Lauren possesses an enchanting attic that mysteriously conjures husbands for her. Initially oblivious to her matrimonial status, she finds herself unwittingly entangled in a cycle where each husband who ascends into the attic is swiftly replaced by another descending. While the narrative may feel somewhat repetitive due to the plethora of husbands Lauren encounters, it nevertheless culminates in her epiphany that the ideal partner she seeks has already descended from the attic. Overall, "A fun read" encapsulates the whimsical charm of this tale.

I received an ARC of The Husbands in exchange for an honest review.

Imagine being single, coming home from a bachelorette party, to find your husband waiting for you. HE knows you and loves you, but you have zero recollection of being married. You frantically wrack your brain trying to remember any part of this life, when he goes into the attic to fix a lightbulb, and down comes a different husband. And so on and so on, continually, and you can't figure out how to stop it. What a new and intriguing concept this book offered, and one I couldn't put down. Great read!

The Husbands
by Holly Gramazio
Pub Date: 02 Apr 2024
This was a fun, adult read.
Lauren is single and after a night out at a bachelorette party, she comes home to find a man in her home...a man who claims to be her husband. After a panicky few moments, she contacts family and friends and yes, she is married to this man even though she has no clue who he is.
When he goes to get something out of the attic, a totally different man descends the stairs! Her last name has changed to his and there are small changes around the apartment. Later, after another trip to the attic, her husband changes again!
Lauren realizes that any time the current husband goes up, a new one comes down. Parts of her life change as well.
Lauren decides this is the perfect opportunity to find the perfect match....or at least the perfect date to friend's wedding.
Husband has a bad temper? Switch him out.
Husband likes to spend too much time watching TV? Switch him out!
Husband collects weird things? Send him to the attic and switch him out!
This is an interesting read that makes you start thinking about your own relationships. How much have you changed due to who you are with? Who would you have been otherwise? What makes a partner marriage-material?
Took a kinda dark turn toward the end, but kinda needed to.
#netgalley
#thehusbands
#HollyGramazio

When Lauren returns home after a night out in London, she is greeted by Michael. This man is a stranger claiming to be her husband. She was definitely not married when she left that evening, but now her own camera roll, the changes to her flat, and her friends all tell a different story. How could this be? When the shocking answer is revealed, it is truly unbelieve-he came from the attic. Lauren quickly discovers that her attic produces a seemingly infinite supply of husbands.

Lauren’s life changes with each new husband. And while the idea of endless possible lives sounds appealing, she eventually starts questioning what she truly wants out of love and life. How will she trust she’s found the right one when she knows she can easily swap him out?

The Husbands by Holly Gramazio delivers on its intriguing premise of a woman who suddenly finds herself with a husband and one that can change each time they go to her apartment's attic. I was racing through the book a breakneck speed to see what happens next, much like Lauren's own racing through husbands to find the best partner and life. This magical realism novel, containing mystery and relationship themes, is funny, lighthearted, and reflective, a great read.

Imagine you send your husband up to the attic to retrieve something… and an entirely new man comes back down the ladder! That’s the premise of this book- a magic attic and what seems to be an endless supply of husbands, each returning from the attic with no idea that their wife has never seen them before. It’s entertaining and unlike anything I’ve ever read! Some husbands are good, some are tolerable, some are outright scary… each the result of what would have happened if Lauren had made a different choice in her life. What seems like fun and games gets old, and Lauren is forced to find what really is important to her. A fun read!

A super fun read! One of my favorite plot devices is time travel, which this isn't, quite, but Holly Gramazio employs some familiar scenarios. The premise is that protagonist Lauren has a magical attic, from which a mysterious husband appeared one night -- but if the husband goes back into the attic, yet another one descends! Lauren is baffled, naturally, and spends some time going through the emotional whiplash you might expect (and also going through her back account and sick days at a rapid rate). Every time a new husband descends, Lauren's life is reset -- she's aging, but circumstances always change and she's the only one who seems to know. Where does she work? Does the husband take milk or sugar in his tea? Which toothbrush is hers? And what episode of Mindhunter are they on? Sometimes Lauren is able to use information from past timelines in helpful or necessary ways. There's a pretty major twist about halfway through that seems to prompt Lauren to start thinking about whether/how she might be able to settle down. Really fun exploration of memory and relationships -- will be fun for fans of Mike Chen's A Quantum Love Story or even of the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind!

This was the most fun I've had in a long time! An alternate universe at every turn, and how nice it might be to change partners every time something undesirable happens. The writing was good, the characters were well written, and I have to say that this book was a delight at every turn. I'm am completely on Lauren's side and when the end comes, it just seems right. I wholeheartedly recommend this book and will be looking for more from this author.

This ARC was provided by the publisher and NetGalley, the opinions expressed herein are strictly my own.

A young woman starts a bizarre journey through multiple realities when she comes home to a husband she didn't know she had. Also, she changes husbands whenever he goes up into the attic of their flat to change a light bulb. Naturally, a variety of other things about her life changes when her husband changes. The resolution to this situation leads to a stunning and hilarious conclusion.

Overall, I enjoyed this. It felt a bit repetitive at times but I think by the 50% part I was totally invested. A quirky, unique premise that I really enjoyed. I wasn't quite sure about the ending but it did feel fitting to the novel. I'll definitely recommend this one.

I HATED THIS BOOK AND I’M SO SAD ABOUT IT. was genuinely SO excited to read it, the first time I read the summary I was hooked. The plot sounded so fun and I’m such a magical realism girlie so I fully expected to love it…spoiler alert: I did not.

It started off strong and I was invested—a little confused as to why she wasn’t freaking out more or putting any kind of effort into figuring out why her attic had started spitting out magical husbands, but invested nevertheless. But it just kept…going….and going..and going…aaaaand going. And it’s not until literally 50% of the way through that we finally get some kind of plotline? And then it just went back to the same old boring monotony of the first half? I could have forgiven a lot if the characters were lovable or funny or anything other than potatoes with dialogue but uh….that’s exactly what they were.

Now that I think about it, this book read a LOT like The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (which I also hated). A revolving door of lives/husbands, no real plot, somehow both too fast paced and wayyyy too slow, characters with the personalities of wet cardboard, and an ending that made the whole thing not worth it.


I hate giving out one star reviews but I usually demolish even mediocre books in a day and a half. This one took me 5 days and I was SHOCKED when I checked and it was only 350ish pages. It felt like 1000.

What a delight! This book has such a fun, unique premise, and it was carried out so well. I really appreciated the difficulty Lauren had making decisions and how sometimes you just have to do it and deal with the consequences. The novel took me in, I really spent a lot of time thinking about how she was going to end it and, while somewhat abrupt, I really ended up liking the end. This was very unputdownable and a fun fresh read from a debut author. I look forward to seeing what she writes next.

Returning to her London flat one night, Lauren is greeted at the door by her loving husband, Michael. It would normally be very nice - but Lauren isn't married. At least she doesn't remember being married. Yet the photos around the flat, and the photos and messages on her phone all suggest that she's been married to Michael for years.

When Michael goes up to the attic to change a lightbulb, he never returns. Instead, another man emerges as her husband, and her flat and her phone all indicate that they've been married for years

Lauren comes to realize that there is something unique and strange happening with her attic, giving her new husbands any time one passes through the opening barrier. And it is only the husband who change. And thus begins a years-long rotation of husbands into and out of Lauren's life. Some are downright frightening, some she can't imagine ever marrying in the first place. Some are quite acceptable but ... could there be a better one out there?

This is a debut novel for author Holly Gramazio and it's a delightful, allegorical romp. Are we ever satisfied? Is there always something 'better'? It's the 'greener pastures' theory in full mode.

This allegory is evident pretty much from the start. What does it take - two, three? - husband changes to see that Lauren wonders what the next might be like? Of course those who are wrong are generally very clearly wrong, but in one case, Lauren begins to question herself, rather than her husbands, when EVERYone likes her husband so much more than she does. He's almost too perfect. So what does she want? That question is maybe never really answered.

Once the meaning of this morality tale is established (early), this becomes an urban fantasy adventure and as such it's quite repetitious. We come to expect (again, very early one) that Lauren is going to rotate through men so our continuing to read is based on 'what's the next man going to be'?

Gramazio does a fine job of changing up who the men are - making them different - and just as we might get truly bored one (temporary) husband stands out for his uniqueness among the hundreds that she'll flip through (I don't want to give too much away).

Still, it feels as though Lauren should come to some realizations about her situation, and herself, much earlier. Does she simply get hooked on the thrill of getting a new man? Is she someone who can never be satisfied? That's never really addressed. In some ways this is a question for the reader, presumably, to discover in themselves. But that would suggest that this book is really only intended for single women. (Let's face it - if the roles were reversed and it was a man who could constantly get a different wife, the 'message' of the story would be very different.)

Personally, I think we get the message early and don't need to see quite so many different husbands that are clearly not 'right' but more who were actually a reasonable choice and still discarded would have been much more interesting.

While this is clearly fantasy, I suspect this will get listed instead as 'contemporary' or 'chick lit'.
Looking for a good book? The Husbands by Holly Gramazio is a modern allegorical tale showcasing the 'grass is always greener on the other side' proverb, delightfully told.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Unfortunately, this one was not for me. I picked it up and put it down three times. I really tried to get into it but it wasn't flowing for me. I did; however, think "this could be a great Netflix show" I loved the premise.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

When the first foot from THE HUSBANDS by Holly Gramazio descends from the attic, there is so much potential to go wrong, but this book stepped into amusement and satisfaction. It explores themes of coming of age and partnership like any rom com while executing a silly premise well. Th

Very fun, Groundhog Day type of book! I also enjoyed the romance elements. Perfect warm weather read!

This was a romp of a book. Quick-paced, funny, and surprising, with great characters—even the ones who only get a brief trip down from the attic.

This book is one that really makes you think about the path not taken. Lauren comes home one day and meets her husband whom she doesn't know. Everything around her and in her life now says that she is married to this man. When her husband goes to change a lightbulb in the attic, a different husband returns. As Lauren tries to make sense of the whole situation she really begins to ponder her life.

Lauren returns home from a night out with the girls to be greeted by a strange man named Michael who appears, by all clues available, to be her husband. After a day of panicked investigating in which her friends and phone all confirm the existence of the marriage, Michael goes up to the attic to change a lightbulb and is promptly replaced by an entirely different husband. This scenario repeats itself, each time creating a slightly altered world, and Lauren realizes her attic is creating an infinite supply of husbands. She is faced with both trying to solve why this is happening, and deciding which husband and life scenario suits her most.

I was so intrigued by this premise, but it just kept repeating without any real interesting details surrounding the various men and her options. Lauren doesn't seem to know what she wants, doesn't take any real interest in her own life or career, just repeats finding flaws in the husbands and sending them back up to the attic to be replaced. This could have been a captivating exploration, but just slogged in repetition and the main character became more irritating as the story went on.

Thank you to Doubleday and Netgalley for this book to review!

This was a really fun book. There is some great creativity here and the book makes the unbelievable believable-just in the way the main character moves through this life. I would have loved to see more development of why these particular husbands appeared and I would want to know a bit more about the last husband, but not having these did not take away from the story. Perhaps a sequel instead to wrap everything up? All in all, totally worth reading and plan to set aside some time as you will not want to put this down.
Thank you NetGalley for an ARC.