I absolutely adored this book. Lauren is clever and was fun to follow, and the premise is so unique. The “twist” in the middle was perfect, I thought, and I was so curious how she would wrap it up, but I loved the ending. Highly recommended!

A fun idea with some interesting thoughts on relationships and the changes they can bring to your life. I enjoyed Ms Gramazio's writing style with her attention to detail and some amusing observations. The ending worked well, but overall , a bit like the husbands, it outstayed its welcome and, for me, a shorter book would have worked better and held my interest more.
Thank you to netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book

The Husbands focuses around Lauren who, on returning home to her flat in London, is greeted by a strange man claiming to be her husband, even though she is not married. The book explores themes of love, choice, and the quest for happiness within modern relationships and dating.

A really entertaining read. Original. Inventive. Funny. Enjoyable.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publishers and the author for allowing me to read an early copy.

Funny, page-turning and so well-written, THE HUSBANDS is a real breath of fresh air! I’m just gutted that we never really find out *why* it happened, but if you can put that irritation aside, a 5-star must-read for 2024.

I read an eARC of this book so thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley.

I read hundreds of books a year and sometimes things can feel a bit repetitive and that’s why The Husbands was such an exciting read! This book felt so new and unique. I genuinely had no idea what was going to happen and I was so compelled to keep reading!

This is such a crazy premise and it’s just brilliant! Lauren, our main character comes home drunk from a hen party to find a strange man in her kitchen who is convinced he’s married to her. After some time she discovers that her attic is behaving very strangely, and every time she sends her husband up to the attic, a new man comes down. This causes shifts in her life, sometimes subtle, sometimes catastrophic. Lauren goes through a wild experimentation with these husbands, sending them back instantly for weird quirks, and others she finds very challenging to get rid of.

This was such a fascinating exploration of what it means to be single, married, having someone in your space, living a life that’s impermanent, getting to know someone for the first time who thinks you’ve been married for some time. It was so wild and so interesting!

Bizarre but compelling.
Many times, towards the beginning, I felt this was not a book for me but the writing was good, it was preposterous but not so much that I put it down, it was insane yet there was something there that propelled the story.
I think this book is fantasy, well it was fantastical! I would never dream of reading a book like this normally but it was brilliant.
I am still confused but must say I think it is one of the most original books I have read in a very long time.

A romantic fantasy comedy centred on a single woman who returns from a night out to discover she is married. I liked the premise but there were too many husbands and it got repetitive and there was not a lot of depth to Laurens character. An enjoyable, easy read.

Lauren returns home to her flat one night to a strange man, claiming to be her husband. There's evidence to prove he is all around her, but she has no memory of any wedding or ever meeting this man. Lauren soon realises that her attic is giving her an endless supply of husbands.

This book had a great concept and was ridiculously funny. I really like how Holly tied it up at the end, I thought it was perfect.

A hilarious twist that I couldn’t put down. Such a different romantic comedy I loved it. Please go out and buy this book you will not regret it.

"The Husbands" delivers an entertaining and whimsical narrative.

The story unfolds with a hilariously inventive premise, introducing Lauren, who returns home from a friend's hen do only to discover a stranger claiming to be her husband. What follows is a comedic twist as Lauren realises her attic mysteriously generates an endless supply of husbands. Her task becomes selecting the perfect life partner from this unexpected surplus.

From the outset, I found myself engrossed in the light-hearted plot that cleverly delves into the intricacies of contemporary relationships and decision-making. The seemingly absurd concept of a magic attic mirrors elements of reality dating shows and dating apps, subtly highlighting the parallels.

While humorous, I loved the thoughtful nods to societal issues, such as class, gender, & loneliness, among others.

"The Husbands" is a delightful read, offering an easy and captivating escape that prompts reflection while inducing laughter. I found myself audibly snorting at various moments.

Pros -
It has an interesting and unique plot and touches on critical societal issues.

Cons- I found it to be a bit long and struggled a tiny bit to push through.

With that said I will recommend this book and look forward to it's release!

This was a really interesting concept and I really enjoyed the set up of the book. But towards the middle it got slightly repetitive and then in pulled it back with the ending. An enjoyable and different read overall.

I couldn't even get pass the first chapter. The way it is written is so confusing. Sorry but I think this will confuse your readers. All we know is her name Lauren and she's very drunk, forgetting everything.

I loved this book, funny and light hearted. An adult version of dear zoo. But instead of a child writing to the zoo for a pet that the child sends back, we have a woman, a magical loft hatch and an endless supply of husbands.

Will be recommending for sure! The perfect fun read to pull you out of a slump and make you laugh out loud.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance coy of this book with no obligation to review.

This is a really enjoyable read and it is also very funny, especially at the start. It is a different take on the popular "many lives" genre but Lauren has different husbands in the same life thanks to her magic attic! It reminds me of that joke about the chain letter which is sent to women saying add your name and details to the bottom of the enclosed list, send the list to six of your friends and send your husband to the first name on the list. When your name gets to the top of the list, you will receive over 1000 husbands, one of whom must be better than the one you have now.

So, Lauren meets a husbands and resets and then meets another one etc. This is fun but what about plot movement? Just when you least expect it, she meets a different kind of husband (no spoilers!) and that adds another strand to the story. She wonders about "the one who got away" and tracks him down , again, no spoilers. She even meets a couple of men twice.. It all ends quite satisfactorily if perhaps a bit dramatically in a way which would be quite a disaster in real life.

It's a brilliant plot, Lauren is an engaging and honest character. The husbands are all well drawn, as as Lauren's family and friends. It is also interesting in that it makes you wonder about the roads not taken in your own lfe but there's nothing heavy about it.

For sheer enjoyment, I might very well read this book again. Also, for sheer enjoyment, it's a 5.

This is so much fun, probably one of the most enjoyable books I’ve read in ages.
And it was so thought provoking as well, I can honestly say that I have no idea how I’d react if such an impossible thing happened to me, but I can’t stop thinking about it.
It’s such a bonkers concept, and yet the author brought it to life perfectly. I think this could be a great choice for book clubs, you’d learn so much about your fellow readers.

The Husbands is a very clever execution of an original concept whichis both amusing and thought provoking. It certainly held my interest although I'm uncertain as to how I feel about the ending.

This was so fun! Such an interesting concept I'm such a sucker for mild sci-fi/fantasy elements so naturally this was right up my street (I've also had a ridiculous amount of fun with the husband generator like top-tier book promotion right there!!!) I loved imagining how I would have reacted in Lauren's situation and what traits I would be looking for in my mysterious husbands. It actually ended in a different direction than I was anticipating which was nice actually because I always like being a little surprised - especially for a premise that could verge on repetitive, Can't wait for you all to experience this one!

When I saw this on NetGalley, I thought it sounded like such a fabulous book that I was so eager to get my hands on it. It was original and unique and was thrilled when I was sent a copy.

It unfortunately didn't hit the high notes I was expecting. But first, the positives.

It did hook me in; I took it with me when I had a day's tattoo session booked in and so it kept me distracted for several hours. It is completely original and you can't really look away from it.

It's funnier than I thought it would. I'm not sure why I wasn't expecting it to be so, I thought it was going to perhaps be more of a series book, but there is a lot of humour in it, some dark.

It could have quite easily been very repetitive and stale, but I didn't feel that was the case. We get enough to become invested in the story, and whilst it is repetitive by its very nature, it didn't feel boring - at least not to begin with. I was quite keen to see who the next husband would be.

It's a mixture of sci-fi, fantasy, comedy, romance, and feelgood, so it should appeal to a broad spectrum of readers.

Now, for the not so positive aspects.

The consistent character is Lauren, and I can't say whether I liked her or not. We don't really get a chance to know her. She's not developed, and is very one-note. We don't get to learn much about her past, or her present, we don't get to know what she's like as a friend or a relative or a wife, she doesn't grow or shrink. She's just....there, and so it's hard to have any major opinion on her.

My main criticism is I wanted more depth, a bit more oomph and substance. What is there is fine and entertaining, but I wanted more context. This thing just starts happening and Lauren just goes along with it as if it's a normal thing, there's no real context to it and we don't really get to see her genuine reaction to changing husbands coming out of her attic - which I think would cause more than a little alarm. It also ends quite abruptly, and I can't say it was a satisfying ending either.

There are far too many husbands. I know that's what the book is about, but by halfway we'd had something like 160 husbands, with a large quantity of them getting 1-2 sentences and then changing. And so we only get to know a handful of them. I think if she'd had less husbands, and focussed more on just a few of them, I would have been more invested and it would have been better.

In its present state, it's too long. I think either, the story needs to stay the same but the page length shortened, or the story needs tweaking, because at the moment, it's just too long and doesn't quite live up to the excitement of the synopsis.

I probably would recommend it, but if it had more depth to it, more context, and more substance, it would have been a far more enjoyable read. I'm not sure if this is her first book or not, I think it is, but either way, there's a lot of promise here for future works, if only for her originality.

I loved this concept and thought it was good fun. I'm not usually a fan of the romance genre, but did enjoy this and the writing style. I would have liked to have understood why Lauren's attic in particular was generating husbands and what caused it to start. I also thought there was some repetition, and about 20-30 pages of husband generation that didn't add anything to the plot.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and Net Galley for the eARC.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an arc of 'The Husbands'. An easy read, but perhaps one that's slightly too long. I liked the novel idea of a different husband appearing from the attic. If you're in the mood for a light-hearted fun read this may well fit the bill.