It Had to Be You

March 1, 2021

Brooklyn-based wedding planner Liv Goldenhorn learns that her husband, Eliot, has died and was found by his secret girlfriend. Then that girlfriend, Savannah Shipley, shows up on Liv's doorstep with the news that Eliot left his half of the wedding planning company to Savannah. She didn't know Eliot was married or about his will, but Savannah knows that with some optimism and hard work the company can recover. She even has a wedding job lined up, if only she can convince Liv of her professionalism and that they can move beyond the awkwardness. When Liv relents, the wedding becomes a springboard for a number of love stories, including a celebrity looking for a private life, a fake dating proposal between friends, and new twists for a comfortable relationship. For Savannah and Liv, the wedding means a revitalized business and the invitation of new loves into their own lives, although neither was expecting it. VERDICT Clark creates a quilt of diverse love stories, overlapping and meandering warmly throughout New York City. In her most recent since The Bucket List, each story Clark tells packs an emotional punch, but Savannah's and Liv's respective relationships, as well as their own evolution to friends and colleagues, are standouts.--Kellie Tilton, Univ. of Cincinnati Blue Ash

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2021
When her husband dies unexpectedly, a woman is forced to reconsider the life she had and what she wants. Liv Goldenhorn and her husband, Eliot, own a successful wedding-planning company in Brooklyn. But during a tumultuous job that leaves the business on the edge of collapse, Liv receives a phone call that Eliot has died while on a business trip--and soon after discovers that he's left his share of their company to his much younger and until-then-secret mistress, Savannah. Faced with financial ruin and unsure how to get back on track, Liv decides to accept Savannah's persistent attempts to revive the company, a decision that results in Liv, Savannah, and a group of vendors they work with rethinking what they want and how to get it, particularly when it comes to love. Clark works hard to build a diverse cast of characters, but with upward of eight points of view and a swirl of subplots, there isn't much room for in-depth character development. In addition to Liv and Savannah and their own relationships, the novel gives equal focus to a waitress and an actor who strike up a relationship at a wedding, two members of a wedding band who pretend to be a couple so one of them can secure their trust fund, and the long-term couple who run a flower business Liv works with. At times, each of these pairs reads as if they could be the focus of their own books. In spite of everything, though, Clark's prose is engaging, her characters are likable, and the plot moves quickly enough that the shortcomings can be overlooked. This overstuffed love story is a fun bit of escapism, but it doesn't dig deep.

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April 15, 2021
Liv Goldenhorn and her husband Eliot are wedding planners in New York until Eliot dies suddenly and leaves half of the business to his mistress, Savannah Shipley. Savannah moves from Lexington to the big city, but an understandably less-than-warm welcome from Liv and a disastrous roommate situation has her reconsidering until she meets Honey, who runs a fried chicken joint in Bushwick. Liv's best friend, florist Gorman, is worried his boyfriend Henry wants to get married, singer Darlene agrees to fake date DJ Zach just until his parents think he's steady enough to get his trust fund, and waitress Zia is biding her time between humanitarian missions when she meets a famous actor. An influencer-fest in the Catskills and white doves replaced by plain old pigeons are just a few of the wedding day disasters that help Liv regain her unflappability, while her complicated grief, worry for her son, and attraction to a chef anchor this ensemble comedy that reads like a love letter to New York-set rom coms. Full of immersive details, rich characters, and great banter, Clark's latest, following The Bucket List (2018), perfectly balances sweetness and an edge of realism that will draw readers in.

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