Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
Emily Henry’s highly anticipated Great Big Beautiful Life is unique amongst the author’s works both in style and in content. Though it certainly has Emily Henry’s trademark wit and banter, the story is very much multi-layered, with at least three primary plot lines spanning the novel — the romance between the two protagonist writers, their competition to get to write a huge celebrity memoir, and the celebrity’s story itself. Each thread takes precedence at different points in the novel, but it all comes back to memoir’s subject and what her story illuminates for everyone involved. Read on for my thoughts on Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry, along with some of my favorite quotes from the book:
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About the Author, Emily Henry
Emily Henry is a bestselling romance and young adult author. Based in Cincinnati, Henry keeps her private life pretty well under wraps. Her first YA novel, The Love That Split the World, was published in 2016. Beach Read, her first non-YA novel, was published in 2020. Since Beach Read, she has published a new book each year, with Great Big Beautiful Life as her most recent, released in April 2025. Three of her books (People We Meet on Vacation, Book Lovers, and Beach Read) are currently in development to be made into films.
Plot Summary
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 twentieth 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.
My Thoughts on Great Big Beautiful Life
5/5 Stars
Emily Henry’s latest release, Great Big Beautiful Life is a bit of a departure from her typical style, adding layers around the romance central to the story. Perfect for fans of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Great Big Beautiful Life follows writers competing to get the job of writing a huge celebrity memoir for Margaret Ives, a tragic heiress from one of the most scandalous media families of the 20th century.
The romance between the writers is a mix of enemies to lovers and opposites attract, though their storyline is only part of what makes this novel great. It exists alongside Margaret Ives’ stories — past and present — and the messy interaction of all these lives.
Truth be told, some readers have felt disappointed in this book because it is quite a departure from Emily Henry’s typical (and beloved) style. I understand this critique, for sure. That being said, if you separate it from, say, Happy Place (one of my personal favorites of hers), I think it is a strong novel that features Henry’s robust wit and shows off her storytelling skills in new ways.
Favorite Quotes from Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
- “There’s an old saying about stories, and how there are always three versions of them: yours, mine, and the truth.”
- “There are all kinds of reasons for a woman to want to disappear. Always have been.”
- “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.”
- “It’s important that I play this cool.
Fact: I have never played it cool in my life.” - “Just because something doesn’t make money or win awards doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value.”
- “With writing, you could always add more. More, more, more until you got to the heart of a thing, and after that, you could chip away the excess.”
- “I find myself thinking that maybe every bit of heartbreak in life can be rearranged and used for something beautiful. That it doesn’t really matter whether I chose this path or I was born onto it, so long as I stop and appreciate the path itself.”
- “But I think deciding that we’re all just on a track, that we never really had any say over our own decisions — it feels like the kind of thing someone with a log of regrets would need to be true.”
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Where to Buy Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry is available for sale from Amazon and Bookshop.org. I highly recommend the audiobook, too! Be sure to subscribe to Emily Henry’s newsletter here for more details on her books and recommendations. You can find some bonus content for her books on her website here as well.
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Emily Henry Book Reviews
Check out all of my full reviews of Emily Henry’s books:
- Book Lovers by Emily Henry – Book Review
- Funny Story by Emily Henry – Book Review
- Happy Place by Emily Henry – Book Review
- People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry – Book Review
This post is a part of my What to Read series, where I share themed reading lists and book guides based on genre, time period, theme, or author.
You can peruse more of my What to Read reading guides here!
