Aubrey, Kate and Jenny's life was fated the moment they met as college roommates. They attended the prestige's Carlisle College in New Hampshire. They were as different as three people could be. Friendship bonds were formed, lies were told, drugs became an escape. They were the best of frenemies . A tragedy of epic proportions binds them together for life.

It's twenty years later and all three women find themselves living in the same town once again. More lies surface, infidelity becomes common place and then one of the 3 is found dead. Her death is suspicious in nature and more than one person is considered suspect.

Campbell debut novel flips back and forth between the past and present. Characters tell their own story but there isn't a moment of confusion on the time frame or character "speaking".

This book is brilliant and I can usually figure it out but Campbell kept me on my toes, guessing and turning the pages until the final conclusion.

The twist and turns will keep you up and draw you to the book like moths to a flame until it concludes. This is a must read.

Aubrey, Jenny and Kate are college roommates who come from very different backgrounds and instantly develop strong friendships. Kate is the bad girl who leads them to trouble and Jenny is the good girl who is always there to get them out of it. While in college, Aubrey loses her mother to cancer and feeling distraught, she proceeds to make some questionable decisions. Jenny laments over a past relationship with Lucas but Lucas is getting caught up with Kate. There are some disagreements amongst the friends and a horrific tragedy occurs; things will never be the same again.

Fast forward 20 years and the three friends are all back in the same town. Aubrey is married to a cheating husband, Jenny is enjoying her power as the mayor and Kate is in a marriage of convenience. Then another unspeakable tragedy occurs and details from the past resurface causing questions to arise. Will the truth come out?

Murder, infidelity, bribery and corruption intertwined with love, friendship and loyalty keep this novel about college roommates and family relationships twisting and turning right up until the very last chapter. People lied. People died. Who is to blame? It’s Always the Husband is an engaging read that will keep you guessing!

It's Always the Husband by Michele Campbell will be available May 16, 2017.

Great novel. I kept reading into the night,. But it asks the question; is it really always the husband ? I can't wait to read more by Michele Campbell .

The premise of this novel It's Always the Husband by Michele Campbell is about a tumultuous and longstanding relationship between three women Kate, a charismatic manipulative shrew, Aubrey, a needy, depreciated, spineless soul, and Jenny, a constant fixer and sycophant. These women have been friends since college, but somewhere along the way, their relationships takes a wrong turn. Fast forward twenty years, and typical selfish Kate does the unthinkable, betraying Aubrey's trust after years of unfettered and unreciprocated loyalty. This novel is a combination of women's fiction and a typical whodunit mystery well worth the read. I particularly enjoy reading books that flashback and forth from past to present seamlessly weaving the story for readers to piece together. I rate this novel 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review. https://moesbookblog.wordpress.com/

Reviewed: March 5, 2017. Novel Publish Date: May 16, 2017.

Aubrey, Kate and Jenny, three very different girls, become roommates at college and form somewhat of a friendship. Kate is rich, extremely self-involved and hurtful to others, Aubrey is from the wrong side of town and has nothing. Jenny is a local gal who seems to have her head on her shoulders. During freshman year, something happens that shocks the entire town. All three girls were there, and each of them knows what happened. No one tells the truth. Fast forward twenty years. Everyone has grown up and a lot has happened. However, the secret has still been kept and now all the girls are married and in the same town again. Now someone is dead, and this time all the secrets will come out. It's always the husband, right?

ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The story is told in present day and flashbacks to college when Aubrey, Jenny and Kate become roommates at a prestigious college. They are very different from extremely different backgrounds and yet quickly develop a tight, intense friendship. It starts in present day, twenty years after they met in college when Kate falls from a bridge and the belief that she committed suicide wasn't that hard to understand.

There are some great twists and revelations about each of the girls and their husbands throughout the story. You're kept wondering if Kate really did take her own life or if she had some help. Was it really the husband? Which one? Or... was it a friend?

There's love and friendship but there's also murder, infidelity and corruption that will keep you guessing to the last chapter.

Wow! It's always the Husband is one of those novels where you get attached to
one or two characters and just can't stand another. This book goes back and forth from college to adulthood with multiple characters and completely comes together in the end....... And what an end!
You think you have it all figured out based on where the author leads you only to learn in the last two pages that you were wrong all along. I can't wait to read more by Michele Campbell!

Great book. The three roommates promised to be friends forever. But after the betrayal and lies, can they really trust each other? But through the years together and the years apart, when they come back to Carlisle College, they seem to pick up where they left off. A new police chief in town wants to do things the big city way but the small town won't stand for it. When one of the roommates is killed, is it really the husband? In the end we find out who did it. Maybe we find out who did it. Read the book you won't be sorry.

The first half of the book was good but I found the longer it went in the longer it dragged. It was a decent ending, but obviously the title gives it away!

If you're a fan of Mystery/Young Adult then you'll probably enjoy this a lot more than I did. I found it quite tough going to finish this book but would recommend it to younger, less experienced readers.

Thanks to St Martin's Press for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to netgalley for the opportunity to have read this book!
The book starts with 3 girls having a very unlikely friendship- coming from very diverse levels of the social spectrum. The book focuses on the girls' friendship, how it grows through the years and how the support each other through literally everything.
It was really a great book to read, and recommended for anyone that loves a great read!

It's Always the Husband has a twisty-turny plot that starts with someone urging a woman to jump from a bridge. Through flashbacks, you come to slowly find out who is the victim and who the would-be killer...or anyway, you think you've got it figured out--right until Michele Campbell pulls the rug out from under you. Despite a set of mostly unsympathetic characters, the plot is fast-paced enough to keep you hooked . You might not care what happens to these people, but you'll definitely want to know.

Thanks to Jordan Hanley and St. Martin’s Press for the free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
“It’s Always the Husband” is the newest novel by author Michele Campbell. The novel tells the story of Aubrey, Jenny and Kate- three roommates at a prestigious East Side college who are very different and yet quickly develop a tight, intense friendship. Twenty years later, when Kate falls from a bridge, rumors spread throughout the small town that she killed herself. However, the police detective on the case begins to suspect others may be responsible when the M.E brings forth evidence that maybe, possibly, Kate was pushed. Could one of her friends be hiding a secret? Or, could her once-wealthy and now financially-ruined husband be to blame?
Told in two time frames (one when the girls are in college, and one in present day), Campbell depicts a common and realistic female relationship- one that develops quickly due to close quarters and similar circumstances, ebbs and flows with various arguments and challenges, and changes into something else quite entirely as the women age. Although not normally my opinion, I believe telling the story in this manner made for a stronger plot, and allowed for greater character development.
The characters themselves are realistic and flawed- Kate, Jenny and Aubrey each have endearing qualities about them (Kate less so), but also have unappealing characteristics that quickly change a reader’s opinion as to which one is their favourite (and which one to suspect). The plot is fast-moving without being complicated, and there are just enough characters to allow for a wide variety of suspects, without being inundated with personalities that are, in the end, unnecessary. It was difficult to speculate what had happened to Kate, or maybe who had happened to her, which is just the way a good mystery novel should be.
I am impressed with the fact that “Husband” is Campbell’s first novel. The novel flows well, and both the characters and plot are well developed. Initially, it seemed like the novel seemed to start in the middle, after Kate’s “accident”, and the beginning (when the girls are in school) seemed to just be filler. However, as the novel progressed, and the characters developed, the importance of this part of the storyline came to light. I read this book right through to the end, one addicting chapter after another. I will await Campbell’s next novel, and I know that as Campbell’s writing chops continue to develop, her books will continue to delight readers and draw them into her addicting world of suspense.

It’s Always The Husband
By Michele Campbell
Available: May 16, 2017
Thank you to NetGalley.com for the opportunity to read an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Three college freshman, all opposing angles of a triangle, thrown together in a dorm suite and an uber-prestigious institution is a recipe for disaster. There’s charity case Aubrey, angry and determined to make something of herself Jenny, and then golden child/tortured soul Kate – nothing like an explosion waiting to happen for the three of them – and it does after a really long burn time of twenty years.
What I loved: I thought I had it solved and then was thrown for a major loop (this seems to happen a lot to me – am I reading better-crafted stories or am I just dumb?) and I was literally smiling as I read the last page because I thought the ending was so fricking brilliant. Well played!
What I didn’t love: Nothing happens until the last quarter of the book andfrom then it snowballs all the way to the end. Maybe if there was less backstory and more of the murder investigation, it would have felt more balanced. Instead, the last part has a rushed feeling and it feels like some details and logic slip to the side.
What I learned: Some friendships aren’t meant to last. And that I’m totally jealous of a dorm suite - We only had a room..
Overall Grade: B

www.FluffSmutandMurder.com

Thank you Michele Campbell and Netgalley for a copy in echange for an honest review.
I found this story to be a decent read but by the end i thought "so what". I think that in having way too much back and forth between Now and Then, and overloaded with too much inconsequential other "stuff", i was a little bit bored by the middle and just couldn't wait to finish - sorry Michele. I suppose with such a lot of very fast-paced fiction around lately we get use to it and this certainly wasn't fast-paced.

I really liked this book , the three women at the forefront have such different personalities and backgrounds and at times they really hate each other . Aubrey , kate and Jenny room together at University and you get parts of the story from all their points of view which I really liked . All three are flawed and not particularly likeable . Something terrible that happened while they were at college comes back with serious consequences for one of the women . A really good read and I raced through it and was certainly surprised at the climax ! Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this .

This is a very trite story that pulls together elements from dozens of stories we have all read and centers around the friendship of 3 very cliched college roommates who ultimately are involved in the murder of the RICH, selfish, shallow one, Kate.

I found it too repetitive in its description of the stereotypical characters. We endlessly hear about Kate's transgressions and her cruelty, even her involvement in the death of her young lover Lucas.

Ah, finally Kate is murdered....who dunnit? Amazing, all 5 of the other characters played a role in her demise. Really? Just a third rate thriller.

Spanning more than 20 years, this brilliantly delivered but complicated plot tells the story of love and friendship and lies and deceit. This fast paced and gripping tangled web threatens the lives of three college roommates who’ve grown into responsible adults… or have they? It’s always the husband, right? Or is it???

I have to admit, I chose to read this book just to mess with my husband because of the title. When he saw what I was reading it did give him a good laugh and the book turned out to be very good so I won in both areas.

There were so many twists and turns it definitely brings new meaning to the phrase ‘page turner’ as it had me burning through it to find out which husband did what (you picked up from the title right that a husband did SOMETHING?)

Michele Campbell did a good job with the plot lines and story settings as even though you move back and forth between their college life to adult years you can still keep track of when/where you are at in the story. Moving between their lives this way gives you a more interesting view of their relationship and the complications that comes from three women so violently different trying to maintain a friendship. Somehow despite their differences their friendship seems to work. I also found it intriguing how well she did at creating such vibrantly different personalities and complex psychologies in her characters.

I liked that even though I could tell from the title and story that one of the husbands would be the villain, they each were written with so many red herrings it was difficult to know who the culprit was until the end.

I would recommend this book if you’re into psychological thrillers that will have you guessing until the end.

That bridge. That night.

Bridges tend to be mighty steel fortresses spanning over raging waters. A connection, with planned intention, between one side and the other. But it wasn't just the waters spewing rage........

Twenty-two years earlier: Jenny, Kate, and Aubrey bring more than just their boxes and suitcases to their shared dorm room at Carlisle College in Belle River, New Hampshire. These three young women couldn't be more different in their backgrounds, social standings, and perspectives. And yet, they form a tightly twisted friendship that would see them through the years.

That same friendship will be tested when one of their friends, Lucas, meets his death upon that ill-fated bridge. The girls stood on and near the bridge that night and each came away with a different glimpse of what actually took place. But all three came away with the solid bond of secrecy. Secrets buried far below within the jagged rocks.

Fast-forward to the present and we have all three women returning to Belle River once again. Aubrey owns property and a successful yoga business. She's married to a handsome doctor. Jenny is also married and now the mayor of Belle River. Kate is married to one of Carlisle's athletes and has gone through her father's money like cold margaritas on a steaming hot summer day.

But their paths continue to crisscross through the fields of love/hate. Survival and self-interests cause them to make choices and act on questionable circumstances. "All for one and one for all" just ain't cuttin' it these days. It would seem like those we think we know the best will be bested by the best.

Michele Campbell presents a storyline with a lot of twists and turns. These characters do not leave you with a basket of warm fuzzies. I actually preferred the second half of the book to the first. Greed, powermongering, and relentless behavior have a front row seat here. I'm curious to think of what Campbell has in mind for her next spinout on human nature. Mmmmmm.......

I received a copy of It's Always the Husband through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to St. Martin's Press and to Michele Campbell for the opportunity.