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medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
nooooo🥲 she tried something different - less romance, more women’s fiction - but it reads like it was supposed to be a romance and the interview parts got carried away.
it also reads like (i hate to say) a rip off of Evelyn Hugo. the writing is juvenile, big plot points happen abruptly, the whole biography is just stereotypes of old hollywood (do we need more “woe is me” celebrity stories!?), and the romance is shallow if not unbelievable thanks to its being sidelined.
at least her writing is still compulsively readable and i dug the romance and family conflicts.
it also reads like (i hate to say) a rip off of Evelyn Hugo. the writing is juvenile, big plot points happen abruptly, the whole biography is just stereotypes of old hollywood (do we need more “woe is me” celebrity stories!?), and the romance is shallow if not unbelievable thanks to its being sidelined.
at least her writing is still compulsively readable and i dug the romance and family conflicts.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy
Moderate: Animal death, Eating disorder, Abandonment
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
the love interest has some disordered eating thinking/orthorexic habits
Contrary to a typical romance novel where there’s tension as to whether both characters will fall in love, the romance is the definite while mystery is kept alive by socialite Margaret’s mysterious past.
It’s that element of mystery that made me truly love this book. I’ve read mysteries about aging people with dangerous pasts and I’ve read romances about two people that are kept about by circumstance, but the combination of the two was inspiring. It’s rare that two completely different aspects of a story can be balanced in a way that isn’t artificial, but Emily Henry did it skillfully.
Read the full review: https://writethroughthenight.com/2025/04/03/review-great-big-beautiful-life-emily-henry/
It’s that element of mystery that made me truly love this book. I’ve read mysteries about aging people with dangerous pasts and I’ve read romances about two people that are kept about by circumstance, but the combination of the two was inspiring. It’s rare that two completely different aspects of a story can be balanced in a way that isn’t artificial, but Emily Henry did it skillfully.
Read the full review: https://writethroughthenight.com/2025/04/03/review-great-big-beautiful-life-emily-henry/
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Car accident
Moderate: Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Death of parent