Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry Book Review
Hi Readers! It’s been over two weeks since I read Emily Henry’s latest novel. I just had zero motivation to write the review these past weekends, but here it is finally! A day at home with no plans. In a good mood as I just finished painting while listening to Taylor Swift. It just felt like the perfect time to write this, so here you go! 😊
~~GOODREADS DESCRIPTION~~
Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping new novel from Emily Henry.
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 20th 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.
~~THOUGHTS~~
Emily Henry has become a household name. She has written 6 books, mostly all loved by readers. I have different thoughts, but what she has been doing has been working. So, I was befuddled with Great Big Beautiful Life. It did not read like an Emily Henry novel. It actually read like a Taylor Jenkins-Reid novel, nowhere near her expertise though. I have read 4 books by TJR, and have loved them most of them, as against EH, so I’m clearly biased. If it hadn’t been for the TJR-esque writing, I wouldn’t have read the book as quickly, so what can I say?
We have two authors in a month-long audition to write Margaret Ives’ biography. So, the novel is her story right from her great grandfather, and it’s also the story of writes; Alice and Hayden. I enjoyed reading Margaret’s story, because how couldn’t I? It has a rags to riches story, drama, tragedies, disappearances, too many characters who have too many secrets. That part of the book was fun to read. But, of course, because it was similar to TJR’s writing, I immediately had high expectations which were tough to meet. As for Alice & Hayden’s story, it’s nothing we haven’t read before. An empath woman falling for a surly man who is only considerate for her. I didn’t find any typical EH romance elements with these two. Sure, there was a lot of build-up, but it never felt ‘meant-to-be’.
The major problem in my reading experience was the big disconnect between the two story lines, and the very obvious and sole connection which I saw coming early on. I am not sure what was EH’s vision for the book, but it was genre-defying in the worst way possible. It was too tame to be romance. It was too mellow to be historical fiction. It was too generic to be women’s fiction. If I look at Margaret’s story independently, it would be 4/5 & for Alice & Hayden, it would be 2/5. So, I have rated Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry at 3/5 stars.
Here are the book reviews for previous Emily Henry novels if you’d like to read:
Until next time,
About The Author
Aishwarya Shenolikar
Hello! I'm Aishwarya, an Introverted bookworm & writer. I have been reviewing books since 6 years on my blog - Mindscape in Words. My favourite genres are Historical Fiction, Mystery, Thrillers, Magical Realism, Poetry, Fantasy & Memoirs. I like the kind of books which evoke emotions on several levels leaving me wrecked, but also incredibly content. I'm dreaming for the world to paint a landscape full of words, more like Mindscape in Words. Hope you enjoy the view.