REVIEW
When Lauren returns home from a night out to a stranger claiming to be her husband, she's understandably confused. But when he goes into her attic and a new husband appears, then another, she starts to wonder what is happening to her.
I was immediately intrigued by the blurb, and loved this original premise.
Sadly, it was all over the place. I didn’t care for the writing style, which felt superficial and I think the story would have worked much better with a LOT fewer husband 'options' so that we could truly focus on a few of the men. I did empathise with Lauren's initial confusion, and then her panic, followed by her fear when the 'angry' husband appeared. But I'm afraid I pretty much lost interest at the point where the next one whipped off his underwear and they became intimate because 'it's been a few months'. Her commentary was so passive. And it was commentary. Not an actual story, with real emotional responses and thought processes.
I continued reading for several more chapters, but I felt the execution was severely lacking and couldn't bring myself to continue.
DNF at 22%

Overall Rating: ❤️❤️ (for the originality of the premise)

A funny debut novel.
Loved the unique premise - Lauren comes home to find a strange man in her flat, who turns out to be her husband
He’s not the only one - anytime her husband goes up to the attic a different husband comes back.
She goes through various husbands, trying to select the one she wants to spend the rest of life with - some last only 3 minutes while others last months
Clever, witty and so engaging with lots of laugh out loud moments
“She’s had so many lives. And some of them were bad, but a lot of them were good and maybe there isn’t a single best path forward that she has to find.”
How can you ever truly know you’ve made the right choice, when there are endless options
A modern satire on dating apps culture, where you’re trained to think there’s something better and not invest in the relationship.
It was a great concept but did find it a bit repetitive and felt Lauren could have explored her connection to some of her husbands a bit more - had a Groundhog Day vibe about it.
But I kept reading as I wanted to find out what Lauren decides to do
A fabulous new contemporary fiction which would be perfect as a Book Club read
The author even has a husband generator on her website - go on try it.
Thanks @holly_gramazio, @vintagebooks & @netgalley for the funny interesting read.

What a strange and wonderful book this was! I really enjoy reading magical realism and this book does a fantastic job at balancing the real world with the fantastical. This book is full of twists I didn't see coming and always kept me intrigued. I felt every emotion whilst reading this book; humour, horror, sadness and shock. I think Lauren was also very relatable and was a great main character.
I think for me I was *a tad* let down by the ending I think. It just wrapped up a bit too quickly, I think an epilogue would have been wonderful for this book? But overall it wasn't 'unsatisfying' and it didn't change my overall enjoyment of the story.
This is a fantastic debut, the writing is really great with good pacing and chapter length for me. I will definitely keep an eye out for this author in the future. This book is easy to recommend to a wide audience of readers, and I'm looking forward to owning a final copy of this book too.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5

Thank you to NetGalley, Vintage and Holly Gramazio for the opportunity to read this advanced reader copy.

Review posted to Goodreads and release information to be posted to Instagram Stories.

The Husbands has, simply, one of the best hooks I've come across in a really long time: a woman's magic attic starts creating husbands, who remember her, but she doesn't remember them.
Lauren is single but one day she comes home after a big night out. Michael is in her flat: Michael is both Lauren's husband and a complete stranger. She's never seen him before in her life, but her phone shows a life built together over years. The cause is her attic - it's a husband portal, and every time she sends a husband away, a new one arrives in his place. Gramazio doesn't try to explain the attic, and Lauren doesn't seem overly interested in figuring it out - she's too busy dealing with her brand-new husbands and indeed new lives! Every husband brings new changes; from her flat walls changing colour to one frightening reality where Lauren's beloved niece and nephew no longer exist. Gramazio has great fun bending the rules of Lauren's life just enough that it never feels ridiculous; despite this sci-fi concept, this is a story firmly grounded in reality.

Surprising no one, Lauren's life devolves into chaos. Many readers have said that she's not especially likeable, especially given the speed at which she sends husbands away - but you know what, I don't know if I'd react much differently in her situation! She effectively stops working (slay) and spends money frivilously, safe in the knowledge that she can reboot her world whenever she needs. There's no Spider-man style "with great power comes great responsibility" here; Lauren fritters away thousands of hours and thousands of pounds living her hundreds of alterntive livess. What sucks for Lauren is that she never seems to fall in love her husbands - some she is fond of, and one she feels she definitely could fall for - but none of them ever feel right. Lauren, like anyone, gets sick of this - and I found that really refreshing! Eventually, she starts longing for stability and normalcy, as any of us would, but only after a long run on the merry-go-round. Lauren is written as extremely human, with all her flaws. I really loved her.

This is a debut novel, and it's not perfect, but it is an extremely good time. The concept is so original - I haven't read anything like this, even though I read a good bit of high-concept romance. The many, many husbands didn't get old for me - the different versions of a man that Lauren could love made for hilarious reading, and it never gets dark, which I aprpeciated as this could be a really grim concept. I found the novel ended a bit abruptly, but in fairness, unless Gramazio wanted to hard left-turn into science fiction/detective fiction and have Lauren trying to figure out how the attic works, I don't know how else it could hve gone.

Absurd, hilarious and refreshing - I hope The Husbands is a big hit.

The Husbands is the best thing I have read in absolute ages, and manages to tie a very readable and fascinating high concept, with a very enjoyable authorial voice and consistently funny comic tone. There is a problem with original high-concept ideas that the central idea is either not developed enough to satisfy the intellectual demands of the concept, or that the idea doesn't necessarily mean that the narrative built around it is as interesting as the premise itself. The Husbands solves both of these problems with breezy ease, and also manages perhaps the hardest thing once all its wheels are set into motion; it has a satisfying ending that feels correct.

The set-up: Lauren is single, has a nice London flat that she owns with her (now married and moved out) sister and some downstairs lodgers. She arrives home after a wedding to discover a complete stranger in her flat who claims to be her husband. And the rest rest of the world agrees; her bills, photos, her sister and downstairs neighbours. It is as if she has turned up in a parallel universe, and it obviously freaks her out. And then when she is trying to make a go of it, he pops into the attic and another completely different husband comes down, and this new world shifts around the her married to him. And repeat. Every time a husband goes in the attic, he gets replaced - whether she likes it or not.

What is great about this scenario is that it gives Gramazio the opportunity to sketch a plethora of modern men, one-paragraph comic summaries which show the breadth (or dearth) of the field in modern London. Like a cosmic Tinder she can work through them, often finding plenty of positive traits before finding their flaws, hoping for something better next time, or - as in one scenario - accidentally losing one she really, really liked. There is a lightness of touch to the writing that always keeps things fun even when deeper philosophical questions are popping up (its a scenario that can deal with loveless marriages, depression and coercive control), and a number of running gags that hit perfectly. Lauren is a well-drawn and relatable protagonist, and the secret of the book's success is how Gramazio unfolds the rules of her husband swops almost in perfect synchronicity with the audience raising another question. Lauren tests the scenario in various ways, tries to work out what is happening in the attic, and the more she understands the more the world unfolds for us as readers. It is a multiverse novel without being a multiverse novel, where the only variable is her getting married a few years back, but all the husbands are plausible: ones who got away, a few times her skeezy ex, and its instructive to see how being with someone changes her life and relationships with others. Slowly but surely Gramazio adds more wrinkles to the magic (and much like most Groundhog Day scenarios, the why is never explained and doesn't need to be). I've not read anything that could happily sit as comic novel, state of the nation, chick lit, and fantasy sci-fi so comfortably and also so addicting to read. A real triumph, it deserves to be a big hit.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, Vintage for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lauren is single but one day she comes home and there is a man in her flat, and he's her husband, as countless photos prove. Somehow her attic acts like a magic husband portal, and as soon as she sends one back, a new one emerges. Why is never explained - Lauren just has to deal with a neverending stream of blokes.

I'm not sure whether the prospect of an endless supply of husbands from the loft is thrilling or disturbing - especially as they feel like arranged marriages, but with a great return guarantee - you don't like the way he chews? Just send him into the attic.

A new husband always means a new life - sometimes it's only subtle wall colour changes, sometimes more profound. The people around her, neighbours, friends, family seem to stay the same at least.

Unfortunately, it brings out the worst in Lauren, she hardly goes to work anymore as she knows she can just reboot her life with the next guy, and if there is just the tiniest problem, she just sends the current husband into the attic, consequence-free.

I really started to dislike Lauren - she makes no attempt to be a good wife, just judges her husbands and sends them back, sometimes within minutes. Her life becomes an exhausting, chaotic mess. I doubt she remembers anymore where she is supposed to work nor how much money she has or what her husband's name is. In all this, she never seems to once fall in love with any of them, though she likes some more than others. The situation is becoming a curse and she knows she needs to take drastic action if she ever wants this scenario to end.

This is a debut novel and for that it's quite accomplished but maybe we could have had more time with fewer husbands to make it less repetitive. The ending is a bit abrupt, and I can't say we get a great love story - just a resigned "love the one you're with" realisation. Points for originality though.

3.5 - This was a fun, decent read but I struggled to see ‘the point’ or where it was headed. I didn’t connect with the main character and felt like we should have had more time with a select few husbands to root for a favorite? It got repetitive and I’d have preferred less husbands and more impact from a select few to feel like there was more ‘point’ to the story.

I really enjoyed this tale of changing your husband when you are fed up of him, or even when you don't like the look of him. Or how you are with him. Every time Holly's husband (that she didn't recall marrying) went up the attic, a new one returned. This was a lightweight story but with heart.

The Husbands by Holly Gramazio

Lauren comes home one night and finds a husband coming down from the attic in her flat! She doesn't know him and doesn't remember getting married but her phone contains photos and messages that confirm it to be true. Even more bizarre is the fact that when the husband goes back into the attic he is replaced by another one... and repeat... Lauren has over 200 husbands over the course of a year before a shocking event makes her question everything.

Wow what an AMAZING book, I absolutely loved it! Such an original idea and brilliantly executed. Fresh, funny, wise... one of my favourite books of the year so far. Very VERY highly recommended.

I LOVED this. At first, I didn't think I would - it could so easily have drifted along a comedic path, but Gramazio keeps it bang on point with her careful storytelling, taking us down a myriad of paths and ways it could go.
The concept is magical - but in the best of dark ways. No fairy tales here, our heroine is faced with choices, danger, chaos, comedy and those moments we all have experienced - oh no, not again... #eyeroll. Her response is beautifully mapped out for us - we learn what's important in her life, and that never falters. She is a very, very, normal woman, dealing with something very, very abnormal - and responding in a way few of us might manage ourselves.
And in the end, she makes a decision - and perhaps it's the decision we all of us who have a partner eventually make.

I so wanted to like this book... Kept reading and hoping something would click, something would explain the attic, Lauren would have some kind of revelation, something would be made clear (like why else would she get a magic attic making husbands for her? There must be a cosmic reason or lesson) Alas, none of that. It was all funny until it started getting repetitive and then not funny and just plain dragging along. Plus Lauren doesn't change, doesn't grow, doesn't learn anything, and the flippancy with which she swaps the husbands felt off at times.
So much potential, but it just went nowhere throughout, and then the ending left me completely baffled

When Lauren returns home from a girls night out to find her husband waiting up for her she is confused, mainly because when she left for the evening, she wasn't even married!

Strange enough and taking a bit of getting used to, until he goes up into the attic and a different 'husband' comes down. And so begins a veritable revolving door of husbands who are sent back for varying degrees of triggers in the hope of finding the right one.

A quirky and thought-provoking read!

Original and very funny and a really quick read. Absurd storyline but it sort of works in a weird kind of way. Makes Elizabeth Taylor look kind of almost conservative with her number of marriages. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to ARC this book.

Mixed review! It's been a while.

This is a really clever idea. Possibly-infinite husbands! A chance to try them all out! Do anything you want with your life and then just erase it afterwards! (Drugs and air rifle not recommended.)

I feel like Lauren wasn't curious/terrified enough about why this was happening. I'm probably thinking about this more than I should, but was she moving realities or were the husbands? Why her attic? Why her? What about (spoiler)?

However, none of this occurred to me while I was reading! I was just enjoying the read (and, admittedly, wishing there were fewer husbands who lasted longer; I got whiplash with the speed she switched some of them, and it made it hard to care about the husbands when she so clearly didn't. She mostly called them 'the husband' for Pete's sake!

It is a really good read, though, and it does have a good message hidden away. Overall, I recommend it - I think it'll do well. I can practically picture the Hallmark version!

'The Husbands' is a clever, original and highly entertaining multiverse romantic comedy. Lauren is single, but when she returns from her best friend's hen night she discovers a strange man in her flat. Stranger still, he claims to be her husband, and even more strangely, his claim appears to be corroborated when Lauren checks her phone, photos and bills. Strangest of all, when this husband goes up to the attic, a totally different man descends who also appears to be her husband - and the same happens again, and again, and again, on a strictly one-in, one-out basis.

Lauren's 'magic attic' is a brilliant premise for a novel, and Holly Gramazio exploits this for maximum comic potential. Lauren's predicament presents a number of logistical challenge which require considerable ingenuity to resolve. How do you catch up on months or years of shared history with each new husband of which you have no recollection, let alone all the changes to your work, family and relationship in each new life? And how do you coax each husband back into the attic when you've had enough of them, when some are unwilling to return there (or even physically incapable of doing so?) Lauren gets through hundreds of husbands, and some of the funniest are the ones who only appear for a few seconds before Lauren changes her mind, their entire personalities encapsulated within a single trait :
'205 doesn't trim his nostril hair. No.
206 is wearing a hat with a little brim even though he is sitting and watching television on his own sofa. No.
207 is angry because he has an important meeting and no clean shirts, and perhaps this is fair of him, perhaps they have negotiated an equitable division of housework and the laundry has fallen to her and she has let her side of the agreement slide, but: no thank you.'

Alongside the many laughs, however, Gramazio is able to ask serious questions about love, relationships and happiness, many of which feel particularly apt in the age of dating apps and seemingly limitless choice. With a constant supply of new husbands and new lives to go with them, how can Lauren choose when to settle for one and give up on the hope of anyone better coming along? And Lauren gradually realises it is not just the husbands that change: she is also a different person in each marriage, so must also decide how much she likes the version of herself that she has become with each husband.

Despite the apparently repetitive and predictable formula, Gramazio includes plenty of surprising twists which make for gripping reading and give shape to Lauren's story and growth as a character. This deserves to become one of the biggest hits of 2024, and I can see it making a great screen adaptation too. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC to review!

When I first started reading this book I thought I was going to dislike it. How wrong I was.

When Lauren comes home from a night out to discover she’s married she really can’t understand why she can’t remember him. She then realises that every time her husband goes into the attic a different husband comes back down. Which husband do you you choose to keep?

I really loved this book. Funny and endearing.

A great idea for a story! Lauren has been unlucky in love. She wants to find the one. When she returns home from a drunken night out, she finds a man in her house waiting for her. She has no idea who he is but he says he’s her husband! When he goes into the attic to fetch something, he disappears and another ‘husband’ descends! What follows is a great story of husbands coming and going depending on whether Lauren likes them or not. Some she sends back to the attic on the pretence of fetching something and others disappear when she would like them to stay! Very funny but poignant too!

Definitely different, Lauren has a succession of husbands, whenever one goes into the attic a different one comes down. It does make you think about what is a successful relationship, and whether you would want to change your partner if they didn't match exactly what you were after? Lauren certainly doesn't settle easily, with minor things that annoyed her triggering a need for a change. I did have to keep reading to find the final outcome, although it was a bit slow at times, but this unique story did keep me hooked right until the end.
I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley, however this did not influence my review of the book.

I really enjoyed this book! The premise was so unique and overall very entertaining. I couldn’t stop thinking about it and kept wanting to get back to read it. Some of the pacing was a bit slow in parts and I would’ve liked to get to know some of the husbands a little bit more but overall it didn’t hinder my enjoyment. I thought it was a clever and quirky read!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read!

An unusual premise for a novel - a series of husbands appear from the attic and Lauren must decide what she's really looking for in 'the one'. Funny, charming, thought-provoking and with a twist I didn't see coming, this was both an interesting and entertaining read.