Great Big Beautiful Life

romance

Jun 16

**Great Big Beautiful Life**
*Emily Henry*

4.5 ⭐

Read: June 2025
print | kin dle | audio

Here’s the deal. I loved this book, but, and it’s a big one, I kind of had to tell myself that I was not reading an Emily Henry title. Why? The banter was just not bantering right away. I didn’t feel the chemistry right away. The story within the story was so different from her other books right away. However, when I detached myself a bit from my expectations based on past experience, I was able to dive in and appreciate it.

I actually found myself more invested in the story of Margaret Ives and her family than in Alice and Hayden. I liked the bit of mystery and intrigue surrounding Margaret’s past, but the twists and turns didn’t take me by surprise.

As far as romance goes, Alice and Hayden develop a friendship and catch feelings over time, but the attraction is immediate. The book spans only a month or two, so it’s still pretty instantaneous. And again, the romance is there, but it almost feels like a subplot.

I think that the way this book was marketed as a rom-com and a mystery was poor. I don’t know what Reese’s book club should have said instead, but I think those labels will set the audience up with false expectations.

All of this makes it sound like I should be giving this a “meh,” mid-level, three-star review, but this one actually is in my top 3 of EmHen’s adult novels.

Emily Henry has a way of writing about grief and loss that connects for me. Alice’s relationship with her parents was complicated and beautiful. And there was a scene that just broke me; the words, “it’s not too late” had me sobbing thinking about my own life and family.

This one also sparked some creativity, bravery, and confidence in me with Hayden’s encouragement to Alice to write what needs to be written even if no one else reads it or likes it. The work is worth it on its own. A message I needed.