It Had to Be You
By: Georgie Clark
Published Year: 2021
Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books
Pages: 384
I received a copy of this story in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this novel.
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): For the past twenty years, Liv and Eliot Goldenhorn have run In Love in New York, Brooklyn’s beloved wedding-planning business. When Eliot dies unexpectedly, he even more unexpectedly leaves half of the business to his younger, blonder girlfriend, Savannah. Liv and Savannah are not a match made in heaven, to say the least. But what starts as a personal and professional nightmare transforms into something even savvy, cynical Liv Goldenhorn couldn’t begin to imagine.
It Had to Be You cleverly unites Liv, Savannah, and couples as diverse and unique as New York City itself, in a joyous Love-Actually-style braided narrative. The result is a smart, modern love story that truly speaks to our times. Second chances, secret romance, and steamy soul mates are front and center in this sexy, tender, and utterly charming rom-com.
First Impressions
What a beautiful cover! I definitely would pick this book up off the shelf based off of that alone. The summary was fun as well. I like stories where two unlikely characters have to work together and that’s exactly what this sounded like.
What I thought
Uh… well… this book was not as described.
The summary makes it seem as though this story is going to be about Liv and Savannah as they navigate working together after Eliot dies and leaves his half of the business to Savannah (his mistress). In reality, it’s 5 different romance novels squished into one. I honestly feel like this one book could’ve been broken up into a 5 book series and would’ve faired better. Liv and Savannah do have a storyline following the business they’re now forced to run together. But it’s also about Henry and Gorman, the gay couple that owns the flower shop, Darlene and Zach, the DJ and Singer duo, and Zia and Clay, the waitress and the famous actor.
I liked each of these stories individually but I think the summary does this book a huge injustice. Being thrown into another couple’s story really threw me and then four there to be a total of 5 love stories? I had to completely change the idea of what I was reading in my mind and I don’t think I recovered from that. I also never felt like I got enough of each couple. Just as I was starting to get into their storyline, it switched to another.
Liv’s romance after her husband dies is maybe my favorite. I liked how she dealt with her grief and I would’ve enjoyed really diving into the complexities of their romance dynamic. Savannah’s story was slightly harder for me to get into and I think that’s because it was so choppy. She makes a pretty big realization about her life, but it comes off pretty quickly. Henry and Gorman were a hundred percent my least favorite couple and could’ve been eliminated completely. They didn’t bring anything to the other stories and I didn’t like their romance.
Zia and Clay were fun and I did like that Zia and Darlene were roommates so their stories tied together that way. However, they didn’t tie into Liv or Savannah. Darlene and Zach are the only other couple competing for favorites. They were very classic romance novel with a combination of friends to lovers and fake dating. I looked forward to each of their chapters.
Honestly, I don’t feel like I got much out of this book. There was a lot of bouncing back and forth and it felt like every character was underdeveloped. They would’ve been much better served had they each had their own book where the romance could’ve been fleshed out. I debated between 2 and 3 stars for a while, and honestly would’ve rated it a 2.5. But, because I think people will enjoy this story more once they know what they’re truly in for, I rounded up. I also never felt like I wanted to give up on the story and did enjoy most of it while I was reading.