A Second-Hand Husband - Claire Calman

Genre: Fiction | Womens Fiction | Romance

Release Date: 16th June 2021

Natalie is a wife, a newlywed. She's finally found someone she can actually stand to spend all her time with and she is very much in love with Carl. He's full of surprises, but not always good ones. Like buying their new house at an auction without even showing her a photograph first ... that just so happens to be in walking distance from his beautiful ex-wife Antonia and their perfect children.

But it's the dream house she was promised - it's falling apart, and she's living in second hand clothes, painting her second hand furniture, and now feeling like she's got a second-hand husband. Antonia is perfect in every way, the Queen of the village, and has a rage-inducing habit of calling Carl 'Our Husband'. While Natalie tries to relocate her career, adjust to a new way of life and stop the rain from flooding her bedroom, she also has to figure out if she's really Carls Partner or if she's always going to be just 'Wife Number Two'.

A Second-Hand Husband felt somewhat obvious - but in warm and familiar way. I could kind of guess a lot of what was about to happen but it was comforting and made me want to go along for the journey. Natalie and Carls relationship was not a dream marriage - the charm wore off almost instantly and he was almost entirely led by a fragile male ego that took him from a sweet husband to a petty jerk in just moments. The constant bickering and passive-agression from the beginning made me hate him - and I wasn't sure if I was desperate for him to realise the error of his ways or just get left behind in the dirt.

Their entire marriage was rushed, and it felt very much like a high-school relationship at times - they were very different people but while some might say this isn't realistic at all, I've seen plenty of relationships that look exactly like this one. Most of the characters were exaggerated and dramatic, but still had a very authentic streak that I couldn't help but love.

This was a really easy read, although there was quite a lot of chunks of descriptions that felt a little forced and could've been left out - but it still only took me one sitting to get through the whole book.

I expected a straight-up rom-com going into this but instead I found a charming story about family, friendship and forgiveness.

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to Claire Calman, Boldwood Books and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.

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