This book was just okay for me, There was a little too much back and forth between timelines, and I struggled to keep with it. However, I enjoyed the historic elements of it, and I think fans of the author will enjoy this book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

@netgalley thank you for the early release of @authorbeatriz book Husbands and Lovers! This book brings you to the lazy collet summer of Monk Adams and Mallory, young love and the world ahead! Years past with Mallory raising Monks son and a health crisis causing her to “run” into Monk again, this time he is about to get married! But not to forget that is also about Hannah and life in Egypt also finding out about the life she left behind. This book has romance, history and questions after each turn. Such a great read and highly recommended! Thank you @netgalley for this early release!

I've always struggled to connect with Beatriz Williams' books, often finding myself disappointed and hesitant to pick up another. However, receiving an ARC of Husbands & Lovers from NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group changed my perspective, albeit reluctantly.

Williams' writing has definitely improved—she crafts characters you can genuinely connect with. I found myself fully engaged, even rooting for the protagonist's schemes against a certain character (Lee, if you've read the book). But amidst the positives, there were frustrations.

The novel suffers from an abundance of plotlines. Personally, I felt it would have been more effective split into two separate books—one focusing on a modern-day Monk and Pink storyline, and the other on Hannah's historical fiction. The attempt to merge these two main plots often felt disjointed or forced, interrupting the flow at critical moments.

To add, the Lucian chapter was particularly challenging for me to get through, feeling disconnected from the stronger plotlines that held my interest.

Despite these issues, Husbands & Lovers has convinced me to give Beatriz Williams another chance. While it didn't fully win me over, it showed promising improvements in her storytelling that I'm curious to see develop further.

Thank you NetGalley, Random House Publishing Ground - Ballantine Books and Beatriz Williams for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was hesitant to read something in the historical fiction category but was interested based on the description and it didn’t disappoint.

The start was slow and weird for me but then I got into it.

The book goes back and forth between Hannah’s story in the 1950s in Egypt and Mallory’s story in 2008 and 2022.

Hannah and Mallory were such strong yet imperfect characters. The 1950s are obviously harder for me to relate to so I was always a little more excited for Mallory’s story but Hannah’s was really interesting too.

Overall, the contemporary story really carried the book for me. I really loved the sister relationship of Paige and Mallory. And let’s face it, Monk sounds like a total dream boat so that doesn’t hurt!

Thanks to Ballentine Books and Net Galley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. In my full opinion, this book did not catch me or hold my interest. Mallory is trying to patch up her life at the same time as the duel timeline, Hannah, is working on hers. It took me until about 60% to finally capture my attention but then it fizzled out. I wish there was more about the historical aspect of the convents in Ireland that would take in mothers and adopt out the babies. And more about how the timelines came together. It wasn’t my favorite of Beatriz Williams.

4 strong women stars

With two storylines, this one takes us from contemporary times with island summers to the 1950s and tumultuous Egypt. The storylines alternate, and we ultimately learn how they tie together. I preferred the more contemporary story, but the dual storylines made for a stronger book overall.

The contemporary story features Mallory Dunne, a single mother to Sam. Due to a camp mishap with mushrooms, Sam needs a new kidney. Mallory’s sister encourages Mallory to reconnect with Sam’s father and both sides of their family to see if anyone is a match for a donation. Sam’s father is the famous musician Monk Adams, and he and Mallory had a glorious summer romance on Winthrop Island about thirteen years ago. We don’t immediately know why Mallory ghosted him and broke his heart. Now, he's set to marry another woman.

The earlier storyline features a mysterious woman, Hannah. She has a tragic past in Hungary during WWII. She eventually marries a British diplomat, and they are in Cairo as the political situation there gets very unsettled.

I really liked Mallory’s character and her artistic talent. It seemed like a picture-perfect romance with Monk, but she was not from an affluent family. I wondered what happened and was shocked when I finally learned that secret. I also discovered a weakness for hot male musicians and rooted for Mallory and Monk to reunite.

I enjoyed the historical fiction side of the Egyptian storyline, but my heart was with Mallory.

This is only my second book of Beatriz Williams, but the rest of hers are on my list to read!

I was unfamiliar with Beatriz Williams and put off reading this book because I thought-dumb romance, summer book, a little schmaltzy. And yes it was all of those things but much more. I loved learning about the historical pieces of Egypt, Hungary. The “unintended” parent piece played another fascinating piece of history. Great summer read!

Mallory is raising her son on her own. Her son Sam suffers a medical situation after eating a wild mushroom while away at camp. Fast forward a few years later and Sam's situation is kept under control by dialysis but he needs a kidney. The other timeline we follow is that of her grandmother and it takes place in Egypt. I enjoyed the two different stories and timelines. I really didn't like the reason that Mallory and Monk were separated for so many years. I wouldn't have guessed that at all. Good read!

First book by Beatriz but I know I will pick up others! This book was a delicious historical fiction romance book that started off slow and then hooked me and I couldn’t put it down.

If you’re wondering what post WWII Hungarian refugee living in Cairo and a single mom in New England could possibly have in common this book is for you. How much love, heartbreak, grief, and loss do these women have to endure by themselves and for their loved ones?

The way these two stories are woven together is beautiful. And it really keeps you guessing how it all comes together until the end.

I’ll leave you with my favorite quote from the book: “Men fall over themselves for a beautiful woman, woman fall over themselves for a rich man. So who’s the more greedy? At least money is useful. And it doesn’t fade with time”

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group, and Beatriz Williams for providing me with a copy of this book for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy, all opinions are my own!

Wow, I just finished this dual timeline book and I truly loved it! I really enjoyed both timelines, although I was more partial to the current one. Great book to get lost in on vacation! 4.5 stars!!!

The story starts with Mallory, racing to the hospital bedside of her son who ate a poisonous mushroom while away at camp. The alternating timeline is Cairo in the 1950s. It took a while for everything to come together and to see how these two timelines would connect. Overall this was a decent book, but I wasn't blown away by the story. I thought that Mallory made some bad choices and was just not a favorite for me.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for access to this eARC.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
Husbands & Lovers is sadly the first Beatriz Williams book I read in a while I didn’t love. And it sucks, because all the ingredients are there, but it still felt short of expectations.
Williams introduces the reader to two compelling heroines, one in the present and one in the past. Surprisingly, in a switch-up in comparison to most dual-timeline novels, I really resonated with Mallory’s story and how her life was upended, first by the harrowing news that her son was dealing with acute poisoning from a death cap mushroom and would need a kidney transplant, and also the fact that she had to confront the fact that her mother had been adopted, leading her to explore her family history. And even the romance with her childhood friend was really sweet.
The historical timeline was also promising, although I felt it was a tad underdeveloped by comparison. But Hannah is nonetheless sympathetic through all her experiences as a refugee in Cairo.
And while I could see how it all came together, I feel like trying to balance the two resulted in both, but especially Hannah’s story, feeling rather underbaked. The narratives also did not flow very easily into each other, so it was also sometimes easy to get lost, even with the reminders of whose perspective you’re meant to be in at the beginning of each chapter. However, even with the perceived disjointedness, I love Williams’ writing style, and it kept me interested, even if it was rough going at times.
While not my favorite of Beatriz Williams’ books,it’s very much a “me” thing, and I did still enjoy various aspects of the book. I would still recommend it to readers who are interested in dual-timeline historical fiction, with a slightly larger emphasis on the contemporary timeline.

Let me start off by saying this was such a great story. I read a lot of books with a dual timeline, some well executed and others not so much. I was totally drawn in to both the part in 1950s Cairo and present day. There was so much involved - from young love to passion, lovers and loyalty, sister and child relationships.... I am surprised I had only read a couple of her books so far, but that will be changing asap! All I can say is just read it! Thank you to Netgalley for the chance to read the ARC. Definitely recommend!!

I love Beatriz Williams’ books. Just finished Husbands and Lovers. This is an enjoyable read. As usual, Ms. Williams offers back stories, circumstances and thoughts of her characters which leads to an understanding of their motives and concerns. We have the story of young love with Monk and Mallory. The story of forbidden love with Hannah and Lucien. The mystery of Hannah’s past and Lucian’s loyalties. All of this against the background of Cairo, Egypt, in the 1950’s. There is the mystery of the cobra bracelet and the search for the birth Mother of Mallory and Paige. All the characters are very well developed, have a history, and have a conclusion to their story. An exceptionally good book.

I absolutely loved reading this, what a wonderful story. This is mostly the story of Mallory and Monk, who dated the summer before their senior year of college, and then their reunion 14 years later when Mallory needs to find a kidney for her son. This alternates with Hannah, in Egypt in 1952, who his having an affair with a hotel manager who has some secrets. *
Typically I love Beatriz Williams's historical fiction, but in this case I was so invested in Mallory's story that I honestly didn't care about Hannah. It's so well written and engaging, I absolutely could not put it down. *Hannah's story, while an interesting side plot, didn't truly feel necessary, which is why I didn't *quite* get to 5 stars. (The other weird thing was the DNA test...finding out they were Jewish from a DNA test, I don't think it works like that?) *
But overall this was a book I couldn't put down, I didn't want it to end, it was just such a wonderful read. Highly recommend! 4.5 stars

I could not help falling in love with this book, even though so much of it is NOT the sort of thing I normally love. I don't know how Beatriz Williams does it, it's some sort of literary sorcery. I was fortunate to receive an ARC from NetGalley a few weeks prior to publication.

One of the things I love about Williams' books (along with the great writing and fascinating stories and incredible characters) is that she sets her books in the same world, so the same people show up from book to book, and the same settings appear again and again. Hello to my old friends!! This time, we are back at Winthrop Island, in the Long Island Sound, previous setting of Summer Wives and The Beach at Summerly, where budding musician and rich boy, Monk Adams, has a summer home and he gets his friend Mallory a summer job in the 80s. Emilia Winthrop of The Beach at Summerly even makes a very brief appearance, as the grandmother of a friend of a friend.

Mallory's character feels like a departure for Williams - she is a modern, foul-mouthed woman in 2022, and when the book opens she's a frazzled mess, cursing up a storm while racing up a highway in the rain to get to her hospitalized young son, who has ingested a poisonous mushroom while at summer camp. Hannah, in 1952 Egypt, is more in line with Williams' usual characters, although the Egypt setting is new. Hannah is the type of woman to engage in a torrid affair, saying all along that it's just sex, until the last possible second when her lover is leaving the country and demands she tell him she loves him, and she cavalierly says "of course I do, you idiot."

Although I didn't particularly like Mallory and I didn't agree with most of her choices, I LOVED her story. (Yeah, I don't understand how that happened either. What did I say about literary sorcery?) And I wasn't so sure about Hannah, either, but I loved her story and mysterious Beck and the Egyptian setting. In short: I wasn't crazy about the protagonists, but I loved their stories anyway. For whatever reason, I pictured Christoph Waltz as Beck, which made things even more difficult for me, since Waltz usually plays the bad guy.

Every single adult (except the housekeeper, Grace) was involved in infidelity, in some way - either the cheating partner or the betrayed partner or the affair partner. It was ... a lot. I hate infidelity and I never see it as romantic, and usually this kills a book for me. But this time, for some reason, I still loved the book, even though I hated what they were all doing. I still wished for a happy ending for all of them. I couldn't help but love this story. It has it all: along with the poison mushrooms and torrid love affairs there are fabulous 50s parties in Cairo, fancy jewelry with a mysterious provenance, summer romance, star-crossed lovers, tragic pasts, revolution, espionage, secret royal ancestors, beach cottages, dive bars, and rock and roll.

Mild TW (because it mostly takes place off-page) for <spoiler>rape, torture, murder, genera war-related atrocities, racism, anti-Semitism, kidnapping</spoiler> and of course all the infidelity.

My thanks to Net Galley and Random House/Ballantine for this arc. The author never disappoints. I enjoyed this book very much. My only thing was it seemed like it was taking awhile and dragging how Hannah's time line story tied in with Mallory and Paige. Once the adoption was mentioned I figured it out. Loved Mallorys 2008 and 2022 story lines. Highly recommend.

I've loved all the author's previous books, so was so excited to get my hands on an ARC of Husbands & Lovers! Twisty and well researched, this book gave me insight into parts of history I haven't read much about. I enjoyed the different POVs between the past and present, and the characters were all really fleshed out and mostly enjoyable. This story was a good mix of historical fiction and easy beach read, and I absolutely devoured it. It had some good cliffhangers between chapters to keep things moving, and the plotlines came together really nicely at the end. I'd highly recommend this one, and cannot wait to see what Beatriz Williams does next! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

When I am craving historical fiction, Williams is my go to! I love a dual timeline novel and this did not disappoint. I also love historical fiction that introduces me to time periods/wars I did not know about- the Cairo setting and background of the Hungarian refugee experience was excellent. So well researched as always. Five stars!

I loved the mix of historical fiction and modern fiction with a touch of drama and intrigue throughout Husbands & Lovers! Beatriz Williams does a fantastic job weaving together three different timelines in a way that they support each other and help the story build throughout it, I felt more connected to the 2008 and 2022 timelines of Mallory as she navigates love, trauma and becoming a young, single mother. 1952's Hannah was a more complicated and multi-layered character. I feel her story could have carried a full novel!

Beatrix William's Husbands & Lovers will make a fantastic summer read. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.