This one was so fun! It was such a quick read because I couldn’t put it down. It was easy to get into and I felt hooked as soon as I started. The cover is also so pretty! Thank you!

Witty, engaging and full of magnificent love stories, IT HAD TO BE YOU is another resounding success from Georgia Clark following her 2018 novel, THE BUCKET LIST.

Any woman will tell you that her wedding was the happiest, most beautiful day of her life. Any wedding planner will tell you that love only gets you so far, and that it takes a full crew to make a wedding as seamless and hitch-free as possible. If you want a perfect, stress-free wedding day, Liv Goldenhorn is the planner for you. Along with her husband, Eliot, Liv runs In Love in New York, a personalized wedding-planning business that juggles expectations with budgets and makes every bride’s --- and groom’s --- dreams come true.

But on the day we meet Liv, nothing is going according to plan: the white homing pigeons masquerading as doves are gray, a bit more “rat with wings” than “everlasting symbol of love,” the bride’s ill-chosen selection of flowers have prompted a bee invasion, and Eliot, set to return from a business trip, is nowhere to be found. With a bridezilla, a horny DJ and loose pigeons on her hands, Liv is already on the warpath when she receives a devastating call: her husband has died. The caller is his twenty-something mistress, the last person to see him alive. Needless to say, the wedding is a disaster.

Months later, an angry, grieving Liv is shocked when a heavily made-up blonde appears on her doorstep claiming to be her new business partner. As it turns out, Eliot was not only a cheater, but a man with a jaw-dropping sense of humor: he has gifted his half of In Love in New York to his mistress, Savannah Shipley. As the best event coordinator her sorority ever had, Savannah is eager to kickstart her life in New York; unfortunately for Liv’s ego, she has some very good ideas about how to help the company rebound from their last disastrous event. Starting with planning an Instagram celebrity’s wedding for free, Savannah is dedicated to bringing In Love in New York back from the brink and into the future. Liv is no idiot, and she knows she’ll need an income to handle her and Eliot’s debt, not to mention feeding their eight-year-old son. But she has three rules. 1) She’s in charge, 2) She’s in charge, and 3) She’s in charge.

Along with the other members of Liv’s team --- gorgeous, self-assured singer Darlene; too-charming-for-his-own-good DJ Zach; free-spirit activist Zia; single-father chef Sam; and budding playwright/florist Gorman --- Liv and Savannah have their hands full trying not only to bring In Love in New York into the 21st century, but to work as partners, despite the tragic, shocking death that brought them into each other's lives. Georgia Clark follows their partnership in a braided narrative that weaves together the individual plotlines and love stories of each member of the team, highlighting not only the many ways that love can bloom, unite and derail, but the value of having a village surrounding and helping you during life’s greatest joys and tragedies. (And for those who enjoy weddings or wedding reality shows, there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments of bridezillas, drunk bridesmaids and messy toasts.)

The couplings in IT HAD TO BE YOU are wonderfully diverse and well-rounded, and though it would be difficult to accurately describe all five couples at the heart of this Love Actually-style narrative, I have to introduce each perfectly imperfect pairing. Liv, still grieving the loss of her husband and the horror of his betrayal, finds herself drawn to Sam, a competent and witty companion. Darlene and Zach, the musical component of In Love in New York, enter a fake-dating scheme that is thrown abruptly into the danger zone when their onstage chemistry blossoms into something more. Activist Zia, still reeling from an abusive relationship, enters into a nurturing but risky affair with a celebrity that threatens to upend her spontaneous lifestyle. Gorman, an aging gay man, has been cohabitating happily with his younger partner, Henry Chu, but finds himself struggling with commitment when Henry starts hinting at wedding bells and babies.

At the heart of it all is Savannah, a Pollyanna-esque character made authentic and endearing because of her gut-wrenching sincerity, and her blossoming friendship with Honey, a fellow Southern girl turned New York City boss. New to the city, adulthood and sex, Savannah’s journey was the most satisfying, beautiful storyline in the book, and her discoveries about herself are empowering and gloriously refreshing. Clark knows and loves women in all their multitudes, nuances, wants, needs and celebrations, and Savannah feels like a perfect culmination of everything she has championed in her works thus far.

I’ve devoured each of Clark’s novels for their unique, original characters and the timely, searing themes of self-love, self-discovery and women’s empowerment. IT HAD TO BE YOU is no different. It is highly ambitious, and there are few authors who could take five couples and two wedding planners and create anything but disaster. But even this is not saying enough, because Clark revels in disaster. The messy, gray-area “how did I end up in this situation?” occurrences of life are her playground, and here she takes every diverse coupling, professional nightmare and swoon-worthy love story in her arsenal and creates something deeply joy-filled, tender, sexy and charming.

The world is full of love stories --- some short, some lifelong, some out-of-this-world --- but whatever your poison, Clark has something unforgettable for you here.

This was cute! A fun read and I liked the story. The characters were refreshing and felt real. I laughed out loud multiple times! I cannot wait to read more books by Georgia Clark!

This was a great book, well written and I enjoyed the story and character iine.

thank you for the advanced copy in exchange for a fair review.

For me, this was a case of: Don't Just a Book By It's Cover.

Hate to say I originally requested this, solely because the cover design caught my interest.
While I did enjoy this book, it was a tad bit hard to follow along with all the different character plots.

I should have known ahead of time, after reading the reviews and comparisons to Love Actually and Valentine's Day in comparison to the enable casting. Maybe slow burn, rom coms just aren't for me.

Would I recommend this to a contemporary fan, Yes. A traditional romance novel lover, not so much.

I am still appreciative for the opportunity to read an advanced copy, provided by NetGalley and Atria.

A poignant and heartfelt romcom that was just what I was looking for at just the right moment. Smart and sweet!

This progressive love actually reimaging was everything. The audio was excellent. I loved the different subplots and I don't have any favorites. I loved that it was set in the world of weddings.

This was a fun romance, but I think it was a bit long. I loved all the perspectives and characters. The setting was also so good!

I had such a hard time getting into this book until the cold weather set. Then one dark and rainy afternoon, I devoured this lovely book. I think the large cast of characters was the unexpected quality that took till I was in the mood to read it. Loved Liv and Savannah <3

The first half of the book, I was overwhelmed by the amount of POV and had zero feelings towards anyone. The second half of the book, I was more engrossed in the little snippets of their lives. So much like Love, Actually. I ended up really enjoying the book.

I had seen It Had to Be You reviews floating around social media and it was enough for me to want to pick up this book. While it was a nice little rom-com with a huge cast of characters, I didn't connect quite as much as I could have. There were actually a number of personal connections that I have with some of the characters that I could easily relate with but something was missing and I don't know what it was. Can a wife who was betrayed by a cheating husband really connect with his mistress later in life?

I really enjoyed this book !

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Atria / Emily Bestler Books for my advanced copy of It Had To Be You!

I don't know what took me so long to finally get to this book but I'm glad to have read it.

What I Loved-

*The Audio- I chose to listen to It Had To Be You on audio and I do not regret it! The audio was spectacular and featured multiple voice actors.

*The Setting- I am an east coast girl and I love NYC.

*The Many POVs- By the end of this book I was attached to every single character. That is hard to do- especially with the amount of characters at play. There were a lot.

*The Diversity- It Had To Be You not only showed diversity in race/ ethnicity but also in personal identity and love in its many forms.

*The End- I loved the ending of this book. There were no loose ends.

Why This Book Lost a Star-

This is my least favorite part of every review I write. As much as I loved all of the different POVs: it was overwhelming at first. Once I listened to the audio for a bit and became familiar with everyone it became easier.

Overall- Recommend. I look forward to reading more by this author.

The book almost reminded me of the movie “Love, Actually” or “Valentine’s Day” exploring all the different relationships. I usually enjoy books that have multiple POVs, but unfortunately, this one had a few too many. The synopsis explains how Livs husband passes away and how he leaves half of their business to the woman he cheated on her with, Savannah. I had thought it was going to go back and forth on how they handled the business together and how their lives are moving on without him. But it brings up multiple different couples’ love stories and goes back and forth between each couple. I enjoyed exploring a few different POVs: Liv and Sam, Savannah, and Zach and Darlene. They had amazing chemistry and different things going on in their relationships that keep you on your feet for what’s next. I would say that if there was a little less of Zia/Clay and Henry/Gorman and a little more of the other relationships I could’ve rated this a little higher. Georgia Clark did a great job at representing as many couplings as she could in a book, having interracial couples, bi-curiosity, same-sex couples, and widowed/divorcees.

Thank you to Georgia Clark, Netgalley, Atria Books, and Isabel DeSilva for providing me with this ARC!

I loved this book!!! There were a lot of plots in this book, but each one connected to the others and each one kept me hooked!! Such a fun book to read!!

Liv who runs a wedding planning business finds out that her husband ( who recently passed away) left half of their business to his girlfriend, Savannah What follows is the live lives and exploits of the people who work with them in their business. From the wedding singers, to the caterers, each story is connected and each story is just as cute and fun as the next.

Thank you to Netgalley, Atria Books and Georgia Clark for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I actually tried to get into It had to be you about three or four different times. This book just never worked for me each time, I think it was the pacing of the writing and the multiple point of views were hard to follow.

This was a one star due to not being able to try. I even recently tried again this week.

I had a great time reading this book and if you're a fan of Love, Actually and He's Just Not That Into You (the movie), I think you'd enjoy this. It's got a big ensemble so there's a little bit of getting up to speed with each of them. (For that reason, I probably wouldn't take big breaks in reading this because you might have a hard time following the plot threads.) Perfect for cozy weather season and it would make a great gift for a friend.

This book was cute and fun but also predictable. Still, I enjoyed it a lot and sometimes this is just what they need

I really liked this book at the beginning, but slowly the intrigue began to fade for me. There were so many characters and love stories and switching perspectives that it felt like every time I was starting to get invested in someone's story, there would be an interruption. I never got enough of characters because I was being taken out of their lives to read about someone else. This book also tried to do so much. There are mixed race relationships, same sex relationships, transgender conflicts, age gap relationships, gay marriage, figuring out sexuality, grief, dating post divorce/widow, etc. This book had it all. And while it's great to include so much diversity, the book didn't just include it. The author tried to get into deeper thought processes and issues regarding all of this and in the end, just scratched the surface of each. This book tried to do too much and it ended up not working for me.

Great rom com featuring several couples searching for their happily ever happy! If you enjoyed love actually you should definitely read this one

It Had to Be You by Georgia Clark is a fresh take on the tried and true romantic trope of weddings and relationships. The novel circles around 5 couples with all different types of relationships - interracial, heterosexual, homosexual, just starting out and long term. I found there to be a lot of compassion portrayed in the characters and each person seemed very real and their personalities and problems were very thought out by the author.

Whether you wear your heart on your sleeve or are a far more private person with your relationships. this book is for you! Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Paperbacks for a copy of this novel.