If You Still Miss Evelyn Hugo: The Secret Life of Lily Adams is Your Next Obsession
There’s something about women with secrets and satin.
Women who drink champagne while crying in their dressing rooms.
Women who are both adored and misunderstood—always leaving before they’re fully seen.
After turning the last page of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, I searched high and low for a story to fill the golden-lacquered void she left behind. That aching, glossy, old-Hollywood hunger. The heartbreak in diamonds. The fame threaded with grief.
And then came The Secret Life of Lily Adams by Sara Blaydes.
From the first page, I was completely swept away by the Old Hollywood atmosphere — all satin slip dresses, whispered affairs, and starlets with secrets pressed into their powder compacts. I didn’t just read about Lily Adams; I drifted into her world. Watching her rise, falter, love, and protect was like standing behind a velvet curtain, peeking into something too intimate and too raw for the silver screen. And then there was Stella Lane—the silky siren with danger in her eyes and a mouth made for monologues. I She’s the kind of woman who lingers in a room even after she’s gone, perfume and heartbreak in her wake. Together, Lily and Stella create a story rooted in risk, silence, friendship and the sacrifices of fame that glows like a marquee sign just before it burns out.
Lily Adams begins as the kind of girl the world calls wholesome—wide-eyed, full of dreams, clutching ambition close to her heart like a silk scarf knotted tight. She’s the type who believes in the magic of the movies, the red-lipped promise of the silver screen, the possibility of making it without losing herself. But Hollywood has other plans. Enter Stella Lane: a velvet-voiced, cigarette-smoking siren who moves through the studio lots like a secret, dripping with charisma and danger. Stella is everything Lily isn’t—yet everything she can’t stop orbiting. Their worlds collide in a way that feels inevitable, like the slow spark of a match right before it burns.
If you’re drawn to:
The slow unraveling of a glamorous woman’s truth
Forbidden love in the shadows of the studio system
Sisterhood, sacrifice, and scandal
Stardom’s price in a man’s world
Heartbreak that lingers like Chanel No. 5 on a lover’s collar
…then Lily Adams will ruin you in the best possible way.
Pair it with:
A dry martini or a glass of something red and bitter
A silk robe and Billie Holiday on vinyl
Dim lighting and an open window, just enough breeze to rattle your curtain and your thoughts
Recommended for fans of:
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
The Secret Life of Lily Adams isn’t just a story—it’s a curtain pulled back. A confession wrapped in diamonds. It reminded me why I fall in love with fictional women over and over again: not because they’re perfect, but because they’re brave enough to want more. Lily and Stella may live in a bygone era, but their desires, their silences, their sacrifices and secrets.
This novel didn’t just fill the Evelyn Hugo-shaped void in my heart; it carved a new one, silk-lined and slow-burning. And I’ll be thinking about them—Lily and Stella—for a long, long time.
