Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Stora vackra liv by Emily Henry

290 reviews

emotional lighthearted reflective fast-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: Yes

Tornou-se minha obra favorita da autora. A abordagem da maternidade, criação dos filhos e história familiar foi brilhante, profundamente comovente.  Existem diversos gatilhos, aconselho os leitores mais sensíveis a consultar o StoryGraph para mais informações. 
Sem dúvida, lembrou-me "Evelyn Hugo", de Taylor Jenkins Reid, contudo, a singularidade da autora e seu estilo de escrita permaneceram evidentes. O desfecho surpreendente foi extraordinário, mantendo-me em suspense e sem fôlego até o final.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious 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

If The Lucky One by Taylor Swift was a story, it would be Margaret. 

I absolutely devoured this book; I picked it up and could barely do anything else, including sleep. I think Hayden is one of my favorite EH love interests. I adored him from the moment he accidentally drank Alice's too-sweet iced latte and he never disappointed me. Something about him is just so good. It did not take any convincing for me to like them as a couple. There was something so fulfilling about seeing them come together over something not completely centered on their work; it felt like a genuine, real connection. 

I enjoyed the plot and especially the element of mystery, of piecing together the story alongside Alice. I would've liked a bit more at the end, after some of the character revelations. I wanted to revisit the relationships with
Cecil
and
Jodi
- maybe even a nice little fluff piece on the island, without drawing attention to Margaret of course. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
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: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional lighthearted reflective 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

Going into this book, I’d read and heard a lot of mixed reviews saying that this book deviates from Emily Henry’s typical style. I wasn’t too concerned about this because the style of this book actually aligns more with my typical reading preferences, so I feel I was lucky in this regard. 
 
Alice and Hayden are both given a month to vie for the chance to write the life story of an aged former celebrity, Margaret Ives, now living in seclusion. The competition isn’t exactly bitter as Alice and Hayden connect. Unfortunately, thanks to NDAs, neither of them can discuss their interviews with Margaret. This becomes increasingly difficult for Alice in particular as the month goes on. 
 
While certainly different than what I’m used to from Emily Henry, I did enjoy this. That said, this isn’t necessarily the kind of book I’m looking for when picking up her work. I think I would have preferred to listen to the audiobook. I also found it too similar to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. It’s less of a romcom and closer to general fiction. Which, again, is not an issue for me, but might be for people expecting another Beach Read
 
I enjoyed the scenes with Alice and her mother the most. I liked how that situation played out, and I liked watching Alice’s growth through these situations. Honestly, I could have read an entire book about them and leave or take Hayden. I liked him, but I feel like we missed out not hearing his POV. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional lighthearted reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Loveable characters: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional lighthearted medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging emotional inspiring reflective fast-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

Even having heard spoiler free reviews of this book, I was still surprised by what all made up this book.
If you're like me and first feel in love with Emily Henry for her fun lighthearted romances, this might not be what you want, but it is such a great book. Do know though this is like 60% the unraveling of the celebrity's story the other 40% the romance. 
Few things I liked
1. I love how the Male love interest is given good reasons for how he is acting in the situation they're in. I never had to go for chapters on en's asking what's his deal or just assuming he does it solely for tension.
2. I like the secondary plot being something completely different that interacted with the present plot. The main issue I had with Happy Place was the flashbacks, but with this book, they're done so well. 
3. For what a lot of people will call a "silly little romance" this book actually looks at and confronts the issue of generational trauma really well. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings