LESS IS MORE

“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”.

But before she can figure out how she could possibly be married to someone she can’t remember meeting, Michael goes to the attic to change a lightbulb and a different man emerges in his place.

And, like a parallel universe, a slightly altered life re-forms around her as well-Same flat, though furnished differently, same friends, though at different stages in their lives, DIFFERENT HUSBAND.

If you don’t like the one who climbs down the ladder-send him back to the attic for something and see if you prefer who climbs down the ladder next!

This unique premise sounded like so much fun BUT I didn’t really care for the execution. By the 50% point Lauren had met and rejected 160 husbands!!!

Don’t worry, no need to start a flow chart-we don’t meet them ALL and those we do meet, we never get to know them any better than she did.

At the halfway point, a husband emerges who really “gets” her. Will she decide to settle down, or will her quest to find “perfection” continue?

I was hoping that this would be a turning point in the book.

For me, this would have been better with LESS husbands and MORE of an opportunity to really get to know a couple and root for a favorite !! But, honestly, I didn’t warm up to Lauren and can’t say that I was rooting for her either!

As written, I wasn’t quite as satisfied with this story as I had hoped to be, despite the fresh premise and the adorable book cover!

3 ⭐️ (an average read)

Expected publication date: April 2, 2024

Thank You to Doubleday for the gifted copy provided through NetGalley. It was my pleasure to offer a candid review.

Great premise, but not executed as well as it could have been. It was repetitive, which I’m sure was the point with an endless supply of husbands. But I just didn’t connect with the main character like I hoped. And I was so disappointed with the ending. It just left me with more questions. It was still a fun read though.

When single Lauren returns from her best friend's bachelorette party, she finds a strange man in her flat who claims to be her husband, Michael. Despite Lauren's confusion, everyone else accepts him as her husband and evidence of her life seems to agree - there are tons of pictures of him in her phone and in her flat, which has been transformed to reflect their life together. When Michael goes up into the attic, a different husband and life appear. Lauren discovers that her attic is sending out new husbands (and with them, new lives) whenever one goes up. This is a problem that Google can't help her solve despite the many times she tries different word combinations to get answers.

I was really excited to be approved for this on NetGalley as I loved the description. Unfortunately, it didn't meet my expectations. The story is told in 3rd person, but it felt like it was told in 1st person, which made it weird any time Lauren's name was mentioned. For the most part, I felt like it cycled through husbands way too quickly so most of them didn't get a big enough chunk of the plot for me to even distinguish them. I understand cycling through a bunch to get the point across and to let Lauren quickly determine if she wants to be stuck in a life with them, but even the husband she claimed to love didn't get much of the story dedicated to him. I didn't even feel like Lauren had much to set her apart or make her a full character - she was just a person who these things were happening to. The plot was a fantastic idea, but the execution fell short.

2.5

The premise sounded great, but, sadly, the delivery was lackluster. The pacing was all over the place. If you're a fan of Groundhog Day, then this may be a book for you to check out. However, I found the revolving door of husbands a bit tedious partway through the story. The POV made it hard to connect to the characters. The storyline became repetitive, and the ending was very abrupt.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for honest feedback. I like fiction. This book sounded intriguing.

The book was very original. I have never read anything like this. The chapters were short and easy to read. The book was not predictable.

The book was a little too long for me. Near the end I had no idea how it would end. I was confused at the end, what the book was really about.

The book didn't have a lot of character development. A lot of characters were fleeting throughout the book. The main character was flawed but likeable.

The book did have me thinking about who is in our life. How we effect each other. I thought about how different choices can really change our lives. The book seemed to be talking about deeper issues than what was on the pages of the book.

I would be interested to see what the author writes next. Thank you to the author and Netgalley for the opportunity to read the book.

A fun take on a life interrupted by a weird magical fate of repetitiveness but this time … unending husbands who appear down a stairwell.

Lauren wakes up one morning after a bachelorette party (or hen party bc UK) to find a strange man in her flat. After realizing he’s in pictures around her and on her phone, she determines she’s married to him! Oddly, she discovers if she sends him up her attic stairs a new husband arrives. Lauren has to figure out who these guys are, if she likes them, how to get rid of them if she doesn’t or keep them if she does. She gets into all kinds of situations that require quick thinking and inevitably a reckoning with what she really wants.

I found this old dog’s new tricks well executed. The take on a ground day-esque premise worked for me as I found the husband commentary pretty spot on, funny and at times poignant. Just like Groundhog day, Lauren goes through a lot of phases to deal with her new reality and each iteration kept me reading. I found I wanted to keep coming back to this book to see what would happen next to Lauren and her men. I think some may find the ending unsatisfying (and if I’m nitpicking I wish Lauren explored her connection to the men a bit more) but it mostly worked for me. Looking forward to what this author does next!

What would your life be like with a partner, or a different partner? Lauren returns from a night out with friends to find that she has a husband, not just a strange man in her flat, but embedded into her life. Photos of him on her phone, text chains with him and mentions of him in her texts to other friends. Just when she is starting to accept this strange new reality, he goes into the attic to replace a flickering light, and a new husband comes down. Each new husband causes ripples throughout Lauren's life, from the decor to her profession, a few even have impacts on the lives of the other people close to her and bring new friends. With endless husband possibilities how will she ever settle on the best one?
I loved this book! The different lives she gets to try on and the way that her circumstances change as her husband changes are really interesting. I kept telling people around me about this magical attic of husbands, and gasping at the next obstacle thrown in Lauren's way. I also loved watching Lauren change and grow as she was constantly tossed into these different circumstances. As someone who got married fairly young, I've often wondered what my life would have been like if I had stayed single longer, or married someone different. I doubt I would find things better, but they would definitely be different.
Thank you to NetGalley, Doubleday books, and the author for the preview copy. All opinions in this review are my own. I cannot wait to share it with the patrons at my library!

about 100 pages too long. premise was cute but ultimately not enough substance to keep the shtick going for so long

Okay, I'm back on my Women's Rights and Women's Wrongs kick. If someone doesn't already have the rights, grab it now; this would make a great movie or limited show.

Did you like the movie Palm Springs? What if it was something completely different but also thoughtful and funny?

It's gonna be tough for another book to beat this out for me in 2024. Yes, I am saying that in January.

What if you weren't happy with your husband? You could just send him up to the attic and get another one!
I loved the idea of this, but after a while wondered how she was going to get out of this, or was she going to keep starting over with someone new.
This was a funny and cute story. She did wrap it up well for a satisfying ending.

This story gives a whole new meaning to the concepts of spooky attics and dating. It is fun watching Lauren gradually realize that every relationship involves risk, and if you are lucky, it is worth it.

The storyline was an interesting concept with a twist in choosing the "perfect" husband. I enjoyed it but after awhile I started feeling like Lauren was "judging a book by its cover" and not getting to know the husbands. I began asking myself, was Lauren perfect? Maybe the book was a little too long or there was not enough hook of one relationship for me to get sucked in, besides Carter. I did want to see what was going to happen there. But overall, it kept me interested.

This is such a fun and unique book. It reminded me a little of Oona Out of Order but with a more romantic spin. It's one I will definitely be recommending this year. Top Ten Potential

Super cute concept; and one that would be seriously the best movie, ever! Every time her husband descends into the attic, a new man exits. While this may sound like a good idea on some days (ya'll get me, right?) overall I feel for the main character. Struggling to build the life she wants with the man she wants, she goes through more than a few frogs before she finds a prince. How hard this must be, creating and remembering the life she creates with each man? The author did a superb job with this novel; cute, charming, and on some scales relatable, I thought this one was a winner!

This was such a delightful, funny, and engaging read. The main character of the story, Lauren returns home one day and is greeted by her husband. The only problem, she’s never been married, and her last relationship was an absolute disaster. Shortly after ‘the husband’ arrives, she finds out that every time a husband goes into the attic, a different husband comes back down. You’ll go through a whole range of emotions as Lauren goes through husband after husband with their different personalities (some better than others), you’ll go through heartbreak when one particular husband disappears, and by the end, you’ll get the heartwarming finish you’ve been waiting for. Time to pre-order this one pronto!

This quirky fun read will make you smile. As I usually read heavy murder/crime type novels, this one is decidedly different! Lauren is living her life when she discovers the stairs in her flat lead to a succession of husbands that she didn't know she had. You can imagine what a mess this can be! After many husbands being returned to the attic, Lauren decides it's time to make some decisions. This book is fun, just what you need when you want a bit of whimsy in your life.
Thanks to netgalley for the ARC.

This novel starts out with a bang and continues its twists and turns throughout.

Quickly getting into the premise, we follow Lauren home from a night out, and as she stumbles inside, her husband is there to greet her. The strange thing about this is she isn’t married.

After sending him to the attic to change a lightbulb, he promptly disappears, only to be replaced by a new husband.

One by one, husbands keep disappearing through her attic as she tries to find the right one. Each new husband that appears changes her environment slightly, and she begins to wonder if it will change her as well.

Will she finally settle down and be content with what she has before her, or will she constantly be trading up for the next best thing?

Overall, I enjoyed this novel. With its quirky characters and science-fiction-like feel, this became more than just women’s fiction.

While the plot could have gone awry and easily could have seemed monotonous, Gramazio wrote with awareness and made it feel as if stagnancy was not an option. Well done.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to thank Net Galley and Doubleday for the opportunity to read this as an ARC. I am not sure how to describe this book. Fantasy, scifi, romance or just plain crackpot? Hard to pick. Let me try a synopsis- Lauren lives in London and is single. She goes out with her friend Elena who is getting married. She has a lot to drink and comes home to find she has a husband. Other things in her life are different as well, different friends, furnishings, interests. But the big thing is the husband. She has no idea who he is or what happened. She is able to piece it together through phone as to when they married, and everyone seems to like him. She tries to tell her neighborToby about it, but Toby doesn't understand. Lauren tries to make sense of it, and then Michael, her husband goes up into her attic, and a new man comes down. Every time a husband goes into the attic, he disappears and is replaced by someone new. Other things change as well, Lauren's job, the things in the house, friends ( although her sister Nat, Elena and Toby and his wife Maryam are constant).This book takes place over the space of 2 years, as Lauren careens from husband to husband, life to life.It was fun at first, but went on way too long, and quite frankly, I was hoping we would find out that Lauren was in a coma and this was some kind of coma dream. It went on way to long, and was actually cringy in a lot of parts.I see the other reviews loved it, but sorry., not my cup of tea.

I found this book to be absolutely delightful and heartfelt and the concept so unique. My one and only complaint is that we never find out WHY the attic is full of husbands.

Very interesting storyline! Lauren was living a very simple single life then one night arrives home to a HUSBAND! This story takes place in London, if you are not familiar, the author does a decent job of explaining things that may be foreign to people from other countries. But she did not explain what a roast was, thanks to Tiktok, I know! Lol.

I thought Lauren to be quite annoying and could not understand WHY she kept returning to a house that did not belong to her! I felt it was unnecessary and something else could have taken place instead of her returning to Felix's house TWICE. It held no significance to me, she could have figured out another way to get what she needed the second time around.

This story has A LOT of marriages involved and it made me wish I could return my husband sometimes when he annoys me! The author's writing kept me wanting to know more and where was it going to end and with who?

Not sure I loved the ending but I did not hate it. Definitely give this book a read for some great entertainment!