Book Review: Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
I’ve loved every single Emily Henry book that I’ve ever read (and I’ve read her entire back catalogue of romance books!), and Great Big Beautiful Life was no exception.
But one important thing to know at the outset is that this novel feels slightly different from her earlier work.
It’s more structurally ambitious, with a thread of historical intrigue woven into the romance, but it still delivers what I look for in an Emily Henry book: complicated people trying to balance love, ambition, and identity.
Spoiler alert: this was probably my least favourite Emily Henry novel, but that’s not at all to say that I didn’t enjoy it (I very much enjoyed it and rated this four stars!), but more a testament to how much I enjoy all of her books.
I should confess that my favourite Emily Henry novel is People We Meet on Vacation, which, according to the court of public opinion, is one of her least popular books.
But that fact might help you judge my taste in Emily Henry books.
Now onto my full book review.
The Premise
The novel follows Alice Scott, an ambitious writer who is offered the opportunity of a lifetime: to write the biography of the infamous Margaret Ives.
Margaret Ives is a legendary heiress and former tabloid princess, once relentlessly consumed by the press and defined by scandal.
For years, the public has speculated about her glamorous and chaotic past. Now, long removed from the spotlight, she is ready to tell her side of the story.
But something Alice doesn’t know until she’s leaving her first meeting with Margaret is that she’s not the only writer being considered for the job.
Margaret invites two writers to her secluded estate on Little Crescent Island for a month-long trial period. Alice Scott is one. The other is Hayden Anderson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist with prestige, experience, and a résumé that Alice could only dream of.
For one month, both writers will interview Margaret, and at the end of that month, she will decide who gets to write her official biography.
This is Alice’s dream job, so the stakes have never been higher, but there are more surprises in store.
Margaret Ives and the Historical Thread
One of the biggest departures in this Emily Henry book is how much space is given to Margaret Ives’ story and past.
As Margaret recounts her life story, from privilege and glamour to public scandal, the novel almost becomes a work of historical fiction.
We’re immersed in a world shaped by old-school tabloid culture, generational wealth, and reputational ruin long before the digital age we live in now changed (or amplified) everything.
At times, her backstory runs slightly long, and I did occasionally feel the pacing dip when the present-day narrative paused for these extended recollections.
But overall, I really enjoyed these sections. Margaret is elusive, occasionally manipulative, and, much like the tabloids that hunted her for years, I wanted to find out all of her family’s secrets.
The storyline builds toward a significant plot twist at the very end of the novel – one I really did not see coming. That said, I think it might have felt even more satisfying with a few subtle Easter eggs sprinkled earlier in the book.
As the twist arrives quite late in the book, the resolution that follows feels quite quick, too, and I would have happily read another 50 pages to let everything settle more gradually.
Alice Scott and Hayden Anderson
Although the main characters, Alice and Hayden, are competing for the same job, this isn’t an enemies-to-lovers romance like I initially thought it might be.
There’s no real hostility from Alice towards Hayden. She’s competitive, but not bitter, and greatly admires Hayden and his work. Hayden begins slightly reserved and professionally guarded, but their frostiness melts fairly quickly into mutual respect.
What we get instead is a grumpy/sunshine dynamic and the issue of their shared ambition holding them both back from their romantic desires.
They are both competing for the same opportunity during this month-long trial period, and neither is willing to let their feelings get in the way of this professional opportunity. Acting on their feelings could jeopardise everything they’ve worked for, more so for Alice than for Hayden.
Something else I wasn’t expecting was how spicy this novel is. Much of Alice and Hayden’s relationship is fuelled by sexual tension and the deliberate choice to hold back, making this Emily Henry’s spiciest novel to date.
That said, their love story does unfold relatively quickly as they are, after all, only on Little Crescent Island for a month. While the chemistry is undeniable, I do think a slightly slower emotional build might have made it feel a bit more realistic.
Still, while the ultimate ending was predictable, I was completely invested in their story.
The Emotional Depth
My favourite parts of this novel, as with every Emily Henry book I’ve read so far, were the snippets into the protagonists’ pasts that impacted how they approach love in the present day.
I love her writing because her characters never exist in a vacuum. Their romantic choices are usually shaped by family history, insecurity, grief, and expectation.
In Great Big Beautiful Life, both Alice Scott and Hayden Anderson are carrying complicated relationships with their families, particularly around parental expectations and achievement.
Alice struggles with proving herself. Hayden grapples with the weight of expectation and legacy. Their ambition isn’t just professional – it’s personal. And that resonated with me deeply.
I could relate to both of them in different ways, for example, the quiet need to justify your choices, the fear of disappointing people, and the tension between carving your own path and fulfilling what was expected of you.
It’s this emotional layering that makes Emily Henry one of my favourite authors writing today. Even when the pacing isn’t perfect, I care because I recognise pieces of myself in her characters.
Pacing and Structure
Structurally, this is one of her more ambitious novels, and it did remind me a little of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s style.
The alternating focus between Margaret Ives’ past and the present-day competition adds complexity, but it does create occasional issues with pacing.
We spend quite a lot of time on some parts of Margaret’s family’s backstory that have little impact on the present day, while the final act moves very quickly after a major twist in the story.
I would have loved it that little bit if the story had been fleshed out a little more at the end, so there was more time to process the impact of this twist on the characters both professionally and romantically. But despite these pacing issues, I never felt bored, and I was always eager to see how the end would unfold.
Verdict
Great Big Beautiful Life is a slightly different addition to Emily Henry’s catalogue, but it retains her signature funny and romantic style.
It’s not my favourite Emily Henry read (People We Meet on Vacation still holds that title for me), but it’s a strong, layered novel that blends romance with historical fiction with themes of professional ambition and familial expectation.
Alice Scott and Hayden Anderson are compelling because they understand each other seemingly innately. Margaret Ives is a mystery for most of the novel, which adds intrigue but also complexity for Alice and Hayden.
Ultimately, I gave this 4 out of 5 stars, as this is another great Emily Henry book with slightly flawed characters trying to build something meaningful in love and in life.
Great Big Beautiful Life is available on:
Amazon | Bookshop.org
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