Well hello to you my reader chums! I'm a big fan of Taylor Jenkins Reid, I adored her book Malibu Rising so when I received this book for Christmas, I couldn't wait to dive in after it being on my wishlist for ages. It's a book that had a bit of everything including a killer plotline, characters you can't help but love, and that thrilling element too.

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If you're looking for a new exciting read with a plot that'll keep you hooked, here is my full review of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

Plotline

The plotline follows the life of Evelyn Hugo, an esteemed famous actress in Hollywood that was known for living a glamourous and scandalous life. Evelyn is finally ready, to tell the truth about her life and chooses an unknown writer, Monique Grant to write her life story - and nobody is more shocked than Monique herself. Evelyn's career is stretched over 3 successful decades and in order to reach the success she had, she made sacrifices nobody could ever dream of. As Everlyn finishes telling her tale, it begins to be clear that her life intersects with Monique's in a tragic way. 

Characters and relationships

Every good book has even better characters and this is one of the reason's I adored this book. Evelyn is a protagonist like no other and it felt a pleasure getting to learn all about her life and really discover who she truly was, and what she had to go through to reach her title. She was strong, powerful, and determined, with the ambition to achieve the life she wanted. As you can tell by the title, Evelyn has 7 marriages and I loved being able to learn the reasons behind the marriages, why they got together and split up, and how fame really gets in the way or changes things about your personal life, a lot of time for the worst.

My favorite relationship has to be between her and Harry, her manager. They were best friends the whole of Evelyn's career and I loved how they called each other family, even before they got married for platonic reasons. Their friendship blossomed over the years and I could tell how much they meant to each other and what true friendship is all about. I also adored her relationship with Celia St. James, which to me showed the definition of true, unforbidden love, in a time when it wasn't accepted to love who you wanted. Their love story warmed my heart and showed true love can be found and that we all deserve to love who we love.

There were many other characters I liked, but one of the interesting relationships was Monique and Evelyn. Monique is an aspiring writer working at a big New York magazine and her innocence and realism are what make her so likable. She's an ambitious girl like a lot of us, who has experienced the sad times of life including losing her father and going through her divorce. Her realism really made me gravitate to her and also show the contrast between her and Evelyn. I enjoyed their connection and the way she asked the questions about Evelyn's life, and how over time, Evelyn became a person to her, not a famous icon.

Overall thoughts

Overall, I loved this book for many reasons. The first is because of many of the lessons it taught. The book showed the price you paid for fame, success, and living a high life. It showed how people will use you to get to the top and how, what really matters is family, friends, and those who truly love you for who you are.

I also enjoyed the breakdown of how the book was written. Each section described the 7 different marriages and how really, the book was kind of like an interview-style biography. It was Evelyn telling her story honestly and clearly, and I could feel myself latch onto her emotions and each chapter of her life - and connecting with that. I found it to be a quick and natural flip between the telling of the story back to the modern-day. The book flowed well and it had a way of pulling me in page after page with more intrigue about Evelyn's life.

Ending

I'm not going to give the ending away, however, I can say that the ending was a bit of a shock. It brought the whole plotline together and was so cleverly written, I couldn't help but sit with an opened mouth as I turned over the pages. I also loved how the book ended on a note that Evelyn would have wanted and she something she had to do.

Love the sound of this book? You can pick up your copy here.

I hope you enjoyed this review. Is this book on your to-be-read pile?

Thank you for reading <3