Emily Henry has released yet another fantastic read. Great Big Beautiful Life follows the two MCs, Alice and Hayden, as they compete for the opportunity of a lifetime: writing the story of Margaret Ives, a former tabloid princess, daughter of one of the most scandalous families of the 20th Century, and a tragic heiress.

Margaret invites them both for a month-long trial so she can decide who she wants to write her story. And for Alice, this is the opportunity to really prove herself. There are just two issues.

One: Hayden Anderson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and rival for getting Margaret's story.

Two: Margaret seems to only be giving snippets of her story, which they can't compare due to her NDA, and refuses to delve deeper or answer any of their questions.

I really enjoyed learning more about Alice and Hayden as the story progressed. I love the sunshine and grump trope, and that's exactly what you get in Great Big Beautiful Life. Alice is the epitome of sunshine, always positive and wanting to befriend everyone. In comparison, Hayden is a grump, coming off as cold, distant, and less inclined to want to make friends with the locals (or Alice).

Together, these two characters were great! Despite the short timeframe, their relationship progressed naturally thanks to their chemistry.

I'll admit I wasn't as much of a fan of Margaret's parts. The random pieces of her history that she relayed to Alice occasionally threw me out of the story because she was being intentionally vague and "mysterious". Also, her personality very much reminded me of someone who was used to having people cater to their every whim (i.e., spoiled), so I struggled to connect with or like her character.

But she was still central to the story, so despite how much I wanted to get back to Alice and Hayden's story, I appreciated how Margaret's parts all wrapped up and made sense at the end.

Overall, I'd recommend this story to anyone who enjoys romance mixed with historical intrigue, as Great Big Beautiful Life is equal parts contemporary romance and uncovering old, infamous secrets.

I've enjoyed a good few Emily Henry novels and in this one I felt she really upped her game by effectively including a whole second storyline. Alice is a celebrity journalist who's won the chance to pitch for writing reclusive heiress Margaret's story. But what's this, a Pulitzer-prize winning Proper Biographer is in the running, too? Alice breaks down Hayden's reserve and the sparks fly in all sorts of ways, and there's another running theme with both writers having families they don't quite fit into, but what's interesting is that Henry works in how Alice decides she'll write the book, looking at media speculation then the real story for a number of episodes, as a major section of the book. What I really loved is how right she gets it around celebrity ghost-writing, from the trying to get to the truth to interviewing someone with background noise knowing it's going to be hard to transcribe (Alice does all her own transcribing and it takes time, which is also accurate!). Other details are covered nicely, from diner descriptions to what happens when a storm comes in. It all gets quite racy in parts but it's a good read and well done, and Henry's work only seems to be increasing in depth and complexity.

Reviewed on my blog 28 April: https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2025/04/28/fun-light-reads-emily-henry-great-big-beautiful-life-and-jane-linfoot-the-cosy-croissant-cafe/

This is a great big beautiful book. I really enjoyed reading it. Alice Scott and Hayden Anderson find themselves competing for the approval to write the celebrity biography to end all. Reclusive former socialite Margaret Ives from the media mogul family has agreed to speak to both of them for a month and then decide who gets the job. As Alice and Hayden develop a friendship, frustratingly they can't discuss the project owing to NDAs. Bot are left wondering if Margaret is telling the truth. As they discover more bits and pieces of the story, the jigsaw is no nearer completion. Margaret's story is fascinating, the developing one between the two writers even more so. Family relationships are highlighted and healing occurs. A funny, hot, satisfying read. #netgalley #greatbigbeautifullife

This is a slightly different direction for Emily Henry, but I loved it! Margaret's story interwoven with Hayden and Alice's budding romance was so well done and really beautiful. The set-up was perfect and I loved Hayden's stony silences and Alice's unbridled optimism. They were a gorgeous pairing.
My only reason for deducting a star is that I just didn't fall as head over heels in love with Alice and Hayden as I have with previous Emily Henry protagonists (which is probably holding this book to a very high standard), and I felt as though the ending was a little rushed. I would have loved to have seen more of the fallout after THAT reveal. That being said, I breezed through this and found it to be so compulsively readable. I would definitely recommend.

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry has been all over my feed. #EmHen has a lot of fans. I recently read a number of her previous titles (some I really liked, others not so much). This one? Mixed feelings.

I’m a sucker for a historical Hollywood figure finally telling their truth, especially when it involves a love story, so I really liked all the Margaret parts. The parties, the family lore etc. I also enjoyed the relationship between Alice and her mother, and the descriptions of their family home. Her relationship with her father.

What didn’t work for me as effectively was the central love story between Alice and Hayden. There wasn’t enough tension for me or if not tension then enough of a slow burn. It felt kind of rushed or like scenes had been sacrificed in the editing stage to allow for more of the Margaret scenes. It felt a little underdone at times.

It’s interesting, this felt like a move away from Henry’s previous works. It really reminded me of Taylor Jenkins Reid - in particular Daisy Jones & the Six and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. So I’ll be interested to see where she goes next.

📖

GBBL:

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.

📖

I read an advance copy from NetGalley and Penguin UK Books - my thanks to them.

#GreatBigBeautifulLife #EmilyHenry

Emily Henry never fails to deliver, so I saved this one to read on holiday and I was far from disappointed.

The premise of the story is that two journalists, Alice and Hayden, are competing for the opportunity to write the life story/biography of Margaret Ives, who is a famed heiress that has disappeared from public life and lives as a recluse.

The attraction between Hayden and Alice is palpable from early on in the book which was not a surprise to me, and I did wonder how the author would keep the will they/won't they relationship going. However, this book is very much two stories. One is the full character development of flawed humans and their attraction to each other (Alice and Hayden), which is compelling and beautifully told; however, there is a bigger story behind the character of Margaret Ives, which was unexpected to me and as her tale slowly unravelled i found myself being sucked in even deeper.

Part love story, part mystery - this is a spectacular read which keep me gripped from beginning to end. Henry's characters are complex and as deep as ever! Do not miss this read!

“The best stories are born when the words slip effortlessly from a subject's lips, rather than being painfully cranked out of them bit by bit."

♾️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

book: great big beautiful life
author: emily henry

oh my GOD, THIS BOOK!!! i finished this around a month ago and have thought about it every single day since finishing it. i stayed up until 4am reading on my kindle in the dark and absolutely bawled my eyes out.

emily henry never misses and her talent astounds me with every new release, in my opinion this is emily henry’s best work yet, but, coming from somebody who has the seven husbands of evelyn hugo in my top 3 books of all time and folklore is my favourite taylor swift album, it isn’t shocking that i have a bias for this one. i needed to let the hype i created around this book die down before i reviewed it to see if i still feel the same way, and i do, like i said, this is her best work.

alice, hayden and margaret are all such complex, beautiful, yet flawed, characters. emhen has a way of creating the most lovable characters with so many layers they rival me in winter. they feel real to me. i have thought about them daily and would have HAPPILY read 500 more pages about them.

read if you enjoy:
🧡 rivals to lovers
🧡 small town
🧡 past/present timeline
🧡 romance with plot
🧡 books about books
🧡 family drama
🧡 the last great american dynasty

(thank you to much to ellie/teamEmHen at @vikingbooksuk for the EARC! i’m so grateful 🧡)

⭒ Rating: 4
🌶️ rating: 0.5/ 3

This felt like a very different Emily Henry. Not to say I didn’t like it, but I didn’t LOVE it.

The plot of the book was interesting but it was too much about the book the character was writing compared to the actual story between the MCs, so it felt like it was lacking the romance plot-line a lot of the time. Not that I didn’t find this couple cute or anything, I did like them. But the focus of the book was more on the person they were interviewing and it definitely overshadowed any real connection we could form with the characters (at least for me it did).

When it came to the life of Margaret, wow what a crazy and sad life story, and what a messy family. I did enjoy the mystery of it all and getting to connect the dots during the interviews but most of all the jaw dropping moment towards the end that almost came out of nowhere. That was interesting for sure.

There were very few side characters in this one (actually present in the story), and even fewer to like. This is usually something I always enjoy in EH’s books and I felt like this book was lacking there too, unfortunately.

The end of the book was angsty but I did actually enjoy it a lot. The heroine found herself in a completely different place than where she wanted to be but also the right one for her. She was still doing what she was meant to do and in a much more meaningful way that provided her needed closure as well. The very last paragraph was beautiful. I love it when books have that moment where the story connects with the title and this one was very good.

Overall, it was a good story. Although very different than what we are used to, the core was still EH. I wish I had loved it, but not every book can be a 5 star. This was definitely my least fav EH book to date and that is okay. I’ll still impatiently await her next one.

Great Big Beautiful Life is very clearly an Emily Henry book, yet is completely different from her previous novels. It has the “I’m coming home”-feeling that Emily Henry’s books always have for me, but there’s not so much of the typical humor and whipsmart wit. The focus in Great Big Beautiful Life is not only on the MC Alice and her life but also puts a big focus on Margaret Ives and her story. Emily Henry beautifully manages to weave the stories together, to make all of the characters come alive and feel real.

I really liked Alice as a narrator. She has such an optimistic view on the world and the people living in it, it was truly refreshing to read from her perspective. She tries to see the best in everyone, even when she doubts them, she still tries to trust. She has the ability to be friendly with everyone and have everyone being friendly right back. Despite her optimism, she still has fears and pushes her own worries deep down.
Then there is Hayden who seems to be the grumpy to her sunshine but who is actually such a shy cinnamon roll. The two of them just don’t fit right away, they’re opposites in a lot of ways but they are so accepting of each other and despite not having the best start, they grow closer and become friends and I absolutely loved theire interactions! They do have some of the Emily Henry banter but I also enjoyed that there were some (minor) misunderstandings and that they didn’t really click right away and needed time to get to know each other. I loved how the author crafted their story with its secrets and wants and with deep understanding for her characters.

I have to admit, I’m normally not a fan of multiple time lines with different characters narrating each one. But I was instantly gripped by Margaret’s story. Even though we only got glimpses of it, the way it was written in quick notes and only some details, the way Emily Henry, or, well, her character Alice puts it down and thinks about it, the way Alice is connecting the dots, makes it feel incredibly real and emotional. Margaret was such an interesting character who led such a wild life with ups and downs, yet having fears, having felt heartbreak again and again. I absolutely loved how Alice tells Margaret’s story and what she makes of the snippets the older woman gives her.
And I loved how Emily Henry puts their stories together, how she weaves and intricate, interesting tapestry of life, shows all the differences and the parallels, show the beauty in life and the darker sides. I liked seeing how the characters open up, how they confronted their fears, how they realize things about themselves by talking to others. Emily Henry really has a knack for making her characters feel incredibly real and close to yourself, it’s easy to imagine them coming to life or being surprised at the fact that they weren’t actually alive.

Great Big Beautiful Life is so different from Emily Henry’s other books, yet it welcomed me with an embrace that felt like home. It has secrets and the more they unfold, the more the story sucked me in. It has wonderful romances and complex and intricate family relationships as well as wonderful friendships. I was ugly sobbing by the end of the book and couldn’t stop, my emotions simply overflowing. I just felt too much and I’m still not over this book. Great Big Beautiful Life has me in its great big beautiful clutches and I never want to escape.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of this book!

This book was epic is the simplest of ways. I was completely enticed from the get go. Alice herself was encapsulating without everything else. There were so many stories going on that I needed to know them all and yet it wasn’t confusing at all.

It was complicated in a small way. That everything lead back to one another and I felt happy with the ending.

This book swallowed me whole and my head was in it from the moment I read the first line.

A 5 star read!!

This may be the love story of Alice and Hayden but the great big wonderful life is Margaret.. the emotion in her story makes Alice and Hayden’s story better and at times not even the most compelling part, that’s how good this latest Emily Henry book.
I couldn’t put it down until I was finished and now all I want is to appreciate all the different types of love story in this book all over again!

I received this book as an ARC and provide an honest review

This was a bit different from Emily Henry's previous titles, in that it feels more introspective and mellow. I was still gripped from the beginning, even though the plot feels very low stakes. I was highly invested in Margaret's story, but the it kinda feels like you already know how it's going to end, so the book was very easy to put down and pick back up. I always felt like it was all going to be alright in the end, so I didn't need to speed through it. It's partially because of who Alice is, as a character. I couldn't imagine her creating drama when there is none. She always tries to see the best in people and I had faith Emily Henry would be consistent and write her true to character. The last 15% was so unexpectedly emotional, and it was a beautiful ending to a beautiful (if understated) book.

For anyone going into this expecting a romance, don't. This is not a romance.

Yes, there's a romance plot in there but it just fades into bland background noise failing to compete with a family sagadrama. Pages and pages, of character upon character, that I personally did not care about. I hate to say this, but I just wasn't engaged.

It's still well written (it's Emily Henry) and I'm pretty sure a lot of people will love this, but a story about rich people doing questionably rich things is not for me.

Alice Scott and Hayden Anderson have both been invited to potentially write the life story of Margaret Ives, the reclusive heiress to a media empire. Her life was always in the news until she dropped off the face of the Earth and wasn't seen again in public for years. Now Alice has tracked her down and is hearing her story whilst competing with Hayden to turn it into a book. Alice's late Dad was a massive fan of rockstar Cosmo Sinclair, to whom Margaret was famously married and so she is desperate to find out the true story that her journalist father would have wanted to know. Hayden, on the other hand, is fresh from winning a Pulitzer for his previous memoir and on paper is the better person for the job. Over several weeks, Margaret tells her tale while in the background Hayden and Alice get to know each other and of course the forced proximity helps sparks to fly.

Now, if you've read Emily Henry's novels before you'll know that she writes romances with a hint of spice. But this is more like an Emily Henry novel twinned with a Taylor Jenkins Reid. It has the mystery of Margaret's story and why she has chosen to speak now, the intrigue of what she's not telling Alice and the golden age of Hollywood and Elvis at the heart of it all. It's much more like Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo with a side of romance from 2 supporting characters than anything else, and it is honestly fabulous. I adored it!

Alice and Hayden meet when they are in competition to write the memoirs of Margaret Ives. But the more time they spend together and secrets are revealed so what will happen when one of them wins? A great read.

Having read all of Emily Henry's books, I was eagerly anticipating this release. Henry takes a big step in a new direction from her more classic romance writing with Great Big Beautiful Life. Playing with the narrative format to intergrate a more interactive experience with the main character's passion and plotline for writing, Henry creates a novel that is moving and interesting. The romance between the lead couple is as strong as ever and was a thoroughly enjoyable comforting read all whilst maintaining a strong air of mystery that makes you want to continue reading for more than the romance aspects.

Every Emily Henry book is better than the last and this is no exception ! I loved it and was hooked .
Two writers are competing for a chance to be the one to write an exclusive book on the biography of Margaret Ives who had an amazing glamourous life but hasn’t been seen for years .
I loved this story – it wasn’t just a romance but also an intriguing mystery that swept me away and I couldn’t wait to read about the life that Margaret led and how she got to where she was now. Plus some surprising twists that I loved - This would be the perfect summers read!

Every time I think I can’t love an Emily Henry novel more than her last, she goes and writes another beautiful novel.

Great Big Beautiful Life draws two journalists to a small island, to interview the heir to an illustrious media dynasty and former socialite, Margaret Ives, whose sudden withdrawal from the public sphere decades prior caused much speculation and further infamy. Margaret has decided to finally tell her tale - a once in a lifetime opportunity for Ives fan Alice and experienced biographer Hayden. As they both vie for the opportunity to be the one she selects to finally tell her story, romance begins to spark (cue my utter delight).

This is not EH’s typical romance; it is like a lovely, cosy complimentary side to the grand and rich tapestry of Margaret’s opulent and tragic life and the Ives legacy. The story weaves across multiple family members, tracing back to when the Ives struck their fortune and through Margaret’s life, documenting the highs and lows of the family and detailing how Margaret chose to make some significant decisions in life. However, not everything seems as clear as Margaret implies, opening a further mystery for Alice to pursue.

I am a very big Emily Henry fan and for me to say that I loved the romance element goes without saying frankly; it’s my bread and butter and she writes characters so perfectly nuanced and fanciable and fun and with great depth and superb dialogue (SO hard to find in a good romance these days).

But for me to say that what hooked me in this book was the Ives story and not the Alice/Hayden romance is a big deal - and I love Henry all the more for trying something new and being daring to step ever so slightly away when she has such a large fan base who clamour for the next perfect romantic read upon each release.

The Ives family story was like being privy to the deliciously off limits stories we wish we knew about celebrities but with the dramatic, heartbreaking, uncomfortable, tragic moments and very human flaws on full display. I looked forward to reading Margaret’s accounts as much, if not more, than Alice’s story.

Alice herself though is a hugely interesting main character whose own background and personality carries the story perfectly. Her own family relationships are examined and she, like Margaret, has some unresolved issues to address.

I adored it. The perfect blend of historical fiction, romance and intrigue as Margaret’s full story slowly comes to light, revealing many twists that illustrate the complex portrait of the Ives family dynasty, while a gorgeously touching and playful (and yes, sexy) romance keeps pace as it unfurls around the reader in the modern day plot.

Layers and layers and layers of story - a readers’s dream of a novel. It is truly a perfect Emily Henry story and arguably her best yet.

Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

I absolutely loved this book.

The story alternated between Alice and Hayden and then it slowly open up with the House of Ives.

The mystery element which was throughout the story, I really loved and had me guessing until towards the end.

It was well written and had me hooked from the beginning.

I highly recommend this book.

I am nothing but a sentimental, romantic fool. I love this book.

Emily Henry strikes again. Henry has an uncanny ability to write and release a book at a time when I need it most. I’m going through a lot at the moment, and the way Henry uses this book as a vehicle to discuss memory, legacy, regrets and generational love really resonated with me.

As well as relating to this book and all the introspection it led me to have, this book was greatly entertaining and thrilling. I was so invested in Margaret’s story, and I loved seeing the main character, Alice, work through the tale. It was mysterious, tense and heartbreaking. I also loved how Henry took a look at the impact of the media, particularly with the harmful impact of catchy headlines, and not only the mentions and emotional danger of the press, but the physical too. I like how the book took a look at manipulation, memory and storytelling, and how there are many sides and versions of a story…and what’s the truth? How do we get there? I think this is all particularly important in today’s political climate, given how the news can manipulate the truth — or emit it — to make the audience believe a certain way. This is not to mention bias.

I did put quite a few of the puzzle pieces together of Margaret’s story, and I was so excited to see when I was right! I really would love Emily Henry to write a mystery/thriller genre book.

I really liked the romance between Alice and Hayden, and I thought they were both great characters who complimented each other well, despite all their vast differences. I will say this isn’t my favourite Emily Henry romantic couple, and sometimes I often wanted their scenes to end to get back to Margaret’s story, I was that invested…

All in all this was a beautiful book and I absolutely love how the last line pulled it together. I don’t think I could quite accurately put in to words how this book resonated with me.