snugent730 's review for:

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

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I haven’t read Emily Henry since Book Lovers and was not disappointed by her latest release, a romance with a flare or historical fiction told through interviews of an elusive socialite of a bygone era. FMC, Alice Is a journalist, mainly celebrity periodicals and profiles (much to her hippie activist parent’s chagrin), unflinchingly upbeat & friendly (almost to the point of disbelief). But I can’t help but like Alice, following her dogged pursuit to land the book deal of a lifetime, a coveted glimpse into former starlet and oft scandalized Heiress turned recluse, Margaret Ives’s story, who is finally ready to bare all of her family secrets and intrigues (or so we think?!). The Catch? She must compete for a month in a small southern beach town against biographer darling and recent Pulitzer Prize winner, Hayden Anderson to earn the rights to do the story. Who also happens to be brooding, nonchalant, and of course hot (I pictured Hayden Christensen). The other catch? Margaret Ives is not telling the whole truth. Dating back to the gilded age and rise of print media to her foray into the limelight of 1950s, I loved how the novel went back and forth unspooling this history via Margaret’s accounts to Alice + snippets of the eventual biography and the present day storyline exploring  themes of family, celebrity consumption culture, image, media, vocational anxiety, and of course love. This book wasn’t a page turner but one I found myself happy to return to—I love a book that explores family dynamics and enjoyed the romance between the two main characters. It was also nice to have a female protagonist who isn’t 5 ft 1 tiny human with a hulking 6’4” man (looking at you fantasy authors). I thought the ending, although pleasant, left more to be desired.