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!

I loved this - perfectly straddles genres of romance, science fiction, and literary fictions. The twist on the “Sliding Doors” concept was inventive and thought-provoking.

I thought the concept of The Husbands was really cool and mostly really well done. I did have a few small issues that made it a little harder for me to be engrossed in the story, but I did still quite enjoy it. I have a feeling our book club will love it, so we will be purchasing multiple copies.

The Husbands was a really pleasant surprise for me. I was honestly a little confused about how the author was going to carry this concept out, especially after I read the first couple chapters. But she somehow takes a strange and unbelievable situation and actually made me somewhat buy into it.

The novel begins with Lauren returning home to her London flat one evening and having her husband greet her. The only problem is that she doesn't have a husband. Lauren has been single for a while now, but this man definitely believes he's her husband and she quickly realizes they've built a life together and even have the wedding photos to prove it. While Lauren is trying to figure out how the heck this happened (even her family and her friends know she's married!), her husband goes into the attic and a different husband comes down.

And thus she realizes that something is happening with her attic that every time her husband goes up, a different one comes down. And it appears that these men are all husbands in alternate versions of her life. I mean, maybe you have to read it to totally get it?

All I know is that I was super impressed with how the story flowed and I found it to be a really enjoyable reading experience.

I can't totally decide how I feel about the ending, but I also spent much of the book wondering how it was going to end. And I'm not really sure how she could have written it in a way that would have been more satisfying to me.

Honestly, hats off to Holly Gramazio for tackling this plot... And as her debut, too. And now, I want to see it turned into a movie!

Holly Gramazio is a new author to me and the premise of The Husbands sounds so different and fun that I couldn't help but be excited to start it.

Lauren comes home one night to find she is married (to Michael). The only problem is that she isn't married and has no idea who the man is. Just as she is figuring out that she really *is* married, Michael goes up in the attic to change a lightbulb and a *different* husband comes back down. Something in the attic changes husbands (but doesn't affect her). She doesn't like the second husband at all, So sends him up in the attic to exchange him for a different husband. And another, and another....

However fun the premise of this book was, the book didn't work for me and I couldn't finish it. I stopped before I was 1/2 way through it.

I loved the premise but the book didn't live up to my expectations. I couldn't suspend my disbelief long enough to settle into the story.

This is the best book I've read in the genre of "what if I lived my life differently"? The premise sounds simple and shallow, but in fact the main character, Lauren, evolves in depth as she experiments with the opportunity to try out different husbands and lifestyles. The author has good control over the plot, forcing Lauren into a terrific combination of both thoughtful and absurd scenarios that had to be hard to write although the transitions between husbands and plot twists are fun to read and seem perfectly sensible. Best of all, the end was a complete surprise to me. I'm recommending this book to anyone who comes into the library looking for escape reading, magical realism, or a novel that truly depicts relationships between friends, sisters, and romantic partners.

You can’t deny that the premise of this book is a lot of fun: Lauren comes home from a bachelorette party to find out she’s now married (question mark?)… but she wasn’t prior to the party. And she can exchange her husband for a new one by sending them into the attic. Reset her life, open new possibilities, rearrange the people and places of her life. I did enjoy it but it felt too long and I’d have loved to see certain parts of the story take more shape.

Oh The Husbands! So many different husbands to choose from! This book was so cute and different - when you read a lot of books sometimes they start to mimick one another with the same tropes and themes. Not this one! This was really sweet and uplifting.

Such a unique book! Lauren is single and lives alone so she's surprised to find a strange man in her house when she comes home one night. He happens to be her husband Michael and even though she doesn't remember him, there are photos of them together and her friends and family seem to know him. When he goes into the attic to change a light bulb, a different man comes down the stairs. Lauren sends him back up to look for Michael and a different man comes down the stairs. Anytime a man goes into Lauren's attic, a different man appears who is her husband. With the ability to change husbands without much trouble, how will Lauren ever decide which man is the correct husband for her?

I received a copy from Netgalley for an honest review.

I absolutely adored this book and could hardly put it down! A real page turner, I just kept wanting to know what was going to happen next!
This is a fun romp that answers the question of how our lives would turn out with different partners. How would our friends, house, job be different if we were on a divergent path? She gets to find out in a very unique way!
Give this book a go, you won't be disappointed!

Holly Gramazio has written an unusual book that shows what can happen when you have the opportunity to switch husbands via a magic attic. Lauren lives in a flat in London, and has never been married. Yet she returns home after her friend's hen party to a husband. She discovers that a different husband returns from the attic each time they go into it. She tries to talk to her friend Elena about it, but knows that she's not believed. To everyone else in her life, each husband is known and accepted. Her own life varies depending on who her husband is. How does she know which one is the right one for her?

I savored this book. The characters are richly drawn and add to the plot. I gave 5 stars to the novel because it kept me engaged from the start, and the ending was satisfying. I hope to read more from the author in the future.

I received an advance copy of this book from Netgalley and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The Husbands is a quirky read that explores the notion of “the one.” When Lauren comes home to find an unfamiliar man in her apartment, she is shocked to learn this man is her husband, as confirmed by texts and photos evidencing a life she doesn’t remember living. Lauren is then even further shocked when her husband goes into the attic to search for something and a new unfamiliar man emerges, claiming again to be Lauren’s husband. She soon realizes that her attic can produce an infinite supply of husbands, with the disappearance of one into the attic bringing the emergence of another. With each new husband, Lauren steps into a life already in progress - the contours of which differ in conjunction with the choices made leading to and within her marriage.

The Husbands is such an interesting exploration of how to determine whether a potential partner is “the one” and whether “the one” even exists. If there is always another option around the corner, how do we settle into one relationship? How do our relationships shape who we are and who we become? And how does who we decide to be with shape the path our lives take?

I really enjoyed the experience of The Husbands and I don’t doubt that I will be thinking about its themes for a while. At points, it dragged and it ended up going in a different direction than I anticipated, but I think I liked that, actually. I recommend The Husbands if you are looking for something original and quirky but with deeper themes.

As always, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced digital copy!

SO. GOOD. This is an incredibly special book that I could swear is a short story, only because it took me a day to read it. I couldn't put it down.

As someone who has been married for almost a decade, I do wonder sometimes what my life would be like in a parallel universe, married to someone else. "The Husbands" is equal parts fiction, fantasy, and a hypothetical study of how one person could choose multiple spouses, and how that might end up.

I just adored this book.

The Husbands by Holly Gramazio was a cute read about the possibility of the magical, stressful, unwelcome rotation of husbands descending the attic staircase of a 30-something year old’s flat.

Lauren is bewildered to come home from a late night of partying to find she is suddenly married to a man she has never met. Upon further investigation, she finds she can get a brand new husband by sending the current one into the attic, only for a new one to descend into her confused embrace. Our main character tries to navigate this never ending carousel of men by trying to find the perfect husband to keep around for good, but is finding your perfect match really all there is to life?

Ok, so I didn’t love Lauren as our protagonist just because I didn’t care for the choices she was making. But, I enjoyed watching her struggle through the many marriages while trying to figure out how to stop the maddening rotation and get her old life back. I too fell in love with some of the men that came into her life and felt that aching sadness when they ultimately went away. But that ending!!! Really great.

I think the ultimate takeaway of this fun little novel is something that I learned when making my own decision to get married: you could make a wonderful marriage work with several different candidates in life, and the choice as to who you pick will lead you down a different path. But there doesn't have to necessarily be THE ONE path that is the ONLY way you will find happiness. You just have to choose the person you want to love for the rest of your life. Of course, please make sure you are choosing someone who shares your values, treats you well, ect… Love is, ultimately, a choice.

The Husbands by Holly Gramazio is a unique and often funny story. Lauren, a single woman in London comes home from a bachelorette party to a man that she's never met who claims (and her friends and family confirm) is her husband. She discovers that her attic supplies her with a never-ending supply of new husbands. I laughed out loud at times as Lauren works through hundreds of husbands as she tries to figure out who to settle down with and what life suits her best. Overall enjoyable, but perhaps too long for me. ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

Thank you to NetGalley and Double Day Books for this E-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

BUT FOR THE ENDING! Gahhhh! You know how I feel about a good ending for a book, and this one, well, this one left me wanting a bit more. BUT. I really, really enjoyed this book (thanks to the publisher for the ARC!), a lot more than I thought I would. From the opening chapter I was trying to figure out the "why" and the "how," but as the story moved along I got caught up in the ins and outs of what was happening; and it turns out I really liked this weird, unrealistic story. I will say there were some loose ends I didn't love, and no real explanation for the "how" and "why," and I did not love the ending. But such is life, right?