Michelle Blanchard Ardillo

The Lost Husband (Ballantine Books, 2013) is my 4th book by Katherine Center, having read Hello, Stranger (5 stars) in 2023, The Rom-Commers (5 stars) in 2024, and The Love Haters (4 stars) in 2025. I’ve enjoyed all four books and I will continue to make my way through her back list.

There’s a lot to like about Center’s work, at least for me. If you’ve read my previous reviews of romance novels, or women’s fiction with strong romance vibes, you’ll know that unlike my Cajun food, I am not fond of super spicy books. Center has stated that since her husband is a middle school math teacher, she doesn’t stray too far into the spicy zone because he really doesn’t need middle schoolers talking about his wife’s books like that.

I also like that her scenarios remind me of one of my favorite authors, Elinor Lipman. There’s a lot of quirkiness to the characters as well as the situations they find themselves in. In this book, you can’t get much more quirky than Aunt Jean or O’Connor. Center’s books just don’t feel formulaic to me.

The Lost Husband could have easily been called The Lost Wife, or at lease The Lost Widow. Libby is forced to move in, along with her two children, with her mother with whom she has a very difficult relationship, after the death of her husband Danny. I kept waiting for more to unfold about Danny’s untimely death and why Libby is left penniless and has to get a job she hates and ultimately sell her house. Where is the life insurance money? Was there something illegal afoot? Center tells us that it was a happy marriage, but I kept waiting for something dark to pop up. To me, the explanation of how Libby landed in this terrible financial situation was the weakest part of the storyline.

I also felt that her daughter Abby’s injury and recovery, leaving her with a limp, only served to make a later scene in the book possible.

One other plot point made me think a big twist was coming, in the unfolding of O’Connor’s personal life. I honestly thought it was going to reconnect to Libby’s situation. It seemed like it was some heavy foreshadowing but in the end, I was completely wrong. O’Connor’s whole arc seemed a bit off for me.

Still, I enjoyed the book. Given that this is one of Center’s earlier works (4th out of 13 so far), I can see how her books have become stronger in the later publications. I look forward to her next book, The Shippers (St. Martin’s Press, May 19, 2026)! NetGalley, if you are listening, I’d love an ARC to read and review!

And, as usual, the ending was satisfying (to me) which is how I usually end up adding a star to whatever I had originally planned. So, The Lost Husband ends up with a 4 star rating from me!