The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction

Rating: Abby gave 3/5, Shyanne gave 4/5

Abby and I read this popular book as a buddy read and have some differing views! But it was super fun to get to talk about the book to each other in real time. Here what we thought:

Abby: I think it’s safe to say if you’re a reader, you’ve seen the pretty green dress on the cover of this book all over social media. It’s a popular book! I was really intrigued and ready to see what all the hype was about.

Shyanne: YES! I’ve seen it (and Taylor Jenkins Reid) all over TikTok, and I was dying to get my hands on this one! I listened to it on audiobook, and I honestly think I liked it better that way. The little snippets of magazine/news articles always came out in a reporter voice, which I thought was cool.

Abby: I found this book for $11 shipped on Facebook so that was exciting! I really hadn’t read anything about this book or what it was about before starting it. 

Shyanne: Honestly- me neither haha. I’d only seen the cover and heard to read it!

Abby: Exactly! To give a brief overview, Monique is a journalist who is asked randomly to do a story on the biggest Hollywood star – Evelyn Hugo. Throughout the book, you learn about the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and Hugo herself unloads all of her biggest secrets. 

Shyanne: I don’t know what I was expecting out of this book, but it definitely wasn’t what I found! The book explores a lot of deep topics that I wasn’t really prepared for, but did like- sexuality, selfishness, the lengths one will go to benefit themselves- there’s definitely a lot you could read into about this book! It wasn’t as amazing as I thought it would be, but I think I just expected a different story than I got. 

Abby: Yea, unnpopular opinion – this wasn’t my favorite book by any means. I found it unrealistic that Evelyn Hugo married so many men in Hollywood just to use them for a quick personal gain. I also didn’t enjoy Hugo’s almost narcissistic vibe. Also the ending was a little triggering (suicide). 

Shyanne: I agree! I’m not sure how things were back when this book was written, but I really don’t think people just married each other with the intention of getting divorced after they got what they needed from it? Evelyn is 100% narcissistic, but to be honest, people never really gave her a reason not to be.

Abby: I will say, Taylor Jenkins Reid does tend to write heavier books (i.e. Malibu Rising), so if you’re looking for a casual read, this may not be your go-to for a fun beach-y book during the summer. 

We want to hear what you guys thought about this super popular read! Let us know!