Reviews with content warning for Infertility - The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Ooookay let's see.

This book, I absolutely love the concept and the idea. I mean, I love historical fiction, especially when it's sapphic, and this story about Evelyn and also about the film industry is amazing.
I liked that we were introduced to Evelyn through Monique who is writing her biography.
Though, Monique's story felt entirely unnecessary. It felt like it was only there to fill the book, and I would give this book a 5 star review immediately if it weren't for the absolutely unbelievable plot twist.

Spoiler

like no. I literally screamed out of frustration (over the writing) when I read this part. Like what is this
"oh you remember the guy I left at the car accident? Yeah that's your father."
Yes, we were waiting for the explanation on why Evelyn chose Monique, but please, it was just so forced. I would have believed it more when the reason was something like "I liked the article you wrote about the struggles of suicidal people".

Also, I just couldn't care less for Monique as a character. I didn't care for her failed marriage or anything, but I understand that we needed to see the influence Evelyn had on people back at her time and also in the present.

Now, let's talk about Celia and Evelyn. I don't get why they are shipped everywhere on social media. Personally, I found both of them extremely toxic together.

Spoiler

Evelyn telling herself that her career is more important than Celia and Celia demanding that Evelyn leaves everything for her, it's just not good.

However, this is not something that took away stars at my rating, since I think the relationship is showing that not everything is gold in a celebrity's life and that they have struggles as well.
I think what made it even harder for them and had a huge impact on how the relationship went is the taboo that was (and is) on gay relationships. It's interesting to see how the world evolves on queer rights during that time period and also how the importance of Celia's and Evelyn's career in comparison to living out who they are changes throughout the book.

So overall, this was great and the only thing that stops me from a 5 star review is Monique. I didn't like her, I didn't care for her, she felt unnecessary, and I was inclined to skip the parts where she was talking with Evelyn ( I didn't tho).
Still, a great book that's worth a read.

Content Warnings

fadeddpages's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Kept me interested from the beginning and the twist at the end had me shocked but also made everything come together and make sense.

Content Warnings

shaylee_n_20's review against another edition

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inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

kananineko's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective 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

5.0

Content Warnings

vero_lee's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

The pace was really slow but the growth was exponential. This is my second time trying this book. I DNF'd it in the first couple of chapters the first time, but this time I actually got to Evelyn's story and I just about devoured it.

Content Warnings

anielabooks's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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

I very much enjoyed this book. I saw the plot twist coming, but I was still interested in getting to the end. The format was original and intriguing. I’m reminded of Reid’s other book Daisy Jones and the Six with its interview format. It’s not exaggerated to say the Reid has a great skill at untraditional storytelling methods. I would definitely recommend this book.

Content Warnings

msradiosilence's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.5

TLDR; 1.5 rating, I hate this book and everything it stands for. I get a little rant-y. Sue me.
Content warnings at the bottom. :)

I gave this 1 star on GR because it’s a hellsite, but it gets .5 stars because I did in fact read this in only a few days. I’ll say this about TJR, her books aren’t badly written. She just sucks as a person.

First off, TJR is a white woman. I have very strong opinions about staying in your lane as a white woman, and TJR swerved all over the goddamn highway. Not only is the main character a Black woman, but the other main character is a Latina woman. Does TJR belong to either of those communities? No. And to yadda yadda their communities, TJR

Spoiler

kills Monique’s father in a horrific way so she doesn’t have that connection to her heritage

and has Evelyn repress everything about her Latina roots. When this book came out, there was huge backlash from the Latine community about a white woman taking up space in the publishing industry that could have been made for a Latine author to write in (do not get me started on racism in publishing, we’d be here all day) and she apologized and said she wouldn’t do it again, she’d lift up own-voices authors, etc. And then she didn’t do that and instead wrote Carrie Soto is Back, which had a whole thing about the title in Spanish that — shocking! — once again TJR didn’t understand the complexity and nuance of and insulted an entire community of people. The Black and Latine perspectives are just some that white authors cannot ever have, considering their whiteness, and therefore should not be writing in the perspective of Black and Latine characters. No one is saying white authors CAN’T have diverse casts, because white authors should, but rather that they shouldn’t try to write from a perspective they can’t conceivably share. I don’t care how much research they do, it is not enough when compared to lived experience.

(sources: google is free, but https://www.feministbookclub.com/taylor-jenkins-reid-is-back-with-her-bs/, https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8dJ54Fp/, https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8dJPbaD/, https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8dekrA8/, and https://shelit.com/2022/10/04/carrie-soto-is-back-and-the-problem-of-white-authors-creating-main-characters-of-color/#:~:text=Book%20influencers%20expressed%20concern%20about,character%20against%20an%20Asian%20character.)

Secondly, I’m bi. To this day, there are still biphobic members of the LGBTQ+ community that say we’re either not gay enough, or that we need to pick a side, or that we’re lying, etc (few and far between, but always a take I see in online spaces around Pride Month). And to have that thrown back in my face while I’m reading a book by a straight author? What the fuck? Celia is constantly being biphobic, and it doesn’t help that Evelyn is lesbophobic in the beginning. TJR wouldn’t know this, being that (again) she’s not a part of the community, but a lot of people use the term ‘gay’ as an umbrella term. Just like the pride flag encompasses the whole community, gay can be a term to mean any sexuality within the LGBTQ+ spectrum. But Evelyn reacts with such immediate vitriol to being called gay, it just leaves such a horrible taste in my mouth, especially when there is such animosity between certain corners of the LGBTQ+ community. It’s just not something a straight author gets to comment on, especially when they don’t understand the nuance surrounding that conversation.

Also the ending?

Spoiler

Not only are you writing perspectives that aren’t yours, you had Monique forgive the woman that killer her father???

What the FUCK. Eat the rich, even the fictional ones.

Anyway. Considering both of my major points cover basically the entire book, fuck TJR and no, I don’t care if Daisy Jones is a good show, or if Malibu Rising is a good book. I will not read anything else by this woman, and I’ll be getting rid of Evelyn Hugo as soon as I’m able.

Rating: 0.5
Would I recommend? Abso-fucking-lutely not.

Content warnings: Blood, Cancer, Death of parent, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Ableism, Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Car accident, Classism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Outing, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Racism, Sexual content, Death, Gaslighting, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic friendship, and Pregnancy

Content Warnings

kaylamei's review against another edition

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5.0

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