danielledeal 's review for:

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

4.5

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

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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. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent

Pregnancy jump scare at the end but I thought it was a valid addition and handled well.