Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
The Husbands follows Lauren, a single woman who is coming home from a hen party when she finds a man in her house. At first, Lauren thinks the man has broken in, but she looks around and notices that her whole flat is slightly different and there are pictures of her and this man on the wall, and on her screen saver. Lauren slowly realizes that every time a husband goes up into the attic of her flat, another husband comes down. This magical attic takes Lauren on a journey that allows her to see how her life would change depending on the man she marries.

The premise of The Husbands is so intriguing! I was so interested to see where this story would take me and how it would make me think. Overall, I enjoyed this book. It is interesting, funny, and easy to read. While I do not regret reading it, I do feel like this story could have been condensed into a novella or short story while still getting the general point across. While the premise of the magical attic pumping out husbands is interesting and kept me curious, I felt like this story started getting a little repetitive. The story definitely gets wilder and wilder and I liked the ending, but I don't think this book needed to be as long as it was.

I would recommend this to anyone who finds the premise interesting. The book is well written and the author definitely keeps things interesting.

e-ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I found this novel highly entertaining!

Lauren comes home one night after being out with friends and finds Michael on her doorstep. He's her husband. Except she's not married. All the signs point to them being together for a while but Lauren has no recollection of any of it. When Michael goes to the attic to change a lightbulb he disappears, and another husband takes his place. Lauren suddenly has an endless supply of husbands...

It's a look at how we judge people, sometimes on first sight, a comment on what makes a marriage work and what doesn't, what makes a partner worth pursuing and what makes us want to send him back up the attic stairs. It's about making the decision to stay and work things out, and finding satisfaction in the everyday moments. A really clever, time-bending, magical-realism novel.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was an insanely fun read that still felt literary in its scale. I have already recommended it to multiple people because I feel like it's a great bridge between popular and literary fiction, and when I describe the premise, people are so intrigued!

The concept is interesting. I thought the number of characters would be overwhelming but once I was so far into it, that wasn't an issue. It was better than I expected.

I struggled with this book. It jumped around quite a bit. It is an interesting premise but I found the execution lacking. Just as I was getting interested in some characters, they disappeared. I also had a hard time identifying with the protagonist which for me is a big deal. I would definitely read other works by this author, I just felt this one was not that great.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Team for this Advanced Digital Readers Copy, I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

I read a decent amount of this book and was having a really good time with it! A lot of my friends gave this 4 or 5 stars and I'm sad I just don't care enough to finish it. I would consider picking up the audiobook from my library to finish it but it's not at the top of my priority list right now. If you're at all interested in this, I suggest giving it a go! It was a really fun, super quirky read.

A lot of fun! I also think she did a really good job of exploring all the new ones every aspect of the things that you could learn from something like this happening to you

"The Husbands" hooks you with its mind-bending premise: Lauren comes home to her London flat one night to find a husband she’s never met, and each trip to the attic swaps him with a new, slightly different partner, reshaping her reality bit by bit. The setup is packed with intrigue, but as the story progresses, the constant shifts make it tough to latch onto any emotional core, and Lauren's endless "do-overs" sometimes feel repetitive. Still, it’s a thought-provoking journey into the “what ifs” of life’s choices, perfect for readers who enjoy exploring alternate realities—even if the story leaves some questions unanswered.

I loved this so much! What a clever send-up of today's swipe right dating culture! No wonder Jenna chose it. A fun, perfect book that slyly has something to say.

I'll admit it. I was a bit hesitant to pick up this book as I was worried the premise would be redundant. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was engaged in THE HUSBANDS the entire book. Debut author Holly Gramazio did a wonderful job formulating this unique premise and I thought she executed it well. I love the questions she raises surrounding marriage, contentment, and choice. This is a thought-provoking contemporary fiction story that was a fun take on the "sliding doors" premise. I am eager to read what the author comes up with next!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book has such a hooking premise. Lauren comes home to a husband waiting but she is not married. Then when he goes up to the attic a different husband comes down. Like what is going on??

However, the story is kind of flat. Nothing happens other than the parade of husbands. Lauren does next to none self-evaluation. The world is also not explained. I do suppose with magical realism it is just a suspend belief situation but I wanted a bit more.

Thank you Netgalley for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. It was very meh.

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a little backlogged with my ARC’s but working diligently to get caught up. I really enjoyed this whole book! The story was original and funny while still being a serious situation that the main character is stuck in. I love the backdrop of London and how the whole story comes together. It made me happy and sad at times but I was pleasantly surprised with how the author chose to end it. If you like romance with a supernatural twist, check this book out!

Relationships are always a choice-but what if you stumbled home to find a spouse you'd never seen before, only to discover you could forever trade them out for a potentially better (or worse) alternative?

This was such a fun mix of sci-fi, romance, and humor! I both loved and hated Lauren throughout the course of the novel as her judgments were at times validated, while also sometimes being a little too snap or harsh. But her flaws and shortcomings made her feel very real indeed. My only critique was <spoiler>that the mysterious, magical attic was never explained! I wished it could have been tied back to her grandparents and maybe she would have discovered something about their relationship and the history of the flat-but none of it was ever explained. I did enjoy that Lauren finally made the choice to just love her partner and work on her marriage regardless. </spoiler>

The messages about love, family, and friendship were great and mixed with the humor of the situation were also highly relatable. This was a fun, quick, and surprisingly heart warming read and I could definitely see this as a movie or TV series.

The classic post-bachelorette party story employed in rom-coms, tv, and elsewhere is that the protagonist wakes up with a hangover and a husband. Lauren, on the other hand, has just been welcomed home by her husband: a man she’s never met and she’s sure she never married. She quickly discovers that her attic is a never ending source of new husbands, and with them new variations on her life. Some are fun and exciting, others are terrifying, and still others are good enough for a while.

The first portion of the book is a rapid-fire exchange of husbands and lives, as Lauren takes a vacation from her life and any consequences. As I was reading, I was worried that this would be the majority of the book and wondered why people had found it so compelling. Things do eventually slow down, and the character development picks up. With the exception of a few cringe-worthy episodes, I did enjoy the book once I got into it, and I would recommend it to people looking for a variant on the traditional rom-com.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review.

Meh. I had such high hopes but so much of this was just the same thing over and over filling pages with descriptions of each guy that didn't add to the plot at all. And the end was just <spoiler>"ok I'm gonna stop now"</spoiler>. So unsatisfying.

Plus, <spoiler>the whole part of someone else going through this too makes no sense! If they're each resetting the world all the time than they would be resetting each other's worlds too!!!</spoiler> End rant. Blah!

2.5 stars

What a fun premise this was, but the execution was not great. Literally met 160 husbands at the halfway point!!!

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.