skylover 's review for:

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

2.5

mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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If you've ever read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, you pretty much read this book. Add to it a slower-than-snails-almost-closed-door romantic build up between two MC's, that frankly I felt had no chemistry, and the words "torqued", "unfurls", or "right eyebrow arched" and you get this book. This book needed a family tree, I couldn't keep anyone's story in Margaret's family straight. I felt the back and forth of the interviews with Margaret, and then the build-up of the romance between Hayden and Alice, was clunky. This wasn't my style of writing, and I didn't feel Alice's storyline was realistic

I predicted her or Hayden were related to Margaret in the first half of the book, so that mystery just didn't hit the way Emily may have thought it would. also that the job wasn't real?! that seemed discrediting to Alice's writing career and the whole subplot that her writing mattered (to her mom, to the Scratch, to Hayden, and most importantly, the subject of the memoir!!). add to that, this odd group chat/friend group that's also her coworkers?? like what was the point...also wtf was that ending with a pregnancy in just a page???

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Car accident