Description

Emily Henry published Great Big Beautiful Life & we're here to publish our thoughts & feelings for y'all! Unlike any of her past novels, this book delved into mystery, childhood baggage, & that crinkle feeling (as Madeline describes to be the feeling you get before a full crush - a perfect use of the word crinkle tbh). If you have sentiments about this unique, unexpected change in Emily's writing style, tune in to hear what we liked & disliked!

🤍 CTB Links!: https://linktr.ee/checkthisbookout

📖 Books Mentioned:

Great Big Beautiful Life - Emily Henry

Book Lovers - Emily Henry

Happy Place - Emily Henry

Funny Story - Emily Henry

People We Meet on Vacation - Emily Henry

Beach Read - Emily Henry

This Summer Will Be Different - Carley Fortune

Problematic Summer Romance - Ali Hazelwood

The Book of Azrael - Amber V. Nicole

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid

Daisy Jones & the Six - Taylor Jenkins Reid

Red Rising - Pierce Brown

Great Big Beautiful Life Synopsis:

"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 new novel from Emily Henry. 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 20th 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."

🕑 Timestamps:

00:00:00 - intro

00:00:24 - fear of natural disasters

00:01:10 - deep sea is terrifying

00:02:24 - great big beautiful life by em hen

00:03:37 - our ratings

00:03:45 - thoughts on decimal ratings

00:05:15 - initial reactions

00:06:07 - high level plot

00:07:40 - what was the crossover?

00:08:53 - we're tired lol

00:09:30 - did we like alice?

00:11:37 - thoughts on hayden

00:13:10 - insta love?

00:13:40 - A CRINKLE!

00:14:34 - did they really know each other?

00:16:20 - relationship screen time

00:18:45 - side character relationships

00:20:10 - trying something different

00:20:50 - books about books

00:22:25 - the pacing & repetition

00:23:25 - margaret's story...

00:25:20 - 2 different plot lines

00:27:10 - impossible to predict

00:28:40 - satisfying or confusing?

00:29:25 - biographies & writing style

00:31:45 - the boring and random parts

00:36:06 - margaret's value

00:37:08 - ambitious book

00:39:00 - realistic conflict & tension

00:41:40 - alice's parents

00:44:45 - wanted to love it

00:46:31 - 2 love stories

00:48:40 - ranking emily henry books

00:49:00 - madeline cried

00:51:00 - the book title & theme

00:54:00 - first kiss

00:54:35 - thoughts on the ending

00:55:30 - closed door

00:58:50 - next week teaser

00:59:35 - today's book releases