Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Stora vackra liv by Emily Henry

14 reviews

carly_the_librarian's review against another edition

4.25

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Death

Minor: Animal death

mgclayton's review against another edition

4.5

emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Slow first three chapters, but part of ending made me cry

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident

Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Infidelity, Sexism, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol

ahaze134's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Classism

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder

ashley_turch's review against another edition

4.75

emotional funny 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: No

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This book has everything: beach setting, career driven woman, hot grumpy man, mommy issues,

career driven woman NOT giving up her life for a man

AND

a plot twist that actually surprised me.

Slow start but becomes a fantastic whirlwind in the second half. 

Minus .25 because personally I hate

a pregnancy epilogue.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infertility, Infidelity, Dementia, Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death

Animal death is extremely minor

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

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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. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment

Minor: Animal death

alexlong's review against another edition

4.75

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I was very skeptical at first because the premise was nearly identical to an audiobook released last year (Drop Dead by Lily Chu), and I didn’t see how the same scenario told again 10 months later could feel fresh enough. Well, ultimately, GBBL by Emily Henry wins out with better writing, better romance, better twists, better everything. I genuinely enjoyed the journey of these intertwining narratives, the love story, and the writing style. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death of parent

Moderate: Child death, Miscarriage

Minor: Animal death

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

3.25

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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               This book felt like it was trying to be two books at once. It was trying to be a bit of both a literary mystery and a contemporary romance book. The two didn’t weave that well together, however. 

              I hated all the edging the author did with the MC’s sexual relationship. I think she was trying to keep it from being “too spicy” for her readers, but still spicy enough. However, it just got frustrating. I get the building anticipation of them having intercourse, but it just took too long! 

              I liked most of the characters, all the townspeople, Cecil and Margaret especially, though others not as much, looking at you, Alice, and especially her mom, and Theo. 

              Overall, it was a decent book. Mostly, the structure just didn’t work for me. As well as the drawn-out nature of the MCs’ relationship, and their admitting their feelings and desires. 


  

​Narrator Rating:​ 4.75 stars

             I wish they’d gotten someone else to narrate the section of the book that was supposed to be part of the biography. Julia Whelan is wonderful and did an amazing job, however, I feel like having dual narration would have been better for the two intertwined sections of the book. 

Elements 

Heartfelt-💔💔💔 

Horror- N/A

Love aka Romance- 💋 💋 💋 💋 & 1/2

Predictability-🔮 🔮 🔮 

Spice-  🌶  🌶  🌶 

Tear- 😭 & 1/2

Thrill- N/A

Humor- 😜 😜 & 1/2

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Classism

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol

blackcatbooksmn's review against another edition

4.0

emotional funny hopeful inspiring fast-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

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I loved it and I’m sobbing. (Maybe I’ll be more coherent with my thoughts later)

**Updated**

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📚 Great Big Beautiful Life, Emily Henry

✨ Emotional. Reflective. Inspiring. 

💭 Emily Henry literally never misses! Once again her characters and their stories captured my heart and my imagination. This book felt like the mosaics described in the story. Colorful, mesmerizing, unique, and sharp enough to keep you invested while still allowing escape from the ordinary.  A beautiful exploration of legacy, identity, success, and the way the past shapes our future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Grief, Car accident

Moderate: Body shaming, Mental illness, Sexual content, Medical content, Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Death of parent, Pregnancy

katharina90's review against another edition

2.0

emotional lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

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My least favorite Emily Henry to date. It wasn't terrible, just boring. 

The lead couple and their romance was pretty unconvincing and Margaret's story just wasn't interesting to me. The big reveal was predictable and not worth slogging through all this family history for.

The overall vibe was different enough from previous books that I forgot I was reading a Emily Henry novel.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Grief

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Dementia, Car accident, Suicide attempt

yilliun's review against another edition

4.25

emotional funny hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Grief, Death of parent

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual content, Car accident, Abandonment

Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Dementia, Pregnancy