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Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent
Moderate: Body shaming, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Abandonment
Minor: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Stalking, Gaslighting
I made the mistake during my reading to check the reviews of this book. I was equally confused by the readers' obsession with this being a "poor man's Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" and the claims that this isn't a romance.
I suppose I'm lucky in so far that my contrarian nature keeps me away from things that are generally popular, so I've not the faintest clue whether there is any resemblance to this other book. I will say that having read the blurb, it just sounds like a recurring motif, and I'm not entirely sure one can copyright a motif. But I haven't read the book, so I have no clue. Maybe don't read them in the same year if you're committed to reading both.
With respect to the claim that this isn't a romance, my only guess is that the other readers were looking for something more smutty and less complex. What I like about Emily Henry's books are the many layers to people, the individual lives they live outside of their romantic pursuits, their baggage and their dramas. When I read her Funny Story, I was stolen away by the way it dealt with grief for a life that the heroine had been hoping for.
Here, we've got Alice who's trying to live her best life, but then she stumbles upon something she shared with her father and because he's no longer there, it's a dream to pursue answers they had bought sought in the past. But her dream come true isn't within easy reach because there's another author in the running and although he's a rival, Alice can't help being herself. Bubbly and sweet and unfailingly polite, and Hayden's her completely opposite, but they work anyway.
I can't see how there would be no romance, when Alice and Hayden experience a slow simmering attraction that slowly turns into a wild love despite the boundaries that they try to keep between them. How?!
We get real friendships strewn in, the kind of family dynamics that are memorable and realistic, and a happily ever after that's just perfect. It's not a rom com, but why would it need to be? Emily Henry writes something just a little bit deeper, and that's A-OK, it's still a fantastic story.
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Infidelity, Dementia, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy
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
Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment
And that’s just what GBBL is, aptly named. Although not your typical EmHen romcom, I really loved this new foray into more of a solid contemporary fiction with romance elements. I don’t think it should really be considered a mystery, as some marketing suggested. Of course I would’ve been okay with more of said romance (I adored Alice and Hayden) but at the same time, I don’t think the story-within-the-story really took away from that, either. Margaret’s life story (and her family secrets) was really interesting to me and essentially, it did link everything in the book together. You couldn’t have Alice and Hayden’s romance without what brought them together on that little Georgia island. And come on—an EmHen book where one or both of the protagonists are writers? I’m sold before I’ve even finished reading the synopsis.
This book did remind me a lot of “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo”, which others have pointed out. I love both, independent of each other, though they do share some similarities. But at the end of the day, this still reads like an EmHen book, and, dare I say… that’s one of my favorite things to witness in this great big beautiful life.
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Medical content, Alcohol
Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Stalking, Abortion, Gaslighting
“I find myself thinking that maybe every bit of heartbreak in life can be rearranged and used for something beautiful. That it doesn't really matter whether I chose this path or I was born onto it, so long as I stop and appreciate the path itself.”
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Sexual content, Car accident, Death of parent
Minor: Stalking, Gaslighting
Moderate: Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Alcohol
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Stalking, Death of parent
Minor: Medical content, Car accident, Pregnancy
Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Classism