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Years after publication, readers still can’t get enough of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s historical fiction book The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. In this story of forbidden love and family secrets, intertwined throughout two characters’ point of view and multiple timelines, readers enjoy cinematic story-telling, glamourous, old-style Hollywood, and the bravery and ambition of women navigating through hard circumstances, young and old. In it we meet Monique Grant, an unknown magazine reporter trying to make a name for herself—until she’s mysteriously called upon by Hollywood icon Evelyn Hugo to write her biography. Hugo claims she’ll tell her story only to Grant, and no one else. As Monique interviews Evelyn and hears the story of her seven scandalous marriages, secrets are revealed about both women, and Monique realizes their lives are intertwined in ways she never could imagine.
So if you loved The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, we bet you’ll love this list of addictive, unputdownable books.
The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwabb
In a moment of desperation, Addie LaRue makes a Faustian bargain that will allow her to live forever—but in return no one she meets will ever remember her. Addie’s life becomes a brilliant adventure, traveling across continents for centuries, studying history and art, and leaving her mark on the world. But after 300 years, Addie encounters a young man who actually does remember her name—and everything changes.
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A Storm of Infinite Beauty by Julianne MacLean
Gwen’s life revolves around Hollywood legend Scarlett Fontaine. Not only is she the curator of a museum dedicated to her life, but she’s also the heir to her fortune. Gwen is reeling from a separation when Peter shows up with news that Scarlett has lived a life of exile in Alaska with a child no one knows about. To unlock the secrets of the Fontaine legacy, Gwen and Peter take off, but along with answers, they find so much more.
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When We Were Enemies by Emily Bleeker
In this gripping novel, spanning different eras, two women from a celebrated family confront the impact of hidden truths and life-altering choices. Elise Branson, who shies away from the limelight unlike her famous mother and legendary actress grandmother, Vivian Snow, finds her life entangled with a documentary on Vivian, revealing deep-seated family secrets. Vivian’s past, rooted in her time as a USO singer and translator during World War II, harbors a startling secret that, if uncovered, could shatter the image and aspirations she worked tirelessly to build, affecting both her and Elise’s lives profoundly.
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Verity by Colleen Hoover
Lowen Ashleigh gets the opportunity of a lifetime when Jeremy Crawford hires her to finish writing his injured wife, Verity’s, best-selling series. A struggling writer, Lowen is eager to get started and sort through Verity’s materials and begin working. However, Lowen gets more than she bargained for when she finds Verity’s unfinished autobiography that was never meant for anyone else’s eyes. Filled with shocking admissions and horrifying truths, Lowen keeps the manuscript secret from Jeremy in an effort to protect him. But when Lowen and Jeremy’s relationship intensifies, she realizes the truth would benefit her, as Jeremy would have no choice but to leave his wife. A bone-chilling and intense psychological thriller, Verity will have you turning page after page, eager to find out the truth.
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City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
When Vivian Morris is kicked out of Vassar College in 1940 due to a poor academic performance, her parents send her to live with her Aunt Peg, an eccentric woman in Manhattan who owns a crumbling theater. Vivian is introduced to an entirely new world and the unusual characters that belong to it. However, when she falls prey to a professional scandal, Vivian’s new world is flipped in more ways than she could imagine. Narrated by eighty-nine-year-old Vivian recalling her past, City of Girls explores female sexuality, promiscuity, and true love with powerful and sage writing.
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Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Daisy Jones is an up-and-coming it girl of L.A. in the late sixties with a beautiful voice whose one true love is rock ‘n’ roll. The Six, a band led by Billy Dunne, is finally starting to get noticed and setting off for their first tour. Daisy, Billy and the rest of The Six are thrown together when a producer sees the potential between their collaboration. With that, Daisy Jones and the Six was born and took the music scene by storm. At the peak of their career however, the band broke up and no one ever knew why—until now. Written as an oral history, this book recounts everything about the biggest and most legendary band of the seventies.
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Sinful Lives of Trophy Wives by Kristin Miller
Brooke Davies, a mystery writer, is new to the Presidio Terrace neighborhood, the most exclusive and elite in San Francisco. Her billionaire husband Jack, twenty-two years her senior, expects perfection. When Brooke starts spending time with the other wives on the street, Jack becomes controlling, scared that Brooke will tell the truth about their marriage. Erin King’s successful career has created a divide between her and her husband, Mason. In an attempt to keep him interested, Erin quits her job, but finds it may not be enough. Georgia St. Claire is known as “Black Widow” after rumors swirl that she murdered both of her ex-husbands for their money, but she now claims she found true love with her third marriage. When tragedy strikes the neighborhood, the residents of Presidio Terrace are left wondering if Georgia struck again, and how far she is willing to go to protect her secrets.
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Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin
Babe Paley is the most glamorous star of New York high society. She’s a regular in Vogue and is adored by many for her style and taste, especially by her friends, the sociality Swans. Babe seems to have it all, but beneath the glamour, she longs for true love and connection. When Truman Capote enters the scene, he sets Babe and the Swans into chaos. He gets inside access to the scandal and gossip of Babe and her circle, and as a storyteller, the possibilities are irresistible. Truman sets off a literary scandal with consequences that echo throughout the years.
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The Confession by Jessie Burton
Elise Morceau meets the bold and enticing Constance Holden on Hampstead Heath in 1980 and is instantly under her spell. When Connie’s novel gets a Hollywood movie deal, Elise follows her to LA, a city of glamour and dreams. While Connie fits right into this new world, Elise feels lost. At a party, she overhears a conversation that turns everything upside down. Impulsively, Elise makes a choice that will alter her life forever. Three decades later, Rose Simmons is search for answers about her mother, who disappeared when she was a baby. When Rose discovers that the last person who saw her mother was Constance Holden, a once-famous novelist who withdrew from the spotlight at the peak of her career, she finds herself at Connie’s door looking for a confession.
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The Idea of You by Robin Lee
Solène Marchand is a thirty-nine-year-old owner of an art gallery who wants to spend as much time as possible with her daughter, Isabelle, ever since she got a divorce. When Solène takes Isabelle to meet her favorite boy band, she never expects to connect with one of the members. An instant attraction forms between Solène and twenty-year old Hayes Campbell, who is clever, confident, and posh. Soon, a passionate and sincere relationship develops between the two and Solène and Hayes navigate each other’s vastly different worlds. When the relationship becomes a viral sensation, and Solène and Isabelle are the targets of crazy fans and the ruthless media, Solène must acknowledge how her romantic life has effected those she cares most about.
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The Chelsea Girls by Fiona Davis
New York City’s Chelsea Hotel has been the creative hub for the many artists that have called it home. Playwright Hazel Riley and actress Maxine Mead want to use this world to their advantage, but they soon realize politics plays a bigger role in Broadway than they thought. While a Red Scare sweeps the nation, Senator Joseph McCarthy is hunting down communists, and those in the entertainment industry get caught in the middle. Pressure builds to point a finger and name names, and Hazel and Maxine may lose much more than just their Broadway dreams.
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Meet Me in Monaco by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb
Cannes Film Festival is filled with movie stars and paparazzi, but the biggest star of all, Grace Kelly just wants to avoid the flashing lights. Sophie Duval, a struggling perfumer, gives Miss Kelly refuge in her boutique as she gets rid of a particularly persistent press photographer, James Henderson. The two women form a bond that causes a chain reaction of events, spanning thirty years of friendship, love and tragedy. James Henderson has never stopped thinking about his brief encounter with Sophie Duval. When Grace Kelly is set to marry Prince Rainier of Monaco, James takes an assignment to cover the wedding. Once in Monaco, passions and tempers are at a high, and James and Sophie must determine what they are willing to sacrifice for love.
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On Gin Lane by Brooke Lea Foster
In this captivating historical fiction novel, Everleigh “Lee” Farrow seems to have it all. An incredible fiancé named Roland, a trust fund, and a beautiful Bronxville home. When Roland whisks Lee away to the Hamptons to show her the most incredible engagement present a woman could think of, a beachside hotel located on Gin Lane, things seem perfect. But internally, Lee struggles with dark memories of her old life, where she grew up at the Plaza, taking care of her mentally ill mother. Lee attempts to ignore the flashbacks and spend the summer doing things she loves: drinking poolside, playing tennis, attending luncheons, and taking photos. But on the hotel’s opening weekend, tragedy strikes, and Lee’s seemingly perfect world begins to fall apart. Lee must decide if this life is truly what she wants, and if she even knows who she truly is.
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The Sunshine Girls by Molly Fader
In 1967, BettyKay and Kitty are nursing school roommates with little in common. BettyKay is a farmer’s daughter looking to escape her small town while Kitty is glamorous, using her looks and smarts to get by and keep her biggest secret. Determined to prove their worth, especially on a campus that caters to men, the two women form an unlikely bond. When tragedy strikes before the end of their first year, BettyKay and Kitty are forced down different paths, but their friendship spans the decade, carrying on through the highs and lows of life, from Vietnam to Hollywood. One night however takes their relationship to the ultimate crossroads. Fifty years later, two estranged sisters get the surprise of a lifetime when a famous movie star comes to their mother’s funeral. The women must come to accept a truth that will change their family and their lives forever.
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