Husbands & Lovers had me hooked from the first chapter I could not wait to get back to it and see how things would work out for Mallory and Hannah. I love a good historical fiction story especially one about a time I'm not super familiar with. I enjoyed the dual pov between the two women and learning their stories and how they were connected. This book was so well written and I look forward to reading more from Beatriz Williams. I want to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Sam needs a new kidney. Mallory's son (the father IS NOT in the picture) ate a poisonous mushroom at camp and lost kidney function, so he is now on dialysis three times a week. Everyone has been tested for a good match for him, but they have all failed, and their family is very small-basically Mallory and her sister Paige. Paige tries to get Mallory to tell Monk Adams, superstar singer and guitarist, that his now 13-year-old son needs his help, but Mallory won't reveal this secret of Sam's birth to him. They were good friends who became lovers after Mallory played nanny to Monk's father's children, the summer of their junior year in college, but that train has left the station. So as a last resort, Paige takes a DNA test to see if she can find any cousins who could genetically match Sam.
Hannah Ainsworth, a Hungarian refugee, is the wife of an English diplomat stationed in 1950s Egypt. She tries to be a good wife and fit in with the English ex-pat community but is usually a bored observer. The assistant manager of the hotel, a noted Lothario to his English clientele, falls for Hannah and they conduct an extremely erotic affair-she wants a child and he wants information.
The connection between the stories is a cuff bracelet in the shape of a cobra that Paige and Mallory's mother never removed from her arm and left to Mallory in her will.
As with any well-written alternating story, the author stops each narrative with a cliffhanger and starts the other character's tale. Both stories are so compelling that it takes a few seconds to catch up when she moves from the past to the present and back again, but she never disappoints. This is a great summer read....it is rich in history while also never cheating the audience by stinting on romance. Best read on a small island near Cape Cod.

This book had multiple stories with different timelines going on which was a lot. The themes of love, fidelity and forgiveness were the focal points of the stories. There were some very predictable parts of the story and stereotypes of wealthy families. I like how the story wrapped up nicely in the end.


Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for this eArc for my honest review.

This is one of the best written books I have read in a long time. The storyline of these women, Mallory & Hannah, and how they overlap even though their lives span generations was so good. The love interests of both of these women, also so good. The deep internal trauma that both of these women have because of men was so real.

The beginning was slow and it took me a second to understand the three timelines. There were a couple smaller detailed things that also took me out of the story.

That being said, I really did enjoy this book and I will be recommending to friends upon its release!

In a dual timeline story, Beatriz Williams has written an haunting beautiful tale of two women in love who go through a great deal of pain looking for their happy endings, which are surprisingly connected.

From Egypt and then Ireland the story goes to an island off the Connecticut shore. From an older married woman who has a baby after an affair and gives it up for adoption during wartime it continues to a young woman who gets pregnant in her late teens and doesn’t tell her boyfriend, but brings the baby boy up alone for 13 years until the father finds out during present day.

You’ll be mesmerized by this incredible story of loss and love that brings people together like only Beatriz Williams can.


It’s a tale that will keep you reading from page one until the very end to find out exactly how it turns out.

I love a good intergenerational story - and this one was unique by sharing timelines for 2 lead female characters, Mallory and Hannah. It was a bit hard going back and forth because Mallory had two timelines running simultaneously. There were also a lot of narratives running in the story - paternity, young love, major medical diagnosis, single parenting, divorce, affairs, adoption, spies… I wanted more on almost each narrative because it wasn’t described enough (especially the spy part!). Overall, a heartwarming story that had me hooked, just felt like it could have expanded more and the ending was quite abrupt.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I didn’t know what to expect when I started this book since I had never read anything by Beatriz Williams. It definitely won’t be the last. This book has it all. Historical romance, suspense, and modern romance.. The reader is introduced to Mallory and her son Sam. He has gone to a summer camp and eaten a poisonous mushroom. He survives the ordeal but is left in renal failure. Hannah and her sister Paige start looking for a matching donor. This sends them on a collision course with a grandmother they never knew existed. They find out their mother was adopted and never knew.. This journey will take them to Europe during WW2 and Egypt after the war. As I said before this book has it all and I can’t wait to read more by this author.

Five stars across the board! Period. This had all of the things I love in my books, but the intrigue is what kept be sucked in. Plus, this book is the perfect example of dual POV done is a good way and helped the story move forward. I can admit it was slow to start but once it picked up it never stopped short of amazingness. Thank you to Netgalley, and Random House.

This one was really 3.5 stars for me, but I'm rounding up.

The good:
- The plot. I loved the through lines of the stories between all three timelines, and felt like the themes and obstacles were similar even though they weren’t fully.
- Descriptions! As always, Williams delivered on plopping me right into the time and place for each timeline, that it was easy to know exactly which one I was in, and whose point of view.
- The suspense at the end of every chapter, knowing I have 2-3 more to get resolution! Gold.

The could be better:
- I LOVED the Egyptian setting and Hannah’s point of view, and felt like it didn’t get quite enough air time. While I thought Mallory’s flashbacks were relevant, I think they could have been scaled back to allow for more of Hannah’s story. Hers felt the most abrupt/unfinished toward the end.
- Some of the modern dialogue was hard to follow and too much. I think Mallory didn’t really speak enough to make me understand why everyone is in love with her, and Monk’s ramblings were a lot for me to digest.

Overall, I ate it up in a few days and it held my attention, but I wasn’t quite as invested in the modern main characters as I would have liked. Still a great historical beach read!

If I’m ever desperate for a 5 star read, a Beatrize Williams novel has NEVER failed. I’m dang near sure this will be hard to beat for my favorite read of 2024 (quite the proclamation for it to only be April, I know).

I was immediately invested in the characters by the first chapter, and its dual timeline kept me on the edge of my seat with each little plot twist.

If you’re into historical fiction, this one delivers! And even if you’re not, it has a great 50/50 balance of present day (2022) New England with 1950’s Egypt during the Second World War. I was so satisfied by the ending, but the entire journey was just… for lack of better word, bittersweet.

Thank you Random House publishing group - Ballantine for the ARC of this novel via Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5. Husbands & Lovers by Beatriz Williams. Whenever I see a new book by Beatriz Williams, I snatch it right up! Terrific summer read. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and of course, the author for this ARC. Hitting bookshelves on June 25, 2024. Dual timeline book that takes us back and forth from 1940s Egypt and present day New England. Hannah is married to a British diplomat in steamy Cairo. Her marriage is dullsville, but the manager of the hotel seems to hold much appeal. Mallory is a single mom to Sam who desperately needs a new kidney. Sam’s dad happens to be one of the world’s biggest rock stars. Mallory never told the rock star that Sam even existed. Things could be quite complicated especially since he’s days away from marrying a social media mogul. The stories are eventually woven together beautifully. I was hooked on this one! Thumbs up! Toss it in your beach bag! #books #whatiread #bookstagram #reading #beatrizwilliams #whatsinyourbeachbag #bookgram #bookworm #netgalley #goodreads #libbyapp #thumbsup

I enjoyed this book. I like books that untangle early mysteries about the family. I liked the characters

This was my first by this author while it wasn’t a 5 star read, I’m def interested in reading more by her. This did start off slow for me (mostly Hannah’s POV) but once I really got into it I flew. At about 90% I was thinking the two POVs didn’t fully complement each other (other than that it was their grandma) but at the very very end when you find Hannah’s first baby was alive and well and on Mallory’s doorstep it put a nice bow on both storylines. I loved reading about Mallory and Monk’s past, it reminded me a little of Tom Lake (one of my faves!). Im really not a prude but one thing that did bug me was the way the sisters talked to each other it seemed incongruous to the feel of the story and who they each were it was just kind of unnecessary and brash. I’ll def be trying more from this author soon!

THIS BOOK!! This was my first Beatriz Williams, and it will not be my last! It really could have been two separate books, and I would have devoured both Mallory and Hannah's stories with even more detail, but they were amazing blended together also! The best way to describe this book is: The Nightingale meets Daisy Jones and the Six meets an Elin Hilderbrand Nantucket novel--all my favorites mashed up into one incredible novel. I couldn't put it down because I was so invested in the characters and their stories--I had to know what happened!

SPOILERS BELOW:
I love Mallory and Monk--I want a whole sequel of just their story. We should all be so lucky to have a Monk...swoon! I was so frustrated when he was with Lee and Mallory was staying at his house. Like hello, Monk...the love of your life is right there...get rid of this awful Lee chick--she doesn't get you!

and Hannah. ugh. My heart just breaks for her. So much pain in her life, and always still soldiering on...never able to be truly happy. My one complaint about this book is that I need to know what happened to her! Who picked her up from the monastery?! Where did she go?! She must have found Karoly because he said at the end that he promised their grandmother he would find them--but how did she find him? Did she end up happy?

I NEVER re-read books, but I feel like this is one that I could re-read to find all the Easter eggs along the way!

Chef's kiss, Beatriz Williams!

#HusbandsandLovers #NetGalley

Wow!! Wow!! Wow!! This book was unbelievable good. I enjoyed every minute of it and didn’t want it to end. I am a new reader for this author and had been hearing a lot about this book. I’m so happy that I read it.

TW/// Sexual assault, Rape

This was a real roller coaster of changed ratings for me.
This book starts off with such a zany, kooky situation happening that it literally made me say, "Huh??" out loud.
The whole impetus for the plot of the novel is the fact that the main character's son eats a bad mushroom at summer camp and almost dies.

Now, obviously that can happen, but it just immediately set me off on what ended up being a scavenger hunt to find the tone of this novel.

Was it serious literary fiction, or a humorous romp? Was this supposed to be more soap-operaey? I never quite figured that out.
A lot of the more serious details that would have given this novel more of a backbone and made me identify with, and root for, the characters, just weren't present.

I didn't like Mallory. I didn't particularly understand why anyone did, even without the fact that she didn't tell the father of her child that he had a son for 13 years and then only told him because he accidentally found out.
Without a strong reason (like if he was abusive or a criminal) that's objectively shitty behavior.
And hey, I can get behind a protag who is paying for something shitty that she did in the past.
Only Mallory never really...paid? Monk forgave her pretty quickly even before finding out the dark secret that led to her leaving without a goodbye.
He kept jokingly calling her "Miss Integrity" and I was like...why? She stole your son for 13 years. She cheated on her boyfriend to get with you and then cheated on ANOTHER guy to get back with you later on. Where is the integrity in that? I'm confused.

But, truthfully, Mallory comes by that deceitful streak honestly, because the story alternates between her and her grandmother who also cheated on her husband.
It turns out that Mallory's mother was adopted, and that her grandparents were not her mother's biological parents.
Mallory's actual grandmother, Hannah got pregnant with a baby via an affair that she had while she was living with her English diplomat husband in Cario and he took her to Ireland to have the baby and give it up for adoption.
The part where Mallory and her sister visit Ireland to find the convent where their mother was born is the worst part of the book.
I have no idea why the author decided to drag the proud nation of Ireland into this story since it doesn't seem like she did much research before including a section about the Magdalene Laundries that was just really out of place and borderline offensive.

I am not from Ireland, and it's entirely possible that someone who is from Ireland would have a different take on this but I got to the part where the author referred to driving by a sign with an "unpronounceable Gaelic name" and just thought that left a really bad taste in my mouth.
Referring to a native language that was stolen from its speakers as "unpronounceable" just rubbed me the wrong way.
Also, it's not Gaelic, it's Gaeilge, which is the name that the Irish use to refer to their language. That may be a small detail but it just feels like a basic respect thing to me.

I was really looking forward to this book and was really excited to get an arc of it, but it ended up letting me down. I'm not usually a huge lover of Literary Fiction so maybe it's my own fault for letting my expectations get too high!
Either way, one star.

Well written historical fiction. My first read by Beatriz Williams, but, not my last. The characters are phenomenal. Each one touches just the right tone for this storyline. Mallery and Monks love story is timeless. Hannah and her courage to persevere is thought provoking. Must read. Highly recommend.
I was given an advanced reader copy by NetGalley and I am freely sharing my review.

Beatriz Williams has done a wonderful job with ‘Husbands & Lovers. This story takes you from Cairo Egypt in the 1950’s to Mystic, CT, Cape Cod, MA and fictional Winthrop Island in the LI Sound in the 21st century. Ms. Williams has added romance, espionage and stardom to create an enjoyable read.

—Thank you so much to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the chance to review an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was such an unexpected 5 stars read for me. I have cried so so much and felt even more that i had to give it five stars. This was so heartbreaking and bittersweet yet such an incredible story. The struggle and the growth characters go through really impacted me.
I am so happy i gave it a chance. Highly recommend!

Historical fiction is my favorite genre and I enjoy it even more when the story is set in multiple timelines and POV. Our modern-day FMC Mallory is a single mom of a boy in need of a kidney transplant with no viable matches. Our 1950's post-war FMC Hannah is living in Cairo, Egypt with her much older husband. Both characters have heartbreaking back-stories. The convergence of the storylines had me holding my breath at times. While Mallory and her sister, Paige, work to unravel a family secret, Mallory is coming to terms with the events that led up to her unexpected pregnancy and the decisions she made in the aftermath. As a side note, if you work in the world of organ transplant, you will need to call on your powers of "willing suspension of disbelief". A solid read for fans of the genre.