Review: Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (audio)

when the scoop of the century isn't the prize

The Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry, narrated by Julia Whelan, is a rom-com with substance. It asks some big questions. Who is the one person in your life that you would rearrange the world for just to protect them from harm? And this is even at the risk of losing them. It also explores the variations of love, and not just romantic love.

The initial premise is two writers vying for the same celebrity tell-all, one a Pulitzer Prize winner and the other a celebrity reporter with a stake in the story. Former tabloid princess and now recluse, Margaret Ives, is the catch, but what Alice Scott and Hayden Anderson catch is more than either of them bargained for.

Throughout the month trial period, each writer is given access to Margaret who cagily answers their questions, tells lies, and hides the truth. Whelan always does an excellent job narrating both male and female characters, and in this case, her voice for Margaret was fantastic. It really brought the secretive character to life.

Hayden and Alice clearly have chemistry despite being in competition, and their attraction will obviously heat up and boil over at some point. But what holds this narrative and the book together is the secrets of the Ives family. Henry taps into our natural curiosity about lives we only see from the outside, and she brings us inside the walls to show us what it could be like.

The Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry is an engaging summer read that you won’t want to miss. If you’ve read her other books or like to read rom-coms with a little mystery, this one is for you.

RATING: Quatrain

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