I'd tried one TJR book last year and was disappointed in its plucky love story wherein all three characters of the love triangle were pretty and perfect and...boring. It just wasn't for me. Then I read DAISY JONES AND THE SIX in February and thought, hm, this is decidedly different. Upon completing it, I put the oft-raved-about EVELYN HUGO on hold and when it came through, I expected something frothy, fun, and, honestly, mindless. Well, this is why I try not go to into books with any expectations. Because there I was, surprised to find myself deeply in love with this book.

TJR has a talent for creating an undeniably entertaining reading experience. She's not poetic in her prose or doing anything particularly new, but she's really fucking great at plotting and revealing the story methodically to the reader for maximum enjoyment. She's a playful and propulsive author.

The titular character commissions a young journalist to write her tell-all memoir as she reflects on a long life in the spotlight as a Golden Age Hollywood actress. Evelyn details a lot to Monique, a person with her own fleshed out interior, wondering how she got this lucky, once-in-a-lifetime story. There are layers here to each of the characters, and I loved getting to know these women. As someone who grew up reading my grandmother's celebrity biographies, I loved the shades of true Hollywood lore and scandal that made its way into this delicious fictional tale (Rita Hayworth, Liz Taylor, ~that scene from Don't Look Now~, etc. etc. etc.). That said, the book is wholly original, and explored facets of being a person that I didn't think I'd encounter in a TJR novel. Like that ol' saying: I laughed, I cried.

Also, maybe I applauded a little bit with that last line. Was the whole book a set up for it? Brava.