Great Big Beautiful Life: Reese's Book Club
Books | Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy
3.5
Emily Henry
A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK ∙ AN INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ∙ Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping novel from Emily Henry. As featured in The New York Times ∙ Rolling Stone ∙ People ∙ Good Morning America ∙ NPR ∙ Vogue ∙ The Cut ∙ USA Today ∙ Cosmopolitan ∙ Harper's Bazaar ∙ Marie Claire ∙ Glamour ∙ ELLE ∙ E! Online ∙ The New York Post ∙ Bustle ∙ Reader's Digest ∙ BBC ∙ PopSugar ∙ SheReads ∙ Paste ∙ and more!Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: to write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years—or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the twentieth century. When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice’s head in the game. One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over. Two: She’s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication. Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad . . . depending on who’s telling it.
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More Details:
Author
Emily Henry
Pages
432
Publisher
Penguin
Published Date
2025-04-22
ISBN
0593441249 9780593441244
Community ReviewsSee all
"hmm, struggled through this one at times, some good parts but seemed very predictable. although the mystery part of it was good, and the backstory part too. I don't know, it wasn't terrible but it wasn't her best imho."
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Melissa
"Emily Henry is a Master!!! This one has it all!!"
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Lisa Haycraft
"Yeah so…<br/><br/>This book had beautiful writing like EmHen always delivers on!<br/><br/>BUT it did not have the romance they marketed it to have. AND IT MAKES ME MADDDD This is Fiction NOT Contemporary Romance <br/><br/>I just can’t get past the misgenre-ing and the disappointment that came with it. The publishers really got us with this one thinking we were sitting down to read an amazing EmHen romance story and coming up with this which could have been in many different sub genres. <br/><br/>In the end I still enjoyed the overall story, I’m just disappointed they decided to misguide our expectations instead of telling us up front it wasn’t really romance focused."
"Her absolute best yet. How does one continually beat what I’ve already deemed the top tier? I’m not quite sure, but Emily does it. Great, big, and beautiful indeed."
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Grace Lyman
"5 ⭐️ <br/><br/>OH MY GOODNESS. I HAVEN’T HAD A FIVE STAR READ IN FOREVER.<br/><br/>This was SOOO good. I cannot express the love I have for all of these characters and the how the story built up was chef’s kiss!! Hands down the best of Emily Henry’s (and I’ve read many of her books). This was different than other of her works, but definitely in a good way. She somehow included a whole research and interviewing scheme but including some sweet and wholesome romance. I will recommend this book over and over again <3"
"FANTASTIC! I really loved it and now I'm sad to be done it."
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Y Bennett
"3.5⭐️ rounded up. I will always preorder an Emily Henry book. However, I think this has taken the spot for my least favorite. I loved the chemistry between Alice and Hayden, and I loved that it was relatively conflict free and not enemies to lovers, or slow burn. Just straightforward, honest attraction. Unfortunately, I couldn’t help but compare the story to Evelyn Hugo. The storyline was too similar, and not nearly as well executed. But I did still enjoy it….I think I just need to reread Happy Place. Still have so much love for EH!"
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Sarah Henderson