Book Talk | The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo |Taylor Jenkins Reid

The second solely physical book that I’ve read recently – is this becoming a new habit? I’m here for it.

image from GoodReads

The title did not draw me to this book. I do not care about the husbands (save Harry). What drew me to this particular story was the hype. And also that green cover. I’m surprised that I managed to avoid spoilers for Evelyn Hugo for this long. I picked this one up towards the end of June (thank you BOTM), and finished in early July. Something about reading Evelyn Hugo while watching neighbors set off fireworks form the comfort of my home relaxed me.

This story has a strong found family aspect, which kept me reading. The characters felt alive, and real. Evelyn had to have been friends with real life Marilyn, Elizabeth, and Audrey. There was no other way to read this story, for me. They lunched. They worked together. This just happened to be an inside scoop under the guise of fiction. Evelyn was real – right?

As addictive as Evelyn’s character and her story is, I wish there were more of Monique’s story sprinkled throughout Evelyn’s chapters. I would have liked to learn more about her character, and I would have liked to learn a bit more about her mom. Obviously, the main concern of this novel is Evelyn’s great love story, but… it felt to me that Monique was dropped and then sprinkled back in when Evelyn needed a break. I also would have enjoyed more breaks in the middle of Evelyn’s story where we could see her in present time speaking to Monique. As much as I enjoyed reading about Evelyn’s past, I also would have enjoyed present-day Evelyn. Alas, this was Evelyn’s show – not Moniques. This didn’t really infringe on my enjoyment of the book – the story as it stands is amazing and left me wanting more.

Safe to say I cried through the end of this one. Definitely a 2020 favorite. My re-read will definitely be an audio one.

I purchased my copy of Evelyn Hugo through Book of the Month!

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