A review by imaginationindex
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

“This hugely popular tale centers around reclusive Hollywood legend Evelyn Hugo, who chooses an unknown reporter, Monique Grant, to tell her life story. Evelyn recounts her time in the Golden Age of Hollywood, her rise to fame, and her seven marriages — revealing stunning secrets and lies.”

Loosely based on the lives of Elizabeth Taylor, Ava Gardner, and Rita Hayworth, this story shows explores Hollywood through the decades and the motivations behind one woman’s path to stardom.

What I loved:
  • Once again, TJR delivers in the writing style. It is so captivating and descriptive and emotional and so many more words that I don’t know how to explain it. But she does 
  • Hollywood Era, glitz and glam aesthetic (but ya know, minus all the racism and sexism)
  • Monique’s POV. You only ever here about the titular character and mentions of Celia, so I’m glad Monique was there as an outside perspective and given a character arc of her own.
  • Clever Evelyn
    (I’ve placed this lower because as much as she was two steps ahead and used her body to her advantage, she’s not a great person.)
  • The twist… didn’t see it coming

What I didn’t love:
  • The hyper sexuality of bisexuality. Not all bi people want to sleep with everyone. Not all bi people cheat. Not all bi people use their partners.
  • I had to read about Mick Riva again. Ew.
  • Certain Husbands
    specifically #2, #3 and #6
  • The twist… didn’t see it coming, but it’s also here because I didn’t find it necessary. We already had a great story, why was this included?

NOTE: There has been a criticizing point brought up about TJR on her POC characters experiences and the fact that she is a white woman. I’ve only read two books at this time, and open to reading more (but will look out for these trends in the future) 
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