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A review by itshrewsbury
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Tl; dr: enjoyable but wouldn’t read again
Okay, so, the first half of this didn’t particularly have me tearing through the pages to see what was happening next, or because it was so funny, and then I absolutely HATED the MC from about the 60% mark to the like, 95% mark. BUT!! The last 2 chapters were very endearing to me.
Based off of the blurb, I expected this to be a bit “Midnight Library”-ish, ya know? Change your life for a new, “better” one. But this author describes wanting to write a fun comedy book, so I wasn’t really searching for any deeper meaning, and maybe there still isn’t one, but this book became a LOT more enjoyable in the end when I started to view this story as one about addiction. “Midnight Library”‘s story very much deals with themes of mental illness, particularly depression,and it’s obvious. But this book is more subtle with it (though that’s not necessarily “better” hahah), and I’m still not sure if that’s on purpose or not, given the marketing and author personal statements. The book DOES also for a long time feel like it’s not going anywhere. Lauren just switches husband after husband after husband and cycled through the same emotions about them almost as frequently. Also, This is supposed to be a comedy, but it didn’t really come off that way to me most of the time. I could see why it WOULD be funny, but MC Lauren was so annoying of a character to me that it came off more judgmental (which tbf IS a character trait we know Lauren has, I just hate it).
Which isn’t to say the whole book was bad! The writing is well done, and the concept WAS a fun one, but, eh
Okay, so, the first half of this didn’t particularly have me tearing through the pages to see what was happening next, or because it was so funny, and then I absolutely HATED the MC from about the 60% mark to the like, 95% mark. BUT!! The last 2 chapters were very endearing to me.
Based off of the blurb, I expected this to be a bit “Midnight Library”-ish, ya know? Change your life for a new, “better” one. But this author describes wanting to write a fun comedy book, so I wasn’t really searching for any deeper meaning, and maybe there still isn’t one, but this book became a LOT more enjoyable in the end when I started to view this story as one about addiction. “Midnight Library”‘s story very much deals with themes of mental illness, particularly depression,and it’s obvious. But this book is more subtle with it (though that’s not necessarily “better” hahah), and I’m still not sure if that’s on purpose or not, given the marketing and author personal statements. The book DOES also for a long time feel like it’s not going anywhere. Lauren just switches husband after husband after husband and cycled through the same emotions about them almost as frequently. Also, This is supposed to be a comedy, but it didn’t really come off that way to me most of the time. I could see why it WOULD be funny, but MC Lauren was so annoying of a character to me that it came off more judgmental (which tbf IS a character trait we know Lauren has, I just hate it).
Which isn’t to say the whole book was bad! The writing is well done, and the concept WAS a fun one, but, eh
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use
Minor: Gun violence, Sexual content, and Stalking
additional TW/CW: roofies, manipulation, house fire