Mini-reviews: It Had to Be You and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

It Had to Be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication Date: May 14th 2013
My rating: 4 stars 

The Windy City isn't quite ready for Phoebe Somerville—the outrageous, curvaceous New York knockout who has just inherited the Chicago Stars football team. And Phoebe is definitely not ready for the Stars' head coach, former gridiron legend Dan Calebow, a sexist jock taskmaster with a one-track mind. Calebow is everything Phoebe abhors. And the sexy new boss is everything Dan despises—a meddling bimbo who doesn't know a pigskin from a pitcher's mound. So why is Dan drawn to the shameless sexpot like a heat-seeking missile? And why does the coach's good ol' boy charm leave cosmopolitan Phoebe feeling awkward, tongue-tied . . . and ready to fight?

I’ve always been a fan of sports romance novels, I’ve loved watching sports since I was a little kid, and so combine this with a well done romance and I’m a complete goner. Also with the types of books I’d been reading lately, nothing had been holding my attention, so when I’d come across It Had to be You, it sounded like the perfect read for me! After reading a few pages I was completely hooked, Phillips did a fantastic job of making the relationship between Phoebe and Dan work, here were some parts where I felt there was unnecessary drama, but their relationship was one of the best ones I had come across in a long time.

Of course I was a fan of Dan straight away, characters that get riled up and shouty and who are as passionate about his team as Dan was always tend to win me over. Also despite being a person who was generally agitated a lot of the time, I loved seeing the tender side of his character come though. It really just made me love him even more. The team dynamics was also fantastically done too, I loved getting to know the characters and their quirky ways, I for one can’t wait to get to know their characters more hopefully in the next books! 

Phillips really made me fall hard and fast for the characters in It Had to be You, but she also dealt with a lot of tough issues really well! I for one can’t wait to jump into the rest of this series right away!

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date: June 13th 2017
My rating: 3 stars

Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one in the journalism community is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now? Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband, David, has left her, and her career has stagnated. Regardless of why Evelyn has chosen her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career. Summoned to Evelyn’s Upper East Side apartment, Monique listens as Evelyn unfurls her story: from making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the late 80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way. As Evelyn’s life unfolds through the decades—revealing a ruthless ambition, an unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love—Monique begins to feel a very a real connection to the actress. But as Evelyn’s story catches up with the present, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.

Jenkins Reid amazes me with her stories; in the past typically I’ve gone into her books expecting one thing and then being left in awe after finishing her book. This time around however I did struggle with this book, it took me a while to complete, but that’s not to say that it didn’t leave a lasting impression with me afterwards. I was left reeling with Evelyn Hugo’s life and everything she had to go through to reach that end point. Evelyn Hugo was a hard person for me personally to like, she did a lot of unimaginable things, but she was one heck of a person to withstand everything that was thrown her way during her attempt to the top; tragedies, people talking crap about her, abuse and people trying to trample over her name. Like I said Evelyn was a woman that I had a difficult time relating to but I could understand all the things that she did. 

I was super curious to see how Jenkins Reid would relate both Monique and Evelyn’s stories together. As it seemed completely out of the blue that Evelyn plucked Monique to write her story and you could say I was super surprised when everything was unravelled, so I wasn’t expecting that connection to be there at all .(Highlight to view spoiler) I was imagining Monique to be Evelyn’s long last daughter or something. But I enjoyed Monique’s time with Evelyn, and how we were given Evelyn’s story from the very beginning, how we got to experience her ups and downs in her big career and to the very end. In many ways The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was a very bittersweet story, and one that will have me thinking about it for a long time afterwards. I really liked the different take that Jenkins Reid gave us in this book, the depths and emotions that she explores with her characters was beautifully done and once again her writing was flawless. I’m really glad that I ended up giving this book a go, although it wasn’t one of my favourites by Jenkins Reid it is definitely one of her most memorable.