Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry Book Review

Great, Big, Beautiful Life. It just came out today. Of course, I binge-read it, so I'm going to talk about all my thoughts, what I loved about it, and some spoilers that I’ll give you a heads up for in my review. Let's go ahead and get to it.

Just a quick blurb about the book: we have Alice, who is trying to secure her dream job of writing a memoir for Margaret Ives, who is basically a very distrusting woman in her 80s who has been a recluse for the past two-ish decades.

The only problem is that when Alice gets to this tiny island in Georgia, she discovers she is competing for the job with someone named Hayden Anderson. Hayden Anderson is your typical grumpy male main character, and Alice is our typical sunshine female main character.

You get that trope here, but they are working opposite each other for a month to gain Margaret Ives’ trust in order to be the one chosen to write her memoir.

I really, really enjoyed this book. I loved the interviews and learning about Margaret Ives and her family, her history—everything. I loved the present-day scenes with Hayden and Alice.

Their romantic tension was literally palpable and so great. We expect that from Emily Henry, but it was wonderful to read this new novel and think, “Oh, wow. I missed this.” My top Emily Henry book is Happy Place—still is—but this one came very close to meeting Happy Place in that top position.

The writing style for this novel is beautiful as ever. The way she described the oak trees, sweet tea, humidity, and everything on this small island made me feel like I was there. I could feel the humidity on my skin even though I sat in the AC all day long reading this. I was so immersed in the story, and Emily Henry’s writing pulls you in completely.

The characters are incredibly detailed, from their histories to their flaws and fears. Hayden has a strong backstory with his family, though he isn’t developed quite as deeply as Alice and Margaret Ives.

Still, he and Alice feel like complete opposites, which makes their relationship believable. Margaret is obviously a broken and struggling older woman who is hurt from her past and hiding so many things, but once everything is revealed, you really can’t blame her.

Margaret’s sister Laura, Margaret’s husband Cosmo, and everyone in the Ives family felt realistic and fully developed, pulling you even deeper into the story Emily Henry created.

There were a couple of scenes where things felt so real that I felt emotion building in my chest. I thought I might cry. I didn’t, but it came close. I didn’t dislike any of the characters or the way they were built—except Theo, and I think you all can agree with me there.

So much of the plot revolves around Margaret Ives. There is a tiny subplot with Alice and her mother, but the majority is about Margaret’s story and who will get the memoir job—Hayden or Alice. Another big part is Hayden and Alice trying to deny their attraction, which is fun because you know they’re not going to win that battle.

I’m not a big fan of alternating timelines, but I love Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Daisy Jones & The Six, and this felt very similar in structure. The Ives family history goes all the way back to Margaret’s great-grandfather and where all the tragedy began. It ties into the “curse” mentioned in the book, though it’s not laid out as a literal curse—more like a long-standing family tragedy.

I couldn’t wait to get back to Margaret’s story: the interviews, the secrets, the motives behind why she finally wants to tell her story. I didn’t expect the reasons at all, but I think I was so engrossed that I wasn’t trying to solve the mystery. I was just reading and enjoying every second. By the ending, there were no loose threads. Everything wrapped up perfectly, like a true romance novel.

Okay, spoilers. There were some moments where I literally said, “Whoa, what just happened?” Jodie being Margaret’s niece was not expected at all. I thought she was a housekeeper or maybe a live-in nanny, not Laura’s daughter.

Then finding out that the paparazzi basically caused Cosmo’s death? And because of them, Margaret gave up her daughter after he died, sending her to Indiana where she grew up without knowing who she really was—and then her daughter had Hayden? I was left speechless. I did not expect that.

Margaret giving up her daughter because she couldn’t imagine raising her under the same paparazzi microscope that killed Cosmo was heartbreaking. And honestly, it’s true that we shouldn’t treat human beings like zoo animals. We shouldn’t force celebrities to live under a microscope and pay for their art with their privacy.

But seriously—Hayden being her grandson. Did anyone see that coming? Because I didn’t.

That was my review for Emily Henry’s Great Big Beautiful Life. This book did not disappoint. It’s another Emily Henry novel you can binge, enjoy, love, and cherish. It came very close to being my top Emily Henry book, right below Happy Place. Everything was amazing—from the writing style to the characters to the plot. I was fully immersed and couldn’t be happier with it. It’s a well-deserved five out of five stars.

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