Great Big Beautiful Life: Reese's Book Club

This was a very enjoyable read. You met Alice and Hayden. Both trying to get the same writing job of long ago famous tabloid princess. Slowly, you watch her story unfold while Alice listens patiently. A few holes in her stories to try and figure out. All the while, Hayden and Alice get to know each other. Beautifully written

Not gonna lie, this story took me a while to get through, possibly a first for any by Emily Henry. Even being used to my own family history work, the genealogy of names became confusing here and an update with a family tree might be helpful to add for those who find it hard to keep up. If others reading this review are having a similar difficult time getting through the myriad of details in this story, I will not give spoilers other than to suggest to keep reading, make it to the end, and I think you will eventually enjoy it as much as I have. I'm so glad I didn't give up on it. At one point I seriously thought I had found an Emily Henry book I didn't like, that she'd let me down, especially after the brilliance of Funny Story. Boy was I wrong! FS is still my favorite so far but GBBL is a very close second, or possibly an equal. Thanks Emily for this gift of love and lessons which I will not forget, and am already looking forward to rereading. Most highly recommended, with love. 👉💕👈

I'm an Emily Henry fan, so that's probably why I'm giving it 4 stars. In truth, it's really a 3.5 stars for me. I really wanted to love this book, but it didn't really click for me and instead felt like it drug on and on in spots. Aside from pacing being slow, I think I just couldn't connect with the characters or setting. I had to make myself go back to the book multiple times. At one point, I finally gave up for a while and read a few others before making myself go back and finish it--and I'd not have finished it at all had it not been an Emily Henry. I'm sure others will have loved this book, it just didn't meet my expectations and is simply "ok".

Margaret Grace Ives was born into wealth, privilege, and fame, as a member of one of the richest and most prolific families in American history. But twenty years ago, Margaret vanished without a trace, her secrets and burning questions regarding her family’s many scandals likely never to be answered.Until now that is, because aspiring biographer Alice Scott has tracked Margaret to a tiny island in Georgia, and the heiress and former socialite has agreed to meet with her. Alice is hopeful she can convince Margaret to allow her to write her life story.Unfortunately, though there is a catch, Alice has a rival in the form of successful, prize-winning writer Hayden Anderson who is also being interviewed for the position. Margaret has agreed to hire both of them for a month’s trial, and at the end she will decide which of them is the best fit to write her book. Let the competitiveness begin!Great Big Beautiful Life contained several of my favourite tropes – slow burn, rivals to lovers, enemies to lovers, grumpy (aloof) sunshine, and forced proximity (sharing a small island as well as a hotel). I enjoyed both Alice and Hayden as characters and as a romantic pairing well enough but nothing about the characters or the romance really stood out for me. They were a fun, amusing, and enjoyable pairing, but not swoon-worthy. It would’ve been nice to have some chapters from Hayden’s POV instead of just Alice’s. I adored the setting of Little Crescent Island during a Georgia summer, and all the beautiful scenery, and delicious descriptions of food.But the thing that really put a damper on this read for me were the chapters titled ‘The Story’ which focused on Margaret’s family history, I’ve noticed those being compared to Taylor Jenkins Reid’s, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, a novel I couldn’t get into and ended up dnfing. If I had of known Margaret’s lifestory was going to be such a major focus in all honesty I wouldn’t have picked this novel up. Furthermore, Margaret’s story was kind of boring and predictable, not scandalous enough for my tastes. There was one good twist though, I’ll give it that.If you are a huge fan of Evelyn Hugo, and I know there are a lot of you, or you prefer novels where the romance is a secondary focus (even though this was advertised as a contemporary romance), then I’m sure you will love this one. I’m picking my opinion is going to be very much in the minority. I enjoy Emily Henry’s writing, and I wish her every success with this book, but Great Big Beautiful Life wasn’t my favourite by her.

Hayden and Alice are both writers, where Hayden has already written big pieces and already has a memoir up his sleeve.After finding and getting in touch with the wife of her dad’s favorite musician (who went into hiding), Alice finds herself in Georgia, meeting with Margaret. Margaret isn’t ready to pick who she wants to write her story, so she does a practice run with both Alice and Hayden, and they’ll both turn in sample pieces in order to “win” this one.The way this book is written is so cleverly done - we see how Alice’s sample is playing out after she’s interviewed Margaret for quite some time. And we see Hayden and Alice become friends (sort of) where they acknowledge the attraction they have for the other, but also that they know they can’t pursue anything until after a decision is made.I don’t know what it is about her writing, but it’s just so wonderfully done that I sit down to read for a second, and accidentally read like 100 pages.The story continues to unfold, we see Margaret grow and thrive, but also become the woman she is now that went Ito hiding. We also see Alice mend the relationship with her mom and friends, and it truly just warms my heart.