that keeps Lauren bound to the place, I was also content simply to let it happen and the mystery be. So many tones intermarry in this novel – there are horror and suspense elements, character study, romance, comedy and drama.

There is a great Shel Silverstein poem called Almost Perfect, which this story and Lauren’s quest for the perfect husband absolutely reminded me of. Her almost-but-not-quite journey through romance is compelling, shocking, funny, touching. The Husbands is one of the best novels of the year.

Love the premise of the book, but I admit after soooo many husbands and no real character development for Lauren, I liked it a little bit less than I thought I would. About 40% in, she has an epiphany which lead me to believe she’d make a go of it with one husband. Instead, it became just more. The ending leaves some questions unanswered, and that may be the author’s intent. Solid debut, but not sure it was a good fit for me as a reader.