I love this author’s work, and was as enthralled with this novel. Set in three time periods, the settings include 1950’s Cairo, 2008 Cape Cod, and 2022, Mystic Connecticut. The two main characters are strong women, Hannah, a Hungarian refugee who lost so much, is in Egypt with her British husband, and Mallory, an artist and a mom, fighting her way through her son’s kidney failure. There are so many twists and turns, enmeshed in some history and ethical and moral questions, you will not want to put the book down. Highly recommended. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

"Husbands and Lovers" by Beatriz Williams is a captivating and intricately woven tale of love, betrayal, and the complexities of human relationships. Set against the backdrop of the glamorous 1930s and 1940s, the novel follows the lives of two compelling women, Virginia "Gin" Kelly and Annabelle Smith, whose paths intersect in unexpected and dramatic ways.

Williams masterfully blends historical fiction with romance, creating a rich narrative filled with intrigue and emotion. The characters are vividly drawn, each with their own flaws and strengths, making their journeys both relatable and enthralling. Gin, a spirited and determined woman, and Annabelle, a socialite with a hidden past, navigate a world of secrets, lies, and forbidden love, all while striving to define their own identities in a society that often seeks to confine them.

The novel's pacing is expertly handled, with twists and turns that keep the reader engaged from start to finish. Williams' prose is elegant and evocative, capturing the essence of the era and bringing the settings to life with lush descriptions and attention to detail.

"Husbands and Lovers" is not just a romance but a deep exploration of the choices women make and the resilience they exhibit in the face of adversity. It delves into the sacrifices and compromises inherent in relationships and the enduring quest for true love and self-fulfillment.

Overall, "Husbands and Lovers" is a beautifully crafted story that will resonate with fans of historical fiction and romance alike. Beatriz Williams delivers a novel that is both poignant and thrilling, making it a must-read for anyone who appreciates a well-told tale of love and perseverance.

Well, well, well! I am not going to say that I did not expect this to be great because Beatriz Williams never fails to surprise and dazzle me with her writing. I am so glad for the complimentary audiobook gifted by PRH Audio and Random House Publishing via Netgalley for the e-ARC. This book is a total roller coaster ride and an exhilarating one to say the least. This book has the modern New England ambiance meets classic Egypt and I am all here for it.
Mallory of the present day and Hannah from the past were just the coolest POV I have encountered recently. As soon as I start the book, it was hard to put down because no one can possibly let go of a story when we are talking about summer camp mushrooms ending in a need for a kidney transplant! Right?! Who would dare to take a pause?
The characters were both lovable, intriguing and captivating. The secrets were buried deep, heavy and significant. There were so much going on the back story, the history was rich and unbelievable. I thought at first, I was completely reading two different books but just as when the pieces click together like a puzzle, everything fell into its perfect places and it all made sense. It was a story inside a far more bigger story and I was impressed.
Lastly who does not want a friends to lovers turned into second chances trope because among all the parts of this book, I love that it wasn’t just historical fiction but romance as well. The writing was beautiful and narration by Helen Lacer and Caroline Hewitt was phenomenal. Beatriz Williams is talented and I highly recommend this masterpiece.

I started this then walked away because I just wasn’t enjoying the Mallory storyline because it just didn’t make sense that she would do ANYTHING to help her son except the one thing that seemed to obvious. But after a few days and reading some reviews on Goodreads I decided to forgive Mallory and give her a chance to do the right thing. I was very happy that I came back with a new perspective because I really enjoyed both Mallory’s and Hannah’s story. Hannah especially was intriguing because a woman in that time would have been taken huge risks to carry on as she did but she knew what she wanted. The unspeakable sadness of that story is balanced by Mallory finally being able to forgive herself and allow some happiness in her life. Another great book from Beatriz Williams

I’ve been so lucky with my recent reads, because I have another 📕🍆⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read from Beatriz Williams and her newest release Husbands & Lovers. This story follows two women and their lineage, one is a Hungarian living in Egypt in the early 1950s and the other in Northeast US between 2008-2022. I loved that I could relate to Mallory’s story as an art student immersed in a world of super privileged peers. Both stories are immensely romantic and gutting, and I found both characters strong and resilient in their own way. Both women are flawed and you don’t quite discover what brings them to the decisions they make until the end, when I went from wanting to shake them to feeling extreme empathy for their experiences. Williams does a great job of pushing the story along, with each chapter ending with a cliffhanger of sorts that makes you yearn to finish the next just to get back to each respective storyline. I both couldn’t put this book down and also didn’t want it to end. I loved this book so much and I highly recommend reading it if you like historical fiction, romance, and family dramas.

Thank you to @netgalley and @randomhouse for the eARC of Husbands & Lovers. I enjoyed every moment of reading this one. It was perfect.

#newrelease #bookreview #husbandslovers #netgalley #beatrizwilliams #fivestars

I love Beatriz Williams. Her female characters are so well developed, you can’t help feeling like part of their lives as the story develops. Husbands and Lovers definitely did not disappoint me! There are 2 different women, Hannah and Mallory, living in 2 different eras, the 1950s and current day. I was equally excited to read about each woman and try to work out how they could be related. Both of them have heart wrenching love stories as well as lives with thought provoking events. A must read this summer!

Thank you to Beatriz Williams and NetGalley for the ARC!

I absolutely loved this book! It was a little slow to start off, but once it picked up I could not put it down. I do wish it was a bit longer or that we got to see a little bit more onto the characters lives towards the end because I felt like there was more story to be told

This is the first book I've read by this author. It definitely will not be the last. This book blew me away. It's SO good. So full of feeling and history.

Two women in different eras. They are related but had no idea. At least one didn't. Not until she lost her biological mother.

Mallory Dunne tells her story in New England in 2022. Her story goes back in time to when she worked for a rich family as a nanny to twins. To a time when her best friend Monk Adams got her the job. When they fell in love and promised to always be there for each other. Something happened and that promise could not be kept. But years later Mallory's son Sam ate a poisoned mushroom while at sleep away camp and now needs a kidney.

Then we go back to 1951 Cairo and meet Hannah. Hannah has had terrible hardships in her life. Lost so much because of the war. She met and married a man way older but one who would give her security. Give her financial freedom. Give her a life when she had given up on everything. Hannah meets and falls in love with another man. All she wanted from him in the beginning was a child.

Many secrets come out of this story. Each timeframe has them. Many tears were shed by these two woman. They both had hardships though different. What happened to make Mallory leave Monk was the most devastating thing I can think of at that time. So was what happened to Hannah but in such a different way. These two women are strong. They are determined.

The only thing I wish was that in the end more of my questions would have been answered. Like where did Hannah go after what happened. I know what happened to Mallory and wept when I read that. But who was the woman who rescued Hannah? What happened next? Maybe there will be another book? Not sure if that would be good or not but I would read it.

I enjoyed this book from the first to the last pages. It held me captive. Kept me wanting more. Most of the characters were likable but of course there was a few to hate. I was very pleasantly surprised with how good this book was. I will be reading more by this author.

Thank you #NetGalley, #BeatrizWilliams, #RandomHousePublishing, for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

Five big stars and I highly recommend it. It's excellent!

👙Husbands & Lovers - Beatriz Williams

5 ⭐️- I mean, I felt it all. I loved this story. I loved the characters. I wanted to jump right into this beautifully written book. It had so many elements of a book I love, hence the 5 star rating.

This story is told by different POVs (which I love) and three different timelines, which I found very easy to follow. I loved all of the different storylines and how they meshed together. The characters were well developed, loving, showed growth, and strength. I couldn’t get enough of them, each of their lives, their love, and their connections to each other. I liked some more than others and was definitely angry more than once, but in the end, I loved it all. There was romance, there was history, and there was some mysterious elements. The settings were captivating. The writing is powerful, yet enchanting. Beatriz Williams has definitely won me over and has a fan in me. I cannot recommend this book enough. Definitely add it to your TBR!

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Ballantine for the early arc copy! This gem is also a July BOTM you should add to your box if you haven’t already.

Review will be posted on 7/17/24

It's 2019 and Mallory is a single mom to her ten year old son, Sam. He is attending summer camp and she receives a life changing call that he ate a death cap mushroom, which is poisonous. He ends up very sick from this incident and is hospitalized. After he survives this horrific event, he needs a kidney transplant to life a full life and is currently on dialysis. This entire experience obviously impacts Mallory and Sam's life and Paige, Mallory's sister, is encouraging her to contact Sam's father, because maybe he is a donor match since they aren't. But Sam's dad isn't just any man. He is Monk Adams, a famous Grammy award winning musician whom she hasn't spoken to in years. He is planning to get married on Winthrop Island and it just so happens that Paige has a friend who invited them to stay on Winthrop, so off they go. What could possibly go wrong? The other timeline is told through Hannah's point of view. She lives in the 50s in Cairo, Egypt, and is in an unhappy marriage to a much older (and cruel) Englishman. She meets Lucien and her life is forever changed as he ignites a spark in her that she thought was long gone. Williams expertly weaves both stories together and in turn, readers get a memorable tale. Husbands & Lovers by Beatriz Williams is a page turner filled with historical details, a contemporary romance, a gorgeous beach setting, and more.

I really enjoyed Mallory from the start of Husbands & Lovers. I especially appreciated the flashbacks to high school when she first met Monk and how their relationship developed during college. Mallory worked for Monk's family, helping to nanny his step siblings, and spent the summer on gorgeous Winthrop Island. These chapters really added to the beach read feel and I loved how their relationship unfolded. Also, Monk is such a memorable character and I absolutely adored him as well. Mallory and Monk seem so happy that readers are curious as to what went wrong and slowly Williams clues us in. The flashbacks, in combination with present day details, readers slowly put the pieces together and long for Mallory and Monk to reunite in 2019.

The other timeline in Husbands & Lovers is just as compelling and told from a historical perspective in 1951 Cairo. Hannah is such a strong woman and I really was mesmerized by her past and her experiences during the war. The whole time I kept wondering how Mallory was connected to Hannah as their worlds seem so vastly different, but Williams did a great job weaving the story together. Paige, Mallory's sister, finds out their mother was adopted, so there is a subplot to understand their lineage more as well as the origin of a beautiful bracelet that their mother left behind for Mallory. As someone who loves studying their family's ancestry, this was right up my alley.

I love all of the novels that Williams writes, but Husbands & Lovers especially hit the spot as it combined a contemporary romance set on the coast, flashbacks to high school and college, as well as a historical setting that was entirely transporting. It's a winning combination for me! So, if you love all of those things in a novel as well, Husbands & Lovers should not be missed. Once I finished the novel, I was actually sad, which rarely happens these days! Let me know in the comments if you are a fan of Williams and if you've read or plan on reading Husbands & Lovers.

I adore Beatriz Williams. This was another winner from her and I bought a physical copy to have in my collection

Thank you to NetGalley, Random Publishing House Group - Ballantine, and the author Beatriz Williams for the opportunity to read Husbands & Lovers. It was an amazing historical fiction story told between two time lines. I thoroughly enjoyed her well built characters and the different stories that connected her female characters in the end.

At the heart of the book was the story told between 2008 and 2022 about Mallory and her struggle to find a kidney match for her young son after he accidentally eats a poisonous mushroom while away at camp. Her sister, Paige, is her biggest supporter, but neither of them are matches. They can't ask their estranged father and they don't have much information about their adopted mother's family. *Their mother's genealogy information becomes the link to the other timeline in the book.* Paige continually urges her sister to contact her son's biological father, who happens to be famous, to see if he is a match for her son's kidney. For reasons Mallory refuses to explain, her son and his father do not know the other one even exists.

The two stories about these strong women and their decisions about their own children is heart wrenching. Both stories kept me intrigued and I could not wait to see how the women characters were connected.

I was particularly enthralled with the love stories and then also the heart break the two women ultimately endured. All of the characters were extremely well developed and I found myself yelling out loud at them throughout the book.

I highly recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys reading about love stories that end in heart break, but could possibly have a happily ever after ending.

#NetGalley #Husbands&Lovers

As a single parent, Mallory’s life revolves around her son, Sam. After a freak accident, he needs a kidney transplant and becomes reliant on dialysis to keep his body going. Her sister, Paige, pushes her to reach out to his father, but Mallory doesn’t believe that is going to solve anything. Looking back at Mallory’s college years, she tells the story of her first love, Monk Adams as he comes in and out of her life. Flashback to the 1950s, Hannah Ainsworth, a Hungarian refuge, finds herself in Cairo with her husband on government business. There she finds herself in a loveless marriage. Having already been tough tragedy and loss, Hannah finds herself falling for another man. Fast forward to 2022, Mallory finds herself back in the company of Monk Adams. As the truth comes out, Mallory begins to see her past in a whole new way. As she is on a quest to save her son, Mallory also begins to uncover her own story that could have drastic consequences for and her family as she knows it.

This one hit a bit different for me as I am waiting for my own paternity incident to drop. As someone who doesn’t know half of her genealogy, I certainly understood the emotions and desire that Paige and Mallory felt through their journey. As always, I enjoyed the back and forth timeline and even the smaller timelines woven within Hannah and Mallory’s stories. There might have been 70-years between these timelines, but they were so intricately woven together so perfectly. This is yet again another slam dunk book from Beatriz Williams.

Wow...Husbands & Lovers has so many elements that I absolutely love when searching for a novel. You've got a tragedy; you've got romance; you've got history. Beatriz Williams gives us multiple POVs and a couple of different time periods. One setting includes the beachy cape of New England while the other takes us to post WW II Cairo, Egypt, and the allure of diplomats and spies.

My very favorite type of book is historical fiction mixed with modern day that presents likeable (and unlikeable) characters while a mystery is being solved, tying the two settings and sets of characters together. This book could be a playbook for that formula.

The book kicks off in 2018 where Mallory's (main character) 10 year old son, Sam, has ingested a poisonous mushroom at summer camp. Sam survives the damage, but the incident is so detrimental that he must now undergo dialysis as a regular part of his life.

Jump forward to 2022 where now Paige, Mallory's older sister, has persuaded her to pursue DNA testing to perhaps secure a positive match for a kidney transplant for Sam. Mallory has served as a single parent to Sam for all of his 14 years. She never chose for his Dad to be in the picture, and at this point, the father (who is now a celebrity) does not even know he has a son.

So much comes to light as we are transported back and forth to Egypt 1951 then to modern day costal Connecticut.

I loved both settings and the subtle nuances that threaded them together. I met characters that I loved and ones that I quickly despised - a mark of a good author.

If you love historical fiction mixed with some modern day romance and mystery, grab this one. It hit shelves on June 25th.

Thank you, NetGalley and Ballantine Books, for this delightful ARC by Beatriz Williams. 4.5 stars

Don't judge a book by its cover; this book is not what you'd expect.

Husbands & Lovers by Beatriz Williams is a lot of things: a historical romance set in Cairo and a contemporary romance set in New England, told in multiple POVs and shifting timelines.

Williams' writing is beautiful, and the book had me hooked right from the prologue! Williams is masterful at weaving different plot points so that all the pieces fall right into place at the end. This is, no doubt, one of the reasons that it's one of the July 2024 BOTM picks.

With that being said, if you are 1) not into historical fiction, and 2) not the biggest fan of multiple POVs or multiple timelines, then this book would not be the one for you. I did find myself getting a little overwhelmed trying to keep track of all the characters and stories happening in the different timelines, sometimes to the point where I would find myself caring less about one timeline than the other. This happened multiple times when one timeline would end on a cliff-hanger, and then the next chapter would switch back to the other timeline. I understand that this is a device to keep me invested in the story, but it sometimes got to be too frustrating.

I also felt like the romances felt a little rushed in the beginning. It just seemed like both parties just suddenly wanted each other, and then boom, they're an item. But I guess the author couldn't spend too much time building up the romances since there are a lot of different plot points to cover in the book.

A lot happens in this book, and it would be very beneficial to check all the trigger warnings before picking it up (some off the top of my head are sexual assault and war-related violence).

All in all, Williams is a great storyteller, so once you get invested in the characters, you'll want to keep reading until the end.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for sharing this digital ARC with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Husbands & Lovers is available now wherever books are sold.

This is definitely one of my favorite books by Ms. Williams. I loved Mallory and her journey. I loved the background on her family. I wasn’t sure how she was going to end the book but I was happy with the ending. I loved the history about Egypt and Hannah was a force to be reckoned with.

DNF at 39%

Not enough was happening to keep me interested on either timeline. The dual POV felt very dry and I honestly didn't care AT ALL about the characters, I don't even remember their names.... just that the one lady in the current timeline was VERY selfish for keeping her son away from his father & the woman in the past timeline was boring.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

"Husbands and Lovers" centers around two women who share a family heirloom who live in different times and are going after the same thing: love. Mallory is a single mother, trying to keep her son comfortable while he is waiting for a kidney transplant and going through dialysis. Hannah is married to an important English man, but unhappy in her marriage. A second chance at romance is what these women need for them to achieve happiness.

I'm not typically gravitating toward historical fiction, but the premise of this story was something that interested me. The summary sounded much like the story "Lions of Fifth Avenue" by Fiona Davis, with interconnected characters from different eras. However, this story wasn't as strong as Davis' novel. I wasn't interested in the story until I completed 50% of the book. It seemed like there was a lack of direction at the beginning and it was hard to understand what the point of the story was.

I wanted to like this book and honestly, I liked some of it. That being said, I think it needed more to make it interesting.

I really enjoyed this book! Both of the perspectives (Hannah's and Mallory's) kept me hooked and guessing what would happen next. All of the characters were intriguing. Loved it! Thank you for the opportunity to read it!

Beatriz Williams never disappoints. This novel is a family drama that weaves the story of two generations and unveils secrets of family lineage and origins. Mallory and her ten-year old son, Sam, have a good life which is complicated by an accidental poisoning Sam suffered when he was seven years old. That accident resulted in kidney damage which requires dialysis for Sam until he gets a donor kidney. Mallory’s sister Paige thinks Mallory should reach out to Sam’s biological father to help with Sam’s kidney search but Mallory refuses. She has never told Sam’s father, the famous musician Monk Adams, about Sam’s existence. A secret she never intends to reveal despite the growing familial resemblance that even Sam sees. Mallory and her sister Paige have a strong but combative relationship but love each other very much. Neither of them are a match for Sam’s much needed kidney replacement. Paige invites Mallory to join her family for a summer vacation on the New England island where they grew up. This trip sets Mallory and Sam on a collision course with Monk and unveiling long held secrets from that summer over a decade ago.

When their mother passed away, she left Mallory a unique bracelet which was passed down through belonged to their grandmother. But unknown to them and their mother, she was adopted from an Irish orphanage in the 1950s. This bracelet is a link to the identity of their mysterious grandmother and they hope it may also mean they might find another path to a kidney donor. It does lead them on a trip to discover their grandmother, Hannah’s story.

Beautifully intertwined, the two storylines are so well developed, they could stand on their own. It is a novel you cannot put down.