Name: Great Big Beautiful Life
Rating: 4.042253521126761 (142 reviews)
ISBN: 9780241740613

Emily Henry

When Margaret Ives, the famously reclusive heiress, invites eternal optimist Alice Scott to the balmy Little Crescent Island, Alice knows this is it: her big break. And even more rare: a chance to impress her family with a Serious Publication.

The catch? Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud, Hayden Anderson, is sure of the same thing.

The proposal? A one-month trial period to unearth the truth behind one of the most scandalous families of the 20th Century, after which she'll choose who'll tell her story.

The problem? Margaret is only giving each of them tantalising pieces. Pieces they can't 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

“even if I didn't get mine as long as I wish I could have, I still feel lucky." "You're not obligated to," he says quietly. "You can feel cheated, Alice." 

He tried so many points in his life, he tried to codify what it was that made his father detest him. Or what exactly about Gigi and his mother drew out that small, soft smile on his father's lips.

He ran one hand over her mousy blond hair, and he looked at her closely for the first time and saw that she could be beautiful. That all it took was looking long enough, close enough, and he was ashamed that he hadn't. 

“If either of us doesn't give this our all, we'll regret it. And then we'll resent each other for it. And I don't know if I can handle being the one person on the planet Alice Scott doesn't like."

It's not dissimilar to why I started writing, or why I still do it. Not just the pursuit of some clinical truth, but the need to understanda person, make sense of what's at their very core, closest to their heart. To present that, clearly, truthfully, and to preserve it.

Love isn't something you can cup in your hands, and I have to believe that means it's something that can't ever be lost.

Under his breath, nearly a whisper, he says, "I think if I get this job, you're going to break my fucking heart."

The truth was, Margaret wasn't sure she knew precisely what love was. Sometimes she lay awake late at night, thinking about the word until it came apart like little bits of alphabet soup, the letters drifting off in opposite directions and the meaning lost somewhere in the gaps.

“Tell me something no one knows about you” 

“I’d marry you, Peggy lves, if all you had to your name was a gunnysack and a can of corn."

She felt only joy, rightness, and some amount of shock that the universe would grant her something so beautiful and precious as this without her having done anything to earn it.

"I don't need you to protect me," she whispered, kissing him slowly. “I just need you to love me." 

He didn't understand how it worked-why he couldn't stop himself from driving off the people he loved most in the world, how he always ended up right back here, in this big, empty castle.

"Your heart's broken without her, Peggy" he said, "and mine can't be whole until yours is."

She hoped. For the first time in a long time, she hoped. And that was everything.

"I feel like you're mine. Like you're mine in a way no one else ever has been."

"When Iet myself dream," he murmurs against my ear, "or it all comes crashing down - it's Alice, Alice on my mind. Alice all the time"

The good and bad, the magic and curses, all the blues and grays right alongside the reds and golds. I tell her the story about a love so powerful it remade the world for her. I welcome her to this great big beautiful life.

Deimante Jocaite 

I laugh. “Oh? I can have the world?” 

“Mine,” he says, “yeah. You can have mine.”

The dazzling new love story and Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick from the TikTok sensation and Sunday Times bestselling author of Beach Read and Funny Story. AN INSTANT NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER! ‘Emily knows how to craft a love story like the all-time greats’ -- Taylor Jenkins Reid, bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo ‘A new Emily Henry novel is an event, ushering in longer days and promises of summer’ The Skinny ----- When Margaret Ives, the famously reclusive heiress, invites eternal optimist Alice Scott to the balmy Little Crescent Island, Alice knows this is it: her big break. And even more rare: a chance to impress her family with a Serious Publication. The catch? Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud, Hayden Anderson, is sure of the same thing. The proposal? A one-month trial period to unearth the truth behind one of the most scandalous families of the 20th Century, after which she’ll choose who’ll tell her story. The problem? Margaret is only giving each of them tantalising pieces. Pieces they can’t 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. ----- ‘With a delicious slow-burn romance, a perfectly grumpy hero, and a setting that comes to life, this one checked all my boxes’ -- Laurie Gilmore, bestselling author of The Pumpkin Spice Cafe ‘One of my favourite authors’ -- Colleen Hoover, bestselling author of It Ends With Us ‘I've loved every single one of her books more than the previous’ -- Ali Hazelwood, bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis ‘An expansive, sweeping love story that also feels so intimately tender.... Beautiful.’ -- Bolu Babalola, bestselling author of Honey and Spice ‘Nobody writes chemistry like Emily Henry’. -- Beth O'Leary, bestselling author of The Flat Share FIVE STAR READER REVIEWS ‘I loved loved loved loved this and I expected nothing less because duh it's Emily Henry.’ Reader Review ‘My favourite by this 'must read' author’ Reader Review ‘Certainly deliver[s] on the slow burn, sexual tension and romance’ Reader Review ‘Did I finish GBBL or did it finish me?... I devoured it’ Reader Review

The new #1 Sunday Times bestselling romance from the author of Beach Read

Steph

Emily Henry, what a writer you are. I knew I was going to love this book, but I didn’t expect to fall head over heels for it. Great Big Beautiful Life reads like The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets Beach Read. It follows two writers, Alice and Hayden, vying for an exclusive interview with a reclusive heiress, Margaret. In true Emily Henry fashion, they start off as rivals, but the tension between them slowly softens into something tender and real. What I really admire is how Emily Henry steps out of her usual romcom lane and dives into something bigger here. This isn’t just a love story, it’s a layered narrative about legacy, power, secrets, and the fall of an American empire. Margaret’s story pulled me in completely. I found myself just as desperate as Alice to understand why she vanished and what she was protecting. The slow unspooling of the mystery, revealing Margaret’s past in tandem with Alice’s present, created this rich, foggy atmosphere that made the book unputdownable. That said, I do wish we got more time with Alice and Hayden. The romance, while sweet, took a backseat to Margaret’s storyline, and I was left wanting a bit more emotional depth from their arc. Same goes for Alice’s relationship with her sister; it was mentioned, but not really explored. Still, what a book. That last line? It absolutely wrecked me.

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.

Debora

I laughed, i blushed, i giggled, i gasped, i was surprised, i got emotional and, most of all, i fell in love with this story, with these characters and their great big beautiful life. Miss Emily Henry you did it once again

wow!! this is very different from all of emily henry’s other books but i personally really enjoyed it!! it’s so much of a deeper meaning disgused as a romcom becuz really the story of margaret ives had me enticed i wanted to know more bout her life and wow just wow! also the complicated relationship that alice has with her mom really stood out to me 

haewon

Cameron Voytko

This will likely be Emily Henry's most divisive novel yet; it leans more towards women's fiction than strict romance, and takes a big swing anchoring the central narrative in the life story of a character completely separate from the leads, but wow. It really, really worked for me, and I commend Henry for branching out to try something new in an era where she could have just as easily settled into her security as a big name author with about a thousand book adaptations on the horizon. I was wrapped up in both storylines, and the end was a gut punch. Alice grated me a little bit in the beginning (in context I think she was maybe supposed to) but I warmed up to her considerably throughout, and Hayden is genuinely as good as your standard "grumpy" main male character is going to get. Margaret is shifty and fascinating; easy to love, blame, empathize with and feel sorry for all at once. I've already seen reviewers lamenting the lack of romance, but for me, that's never what really captivates me in an Emily Henry book, anyways. I'm drawn to her stories again and again because they demonstrate such a fondness for humanity and connection, as well as all the complexities that come with that. She's at her strongest when exploring how relationships have the ability to change and shape people, for better or for worse, and if I have to sacrifice witty banter or shoehorned tropes or overblown third act conflicts to get a story like Great Big Beautiful Life, than so be it. I think a lot of people are going to miss the point with this one, even though Alice puts it pretty plainly: it's about love. Not just romantic, but all kinds. Across space and time.

Mandie

I personally loved it, even after reading reviews that it wasn't like a typical EH book (I've read them all and it's really not so far out of her realm tbh). I loved the story, I loved the happy ending, I loved how it was about family in a lot of ways while still focusing on that tried and true aspect of romance that Emily Henry is known for.

Michelle Dsouza

This is a love story that forgets to feel like one. I went into Great Big Beautiful Life expecting an Emily Henry romance. That’s the promise she usually makes: emotional intimacy, sharp dialogue, and characters who fall into each other in a way that feels earned. This… wasn’t that. To her credit, Emily Henry clearly tries to step outside her usual lane here. The book leans more into reflection, legacy, and storytelling through Margaret’s “The Story” chapters, rather than the banter-heavy, chemistry-driven dynamic she’s known for. I didn’t mind the shift in direction. I minded the execution. The biggest issue for me was connection. I struggled to connect with Margaret, and since so much of the book is built around her story, that became a structural problem. Those sections are long, frequent, and meant to carry emotional weight, but they felt hollow. Not in content, but in voice. It didn’t sound like someone genuinely telling their life story. It sounded written, and that distance made it harder to care. And because those sections take up so much space, the rest of the book suffers. The relationship between Alice and Hayden, which should be the emotional engine, feels underdeveloped. There’s very little of the dialogue, humor, and tension that usually defines Emily Henry’s work. Their connection doesn’t build in a way that feels inevitable. It just kind of… exists. For a book positioned even loosely as a love story, that’s a problem. There’s also a familiarity here that didn’t quite work in its favor. It echoes Beach Read in structure and character dynamics, the respected male writer, the less respected female writer, the deadlines, the research process bringing them together. But where Beach Read had emotional clarity and payoff, this one feels like a diluted version of that same formula. Thematically, the book is reaching for something bigger. Legacy, identity, creative ownership, grief. It wants to explore these ideas through multiple characters and timelines, but instead of deepening them, it spreads itself too thin. We get glimpses of who these characters are, but not enough to reach the core of them. The emotional beats are there in theory, pain, love, longing, but they don’t land with the force they should. And then there are the Taylor Swift references. I understand the intention. It fits the tone she was going for. But it starts to feel overdone, to the point where it pulls you out of the story instead of grounding it. That said, the book is still readable. Emily Henry’s writing is clean and easy to move through, even when it’s not hitting emotionally. And I do respect that she tried to do something different here rather than repeating the exact same formula. It just didn’t fully come together for me. A book with an interesting direction, but one that loses its emotional core somewhere along the way.

Nice story, however the love story between the journalists felt pushed & totally unnecessary. I just skipped the love scenes among them. I mean the boy resists a lot at first and then just gives up & be like ok let’s be together? And like what’s with them not having sex and just tipping the toe in the water. What are we, 13? Other than that, fun read. A bit too long.

HelyaSameni

emily henry consistent as always. good modern romance + i liked the subplot. not my favorite of hers but solid and what i expected

julia

Not my fav Em Hen but still really good!!!! Had the essence of Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo but was unique in its plot, hard to stop reading!

Emma Freeman

" 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. "

it was fine but i don’t care about any of these characters 

Leah

I found the side story, the story of Margaret, interesting and I liked how it played out at the end.

That being said I think the development of the relationship between the main characters was rushed. I didn't enjoy reading the "spicy" scenes. 

Yega

My fav Emily Henry book till now. 

I found the side story, the story of Margaret, interesting and I liked how it played out at the end.

That being said I think the development of the relationship between the main characters was rushed. I didn't enjoy reading the "spicy" scenes. 

Debated on how I wanted to rate this but think I came to conclusion on how reading this made me feel. For starters, having a similar vibe to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, with a famous woman wanting to tell her story/secrets, I was really curious how this would tie in with the love story. Fair to say, I found myself skimming through the areas of Margaret's story telling and bore me especially the first half. I was anticipating the love story to only get glimpses and nothing wrong with their love being so direct and...easy? but I wanted more than just sexual tension. Also, the ending seemed rushed. 

Some good things, i did like their dynamic and the way they balance and help each other out with how both MC's decided to view the world based on their life experiences.

lily

Debated on how I wanted to rate this but think I came to conclusion on how reading this made me feel. For starters, having a similar vibe to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, with a famous woman wanting to tell her story/secrets, I was really curious how this would tie in with the love story. Fair to say, I found myself skimming through the areas of Margaret's story telling and bore me especially the first half. I was anticipating the love story to only get glimpses and nothing wrong with their love being so direct and...easy? but I wanted more than just sexual tension. Also, the ending seemed rushed. 

Some good things, i did like their dynamic and the way they balance and help each other out with how both MC's decided to view the world based on their life experiences.

Voto complessivo: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Tropes and vibes: rivals to lovers - forced proximity - grumpy x sunshine - slow burn - family

Emily Henry scrive bene, ed è proprio questo che la salva, perché alla fine sono sempre le medesime cose a non piacermi nei suoi libri. Con qualcun altro mi sarei già stancata; con lei, invece, continuo imperterrita, e comunque parliamo sempre di votazioni oltre le 4 stelle.

Il mezzo punto che manca per il massimo dei voti è sempre per legami familiari troppo asfissianti, quasi morbosi, che rischiano di mettere in secondo piano la storia d’amore (stavolta però, fortunatamente, non riguardano direttamente la protagonista), e per pretesti un po’ troppo labili che impediscono ai due MC di stare insieme.

Big Great Beautiful Life è un libro particolare. Non il primo di questo genere, ma comunque non comune in ambito romance. C’è una storia nella storia che occupa gran parte della narrazione, e non tutti potrebbero apprezzare una simile struttura.

Alice e Hayden, due giornalisti specializzati in biografie, si contendono la possibilità di scrivere di Margaret Ives, ultima di una famiglia di magnati dei media, a loro volta vittime della notorietà. Sono 30 anni che Margaret è sparita dalla circolazione, e poter aver accesso alla sua versione della storia è un’occasione davvero ghiotta. E mentre Alice e Hayden diventano sempre più vicini, Margaret ricostruisce il passato degli Ives, a partire da Lawrence Ives, a metà del 1800.

La storia d’amore si mescola così a un’avvincente saga familiare che copre 6 generazioni, tra grandi passioni e tragiche perdite.

Ammetto che il plot twist è facilmente intuibile: non ci sono chiari indizi, ma una certa sensazione comincia a aleggiare molto presto.

A ogni modo, è uno di quei libri che si divorano nel giro di 24 ore, e Emily Henry continuerà ad avermi dalla sua, anche con quelle cattive abitudini che proprio non riesce a abbandonare.

Ilaria Emme

Voto complessivo: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Dramma: 💧💧

Sugar: 🧁🧁🧁

Spice: 🌶️.5

Tropes and vibes: rivals to lovers - forced proximity - grumpy x sunshine - slow burn - family

Emily Henry scrive bene, ed è proprio questo che la salva, perché alla fine sono sempre le medesime cose a non piacermi nei suoi libri. Con qualcun altro mi sarei già stancata; con lei, invece, continuo imperterrita, e comunque parliamo sempre di votazioni oltre le 4 stelle.

Il mezzo punto che manca per il massimo dei voti è sempre per legami familiari troppo asfissianti, quasi morbosi, che rischiano di mettere in secondo piano la storia d’amore (stavolta però, fortunatamente, non riguardano direttamente la protagonista), e per pretesti un po’ troppo labili che impediscono ai due MC di stare insieme.

Big Great Beautiful Life è un libro particolare. Non il primo di questo genere, ma comunque non comune in ambito romance. C’è una storia nella storia che occupa gran parte della narrazione, e non tutti potrebbero apprezzare una simile struttura.

Alice e Hayden, due giornalisti specializzati in biografie, si contendono la possibilità di scrivere di Margaret Ives, ultima di una famiglia di magnati dei media, a loro volta vittime della notorietà. Sono 30 anni che Margaret è sparita dalla circolazione, e poter aver accesso alla sua versione della storia è un’occasione davvero ghiotta. E mentre Alice e Hayden diventano sempre più vicini, Margaret ricostruisce il passato degli Ives, a partire da Lawrence Ives, a metà del 1800.

La storia d’amore si mescola così a un’avvincente saga familiare che copre 6 generazioni, tra grandi passioni e tragiche perdite.

Ammetto che il plot twist è facilmente intuibile: non ci sono chiari indizi, ma una certa sensazione comincia a aleggiare molto presto.

A ogni modo, è uno di quei libri che si divorano nel giro di 24 ore, e Emily Henry continuerà ad avermi dalla sua, anche con quelle cattive abitudini che proprio non riesce a abbandonare.

Listen to it in a week, very nicely paced, interesting in the way the books is written. 

Didn’t love the #superhappyend but what can you do it’s good that it’s a happy end

Nothing really devastating happens that would make you cry.

Ester Waclavova

Listen to it in a week, very nicely paced, interesting in the way the books is written. 

Love the their story vs. her story

Didn’t love the #superhappyend but what can you do it’s good that it’s a happy end

Nothing really devastating happens that would make you cry.

The best Emily Henry book I’ve read 🥹💕

Sydney Burns

As usual with Emily Henry, I ate this up.

I always like a good moody love interest, and a happy and soft main character is always a great choice. I like main characters that not only get things done and "girl boss", but are soft and sweet and don't have to fit a "tough" demeanor that authors tend to go for often.

I was interested in the historical backstory, so I looked forward to both storylines and where they were going.

Sarah Campbell

As usual with Emily Henry, I ate this up.
I always like a good moody love interest, and a happy and soft main character is always a great choice. I like main characters that not only get things done and "girl boss", but are soft and sweet and don't have to fit a "tough" demeanor that authors tend to go for often.
I was interested in the historical backstory, so I looked forward to both storylines and where they were going.
Overall, this was a great read!

Another absolute smash from Emily Henry. The way the plot points converge and wrap up at the end is so satisfying and the characters are so incredibly lovable.

Paige Leitner

A Great Big Beautiful Book 💞 This story felt so different from the Emily Henry I’m used to but I loved it! It was much deeper & explored a lot of complex emotions while also being a beautiful love story! The first half of the book was slightly slow for me but the second half had me hooked & I honestly didn’t expect a plot twist! 

Mariah crawford

julie reads

sadly not my fave emily henry book :<< was still beautifully written and vv entertaining but i just felt like there were so many plot lines that could have been explored and i was left kind of disappointed and wanting more at the end

still a solid read tho and the tension between the characters is just perfect 💯 

Nicole Grace

sadly not my fave emily henry book :<< was still beautifully written and vv entertaining but i just felt like there were so many plot lines that could have been explored and i was left kind of disappointed and wanting more at the end

still a solid read tho and the tension between the characters is just perfect 💯

Wonderful book, loved it with my whole heart! Sometimes it reminded my of "seven husbands of evelyn hugo" in the way margarets story unraveled. While I had my suspicions about the end, I was truly surprised by the real end. I smiled, I gasped and I cried

Marie

Loved Henry’s “departure” (as she calls it in her acknowledgments) from her typical summer read. Still romance but with a great big beautiful twist and deviation from her norm. Loved the characters with sharper edges and the story-within-a-story concept.

Sarah Wilson

lots of comparisons here to taylor jenkins read which is not a bad thing but i do wish it differentiated itself a bit more. but this is probably my 2nd favorite romance of eh by far, and hayden is such a goofball. 

shaye

if we are comparing this to the seven lives of evelyn hugo, which i feel like may be a bit inevitable, then i prefer this one. to me, the twist feels more shocking and plausible and important than the one in evelyn hugo, and i did find margaret’s life interesting — and especially alice and hayden’s efforts to uncover the half truths and outright lies they are being told. i thought the hints leading up to the reveal were very effective in that they were very small and all come together and click in just the right way by the end. however, i felt like alice was a bit less developed than henry’s other heroines. we establish her personality early on, but to me, her chirpiness and optimism didn’t really come through as drastically different from other henry heroines, and her issues with her mother kind of arose out of nowhere to me. i did find myself somewhat surprised that alice was 33, bc i felt like some of her slip ups felt like a 20s kind of thing haha. still, i liked hayden! um. idk the more i think abt this book, the more i feel like the characters are all kind of flat; alice just has friends at opportune moments, and her sister hardly matters at all despite being a primary hint to the darkness under alice’s pink exterior. i also felt like hayden and alice fell fast for each other without earning it in a way? it felt like they jumped to love even tho they were both just like. normal ppl to each other except that they were cooped up in a small town together lol. 

friends in the past have criticized henry’s books for wrapping up the ending too fast. i haven’t felt it for her previous works, but i did feel it for this one, maybe in part because i still had questions. i would have loved to see hayden and margaret’s interactions, particularly near the end, and seen more of that relationship fleshed out. 

THAT BEING SAID, i think i ended up feeling more favorably toward the book because of the ending and the way the plot tied together by the last page. despite all its flaws, i still felt quite satisfied and emotional by the end. [SPOILER] i really don’t think alice had to have a kid, esp since she didn’t necessarily talk a lot abt wanting one throughout the book…. BUT i did think it was a nice tribute and a bow tie way to close the loop of the story. [/SPOILER]

lucia

if we are comparing this to the seven lives of evelyn hugo, which i feel like may be a bit inevitable, then i prefer this one. to me, the twist feels more shocking and plausible and important than the one in evelyn hugo, and i did find margaret’s life interesting — and especially alice and hayden’s efforts to uncover the half truths and outright lies they are being told. i thought the hints leading up to the reveal were very effective in that they were very small and all come together and click in just the right way by the end. however, i felt like alice was a bit less developed than henry’s other heroines. we establish her personality early on, but to me, her chirpiness and optimism didn’t really come through as drastically different from other henry heroines, and her issues with her mother kind of arose out of nowhere to me. i did find myself somewhat surprised that alice was 33, bc i felt like some of her slip ups felt like a 20s kind of thing haha. still, i liked hayden! um. idk the more i think abt this book, the more i feel like the characters are all kind of flat; alice just has friends at opportune moments, and her sister hardly matters at all despite being a primary hint to the darkness under alice’s pink exterior. i also felt like hayden and alice fell fast for each other without earning it in a way? it felt like they jumped to love even tho they were both just like. normal ppl to each other except that they were cooped up in a small town together lol. 

friends in the past have criticized henry’s books for wrapping up the ending too fast. i haven’t felt it for her previous works, but i did feel it for this one, maybe in part because i still had questions. i would have loved to see hayden and margaret’s interactions, particularly near the end, and seen more of that relationship fleshed out. 

THAT BEING SAID, i think i ended up feeling more favorably toward the book because of the ending and the way the plot tied together by the last page. despite all its flaws, i still felt quite satisfied and emotional by the end. [SPOILER] i really don’t think alice had to have a kid, esp since she didn’t necessarily talk a lot abt wanting one throughout the book…. BUT i did think it was a nice tribute and a bow tie way to close the loop of the story. [/SPOILER]

Great Big Beautiful Life

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