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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
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy
Minor: Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Car accident
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
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Enjoyable but not my favourite of hers. I don’t feel like it flowed as well as it could have, and the balance between Alice’s story and Margaret’s/the interviews was a bit off for me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol