This was a cute story similar to Love Actually where several couples / love interests lives intersect in the New York City wedding scene.

I appreciated the diversity of the couples and the struggles each faced, and felt some of the emotions alongside them. This book hit on a lot of important topics including grief, infidelity, sexual orientation, and interracial relationships.

With five rotating couples there were a lot of people and backstories to keep track of and I wasn’t equally invested in all of their stories. I wish maybe one was dropped in favor of more detail on others. The timeline was also a bit confusing as each chapter switched couple, and sometimes it felt like we hadn’t heard from a couple for a while for them to then suddenly pop back up.

Overall I liked the story and the connections forged between the characters. It’s a fun concept with feel good stories about the possibilities love brings.

Charming, witty, and emotional. This romantic comedy was a delight to read. The novel includes a full cast of well developed, relatable characters. Well written with on point pacing.

I was offered this galley by the publisher and didn’t know much of anything about it going in…and I’m glad I didn’t. I was pleasantly surprised by the diverse characters in this charming romance novel. What I initially thought might be sort of throwaway did have a surprising amount of depth. This novel follows five separate personal journeys and love stories of people connected through a wedding planning business. I found it mostly predictable, but in a way that makes romance novels enjoyable to read, but with surprising nuance and stories that were interesting and compelling enough to keep me reading. Even though each story doesn’t get much real estate, it’s enough to keep you invested and rooting for them.

I was actually pleasantly surprised by the strong queer story lines….which probably would have surprised me less if I realized that Georgia Clark is a queer author before I read the acknowledgements (oops). Overall, this is a effortless book that tackles some real issues, but it was a joy to read. A great beach read or for a weekend in a hammock.

Think of this as an ensemble rom com. It takes a while to learn and remember the various characters, who are all connected in some way. All the various kinds of relationships and tropes are represented here. I can see this working well as a movie, like <I>Love, Actually</I>.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

This book had major "Valentine's Day" vibe.

The first character we meet is Liv, who is shocked by her husband's sudden death. To further complicate matters, before he died, he left half of their wedding planning business to Savannah, the woman with whom he was having an affair. From there, we meet a few other couples, all of whom are connected to Liz through the wedding business. We spend a chapter at a time with each of them and following their love story.

I enjoyed this book. It was fun to follow around all of the different couples. I wasn't expecting it at first—I guess I didn't read the description close enough! Once I got used to it, though, it was easy to really get into and reading went by quickly. I wish we could have seen a little more depth into each of the stories, especially Liv's as the main character, but there were so many characters that the book would have had to be longer to accommodate that. The bright side: when you have a romance with that many couples, you get extra happy endings.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy!

I’m one of those people who hasn’t seen Love, Actually. Okay, I may be one in a few who hasn’t witnessed that film that everyone gushes about. I mean, I’m not a monster. It just never happened. So this book was something new and exciting to try.

Who remembers Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon? (Okay, I’m really showing my age here) Where you pick one person and you link them to other people who then links back to Kevin Bacon. This is how I felt while reading this book. Every single person in this book was connected somehow and I felt as if I were back in the nineties linking absolutely everyone to Kevin Bacon. It was kind of distracting.

All of the characters were messy with deep-wedged drama. Everyone had issues they needed to work on and then everything was all wrapped up in neat little packages. *yawn* Plus there were too many people to keep track of and that was confusing at first. There were also a few characters were I eventually skipped over their chapters.

My favorite character was Liv even though she annoyed me. I liked watching her grow as she pieced her life back together. My least favorite was Savannah. I disliked her thought process and how she dealt with liking Honey. There definitely were better ways to write her character.

It Had to Be You was my first experience reading a book about wedding planning and it was decent. Not sure if it would be my first choice but I’d try it again. This book was an okay time and kept me distracted from the real world for a bit. It just wasn’t anything to brag about. I think if the book was shorter with less characters, I would have enjoyed this more.

I loved all the interpersonal relationships in this book! It reminded me of a #GarryMarshall movie a la #Valentinesday #Mothersday #NewYearsEve or one of my favorites #LoveActually
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There were so many great relationships to follow, all connected to the wedding planning business started by Liv and her husband Eliot. When Eliot suddenly dies he leaves his share of the business to his much younger mistress, Savannah. Normally everyone hates the mistress but Savannah did not know she was a mistress and she is simply lovable.
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Liv wants to hate her but when Savannah decided to come work with her and try to help rescue the business she can’t help but admire the young woman who has great ideas, a hard working mentality and a can do attitude. Plus her social media savvy will help being their business to a much larger crowd.
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This isn’t just a story about the wedding planning business though. It tells the story of multiple relationships and honestly I cannot choose a favorite. I rooted hard for every single one of these couples. I even teared up when Vanessa’s dad gave the toast at their wedding. When you read this you will see why!
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This is a charming story and I am so thankful to #NetGalley and #Atria for an arc in exchange for An honest review.
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This book comes out May 4th just in time for wedding season!
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Advance Copy received from the Publisher in Exchange for an Honest Review.

It Had to Be You is a romance with a wide cast of characters. (Think Love Actually or Valentine's Day). Readers are introduced to a slew of characters that are all somehow connected in one way or another--mostly through the wedding planning world. They all have their own love story as well during the book. While there's main characters in the book summary, they don't shine throughout the book as main characters typically do, and instead you're pulled into all the struggles and success, heart breaks and romances of each character and at times it does become a little much because there is so much going on. This easily could have been a much larger book and as a result the ends are tied up neatly and quickly for the most part. While the number of story lines did feel a little excessive, I think the book was well written. For so many story lines, I thought this was really well told and I did feel invested in figuring out what happened to each character. If you're looking for a feel good read, that will make you believe in love, redemption and the ability of people just to be good people (which we all need these days), this is a fun escape.

I love a Garry Marshall movie. He is the director behind Runaway Bride, The Princess Diaries, and Valentine’s Day/Mother’s Day/New Year’s Eve. If Garry Marshall were still here to make movies I imagine It Had to Be You on the silver screen. This romantic comedy by Georgia Clark is reminiscent of the Valentine’s Day movie with its large ensemble cast of connected cast that center around the wedding business. This book is full of diversity and different love stories, and there is a just a hint of steam in this book. As with books with a lot of characters, I found myself wanting to spend more time with certain characters and story lines, but overall I think this is a lovely, light read that is perfect for a beach day.

A fun, serious, joyful romp of five couples who are all involved as wedding planners. Their relationships have all the ups and downs of life. There is the death of Eliot whose will gives half of his interest in the business, "In Love in New York" to his girl friend, Savannah, while he is still married to Liv. An interesting challenge for both women. Just one of the interwoven stories in this novel.

How does a plot that includes a dead husband, his mistress, and a failing wedding planner business turn out for Liv? Better than you can imagine. Liv has to share her business with her husband’s mistress. How can she cope? I liked the zany plot. Most of the characters were interesting and their stories were intriguing. There was a lot of growth in the personalities and admittance of their flaws. I thought it was a good read. Sometimes the worst thing that occurs results in being the best thing that ever happened.

AHH what a wonderful read!! I loved all the different characters in this book. The diversity was wonderful. I really felt like I was cheering for all the different relationships to make it. There were some slower parts, but overall I was able to get past that and enjoy this adorable story. It is cute, but also has some emotional depth which I liked. I do recommend this and am so glad I was able to read it. Thank you!

Thank you to Atria & NetGalley for this review copy. All opinions are my own.

This ensemble story was emotional and witty. I felt for Liv in the wake of betrayal and loss, and even though that could be a story in and of itself--with the curve ball of working with the woman Eliot left his business to (who also happens to be the woman he was cheating on Liv with), it was intriguing to follow Gorman and Henry as they find their way together, Zia as she rides the highs and lows of love, and Zach and Darlene whose will they or won't they, all lended the story a Love Actually whole world examination of love in its many facets.

<i>It Had to Be You</i> is a rom-com that runs a little schmaltzy at times, but overall is a really fun read. I really like that the book featured so many different relationships, and agree with other reviewers that it's Darlene's and Zach's relationship that steals the show. The book itself is really sweet and even when characters are cynical about love, the ending presents a very optimistic view of relationships and love.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC of the book.

Georgia Clark did the impossible: Write a book with a ton of characters that I actually cared about. I liked every single character in this novel, and I was invested in all of their love stories. If you know me, that is an amazing feat.

I love books that have interconnected characters. They're tough to pull off, though; it's a balancing act. But Georgia Clark managed to do it with ease, while keeping the all the characters so likable.

I definitely teared up at the end of this! All the characters and their stories had proper endings, which just wrapped up an already great book. I can't wait for this to come out so I can recommend it to EVERYONE who wants a feel-good romantic read.
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Thank you Net Galley and Atria Books for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Liv and Eliot are married and run a successful business together planning weddings, but when things go wrong at one VIP wedding and Liv gets a call from Eliot’s mistress telling her that her husband is dead, the business falls apart.

When Eliot’s mistress finds out that Eliot has left her his half of the business, she is determined to pick up the pieces with Liv and bring the business back to life. What ensues is a ‘love actually’ kind of telling of five different romantic encounters between the different people that are all involved with the wedding planning company (such as the band, the florists, the caterer, and one of the wait staff).

I enjoyed this book immensely! I loved seeing into all the different lives of people who were intertwined in the wedding planning company. I loved the interactions between the two women who were both slighted by Eliot and trying to come together in the name of a common goal. I really enjoyed that there were so many different kinds of romance stories all wound up in one story. So much diversity and different tropes all in one book!

For me, this was a big winner and a really amazing way to spin together a lot of very fun and oftentimes poignant relationships!

Thanks so much to Georgia Clark and Simon and Shuster for hooking me up with an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

A collection of relationship stories that all revolve around a wedding planning business in NYC. When Liv’s husband and business partner dies, she’s shocked to discover he left his half of the business to his mistress.

Savannah is a young woman with big dreams who sees this opportunity as her chance to make a name for herself. Throughout the novel, these two women learn to work with each other and discover love.

Also featured are a waitress who often works for Liv and her budding romance with a celebrity and a fake relationship that turns into potentially something more with two of the wedding musicians.

This was a nice break from a typical romance, focusing on all different types of relationships! It jumped back and forth among the various storylines, but they were all given equal attention. I never felt like one of the couples/friendships was left out. The endings wrapped up pretty much as expected, but I still enjoyed reading the whole way through!

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/5

Thank you @atriabooks for this Netgalley in exchange got my honest review! 🎉

This book releases 5/4/2021 ❤️

What a fun fast paced book that centers around various relationships and their path to find love whatever that looks like for them!

Synopsis: It Had to Be You strangely unites Savannah, Liv and very diverse and unique couples in New York City through the Wedding planning company called In Love. Liv used to run this company with her let husband Eliot but when he suddenly passed away, his half of the company is left to his girlfriend (Savannah)who must find a way to work with Liv. This story follows several couples through, heartbreak, finding their identity, second chances and steamy romances.💛

My review: I enjoyed this book but was a bit confused with all the jumping around between characters. I enjoyed the various relationships but felt some could’ve used more depth. I loved the premise of this book and especially the epilogue. 💫

This book was fun to read as I’m in the wedding planning process too! I also love books set in NYC! 🗽

A cute and predictable story (or stories) about multiple couples that served as light palate cleanser between heavier reads. Skimmed a bit in the last 25 percent.

It Had To Be You is an ensemble romance following a widowed wedding planner, her unexpected business partner and the various vendors and partners they work with while planning extravagant weddings in New York City.

I haven’t read an ensemble romance in a long time, and this was perfectly lovely.

Content warning: Death of a spouse, infidelity

Here are the couples, if you want to keep track:
- Liv, the wedding planner, and Sam, a caterer who is going through a divorce.
- Savannah, who received Liv’s late husband’s half of their wedding planning business after a brief affair, and Honey, who works at a fried chicken restaurant.
- Gorman, an aspiring playwright, and his longtime boyfriend Henry, the florist.
- Darlene, a wedding singer, and Zach, a wedding DJ.
- Zia, who loves volunteering overseas and picks up waiting jobs at weddings, and Clay, a famous actor.

What I liked
- I loved the way everyone’s stories were woven together from the beginning in this ensemble! You automatically understood everyone’s relationship to the core characters of Savannah and Liv.
- Savannah and Liv’s friendship. Obviously, the two women start off at odds – Savannah had a brief affair with Liv’s late husband. (She didn’t know that at the time.) After Eliot dies, he wills his half of the wedding planning business to Savannah. The two women, obviously, don’t hit it off, but slowly, they grow close, and I love watching it. They fit together!

What I didn’t like
- Nothing felt special about It Had To Be You. It was just another romantic comedy. Every romance was very surface level.
- I came for the friendship of Liv and Savannah, and the romances they find. But we got shorted their story a lot of the time, focusing instead on Darlene and Zach and Clay and Zia.