THE HUSBANDS by Holly Gramazio is one of my favorite reads of 2024!!! Loved the magical premise that the skilled writing and perfect pacing complimented to a tee. Loved the takeaway and the thoughtful reflection on what makes up a content life. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

OBSESSED. This is a book of the year for good reason. Such a unique premise and so well executed. I got so wrapped up in this story and can't wait to see what Gramazio does next.

I was thrilled to get a copy of this one, espeically when it was selected as a Read With Jenna pick last year. This wonderful book asks things like how we navigate live, love and choice when there is a never-ending set of options.

Lauren comes home to her flat in London late one night and is greeted by her husband, Michael. But she’s not married and has never seen this man before in her life. But then he goes to change a lightbulb and someone new appears. Her attic is creating an infinite supply of husbands!

This book was a wonderful surprise--thanks so much for the copy!

Unfortunately I didn’t love it. Genius premise and unique take on the groundhog’s day trope, but I feel as though I didn’t know the MC and/or why the attic was magic. Needed a little more juice.

The Husbands was my favorite book of 2024. It was funny and reflective and a bit magical. When Lauren returns to her flat from a bachelorette party, she is greeted by her husband. However, she doesn't have one. The chaos that ensures in Lauren's life is funny, thought provoking and heartfelt. I look forward to reading more gf Gramazio's work.

One night, when Holly comes home from an outing with friends, a man is in her house who claims to be her husband. But the problem is, she's not married. However, she seems to be the only one who does not recall the existence of said husband. Even more strange is that when he goes up into the attic, another husband appears.

This is a light-hearted story, but it has a lot of substance and addresses plenty of serious themes. The pacing is well-done, and the story never gets redundant, despite the premise being repetitious in nature. This book perfectly captures the dilemma of having endless choices and never being able to settle on the "perfect one." It is a commentary and exaggeration of the swipe culture, where the possibility of the next one being better does not allow for ever reaching satisfaction.

This was a great read, and a perfect palette cleanser that was not too frothy.

What an absolute delight of a book. I absolutely love the idea of being able to explore different versions of your life depending on the choices that you've made. Although there were definitely moments in the book that I didn't like our main character very much (i.e. when she was stalking or stealing from her former husbands), I think that's what made this one so readable. I spent five minutes talking about it with a patron and they were so intrigued they put in on hold right away!

I was so excited to read this book because it sounded conceptually fascinating and so fun! Unfortunately I did not love the execution of the character first coming to terms with this event happening. I'm more the type of reader who enjoys being dropped in the middle of a weird event and being told the origin in flashbacks, it makes it feel more real for me. Obviously this is a user error lol and I definitely see where my subscribers [and other readers obvi] would LOVE this story, so I still highly recommend.

Lauren is very single. But when she arrives home after attending her friends hen party one night, she finds that she does, in fact, have a husband. One that is evident in the photos on her phone and around her home. One that her family and friends all recognize as her husband. When he retreats to the attic to change a lightbulb, a different husband reappears a few minutes later. This is how it goes. One husband comes down and when he's sent to the attic for one reason or another, a different husband emerges. On and on this goes. When Lauren is annoyed by something her husband does (whether large or small, significant or trivial), she tricks him into going up to the attic and waits anxiously for her new husband to appear. Sometimes the husbands stay for a couple days or longer, but some she sends back up after just a few seconds of meeting him, which makes Lauren come across as a bit shallow. This repeats (and repeats and repeats) with just a few surprises thrown in. Overall I think this was a book that never really went anywhere. While there were a few funny passages, the plot didn't hold my interest enough to rate this one very high.
There are many many high ratings and rave reviews out there, so I hope you'll try this one for yourself.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This was both a refreshingly novel concept and also, an exhaustingly repetitive plot line. While I loved the exploration of partnership and marriage, there were points that I was just so ready for this time-loop-y concept to end. I’m torn on where I land with this one, but enjoyed the concept enough to keep an eye on whatever this author writes next!

Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
The Husbands follows Lauren, a single woman who is coming home from a hen party when she finds a man in her house. At first, Lauren thinks the man has broken in, but she looks around and notices that her whole flat is slightly different and there are pictures of her and this man on the wall, and on her screen saver. Lauren slowly realizes that every time a husband goes up into the attic of her flat, another husband comes down. This magical attic takes Lauren on a journey that allows her to see how her life would change depending on the man she marries.

The premise of The Husbands is so intriguing! I was so interested to see where this story would take me and how it would make me think. Overall, I enjoyed this book. It is interesting, funny, and easy to read. While I do not regret reading it, I do feel like this story could have been condensed into a novella or short story while still getting the general point across. While the premise of the magical attic pumping out husbands is interesting and kept me curious, I felt like this story started getting a little repetitive. The story definitely gets wilder and wilder and I liked the ending, but I don't think this book needed to be as long as it was.

I would recommend this to anyone who finds the premise interesting. The book is well written and the author definitely keeps things interesting.

e-ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I found this novel highly entertaining!

Lauren comes home one night after being out with friends and finds Michael on her doorstep. He's her husband. Except she's not married. All the signs point to them being together for a while but Lauren has no recollection of any of it. When Michael goes to the attic to change a lightbulb he disappears, and another husband takes his place. Lauren suddenly has an endless supply of husbands...

It's a look at how we judge people, sometimes on first sight, a comment on what makes a marriage work and what doesn't, what makes a partner worth pursuing and what makes us want to send him back up the attic stairs. It's about making the decision to stay and work things out, and finding satisfaction in the everyday moments. A really clever, time-bending, magical-realism novel.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was an insanely fun read that still felt literary in its scale. I have already recommended it to multiple people because I feel like it's a great bridge between popular and literary fiction, and when I describe the premise, people are so intrigued!

The concept is interesting. I thought the number of characters would be overwhelming but once I was so far into it, that wasn't an issue. It was better than I expected.

I struggled with this book. It jumped around quite a bit. It is an interesting premise but I found the execution lacking. Just as I was getting interested in some characters, they disappeared. I also had a hard time identifying with the protagonist which for me is a big deal. I would definitely read other works by this author, I just felt this one was not that great.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Team for this Advanced Digital Readers Copy, I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

I read a decent amount of this book and was having a really good time with it! A lot of my friends gave this 4 or 5 stars and I'm sad I just don't care enough to finish it. I would consider picking up the audiobook from my library to finish it but it's not at the top of my priority list right now. If you're at all interested in this, I suggest giving it a go! It was a really fun, super quirky read.

A lot of fun! I also think she did a really good job of exploring all the new ones every aspect of the things that you could learn from something like this happening to you

"The Husbands" hooks you with its mind-bending premise: Lauren comes home to her London flat one night to find a husband she’s never met, and each trip to the attic swaps him with a new, slightly different partner, reshaping her reality bit by bit. The setup is packed with intrigue, but as the story progresses, the constant shifts make it tough to latch onto any emotional core, and Lauren's endless "do-overs" sometimes feel repetitive. Still, it’s a thought-provoking journey into the “what ifs” of life’s choices, perfect for readers who enjoy exploring alternate realities—even if the story leaves some questions unanswered.

I loved this so much! What a clever send-up of today's swipe right dating culture! No wonder Jenna chose it. A fun, perfect book that slyly has something to say.