Author: Michele Campbell
ISBN: 9780008271862
RRP: $29.99
Publisher: HQ Fiction
Copy: Courtesy of the Publisher
Holidays are really messing with my review time, but I’m happy to say I’m still finding time to read. The problem with that is it’s been quite a while since I finished reading It’s Always the Husband, and now I need to review so I think I will keep it short and sweet.
It’s Always the Husband is a suspenseful read that kept me guessing throughout. I thought I had it all figured out a couple of times, but never actually did. The amount of twists in this one makes it a little difficult to review without giving it all away.
The story is a contemporary suspense told with dual timelines so half the story is told in the past when our trio of best friends, who are sometimes more like frenemies, met at college. This gives the story a very YA feel with so much of the narrative taking place with college kids.
Two decades ago Kate, Jenny and Aubrey were thrown together as roommates. Three girls who were completely different but built a friendship on the strength of their proximity. Friendships built in the beginning of college burn brightly and they sometimes seem to be attachments that would never have been made under different circumstances, and that is definitely the case with these three.
Aubrey worked hard to gain a scholarship to the prestigious Carlisle College after growing up on the wrong side of the tracks, and she doesn’t really want to let her new friends know about her roots. Jenny was born and bred in the New Hampshire college town and her working class family have taught her to do what needs to be done to get where she wants to be. Kate is the old money New Yorker with oodles of charisma who is at Carlisle more for the experience, and to shop for a husband.
I enjoyed the story and the twists kept me guessing but it was not what I was expecting. The blurb led me to believe this was a story about a trio of 40 year olds, and it was but it was also the story of the trio and how their friendship developed.
We meet the college freshman and share their freshman year with them before catching up with them again as 40 year olds. We see how they have grown and what they made of their lives as we spend a lot of present day time learning about the people they became.
It’s Always The Husband explores friendship, relationships and how the passage of time changes us all. Campbell has written an engaging debut that paints her as an author with great potential whose growth will be interesting to watch.
Michele Campbell can be followed on Facebook, Twitter and the Michele Campbell website.
It’s Always The Husband is available now from Angus & Robertson Bookworld, Booktopia and where all good books are sold.
Thanks to HQ Fiction 20 of our Beauty and Lace Club members will be reading It’s Always The Husband so please be aware there may be spoilers in the comments. I look forward to hearing what they think.
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!
Its always the husband will have you guessing and then guessing again over and over.
Three females from totally different backgrounds are forced together when they have to share accommodation for their time at University.
Kate who is stunningly beautiful and whose life is funded by a very wealthy father. Kate has a dislike for her step mother and has always felt that her father blames her for the death of her mother who passed away from cancer. Kate drinks way too much and uses drugs without a care.
Aubrey who was raised by a single Mum that really had no idea how to raise a child. Money was always an issue and Aubrey always felt that at school she never really fit in.
Jenny is the one who really wants to do the right thing but some how her attempts to do the right thing often go awry.
The three of them form a friendship which is more about the fact that they were living together rather then their personalities meshing. They end up needing each other and making a pact that they will always be friends but as life goes on things change.
There is a murder and that means that everyone is suddenly under a lot of strain and things change forever.
I really enjoyed this book and found myself pondering constantly on who was responsible. You are kept guessing right up until the last page.
Fantastic….I seriously loved this book.
This is a wonderful thriller, in which you think you know who did what to who… and then you change your mind… and again… and then you find you’re still wrong. It’s genuinely intriguing, and will keep you reading with increasing interest in finding out what happened.
Kate, Aubrey and Jenny become best friends in college. It’s something of a forced friendship; the American college system forces them to room together for a year. They wouldn’t have chosen each other as friends otherwise, and despite their “best friends forever” declarations, they don’t really have much in common.
Twenty years after they became linked, the women’s lives have diverged. All have married, with varying degrees of happiness. They’re now all back in their college town, and the cracks in their friendship have become yawning crevasses. Their lives are complicated, and all face various sorrows and dilemmas. One of them is about to die. It’s easy to believe her husband could be responsible. Or one of the other two women, or even their husbands. All too many people have plausible motivations to do something ghastly to the victim.
Although this is presented as a thriller – and it does an exceptional job in that genre – it’s also a novel that explores relationships. Friendships between women, and romantic relationships between men and women are under the spotlight. Campbell does a great job of exploring the strengths, misunderstandings, and weaknesses in relationships. I found this aspect of the novel as compelling as the mystery element.
Overall, I’d strongly recommend this. The characters are very believable, and so are many of the situations they encounter. In particular, their emotions and reactions ring true. The denouement is a surprise (and yet credible). I found this compelling and enjoyable to read.
I had not heard or read of anything by Michele Campbell before and it was the title and cover that drew me in and I’m glad it did!
The story follows three different girls from three different socio economic groups as they form their friendship thrown together as roommates in collage. Fast forward 20 years and we are faced with a murder and a great who done it where in the end everyone has guilt!
I found the characters likeable, very complex but realistic. All three girls/women are messed up in their own way and all dealing with their own demons as well as those bound by the friendship. The story kept me guessing and i found just when you think you know how its going or all there is to know about a character, Cambell throws something else in and keeps you in suspense.
Its not what i would describe it as a fast paced thriller but is certainly a great read and will be recommending to friends!
Thanks to Beauty and Lace and Harper Collins for the chance to read and review this book.
I really enjoyed It’s Alawys The Husband, Thankyou Beauty and Lace and Harper Collins for the opportunity to read this thriller.
An ordinary start of college year three young girls with entirely different personalities and backgrounds are thrust together as roommates.. their lives revolve around partying and alcohol and occasionally drugs. One girl definetly the leader in this treo seems to always get her own way as the other two compete to be the best friend.
Once the girls leave college and go their own way ,two marry and stay in the same town while Kate returned to the town with her husband. All couple are known to each other but have grown apart.
When one of the women is murdered each of the other friends have reason to be incriminated. But then It’s Always the Husband or is it?
A really enthralling read with turns and twists with each page turned right to then very end. And I really didn’t see that coming. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️From me
I’m glad it wasn’t just me who was kept guessing the whole book! This ‘Who done it’ had me on the edge of my seat the entire time, I thought I had it all figured out early on but then it all changed…and changed again and I had no idea.
I finished this read fairly quickly as I had trouble putting it down.
We follow 3 girls from different backgrounds who end up at the same College (this was covered with the reviews above) I didn’t really think much of any of them to be honest haha
We have 2 seperate time lines to follow which I love in a novel too.
This was easily a 5/5 from me I loved every page.
Thanks for the fab read x
Thank you for selecting me to read Its Always The Husband written by Michele Campbell
For a debut novel the author has written a great book
The main characters are Jenny Kate and Aubrey three very different girls from totally different backgrounds who board together throughout their college years, sometimes the girls antics are a bit questionable but this is all part of the story
From chapter 1 present day I was hooked after the first two pages
The book then goes back to the girls college years and the story starts to come together
Very easy book to follow,
Readers will think they have guessed the ending but lots of twists and turns and this is what I loved about this book
I thought I knew who did it ( no spoilers ) but I was so wrong, actually the ending was a total surprise to me and in my opinion that is what makes a great book
Kate, Jenny, and Aubrey are three friends who met at college. Kate is rich, very attractive and self-absorbed, Aubrey is naive and poor, and Jenny is smart and driven. Things happen at college – lives spin out of control and their friendship is tested.
There is a mystery to unravel when 20 years later something happens to one of the girls…..and little by little details of the crime are revealed.
The book is told from different points of view and alternates between the present and the past events at college.
I loved it! the story of Kate, Jenny and Aubrey is interesting and although the first half is heavy on detail it builds background to the main story – the death of one of the female characters. I THOUGHT I could see who the murderer was early in the story, but I was very very wrong.
Lets just say everyone has secrets in this story – and everyone lies. No one is truly innocent!
Overall I enjoyed Its Always the Husband – it is a great read for Summer and will keep you guessing till the end.
Thanks for the opportunity to read this great book!
This book was a slow build but it certainly came to one satisfying conclusion.
In her debut novel, Michele Campbell has crafted three rich characters who are studying and rooming together at the prestigious Carlisle College.
Kate is a rich girl who is adored by most people, especially her housemate, Aubrey who comes from humbler circumstances. Jenny meanwhile, is the only one who seems to have a sensible head screwed on her shoulders. Campbell follows their lives as young women and eventually what happens when someone dies in mysterious circumstances some 20 years later.
This is a thrilling suspense book with many veiled and tight-lip secrets. You may think you have it all figured out but trust me, you will be kept on your toes right until that cataclysmic ending!
Just loved this book! The suspense was very good, the story was written that kept me turning pages, just when you think you have it all worked out the plot thickens and more details were given to lead the reader into another thought of who did it.
A story of three young girls who are all of different backgrounds come together to start college life and as the story progresses it goes int their adult lives and explores how their lives have unfolded an intertwined. I liked the story line and there was enough suspense to keep me reading wondering how things would change for each of them and how they would again be thrown together int he ultimate betrayal, revenge and the ultimate end.
A love story, a tragic life, spitefulness of someone who appears to have it all and a murder. Is everything really enough for some people…. It will keep you guessing right to the end. Enough background information to make you wonder why people do things and what the ultimate goal of love will do … even to best friends.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will look for more books written by Michael Campbell.
Thank you Beauty and Lace and Harper Collins for gifting me this book to read.
It’s always the Husband is such a captivating read. Suspense at its best.
Kate, Aubrey and Jenny are three friends who met as rooms mate in college. Friends through thick and thin.
It’s a life altering friendship that carries itself along for years to come.
The first chapter is just 2 pages long but it has so much in it that you will carry with you the whole time you are reading the book.
We start from present day and then go back 21 years earlier where you begin to find out how the friendship started and a little bit of background about the three girls.
Time takes us back and forth between the two and this gives us an look into the lives of the girls back then and to their lives today.
Michele Campbell has done such an amazing job of keeping you wanting to know who were the characters in the first chapter almost the whole way through the book. Then when you find out who one is the rest of the book you are still trying to figure out who the other person is.
This is a story of friendships, loves, lies, loss and a fantastic who-dunnit that will keep you hooked and guessing right up until the end.