After finding her late husbands ashes in a package she thought was a new hard drive, Charlotte Rosen is taken back five years. She comes to find out the mausoleum he was in was evaluated because of the wildfires. Her roommate has no idea her had a husband, and neither does her work or her friends. She fought hard to move on and put Decker in the past. However she is forced to tell her mother-in-law about the ashes who insists she should take them. Charlotte fights hard on that one. Her mother-in-law send in her sons best friend Brian and he is more than she can handle. This book is filled with romance, secrets and the past coming back.

I was totally in need of a feel-good warm and fuzzy contemporary and this was perfect. I loved the character development and the steamier moments. I can't wait to have a physical copy of this one on my shelves.

I found this to be a charming book. Yet, it still has more potential to be more. If it had not been for the event of her getting her dead husband's ashes sent back to her; I would have found Charlotte to be just a "plain Jane".
As the story progressed I did feel for Charlotte. Than there is Brian. He is Decker's best friend. He is affected by Decker's death as well. It was nice to see a man struggling as much as a woman. Both Charlotte and Brian had to learn to be themselves again. They kind of lost their identities with Decker's death.
This is a slow progressing story of love, loss, friendship, and second chances.

<i> Thank you NetGalley for the advance copy of this book in exchange for my review! </i>

I was all over the place in trying to decide how to rate this book, so I landed in the middle. I read the book mostly in one evening, so it obviously had me invested; but the end of the story was lackluster.

The premise of the story had real promise. Charlotte is a young widow who has not adequately dealt with her husband's death 5 years ago. She has compartmentalized everything to an extreme - her co-workers and roommate do not even know she was ever married. She is a coding wizard and a numbers geek. She sees life now in black or white, yes or no, 0 or 1. If you have this input, you get that output. Her "perfectly" structured life gets thrown seriously out of balance though when a box unexpectedly arrives bearing an urn with the ashes of her husband. Through having Decker's ashes, she is forced to confront relationships from her past and present, consider what she wants her life to be going forward, and finally start to deal with her loss.

The bones of the story were there, it had potential, but the actual story was underwhelming. More than anything, I just needed MORE. The book didn't seem to know what it wanted to be, which led to everything feeling unfinished. It started out feeling like a comedy/rom-com, and while it had some comedic moments, it really wasn't a comedy. It was categorized as a romance, but the romantic story line was a very minimal part of the story. When it did come up, it was very rushed and unremarkable. The central theme of the story - dealing with grief and learning to move on even fell a bit flat. We got a few glimpses of Charlotte's life with Decker, which was nice, but a little additional spent in the past would have given the reader a clearer picture of who Charlotte was before tragedy changed her, and helped us understand why she was the way she was. Charlotte was a pretty unlikable person, at least to me, for most of the book. I know that Decker's death was a large part in shaping that, and I know the author tried to show that she was moving past her issues in the end, but again, it was so rushed that you don't really get to see the progression. One way or another, I'd have liked to have seen who Charlotte really was without all of her issues hanging over her - whether it was from the look-backs or expanding on the story at the end. There was a plot twist about 3/4 of the way in that honestly felt a little silly and unnecessary. The time spent on that arc of the story could have been much better spent putting more attention into the other pieces of the story.

Basically all of my major issues with this book could have been resolved by extending the last 20% or so of the book by a few chapters. A little more development on the relationship front, a little more insight into Charlotte coming to terms with her grief, and a little more personal evolution for Charlotte would have taken this book from a 2.5 to a 4 for me. It isn't a bad book, I don't the time spent reading it, I just wish it had been more.

I wish I liked this book more. I truly do because the idea of a young widow trying to rebuild her life isn’t something that is written about that often, especially in this gere, but this book dragged on and on in parts and at times I just wanted to shake the main character. I’m ok with unlikable characters, but she wasn’t interesting and was just one dimensional self-consumed being. It was a quick read and had some good moments, but overall I felt it was lacking in places where it could have shined.

Great read, I could not put it down! Love how the characters really meshed. I was in love with them.

Charlotte Rosen is a 29 year old widow, who works as a social media analyst. In her spare time, she is working on perfecting a match making program that she hopes to market. All is going well, until her husband's ashes are delivered to her apartment. A fascinating look at a woman dealing with memories, surprises and getting on with her life.

Charlotte Rosen has talent. She is a whiz at writing algorithms and crunching data. She uses her talent to its fullest in both her professional and personal life. She is content with her life, controls it very carefully and is focused on applying her computer skills to finding the perfect husband. Not a bad life, she believes, until the arrival of a package that turns her life upside down. That event dissolves her outward demeaner, and those around her discover Charlotte has a startling secret. Emily Belden's book Husband Material discloses the plot carefully, develops the characters, and resolves in a very satisfying manner. Initially the writing is a bit contrived -- a little bit too Southern California (SoCal). This might be used as a means of showing the superficial life that Charlotte has constructed for herself. As the story continues, however. the writing becomes increasingly palatable and the characters become more complex and relatable.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin-Graydon House Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book was so easy to read. I wanted to keep reading and reading. I feel like I got to know the 2 main characters and I really liked them. It is a women's feel good book but on a different scale. It doesn't really have all that mushy stuff that most feel good books have. I really liked this book alot.

A really good idea for a book and although I enjoyed parts of it, I found the main character hard to connect with.

I loved the premise of this book and idea behind it but the main character was so annoying for me I found it so difficult to read. I didn’t connect with her or the story but some of the story was funny and I’m always a sucker for love stories.
Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced ebook.

What is husband material? The only person who can define the answer is the individual themselves. Charlotte Rosen definitely had a notion and/or an idea of what husband material was for her. She was married to a wonderful, vibrant and athletic, young man until fate had its way with their lives and changed the course it would follow. Char had a secret that none of her friends knew. She was married and her husband died suddenly. Five years had passed by her rearview window of this so-called life, and even though she was trying to jump back into the dating pool, a strange package changed everything.

With all her infinite wisdom and intelligence to fine tune algorithms on programs in which she was charged in overseeing, her dating app was well on its way to becoming a fast track for the millennium. The only problem was her husband’s urn was delivered at her doorstep. The man she once loved with all her being, was reduced to ash and bone fragments inside this metal contraption was now staring her in the face. What was Char supposed to do with his ashes? Why were they delivered to her five years later? Wasn’t his final resting place in the mausoleum? But try as she might to forget about her husband’s urn, it become a constant problem in her life.

With so many questions swirling in her mind, Char had a problem and she needed to fix it. It was at this pivotal moment in her life when one of the most unlikeliest person entered with, not only an answer, but a viable solution to her problem. And that, readers is where the crux of our story continues.

As most of my readers know, I’m not one to read a romantic comedy of any kind, but I have to say, I truly enjoyed this one. I took a chance and stepped outside my comfort zone and I’m so glad I did. Books like this just prove why I so enjoy reading. You just never know what you’re going to find from any given author, and when you read a story so spot on, it truly makes me respect having the gift to read! I loved this story!

Watching Char evolve within the pages, was a pure delight. The author did an amazing job with the amount of conflict Char had to deal with. Her character went deep in answering complex questions and searching for answers. Char was as real as you can get. What happened to her and her husband was a tragedy, but fate had her back because what she ended up with was far more than the grief she endured.

The Sexy Nerd gives Husband Material four checks on the honey do list. This was an engaging heartfelt story about love and loss and love again. Sometimes life throws us a curve ball and we have to learn to go with the current. If you’re looking for a nice contemporary romantic story.

The premise of this was great, I liked the idea that a widow was going to be finally getting her husbands ashes. Charlotte wasn't my favorite person for a majority of the book, there were times where I felt that she was completely unlikable, However I really loved seeing all her memories with her husband and the emotions that they evoked.
I enjoyed the different relationships in this book. Though I will say I went in looking for more romance, and while there is some, it is mostly in the memories. The journey that the characters went on was lovely to watch.

There is a lot of great potential here I just hope that in the finished copy that transitions between scenes are a little easier to digest. A lot of the time while reading this it felt stunted and really abrupt.

Sometimes a book cover can be misleading. I totally get that cartoon covers are selling right now, but in the case I think this cover did a disservice to a wonderful book. A couple of other readers I chatted with felt mislead by this cutesy cover, and I totally get where they are coming from. Regardless of the cover, I loved Husband Material by Emily Belden. And I think other readers will to, if they go in knowing what to expect from this book.

While there is a bit of a romance in this book, I would not categorize Husband Material as a romance. Charlotte Rosen has been hiding that she is widow for the last five years. When her late husband's ashes arrive unexpectedly on her doorstep, they send her on a journey of healing and forgiveness. I thought that this book dealt with the process of grief with candor and honesty. I would categorize this book as women's fiction with a side of romance. Check this one of if you enjoy following a character's path of self-discovery, healing, and personal growth. I learned a lot from this book about my own grief, without it being didactic and preachy.

Solid read with a great cast of characters! I'll be checking out Emily Belden's previous works.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book!

This was a decent contemporary romance, but it didn't "wow" me. I didn't understand why the main character did half the things she did, and didn't really connect with her at all. The premise was interesting- disaster causes a cemetery to close and sends loved ones remains back to them, lost love, etc. But the telling was just meh for me.
Charlotte Rosen is a social media analyst. She creates buzz for big clients and markets them using algorithms and code. She loves her life, but has a big secret. She's a widow. No one in her circle knows this and that's the way she likes it. Everything comes crashing to the ground when a fire burns the cemetery containing her late husband's ashes to the ground and they return his ashes. As Charlotte deals (or doesn't deal with) this her world starts falling apart as secrets are uncovered, her former mother-in-law demands her son's ashes, and her late husband's best friend turns up.

Husbad Material caught me completely by surprise! The cover and title lead me to believe this was going to be an enjoyable but shallow rom-com abut a woman dating to find that "husband material" kind of guy. But what I got, was a sweet and heartfelt story about a young woman mourning the loss of her husband. When the ashes of her dead husband show up on her doorstep 5 years after his death, Charlotte Rosen is faced with a new "unearthing" of past feelings, where she thought she'd be 5 years later, missing her husband, and how to move on in the dating world.

I really enjoyed the raw nature Belden wrote about Charlotte grieving for her husband and the support group she attended for mourning widows. There were lots of sweet moments in this book and side stories that I thought really helped support the main story.

The title and cover is very misleading for this book because it carried way more weight and depth than the typical rom-com type of books.

I would definitely suggest this book to my friends!
Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin Books for this free copy.

Overall, this one was a little lukewarm. Not quite a romance, not quite drama. It was...middle of the road.

The end was sort of weird with the tone of the narrator. I am, however, glad that Charlotte realized she was being a complete poop and the worst friend ever.

This sort of reminded me of another book I read, The Right Swipe mixed with How to Hack a Heartbreak except Swipe was better and Heartbreak was worse.
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Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this free ebook in exchange for an honest review!

My first comment to readers out there... this is NOT a romance novel despite being classified as one on Netgalley, where I received a complimentary copy. Husband Material is definitely chick lit/women's fic.

I'm honestly not quite sure what the author was trying to accomplish with this book. Charlotte, our heroine, is very difficult to follow. She's neurotic, flighty and although I sympathized with the loss of her husband (I did cry a few times), I never really liked her or connected with her. I also didn't care for the vapid, silly LA setting for a lot of the story. All of the social media references became extremely boring and I skimmed a lot of the book.

Our hero, Brian, is probably the best thing about the book. When he and Charlotte are together, it's at least intriguing and they have some good chemistry. Unfortunately, after the big secret about Charlotte's husband comes out, Brian isn't quite as likable.

I am very disappointed as the synopsis of this book intrigued me and I was hoping for a little emotion and a few laughs along with a sweet romance. What I got was a fairly annoying heroine, waaay too much social media referencing (due to Charlotte's job) and a fairly lackluster secret and romance. I'm not familiar with this author's other books but I probably won't be reading them anytime soon.

This was different, and not entirely what I expected. The publicity makes it look like a light, breezy rom-com, but it is definitely more serious and even a little depressing -- although very well written and a good story. The premise is great, but the execution is a little shaky in places, because the protagonist's decisions and explanations for those decisions seem like a stretch. I was shaking my head in places, and did want to actually reach into the book and shake her.

This is the 1st book I've read by Emily Belden and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it all. The story jist left an impact fraught with emotion that is touching. Excellent subject matter.
The presentation was disjointed for me, and I'm not sure if it was intended that way.
Charlotte was an emotional, self centered mess. Her life was numbers, obsessive about it really, she could control everything through using them.
When the urn shows up, her life, drastically for her anyway, changes with revelations. She is forced to deal with a reality that occurred 5 years ago.
I would have liked a hero here. While Brian was there for her and helped her, he played a big part in the whole keeping secrets from her.
Char goes to a grief counseling group. So this one time makes things fall into place in her mind? That's remarkable!
She also did a lot of mind talking I felt was unnecessary, and didn't add a thing to the story, except words.
This seemed quite realistic, as if it truly was someone's story, ramblings and all.
I think there's a happy ending, it seems there is.
If you think my review is kind of scattered, it is!
I received an advance reader's copy thru Netgalley and am giving my honest thoughts and opinions voluntarily