So many parts of this book completely justify my reasons for not wanting kids. I know my husband is great, but I think this book shines a light on the fact that parenting is expected to be so easy for women, and men are supposed to struggle. It's FINE because that's what happens all the time! I really like the concept behind this book. I had a really hard time putting it down once I started because I wanted to find out where it was going to go. Kudos to the author for tackling a timeless topic with a nice sinister twist.

Wow, so I am not sure if I read this book at the best or worst time, as I'm in the middle of an extremely busy time at work while also trying to move and juggle the rest of my life. But, I certainly could relate to the main character, Nora, a lawyer up for partner who is likewise looking for a new home while also being a mom and dealing with a less than helpful husband. While some of the situations seem a little extreme in this story, all of the accomplished women of Dynasty Ranch (the swanky subdivision that Nora is looking at a home in) make good points about equality between the genders with household duties. I think this would be an excellent book club book as there is a lot to unpack. For me, I'll just recommend it to all my friends who would fit right in at Dynasty Ranch.

I listened to this as an audiobook and was very pleased with the narration. Each character really came to life with their own voice (all done by the excellent Allyson Ryan) and I really felt like I was living through each moment while out on my morning runs.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an audiobook ARC through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

The Husbands
🎧 12 Hours, 12 minutes
Publishes August 3, 2021

“The book felt personal, as many things that take place in the privacy of our own homes do. But if anything, living through the pandemic has exposed the real impact of depending on women to carry the burden of the “second shift” disproportionately. The problem of dividing domestic labor isn’t just personal, it’s widespread and systemic and it’s caused more than 2.5 million women to leave the workforce in the last twelve months alone, at four times the rate of men.

In THE HUSBANDS I hope you’ll find a big, juicy murder mystery with something to say.” - A note from Chandler Baker about The Husbands on @goodreads
________________________________

“Assume nothing” in this affluent neighborhood where the wives are widely successful, and the husbands find bliss in domestic work.

Can ALL of these men be this perfect in the home? Find out in The Husband’s where The Stepford Wives meets Get Out.

CLICK. CLICK. CLICK.

Thank you @macmillan.audio for the complimentary audiobook.

This book was very interesting. I wasn't sure I would like it. It reminded me a lot of a mix between desperate housewives and little fires everywhere. I think I would've enjoyed it better if it wasn't audio and I was able to actually read it

Thank you to Netgalley & Macmillan Audio for this ALC! This is out on 08/03.

My initial reaction after finishing this was..."okay?" Now, there were likable parts of this. Unfortunately I just didn't get invested in it like I thought I would. I really liked the portrayal of the mental weight/struggles placed on moms in today's world where we are expected to do it all, have it all, remember it all....and remind our husband's because they have no motivation to do it on their own. I feel this, I do, but also it was slightly overplayed. Some of it was like I was talking to a friend and then another part was like can you just shut up? Many times I felt myself wanting to yell "land the damn plane already let us get on with it." The pacing in this story wasn't fast enough for me to stay interested. Started off strong, then we get an answer to an ongoing question, it slows down some more, and then the ending definitely took off and it got exciting. But was that excitement worth all of the previous chapters? Ehhh I don't know.

I really enjoyed the narration in this audio though! Allyson Ryan did a great job going back and forth between characters while telling this story.

The Husbands

The Husbands is definitely a feminist thriller with a slow burn plot.

I kept expecting more to happen, and wanted a twist plot to happen way earlier in the book. The mystery kept me intrigued the whole way through and the story picked up around half way and then lost some steam again.

I found the ending to be a little disappointing, I thought it was very clear what was happening to the husbands early on. Overall a decent book, I really enjoyed listening to the narrator.

3 stars

Wow, I really didn't enjoy this. I expected a feminist, tongue-in-cheek thriller... instead it was hours of misandry and an unlikable main character. The book was slow and I DNF because I couldnt find a reason to keep going.
I will say I enjoyed the narrator.

Solid 4 stars - It checks off the most bizarre book of the year for sure!

Chandler Baker made a name for herself with Whisper Network, a me too era, feminist thriller about powerful working women. The Husbands once again, center around strong, working women and mothers. In her epilogue, she lists every name we’ve ever been called by society and/or men… it’s powerful.

In this murder mystery, we have the wives —most work outside of the home and *were* frustrated by the disparity between the expectations and responsibilities of the home and children—until they took matters into their own hands. Then we have the men —all of them are compliant and cherish/worship their wives and help out anywhere they can. SAY WHAT again?!? In this mysterious suburb, nothing is as it seems. In walks Nora and her husband, looking for a new home. Nora is an attorney and is subsequently pulled into this subdivision by a woman looking to hire her in a wrongful death pursuit. But as she digs deeper for the case, she begins to wonder if the price of living here is worth it. It’s twisty and manipulative and I did not see that ending coming!
My only complaint is there just wasn’t enough character development, especially for the villain. I just wish I had a better background on some of the characters.

Allyson Ryan as narrator is the perfect voice for Nora and she represents the other voices just as well.
Thank you to #NetGalley and #MacmillanAudio for an ARC of this audio for an honest review, Pub date, 8.3.21

Thank you NetGalley for an audio-ARC of The Husbands by Chandler Baker.
The Husbands is a murder mystery surrounded by the difficulties of being a working wife and mother. Chandler captures the feelings of working moms and the disparity between the expectations and responsibilities of men and women. The main character, Nora, was a bit whiny, but the ending of the book was brilliant!
Narrator, Allyson Ryan, is a solid voice for Nora. She is easy to listen to and uses different voices to represent the personality of other characters.

The Husbands by Chandler Baker is super fun, clever, and a tad mysterious. The premise of this novel really grabbed my attention. Picture a neighborhood where the traditional and stereotypical gender roles are reversed. The women are high-powered, have successful careers, and are the breadwinners for the most part. The husbands are also employed, but don’t kick off their shoes, loosen their ties, crack a beer, and relax on the couch until dinner is made by their wives. Oh no. The men pick up the kids from school, drive them to their after-school activities, and then rush home to put dinner on the table. They also grocery shop, do the laundry, make lunches, and do the bedtime routine. They take responsibility for the majority of the household chores. And get this...they don’t complain one bit! Say what? Welcome to Dynasty Ranch, my friends. As a stay-at-home mom, I LOVE reading books about motherhood, domestic life, and the daily grind of raising a family. I love the way Baker flips everything around on us, and shakes up the routine of a typical nuclear family. The women living in Dynasty Ranch seem to have it all, and things sound a little too good to be true, don’t you think? Buckle up, and take a spin through Baker’s fantasy neighborhood. The plot takes a few unexpected twists and turns, and you’re bound to be entertained! Grab a copy on August 3rd!

I couldn't get into this and had to not finish it! I was very bored and just felt like this one was all over the place.

In this domestic thriller that didn't quite thrill, Nora Spangler thinks she has found not just her dream home, but also her tribe, in an exclusive planned community where the wives have high-powered careers and the husbands share cleaning tips and recipes while seeming a little mind-controlled. Nora is a lawyer trying to balance a rising career and a family life with a stereotypically oblivious husband. Her husband plays his role of the lazy, oblivious oaf to perfection. He isn't developed as a real character at all.

To be honest, not much rings true about Nora either. Nora is portrayed as a fed-up superhero who somehow manages to do far more work than any of her male colleagues, while constantly having to miss meetings and work hours for family emergencies, then come home and cook all the meals, do all the housework, and all the parenting. This woman is dedicated! She is strong! Hear her roar! She gets 3 hours of sleep a night and somehow makes it all work . . . most of the time.

Then comes the solution to all of Nora's problems - Stepford Husbands! Well, sort of. These husbands must still go to work, preferably as neurosurgeons, physicists, and tech gurus, but then come home and play the meek 1950s housewife and trade recipes and cleaning tips with the guys while their wives fistbump and sip cocktails in the next room.

That said, there was a pretty compelling plot emerging in the background of all this misandry. I just wish it had fully materialized. All things considered, the book moved along too slowly and the plot was too thin. The characters needed to be developed much better. I had too little sympathy for the protagonist because I just didn't know her well enough. I also needed more hints about the villain's history peppered throughout the book. There is a Wizard of Oz-style "big reveal" at the end showing us who the woman behind the curtain is which I just thought summed up this 352 pages of overused tropes archetypes perfectly.

Dynasty Ranch is an idyllic neighborhood, and Nora, a hard-working attorney who is eager to make partner at her law firm, is eager to buy a house there. Her professional life seems to be right on track and going well... but her domestic life? Well, she feels like all she does is pack lunches and take care of her daughter and Nora wishes her husband would work just a bit harder, share the responsibilities so to speak.

This is a winding, gripping thriller reminiscent of the Stepford Wives and a unique story commenting on the expectations for women, working, and marriage. I was invested from the first chapter, curious to see where the story would go, and things unravel slowly until you reach a certain point, and then you won't be able to stop reading until you know the ending.

My only qualm with this story was the ending, which I thought fell a bit flatter than the rest of the story. However, there is a final twist that was surprising but interesting.

The audio is great; the narrator sucks you in and keeps you listening!

Highly recommend for thriller readers, particularly women-centered thrillers.

The Husbands was an enjoyable feminist domestic thriller set in Dynasty Ranch, an affluent suburban neighborhood. All the wives have high power careers, and the husbands take care of all the household needs. The neighborhood woman consists of a neurosurgeon, author, therapist, and the women are hoping Nora, a lawyer, will move in with her husband.

The book's first half is hilarious as Nora explains how frustrated she is with her husband, Hayden, who puts himself and his career first. Nora is responsible for working and all the household and mother responsibilities. The book picks up at the halfway point when Nora represents Penny, one of the women from Dynasty Ranch. Penny's house burned downed and her husband Richard was killed in the fire. Penny wants to find out what happened because she knows someone murdered her husband. I could not stop listening as the book amps up with intensity. I needed to know what happened to Richard and why all the husbands of Dynasty Ranch are "perfect".

Thank you, Macmillan Audio, for this complimentary copy. I wish NetGalley could improve the audio quality on the NetGalley app to make the experience more enjoyable.

The modern day stepford wives. The emotional struggle of being a housewife paired with a wrongful death lawsuit. This book was a family drama with a twist. I had it on audio and it was 12 hours, so I wasn't able to finish the whole thing. I was hoping for more mystery and intrigue!

What would you do to have your husband help you around the house more? This is an age old question. I'm sure Eve even wanted Adam to help more with the kids. Nora has the chance to have that dream answered but at what cost? Nora is a busy attorney trying to make partner with a young daughter and another baby on the way. She feels like she is burning the candle at both ends with no help at home. Then she meets some ladies at Dynasty Ranch neighborhood and their husbands seem perfect. They help with the kids, they cook, they seem to do all the little things that she has to do as well as her job. All of the wives have very high powered prestigious jobs. They have it all and Nora thinks that is what she wants too. It really reminded me of the Stepford Wives for husbands. But when Nora finds out the truth of this charming little neighborhood will she want to live there with her stepford husband?

For me this book gets it right in the beginning, but kind of falls flat a bit in the end. The beginning is a strong story that touches on important themes and makes strong observations. The mysterious town also offers a good juxtaposition. However, the backstory and the ending were a little odd for me and I think could have been better executed. Overall, I enjoyed the narrator and the story, but felt it could have been even better.

This book is like The Stepford Wives but with a modern day twist. One quote in the book really stuck out to me. “The delegator still needs to keep track of all the things that need to be delegated.” All jobs/tasks differ in the type of labor they require: physical, time, mental, spiritual, etc. What happens when one person in a household is expected to take on the vast majority of the mental labor and care tasks of the entire household on top their very demanding job? That’s the question for the majority of women around the world every day. The pandemic exacerbated the issue. This book asks why do some women seem to have it all together at home and what would it look like if the care task scales were tipped in the other direction? If you’re in charge of the care tasks at home, you may groan and roll your eyes countless times while reading this one. If you know, you know. The internalized misogyny was strong at times but the tiny twist at the end made me gasp.

"There are husbands everywhere…"

The Husbands is to working mothers what Happy and You Know It is to stay-at-home moms—a manifesto to the impossibility of “having it all,” and an anthem of solidarity and baddassery for the women who valiantly try anyway. This book spoke to me on a nearly cellular level. I have never felt so seen by a writer, by her characters, or by a narrative that captures so many things I have felt, but been unable to put into words.

"She sometimes stands at the kitchen sink, fantasizing about what would happen if she died. She doesn’t want to die, but she would certainly kill to see the look on his face when he realized how much work she does at home."

In The Husbands, Nora is a full-time attorney, full-time mom to a toddler, pregnant with Baby #2, and the partner in her marriage who is primarily responsible for managing the details of family life - groceries, laundry, school pictures, housework, lunch-packing, and the like. Her husband, Hayden, isn’t a terrible guy, but isn’t extremely helpful… until a new couple’s therapist recommends a therapy technique that produces some pretty astounding effects. But everything comes with a cost. What will it cost Nora to finally have what she thinks she wants?

"She has a different husband, a new as improved version. She wonders if she should feel guilty…"

A full-time working mom myself (and also an independent freelancer, PTA member, elementary-school room mom, church volunteer, book club host, and official Household Manager of All Things Home & Family), I know exactly what it feels like to be spread far too thin, aiming to meet expectations that feel impossibly out of reach. I know what it is to consider grocery shopping, with only one kid tagging along, as “me time,” while my husband plays 36 holes of golf a week… and, clearly, so does Chandler Baker.

"‘You were made for more’… More is a clever innovation of a society that has always felt better when it’s women could be controlled."

Through her characters and their lives, Baker points to undeniable (and often uncomfortable) truths about the struggles faced by working parents, the unequal distribution of the “invisible mental load” on women and wives, the societal expectations placed on mothers, and the difficulty of navigating female friendships. I was expecting a thriller, but The Husbands reads like more of a social commentary through the lens of contemporary fiction. The “mystery” aspects of the plot are essentially an afterthought when held up against the sociological issues raised, not really coming into play at all until the last 15-20% of the book.

"Motherhood is considered a ‘women’s issue,’ and women’s issues aren’t taken seriously… The work of motherhood is invisible, and therefore, it’s not a real problem."

A little bit devious, a little sarcastic, and oh-so-relatable, I devoured the 12-hour audiobook in 2 days. Baker kept me guessing, wondering who the “bad guy” was, or if it was all of them, or if there even was a villain at all - partly because the thriller-edge of the book took so long to pick up, and party because I liked and was rooting for everyone in the story all at once! (Judge me if you like, but I'll always cheer a little bit for a femme fatale!)

"She truly does love him. Loves him with her whole heart. Wants to strangle him with her love. Wants to love him until he’s dead, sometimes."

I loved this book and would recommend it to any woman (especially any mother!) who has ever felt overwhelmed, unsupported, or not enough. One caveat: the cast of this story is made up almost entirely of wealthy, successful, straight, cisgender women. Readers seeking more, in terms of diversity and representation, may feel a little let down, as the story isn’t written in a way that would lend itself well to LGBTQ+ inclusivity, or even nontraditional family structures. Just something to bear in mind, if that’s a factor for you. But, I’d give this 4.5 stars (rounded up to 5), as it spoke to meaningful issues for me, through an entertaining and relatable story.

"If men can’t see women’s pain, then it doesn’t exist."

——

A huge thank you to Chandler Baker, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Husbands by Chandler Baker 🎧

This story was addicting! This is a thriller and drama rolled into one. All about what it’s like to be a wife and mom and how quickly things can turn sideways if women are undervalued.

Nora and her family are interested in buying a house in an elite neighbourhood. After just looking at the house, she gets roped in to helping a prospective neighbour in a wrongful death lawsuit. This group of women that befriends her seems too good to be true. They all have perfect lives and overly helpful and appreciative husbands. This is a very slow burn type of thriller. It made a great audiobook, I could not turn it off!

Besides the thriller side of the storyline, I really appreciated Nora’s struggle with the emotional side of running a household, the repetitive tasks and the proactive side of raising a child. I related to how hard it was for her to communicate those feelings. It can be so difficult to put into words how hard it is to be a mother and to talk about all the unseen every day struggles.

I’m so curious to see what others think about this one! This is out on August 3rd! Thank you to @macmillan.audio and @netgalley for my copy!

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