Wednesday, January 17, 2018

What's Sara Reading? The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo


I dove into The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid before my last trip of 2017 took place in late November (I know and it took me THIS long to post about it). I was heading back to Las Vegas (luckily for only 2 days) and was excited to devour this book on the plane right in - it's my favorite part of traveling: all the reading I get to do! I finished Evelyn Hugo on the flight to Vegas because I basically just ate it up.



So what's it about? Evelyn Hugo is a legend of Hollywood. Think Marilyn Monroe, Katherine Hepburn. Starting at a young age, she made her mark in old Hollywood and rose to the top with plenty of scandals (and marriages) to her name. Now, in her 80s, she decides she wants to have a tell-all and hires young unknown writer, Monique Grant.


Throughout the book, the POV rotates between Monique as she meets Evelyn and interviews her while juggling her own love life challenges and Evelyn's POV as the story is told. I LOVED that style. As readers we get thrown RIGHT into the story and get to hear it all from Evelyn's POV.


I loved Evelyn's ruthlessness when it came to her career and success. The decisions she made had consequences often but she knew what she had to do to make it to the top and stay there. It was dramatic, exciting, sexy, and heart-wrenching - everything a girl could ask for in a novel, no?


One part that resonated with me was Evelyn's thoughts on how our minds work in an emergency situation. Evelyn stumbles upon the wreck of her good friend's car on her way to his house one night and a nightmare of a night unfolds from there as she hurries to save her best friend's life.


The way Evelyn (well, Taylor Jenkins Reid) explained how our mind works with panic was so ON point and accurate I choked up. It brought me right back to my accident in June and how I behaved after the car stopped rolling and I had to get my best friend and I out of the wreckage and really explains it PERFECTLY how I responded as it happened and why:
"Everyone sort of assumes that when faced with life-and-death situations, you will panic. But almost everyone who’s actually experienced something like that will tell you that panic is a luxury you cannot afford.
In the moment, you act without thinking, doing all you can with the information you have. It’s when it’s over that you scream. And cry. And wonder how you got through it. Because most likely, in the case of real trauma, your brain isn’t great at making memories. It’s almost as if the camera is on but no one’s recording."

Evelyn Hugo was famous for wearing emerald green at her events. Do I have an emerald green gown to wear? Not at all. So instead, I am wearing the Evelyn dress by Pinup Girl Clothing as my homage to Ms. Hugo herself.  If she existed and was in her prime today, she would surely be one Boss Bitch.


Funny story about this dress. This was one of the first pinup/retro dresses I fell in love with back when I was still scared to go full pinup and was still toying with the idea of getting  a petticoat let alone any actual pinup dresses. Well, fast forward to much later when I was in way too deep in pinup and swing dresses and a pile of petticoats and it was too late for the Evelyn dress. It was long gone and never to be seen again.


Until recently when it popped up for sale on the PUG Facebook BST group for a great price. IT IS FINALLY MINE, FOLKS! And she's as lovely as I always dreamed of. Don't worry, past Sara, present Sara's got your back!