Oh my my. What a book.

Emily Henry is one of my favorite romance authors. Every book she writes, I will read. This one, however, was a tad different than her previous works — but still great (big, and beautiful) nonetheless. In fact, the differences is what helped make it stand out and potentially usurp some of my previous favorites of hers.

great big beautiful life emily henry review — *Great Big Beautiful Life* by Emily Henry

Synopsis:

Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: to write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years—or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the twentieth century.

When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice’s head in the game.

One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.

Two: She’s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication.

Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.

But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.

And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad . . . depending on who’s telling it.

*Great Big Beautiful Life* by Emily Henry

My Review:

My initial thoughts? As a lover of romance, history, the historical fiction genre, and the song “the last great american dynasty” by the great American poet Taylor Swift, I found this book by Emily Henry to be captivating. It was stunning, it was beautiful, it was breathtaking, it was magical.

“Just because something doesn’t make money or win awards doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value. Or doesn’t deserve to exist. The job is alchemy. You take a hunk of rock and you try to turn it into gold, and the gold isn’t even really the point.”

I became grossly enthralled by the story by the first 10 pages. I was transfixed the moment they started talking about Margaret Ives. While I was intrigued by her story, by the middle of the book, I realize I wasn’t really rooting for Margaret like she was the hero of her own story, but rather a member of her family telling her version of the truth. In fact, that was the point — she was telling her version of the truth, and what is the truth exactly if not my truth, your truth, and the overall truth overlapped? That’s a question that the main character, Alice, ponders in her mind throughout the book as she interviews Margaret on her life and her family.

And what a life that Margaret Ives lived! She comes from the Ives dynasty, and to Alice, she recounts not only her life, but the life of her father, mother, grandfather, and great-grandfather — starting with her great-grandfather Lawrence who started the great Ives media empire. I wish that we got MORE of the Ives story. I could read an entire series on them. I feel like we didn’t get enough … but alas, I’m not the author. Emily Henry wrote “that story,” or that timeline, a little too well, almost like I could spend hours scrolling through subreddit forums about the fictional Ives family.

The little things about media and the truth that the author weaved in, quoted by Margaret, were very interesting. I particularly like this quote, said by Alice:

great big beautiful life emily henry quotes — *Great Big Beautiful Life* by Emily Henry

“The machine can try to compress you into something two dimensional, digestible, but that’s not you. And we’re not here to service the machine.”

Margaret told her version of the truth, which included constantly being in the spotlight and perceived by strangers. It was really interesting getting that perspective, and I can’t help but wonder about the parallels in this work of fiction to how the media today (and throughout time, tbh) treats celebrities, especially female celebrities. Many readers have been comparing this book to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, which I can agree with, but Emily Henry puts her own spin on it, her own magic, into this story. Blending the two timelines, the two stories (one in present day and then the story), made the story’s pacing natural and easy flowing. That particular part about the media portraying celebrities into their own version of the truth rang a few bells, reminding me of Evelyn Hugo. While I can say this is a book set in Hollywood, particularly old Hollywood, that felt like a very subtle part of Margaret’s story — like the backdrop of her story. Surely, it was a big part of why Margaret disappeared in the first place, and a root cause of her problems and her family’s problems, but I wouldn’t compare it to Evelyn Hugo and that story.

It was particularly interesting that she weaved in parts of Margaret’s story with Alice and Hayden’s. Parts of Margaret’s story were unfolding as Alice and Hayden’s story was unfolding. Still, that part was very subtle and I slightly wish that those parts would’ve overlapped more — the ending would’ve been even sweeter.

(Editor’s note: I could’ve been delusional as I thought more about this … I don’t think that Margaret’s story necessarily connected to anything in Alice and Hayden’s romance, but there was nice pacing between Margaret’s story being told and Alice and Hayden’s romance being told. Emily Henry built two different timelines, something we don’t typically see in her books, and I thought it was done well. They ran parallel with each other and flowed together smoothly. Not too much of one timeline, but not too little.)

Besides that, the romance between Alice and Hayden was so sweet! It built up slowly. In the beginning and throughout, they were at first struggling to communicate with one another as they competed for the same job interviewing Margaret Ives. There was a bit of tension — tension being Hayden thought he had to not be friendly with Alice. Or rather it was Hayden struggling because Alice could get along with anyone. In fact, Hayden clocked this in the book, saying this that I had highlighted:

“I think you live in a world that’s more interesting than the one most people live in,” he says, and just as my heart starts to sink with disappointment, with a kind of loneliness, he adds, “and I wish I could live in it too.”

Hayden struck me as a very interesting character that I could relate to. He kept to himself, and we learn it’s because of growing up with his father, who is the mayor of a small town in Indiana. He often retreated into himself to protect himself, and preferred to be alone — and he refers to his mother, who struggles with depression and also growing up in the spotlight of her husband. But on top of keeping to himself, it’s also his interactions with Alice that stood out. Alice struck him as unique — here she is, this ray of sunshine (we learn later that it’s because of her family upbringing in a commune lol) and the eternal optimist. It was a nice balance, and especially a good change for Hayden. He was intrigued by her. I would like to say their relationship had a grumpy/sunshine dynamic, but that would be doing a disservice to Hayden. He wasn’t grumpy — he was really just an introvert.

When it came to Hayden’s relationship with Margaret, there wasn’t much (I mean we didn’t even get his POV, so duh.) That being said, I clocked Hayden and his connection to Margaret by the first 100 pages. I knew he had something to do with Margaret. I loved that connection, and then hearing about his mom and then himself while growing up, it was really a special moment. I’ve said this in my other reviews of her other books, but Emily Henry does a great job of writing the male main character’s POV without even giving his POV. And this one was no different.

By the halfway mark, I was really into Alice and Hayden’s romance. I was riding the waves of their banter and tension, not only waiting for them to Just Kiss Already, but also waiting for the final shoe to drop (and it did, in the last 50 pages). And you’d think a “third act breakup” would be annoying. But I like to argue that’s what adds conflict and depth to the overall story. It’s a critical part of any good plot structure! Does it always have to be a breakup in the third act? No, but in a romance book, it’s a classic use.

(Editor’s note: I wouldn’t even call it a third act breakup. They weren’t really together; they were waiting to be together after the book pitch, so when things didn’t work out, could you really say they broke up?)

If Emily does one thing right (she does more things right, but you get the point of this sentence), is writing an exceptional story with exceptional main characters who are writers. I loved this quote, said by Hayden:

“ … but they’re proud of the accomplishment, not of the work. So you feel like you have to keep accomplishing instead of just creating. It affirms the idea that the value in what you do is how people react to it, and not just in the making of it. I’ve written stuff I’m really proud of that hardly anyone read. I’ve written stuff I’m proud of that no one liked. That doesn’t mean it didn’t deserve to be written.”

Emily Henry drops these nuggets of wisdom that I want to highlight again and again. Say what you want about her writing about writers again and again, but she does that well. And what’s life without some consistency?

So that ending! I could not put the book down. In the last 50 pages, we learn of a BIG twist. I think the readers could have predicted that “twist” throughout the book, but it was still a surprise nonetheless. Especially when it dawned on Alice. When she confronted Margaret about it, it was a slight letdown. Maybe it was my expectations for this great big beautiful book to come about (the one Margaret was telling), but I expected something different to come out of that confrontation — something like a resolution to the book pitch. Still, instead of the book pitch panning out into a considerable result, Alice stepped back and evaluated where she was at. And that led Alice to her mom, which I was slightly taken aback by, because while the romance subplot was definitely there, the asides throughout the book that included Alice and her mom were just that — asides. I liked how Emily Henry kept pulling us (the readers) towards Alice’s relationship with her mom, introducing how Alice feels about her mom not “approving” of her job (Alice’s words, not mine). Throughout the book, those asides were slowly unfolding like an onion peeling back its layers, but I’m so glad that it was a slow build-up because the ending was just so sweet. I was tearing up at Alice staying behind with her mom, recounting memories with her, especially when it came to memories of Alice’s late father, who Alice frequently referred to in parts of the book. Emily Henry always includes parent-child relationship dynamics in her books — it reminds me of Daphne and her dad (Funny Story) and January and her late father (Beach Read).

I particularly liked this quote by Alice — it reminded me of “marjorie,” also by the great American poet Taylor Swift:

“I should have asked him more. I should have written it down. I should’ve recorded every stupid joke and every piece of advice. I should have taken videos of him singing in the kitchen while you cooked. I should have tried to know all of him while I had the time. Before it was too late.”

I may have read that to the tune of “marjorie.”

And so, that definitely led into the big ending, with the resolution and those final pages. Oh my my, I was tearing up. It was truly a great big beautiful story. All of it: Margaret, Alice, and Hayden. All of their stories, all of their individual character arcs and stories, wrapped up together. I loved how it came together.

Overall, I really loved it. Whether you’ve never read Emily Henry’s books before or are a superfan, I think you’ll enjoy this one. While some readers don’t like this work of hers as much as beloved favorites, because this one is slightly different, I still loved it all too well. It had heart, it had grit, it had an incredible story and life of a woman who grew up in the spotlight, and as always, it had a sweet romance.

Rating: 4/5

Buy on Amazon, Bookshop.org.

Book Review: “Great Big Beautiful Life” by Emily Henry

Synopsis:

My Review:

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