Claire Calman’s ‘A Second-Hand Husband’ had promise - a comedic look at blended families - but was let down by one of the characters and the pace.

After a whirlwind six months dating, antique clock dealer Natalie marries PR hotshot Carl. After encouraging Carl to move closer to his teenage kids, he decides on spur of the moment without Natalie’s input, to buy a rundown house close to his ex-wife Antonia in the same village.

Cue the rivalry with Antonia trying to out-do Natalie and make her feel unwelcome. Of course we all know where this is going to lead. However what could’ve been a fantastic book about female friendships was wasted by the man in their lives -Carl.

While there’s a backstory into his poor behaviour, there were so many red flags with his lying, controlling and gaslighting. Frankly he deserved neither women (and Natalie and him were incompatible). At one point I cheered he was called out on his terrible behaviour, but by the end I was baffled as I don’t believe he showed evidence of change.

Additionally I found myself skimming quickly the text as there was too much ‘telling’ vs showing. A sub plot involving Natalie’s family also held not much interest.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the ARC.

Carl and Natalie are newlyweds. She owns her own antique store, he works in PR at a company and they're as happy as can be. Or are they?

Twenty seven days into married bliss, Carl surprises Natalie by calling to tell her he's found their dream home. But the catch is, he's already at the auction and determined to buy it.

Natalie goes along with this and ends up with the shock of her life, Carl's ex wife lives just a few minutes away. But it couldn't be that bad could it? After all, Carl can hang out with his kids more, that's reasonable. Except, the ex is everything Natalie's not, and to make matters worse, the dream house isn't as picture perfect as it was supposed to be.

Will Carl and Natalie manage to keep their marriage going? Or will the ex get in the way of their happiness?

I was in the mood for something light today and this book delivered. I didn't have to think much and a lot of the lines were truly funny. Now the problem is, I don't really get the point?

So, Natalie. I like her and all her insecurities. They make her seem real and I'm sure anyone who's ever been in a relationship can relate to what's bugging her. But Natalie, poor poor Natalie, has very bad taste in men.

I hated Carl. And when I say hated, I mean I wished he'd fall into the duck pond and never emerge from it again. Except that would leave the kids fatherless so maybe something less extreme. But you get my point.

He was so awful. Genuinely awful, childish (not in a cute way), dismissive, I-know-better-than-you etc. They weren't a good match by any means.

It's hard for me to imagine that his behaviour only made an appearance recently. Or rather that it became problematic recently. What about the past 6 months?

I really wonder how the man managed to get married twice. How did he trick these women? What did they see in him? I'll never know.

I was expecting a soft rom com, but what this really is, is Natalie suffering over and over because Carl is a jerk. And yet somehow still a light read, go figure. I think it's the writing style. It's nice and moves at a good pace. There aren't any useless details.

Antonia I couldn't hate, even though she was written as if we're supposed to in the beginning. It was clear there's more to her under all the glamour.

I liked the kids, and that they didn't hate Natalie (Saskia's teenage dislike is forgiven).

And I wish we saw more of Dom. We saw him twice? I think twice. He was interesting.

There was a really nice part in the book where everyone seemed to be getting along and then of course, it had to be ruined. And it's not that it was ruined, it's what happened after that.

The ending really left me feeling like a deflated balloon. It had me asking what the whole point was if it was going to end like that. Did Carl or Natalie learn anything? Like really, REALLY learn anything? Natalie maybe, but Carl? It's not just my dislike of him, I think he's too set in his ways and will be back into his old habits soon.

Let's not end this on a sad note. I enjoyed the setting. I love ducks and barns and ponds and villages and all that. The family relationships were also written well and the siblings we saw on both sides were cool.

The name choices were interesting. For example Saskia. Makes me think Antonia doing what she did in relation to a certain erm...Amsterdam visitor, isn't so coincidental.

*Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*

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.

What a lovely intense love story. The swimming theme running along the love story. I thought the cottage sounded lovely and Natalie made an ace job of doing it up. You had the terrible x wife, painful step children and the husband being controlling. It was brilliant and throw in a town where everyone know your bussiness. I loved it

This book could be better. The characters lack depth. Carl's for his age sure acts like a teenager. For a man who has been married before should have known better. The storyline great needed some humor or something to break up the monologues. The over descriptions also got to me. It just seems to be words filling the pages instead of adding onto the story. Natalie and Carl's relationship is a mismatch in a way that doesn't work. There's a certain chemistry that's missing.

Thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for letting me read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

We meet Natalie, newly married to Carl. She agrees to move from London to Kent to enable him to be closer to his two children. Just as they are about to begin house hunting Carl buys a run down cottage which comes as a complete shock to Natalie!

As they adjust to their new life Natalie realises that maybe everything isn’t exactly as she thought it would be. There’s also the added issue of Carl’s seemingly perfect ex wife Antonia now lives just a stones throw away. Can Natalie establish herself in a brand new village with Carl’s old life constantly over her shoulder?

Bittersweet and emotional but with a good dose of hope thrown in. This book surprised me. I thought I was going the way of a feel good romcom style story. It wasn’t but it certainly was different.. I do enjoy a story surprising me.

Thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

So this wasn't what I entirely was expecting to read! It was a little bland to me didn't really care too much for it! I'm was hoping for more of romantic vibe to it!
Honestly I got over half way through and put it to the side for now!
Maybe I'll come back to it at a later time!

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

This one was just meh. It was literally bland and middling. You could do better on here.

Really didn't like it.
Conversations were childish and so trivial.
Do not finish for me.
I liked the idea of the book but it's a shame it didn't live up to it.