The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo

Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid

Publisher: Atria Books

Genre/Themes/Demo: Historical Fiction, Romance

Release Date: June 13th 2017

Page Count: 391

Format: Paperback/Audiobook

ISBN: 9781501139239

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Author Website | Book Depository | Amazon | Chapters/Indigo

Goodreads | Kobo | Audible

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Initial Post Reading Thoughts

So many people had recommended this book over the last couple of months and I finally decided to pick it up! I didn’t want to know too much going into it and I’m glad I decided to leave ignore the synopsis and jump into it pretty blindly! Many of the people I know who read this book mentioned how much Evelyn Hugo felt like a real person that they could google and now I totally understand!

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Synopsis

Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one in the journalism community is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now? Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband, David, has left her, and her career has stagnated. Regardless of why Evelyn has chosen her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career. Summoned to Evelyn’s Upper East Side apartment, Monique listens as Evelyn unfurls her story: from making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the late 80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way. As Evelyn’s life unfolds through the decades—revealing a ruthless ambition, an unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love—Monique begins to feel a very a real connection to the actress. But as Evelyn’s story catches up with the present, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.

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What I Liked

How real it felt. Before I picked this book up, many fellow readers and book bloggers had already read it. One thing that they all agreed on when talking about this book was how real everything felt. Whether it was the characters or the story itself, everything felt like I was able to google it and that it would be real. I wanted to type Evelyn Hugo into IMDB and explore her many acting roles throughout the years…only to remember that she doesn’t actually exist. Everything felt like it was a part of history and I absolutely loved that aspect of this novel.

The characters. As mentioned above, these characters felt real and believable. Not only Evelyn Hugo, but all of her husbands and the other fellow actors, actresses and directors that she associated herself with. Each character had their own personalities that made them unique and interesting. The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo is a very character based story and it worked really well.

The husbands as a timeline. I thought that this was such a fantastic literary device! Rather than recounting Evelyn’s life by going through each year. We instead see her story being told by a timeline made out of her seven marriages. We start out with what her life was like while married husband #1 and the story continues from there, moving through husbands 2-7. I loved that instead of going with something standard such as decade or specific year, we instead go by her husbands. I also loved that this story didn’t focus on the husbands too much, but instead used them as a timeline.

The twists. What I wasn’t expecting from this book were the twists! If you know me, you know that I love a good twist! There were two pretty significant ones in this story. One that I kind of saw coming and another that I did not. As I said, I wasn’t expecting any twists to be within the pages of this novel, but I’m glad there were as it really spiced things up!

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What I Didn’t Like

Monique. Honestly, it’s not that I didn’t like her, but there was just something a little off about her character for me. I just wanted more Evelyn and her story. While Monique does play a huge part in this story and her character is needed, but I just found myself anxious to return to Evelyn’s story while the story was focusing on Monique.

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Overall, I really enjoyed this story! It was well written and it contained some fantastic characters and believable stories! This was my first experience with Taylor Jenkins Reid and I can’t wait to read more from her!

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About The Author

Taylor Jenkins Reid is the author of One True Loves, Maybe in Another Life, After I Do, and Forever, Interrupted. Her novels have been named best books of summer by People, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, InStyle, PopSugar, Buzzfeed, Goodreads, and others. Her most recent novel, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, is an Indie Next Pick, an Amazon Best Book of the Month, and has been featured in Entertainment Weekly’s Must List and Good Morning America’s Summer Reading Roundup. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, their daughter, and their dog.

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Thank you for reading!