I love a good multiverse story, and essentially that’s what The Husbands is. Each time a husband goes in the attic, Lauren ends up in a slightly different reality, with a different husband. Someone she has chosen but does not know (most of the time), and with that brings forced intimacy and things that annoy her, things that clearly wouldn’t matter if this was someone she loved. I thought this was an interesting angle as I’m sure every one of us in long-term relationships put up with things that would have been off-putting if they happened on a first date. Maybe even quirks we’ve come to love.

Lauren goes through husband after husband, some she likes, many she doesn’t. Off back into the attic they go. But in some realities her life is too different, her job or her friends have changed, and she actually liked her original life.

It feels like a statement on modern dating. Historically, many people settled on good enough, which has evolved over time into a desire to find The One. If you get infinite chances, with no consequences for messing it up, the urge to keep going is strong. But maybe Lauren just needs to find one that’s good enough and return to a normal life.

I think her rapid swapping of husbands might be a hint at Tinder too. Though instead of swiping, sometimes she has quite the ordeal trying to get the current husband back into the attic.

Fun and sometimes lonely, The Husbands was an entertaining read, and I’d thoroughly recommend.

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The Husband's - Holly Gramazio

Lauren gets home from a night out to find a strange man in her flat. He says he is her husband and all evidence she can find points to the same conclusion. The next day the husband goes into the attic and a new husband comes down the stairs. Lauren thinks she has lost her mind so sends the new one up, and again a new husband emerges.

Lauren keeps doing this, finding love in some husbands and being terrified of others. Each husband doesn't just alter himself but her whole world. As Lauren chooses between instant attraction and her overall well being she wonders if any husband will be the last or whether they will keep changing. She keeps some for a couple of weeks and some barely make it down the stairs.

This book was exactly what I needed. It was quirky and funny. Generally just a light hearted read with a fantastic concept. I laughed throughout but also fell in love with Lauren, and some of the husbands who lasted a bit longer. This is definitely one to pick up, I can imagine reading it next to the pool or on a flight somewhere warm.

I had such great fun reading this book, it's delightfully quirky and it really makes you think about how you'd act in the same situation (different husbands you have no memory of appearing via your haunted attic). It reminded me of The Temporary by Hilary Leichter, which deserves to be better known. I thought it was effective that Lauren becomes less and less well-realised as a character as a result of her indecision and simply being unable to just let herself stop changing and be happy, but the plot slightly loses focus for the last section because of this.

I really loved this book! It is an original concept - I've never read anything like it. I really liked the descriptions of the husbands, it had me giggling out loud - you certainly recognise people you know. However, it also had a heart and soul to the writing that emerged as you got into it. When do you stop looking and take responsibility for your half of a relationship? When is enough, enough? I will certainly be recommending this one to our library readers and book groups :)

I absolutely loved this book! The plot flowed well, I really liked the main character, Lauren and I had no idea where the story would go which was just brilliant. I cannot praise this book enough, a must read! I’ll definitely be recommending this to friends. Thank you #netgalley

Thank you SO much to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

Verrrry silly and a quick read

My full review is to follow in a few days.....

3.5 stars
this was such an interesting concept and I mostly enjoyed it! this has already been a really buzzy title, so I don’t need to rehash the synopsis but I had a lot of fun with this. it’s a bit of a silly romcom meets time loop magical realism meets character fiction and even a little mystery.

I felt like it did start to get redundant and repetitive, and I didn’t feel like we ever really got to know Lauren’s personality as this is a very plot focused story. I wish we got to focus in and settle a bit more on a particular “husband” because it felt like the story started going in circles, but I will say I had NO idea how this book would end and Gramazio has a really clever way of wrapping it up. But overall like I said I did have a lot of fun with it and I can already see this being a huge title this year!

Pick up this gorgeous hug of a book and get transported to a beautiful place wraps itself round you like a cosy blanket. It has warmth, charm, laugh-out-loud moments and a wistful nostalgia. I absolutely loved it.

Lauren stumbles home, after a friends hen party, to find a strange man in her flat. A strange man who appears to be her husband - a fact backed up by her family, her new phone background and message history, and the sudden decorative changes in her flat. Except she has never gotten married, has no idea who this fella is - and, even weirder, when he wanders up into the attic, another fella wanders back down. A brand new husband, brand new flat decorations, and a brand new phone background. It appears that she has a magic, husband creating, attic. The possibilities are terrifying and endless.

I was intrigued by the concept of this book as soon as I read the synopsis - I love a good ‘what if’ novel, one that shows you the different lives you could of lived, and paths you could of taken, and this book is no exception. Sometimes the husbands are her ex, but most of the time they are complete strangers - and she has to find her footing in each new life, debating how long she sticks it out until she sends him back into the attic.

If you’re looking for answers as to why she has a magical attic - this isn’t the book for you. However, if you want a mostly fun book to kick back with, as Lauren runs through every eligible bachelor who could have come her way - you’re in luck. That’s not to say there isn’t a hint of the reality of how unmooring this would be - especially as this isn’t a time loop scenario, and her life continues to pass, despite the lack of consistency between the lives she jumps between. But it’s mostly an addictive frolic of a book, and I really enjoyed my time reading it.

Thank you to the publishers, and Netgalley, for the copy to review!

I won’t lie, but I went into this one expecting something entirely different to what it was.

This book is impressively crafted with a quick pace that keeps you engaged throughout.

However, at times, this rapid rhythm seemed to work against it, particularly concerning the husbands' fleeting presence, leaving little room to develop a genuine connection.

Despite its fast pace, the storyline tends to lean towards a more airy and whimsical tone rather than delving deep into the drama-filled aspects one might expect. While this lent the narrative a certain charm, it also left some moments feeling a bit light and lacking in substance.

Nevertheless, the writing remains strong, carrying the reader swiftly through the plot's twists and turns. The characters, though fleeting in some instances, are well-drawn, each leaving their mark on the story in their brief appearances.

Overall, while the book may not fully satisfy those seeking a heavy dose of drama, its well-executed pacing and engaging writing style make it a worthwhile read for those looking for a lighter, more whimsical experience.

It was interesting in parts and easy to read, but ultimately not a book I was totally invested in. I think romance readers will enjoy this quirky and unusual plot. But it wasn’t for me.

The premise of Holly Gramazio's romcom 'The Husbands' is that the protagonist, Lauren, has a magic attic, that produces an endless supply of husbands. A bit Groundhog Day in its repetition, it's at turns funny, but also sometimes quite sinister. I really enjoyed it, and it's very different from the sort of novels I usually read.

Lauren lives in a flat on her own, so when she comes home from a hen party one night to a man at the door she freaks a little. He says he’s her husband, Michael. She does not have one of those. After going through her photos and calling her friends & family, it turns out she does, in fact, have a husband.

However, when Michael goes up to the attic, a new man comes down. And when he goes up, another new man comes down. You get the gist, the attic is producing husbands.

I had a really great time reading this. I found Lauren really likeable with the right amount of chaotic. Does this get a bit messy and go off course at times? Yeah! Was it worth it for me? Yeah!

Sometimes it’s just fun to suspend your disbelief a little and let a book sweep you along. Which is exactly what I did with The Husbands. I thoroughly enjoyed being swept.

Lauren comes home drunk to find an unfamiliar man in her flat. A man who appears to be her husband. What follows is quirky and bizarre - every time her husband goes up into the loft, a different husband comes back down. And with him, Lauren finds herself in a totally different life.

This book is well written and fast paced - although sometimes that worked against it as the husbands were there and gone too fast to really care about. It was interesting and easy to read, but ultimately not a book I was totally crazy about.

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

I will start by saying this book is a really unique concept and something that I think will land really well amongst the romance community however for me I just couldn’t quite gel with it.

It was pacey and easy to read, the dialogue felt very real but everything almost moved too quickly. I thought the whole concept of the attic and the husbands was just weirdly brushed over and they were changed way too fast, it just really impacted the overall connection to any of the characters for me.

Overall, I get it, and I think it’s something fresh in the romance space but equally it just wasn’t the meaty drama filled saga I was after and that I thought this would be.

I choose to read this book because it sounded a bit quirky and I thought I’d give it a whirl – I didn’t really expect to like it to be honest but I was SO wrong! This book could have been written for me.
We follow Lauren who comes home from her best friend’s hen party to find she has a husband she’s never met. He seems a nice enough fellow, but she doesn’t really want to share a bed with a man she’s never met before. She discovers if she sends him back to her attic, she gets a totally new ‘husband’. So ensues a range of husbands, good, bad, ugly, handsome, rich, poor, every nationality and ethnicity possible. All of whom she has a history with, who know her friends, family and neighbours and whom she married with wedding photos to prove it despite having no memory of the wedding itself. Also, her life changes with the new husbands – new job, new decoration in her flat – new sofas, wallpaper, etc, sometimes new friends too. All this means she doesn’t need to commit to anything because she can just change everything up by sending him up to the attic.
She comes to the conclusion that all these men are people she could have matched with if her life had taken a different turn. Some turn up more than once, whilst some she’s pleased to get rid of and others she mourns. Some turn up and aren’t her husband in the new world and others she can track via social media in her next life.
Above is essentially what you can get from the blurb, but the novel is so much more. There are so many roads taken in this book – so many what ifs addressed that it is totally gripping, and the fantasy element keeps you guessing – I couldn’t see what the writer was going to pull out of her hat next.
I loved this book so much, I loved the characters, the plot, the themes, the setting was so pitch perfect and detailed. I loved the tangled situations Lauren gets herself caught up in, her easy going philosophy and her desire to send back the husband and try another one – just one more please! It’s also very funny and had me cackling away. I can see that some people might find it a bit gimmicky, but I loved that aspect of it, it is such a totally different way of being stuck in a time loop/alternative universe narrative – and I appreciated that! (Also those, whilst brilliant, don’t tend to be funny.) Even the ending – not quite the one I hoped for, works and is very satisfying.
It’s a bit like a combination of Groundhog Day and Matt Haig’s Midnight Library – but without the depression. I can’t recommend this enough – I read it in one day and couldn’t put it down and can’t wait to see what the writer does next. My thanks to the writer, publisher and Netgalley for the free ebook in exchange for a review.

Lauren is a single woman coming home after her friend's hen do - so why is there a man in her flat? And why does all evidence suggest he's her husband? And why, when he goes up into the attic, does a completely different husband come down?
I loved the premise of this, and the initial execution was excellent - I was completely drawn into Lauren's confusion, the descriptions of the changes around her, and the ways she tried to work out what was going on. It's a clever riff on modern-day dating: swipe left/send them into the attic. I did feel that it got a bit unfocused and chaotic as it went on though, and due to a narrative that I can only describe as "third person chatty", I got very little idea of Lauren's character. After all that, the ending felt a little abrupt, but it still fit with the overall message I think the author was trying to get across - and she did that with excellent and often humorous writing that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I found the husband a fun read. I liked the writing style and it was a clever premise. I did find the amount of husbands a little chaotic and for this reason, I struggled to fully settle into the story. I would have liked fewer husbands, as I felt like I didn't know enough about a few of them. That said it was an enjoyable read and I will be looking out for more from this author.

This was a strange and intriguing concept, but in the end it was just chaotic, some husbands we got to know and some we didn't as if the author didn't like them either lol, a but of fun just ro9und the pool read.

A different kind of romantic book.
Lauren returns from a night out only to see a man coming out of the loft only trouble is Lauren is single and the man is saying he`s her husband and they have been married a few years and her phone history says she has known him for years.
When trying to find out what happened the husband goes up the loft to change a bulb only to come down a new husband.
Lauren realises she can change her husband by sending him up the loft which she continues to do throughout the book trying to find the best one.
A great fun book loved it.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC and I give my honest review

I really loved the premise of this book when I first saw it. It was really fun to think about meeting all of your possible husbands from various versions of your life. At first I really enjoyed the book and I loved the part when Lauren found Carter, her repeat with Michael and her relationship Bohai.

However, there were too many husbands. It was hard to find any to route for other than who I’ve already mentioned. I think the book could have been shorter and it would have been nice to experience some of the husbands for longer so that we could connect with them. Towards the end some of the ways she had to get the husbands into the attic was a bit much.

I did like the sound of the last husband and I wish we got to experience a bit more of him.

Ultimately it was a good book. I liked the writing style and the characters that were able to be fully formed were really great. Unfortunately, the points that I raised above stopped me from loving the book..

I would definitely read more books from this author!