Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Stora vackra liv by Emily Henry

134 reviews

sytaylor's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Content Warnings

mommapajama83's review against another edition

4.5

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This is my second Emily Henry book and while I really did not enjoy Beach Read, I love this. It was sad and emotional. It was hard to follow the family tree at times, that was a bit difficult. I often tell my sister I wish books would all have the character explanations in the front of the book like the original American Girl books.

I enjoyed the main love interests and how they actively worked through problems and worked to understand and apologize with each other. Their issues seemed more grounded in logic versus narrative contrivances. They were not able to talk to each other about certain things due to

the NDA's they sign.

They penultimate issue

again being afraid of legal threat and also not telling a love one something like that would destroy the relationship slowly over years.

I was also quite moved by the parental relationship with the main female character and her mother. I loathed the mother. She made me so angry.

Then I actually forgave her. Her reasons were not great and she screwed up but they made sense in some way versus actually being apathetic to your child's passions and work.

Margaret and the story she told were so interesting and heartbreaking.

I genuinely convinced myself there would be a happy ending for her. I get upset thinking about how there really wasn't one.

You can have all the money in the world but be barred away from love and happiness by that same money.

And Julia Wheylan, when she read Margaret in a moment of seething anger, her voice gave me chills. She sounded genuinely scary. She did a great job on the audiobook.

Content Warnings

cassidy_rain's review against another edition

4.0

lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Loveable characters: Yes

“The only way to get a person's full, unfiltered story is to let them tell it to you when and how they want. 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.“

This book was a delight! I’d argue that Great Big Beautiful Life is best categorized as literary fiction with elements of mystery and romance. (Which is everything I want in a good story!). This book follows Alice and Hayden- both journalists who are competing for a chance to write a new elusive biography about a famous socialite who hasn’t been seen in years.

I fell in love with the characters in here. Alice is bubbly and fun and wins the heart of everyone she runs into. Hayden is a bit tough to crack in the beginning, but he’s super endearing once you get to know him. Margaret is whimsical and quirky and you can’t help but fall in love with her too. I was really invested in all the mysterious elements in this. It feels like you’re uncovering the story and the truth alongside these characters which is really fun. And then of course we get the signature Emily Henry romance, which feels just like the icing on the cake. Despite Alice and Hayden’s story taking the back-burner to Margaret’s, I still felt it had great development and made perfect sense to me. The tension and the will they/won’t they is scrumptious. There’s actually several love stories being told throughout this story and they’re all beautiful in their own ways.

Some of the parts telling Margaret’s story felt a little slow and dragged out, but other than that I thoroughly enjoyed this! My second favorite EH, as the current ranking stands.

"I think you live in a world that's more interesting than the one most people live in," he says, and just as my heart starts to sink with disappointment, with a kind of loneliness, he adds, "and I wish I could live in it too."

I feel myself beaming. "I'll take you sometime."

"I'd like that," he says.

Content Warnings

fatymahsy's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Came for a Romcom, Stayed for what is essentially a love letter to journalism.

Above and Beyond all, this is a story about love -in all it's forms- from familial, platonic, romantic to all the complexities and nuances that comes with loving.

Grief is a central theme, handled with the thoughtfulness that is associated with Emily Henry's writing; someone who has always captured at it's most raw tender form.

The Cast is delightful, you can't help but empathize and care for and with all the flawed humanity of the characters, no one is perfect and this book serves as a remind that it's ok not to be, not when the people who love you will do in spite of everything.

Don't get it twisted though, the romance is off the charts, Alice and Hayden may have invented a new level to being down bad for each other, the chemistry and tension is truly off the charts.

Alice Scott might be my new favorite emhen FMC, a juxtaposition of hopeful whimsiness that isn't born out of naivety but rather having seen the worst and still choosing love not despite bur rather because of it.

The main question that haunts this book is that about agency and heritage, how much of our identity and what we go through is defined or impacted by those who came before us; pondering the validity of the concept of free will.

If nothing else, trust that this is a book that will heal you, leaving you with teary eyed with a fluttery heart.

Content Warnings

metaphorsandmisc's review against another edition

4.0

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

readwithmeeks's review against another edition

4.0

emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

harleyglynn's review against another edition

4.0

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

I liked this but I didn't love it. I did really enjoy the setting, but I found the romance too quick and was left wondering if their relationship would even work outside of their island bubble. As always, I liked the bookish aspect to it, but I felt it lacked the usual Emily Henry relationship depth. I typically love a historical(ish) fiction romance with dual timelines (honestly it felt a little like a Kristin Hannah novel which is definitely not a bad thing in my opinion!) but I don't know if the story was totally fleshed out for me in either timeline. I wanted more somehow.

Overall, I enjoyed this, but EH sets a high bar with her other books, and I'm not sure this met the mark.

Content Warnings