Magnificent! I waited far too long to finally read this one, but it certainly was a good choice for my first audiobook of 2022. Taylor Jenkins Reid is amazing.

This fictional biography not only feels real, but the fictional starlet feels real as well. Though there is a story woven around it, the core of the novel is the life story of Evelyn Hugo. Had the pieces of this novel with Evelyn telling her story been picked out and stitched together, I'm sure some readers could easily be convinced that the story was a true one. It is really just wonderfully done.

I love the flawed characters surrounded by the stripped away magic of old Hollywood. There is glamour and there is grit. It is just simply marvellous. The characters are vivid, the plot is engaging, and I swam through this book perpetually thirsty for more. Evelyn's world was amazing and I could have lived in it for another hundred pages without blinking an eye.

Without a doubt, a SOLID 5-star read.