The Book Everyone’s Talking About (and I Finally Read It)

When Great Big Beautiful Life hit shelves, I was ready for a sweeping, multi-generational epic full of grandeur, legacy, and rich character work. What I found was…a quieter story than expected—and not always in the best ways. But while parts of it were good, the magic never fully arrived for me.

Author Emily Henry rarely missed. Her name alone guaranteed anticipation, and if there was one thing I always expected from her novels, it’s emotional depth, memorable characters, and that feeling of being pulled into a world I didn’t want to leave. Naturally, I went in expecting a lush, complex exploration of fame, fortune, and fractured family ties.

At times, the book dipped into beautiful reflections about ambition, family, and truth. But they were just that—glimpses. Sadly, this book left me feeling more frustrated than fulfilled. Instead of awe, I found myself underwhelmed—and frustrated at what could have been a truly great, big beautiful story.

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Here’s the Setup You’ll Obsess Over

Margaret Ives, a reclusive heiress with a scandalous past, invites two journalists to Little Crescent Island to compete for the right to write her biography. Alice, the relentlessly optimistic newcomer, and Hayden, the jaded Pulitzer winner, are to spend a month navigating Margaret’s tangled history—hoping to uncover the truth, win her trust, and claim their future.

It had all the makings of a generational epic. Grand wealth. Family betrayal. Old Hollywood scandals. Power. Decades of hidden history. Yes, the blueprint was there. This was a premise that immediately reminded me of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo: glamour, secrets, emotional weight.

Unfortunately, that’s where the comparison ended. While the foundation was there for a sweeping multigenerational saga, the story skimmed rather than soared. Moments that should have felt monumental barely made an impression. Scenes that should have dripped with nostalgia and power felt rushed and hollow. Everything was told in a rush, rather than lived. I felt the author barely skimmed the surface of the potential of Great Big Beautiful Life.

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What Made This One Hit Different (and Where It Faltered)

Great Big Beautiful Life could have been a modern-day Dynasty—a sweeping tale of fortunes made and lost, of love and betrayal spanning decades. Despite the promising premise, the book didn’t fully deliver the richness I craved. The grandeur was missing.

Instead of richly painted scenes from a bygone era, I got flickers—bare glimpses into the past without the layered atmosphere that a story like this demanded.

The narrative raced through what should have been its crown jewels:

• The Gold Rush origins
• The rise of the family empire
• The lavishness of old Hollywood life
• The crumbling legacy

What could have been a tribute to an older, more ruthless generation of dreamers and builders ended up feeling thin, surface-level, and at times, emotionally disconnected. This book was not an example of layered storytelling. Even what Margaret was hiding didn’t raise any goosebumps.

By the halfway mark, I found myself reading not out of love for the story, but curiosity—wanting to confirm if my early predictions about the plot twist would be correct. (Spoiler: they were.)

There were bright spots, especially in Alice’s relationship with her mother, but the big, sweeping emotional payoff? Missing.

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The Characters I’d Read a Whole Series About

If I was being brutally honest: no one. Not Margaret, despite her potential. Not Alice. And certainly not Hayden.

While other readers might find Alice charming or Margaret compelling, I struggled to feel invested.
The characters needed richer backstories, deeper emotional currents, something that made me care about their outcomes. There were bright spots, especially in Alice’s relationship with her mother, but the big, sweeping emotional payoff? Absent.

The often-scripted romance between main characters? That too felt as it were scribbled in at the last minute—filled with sex—rising out of “because we need one” romance, not one born of deep, undeniable connection.

Their chemistry? Missing. Tension? Almost nonexistent. It was hard to root for a love story when the characters themselves felt like sketches rather than flesh-and-blood people. Alice herself was a charming protagonist at times, but Hayden remained frustratingly one-dimensional. I found myself wanting more—more vulnerability, more tension, more life between them.

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The Vibe Check: Setting, Style, and All the Feels

Emily Henry’s writing was always approachable and heartfelt, and that remained true here at places. The setting had moments of charm—Little Crescent Island certainly had atmosphere—but I wanted more immersion. More awe. More weight behind the decades of power and loss.

Instead, the story sometimes felt like snapshots instead of a living, breathing world. The atmosphere moved between cozy small-town charm and glittering old-Hollywood flashbacks in different timelines.

Even the pacing was choppy for me. Some sections flew by, while others felt like they needed more depth to land emotionally. I kept wishing the book were longer so we could truly live inside both timelines.

Certainly, there were hints of opulence, whispers of faded glory, but nothing vivid enough to make me feel like I had stepped back into history. This wasn’t the lush, sweeping epic I had hoped for. It was more a whisper of what it could have been. Sad but true. And the supposed final twist at the end? Predictable. I had guessed it long before the halfway mark.

Where It Totally Won Me Over (and Where It Didn’t)

What worked:

• Some glimpses into complicated parent-child dynamics
• The idea of revisiting a life that history almost forgot

What didn’t:

• A rushed, predictable plot
• Romance with no real tension or chemistry
• Lost potential for rich world-building
• A finale that left me unmoved, without a satisfying sense of closure

I wanted power struggles, family secrets cracking apart foundations, characters torn by loyalty and ambition. Instead, I got a soft landing where I expected fireworks. Most times, I was left feeling like a visitor looking at faded photographs through glass.

This book was no dynasty as it purported to be.
The story was no romance as it was expected to be.
This was not even an ode to the older generation filled with untold riches and infamy.

Would I Recommend It? Let’s Be Honest.

If you were looking for a quick, mildly engaging read, you might still enjoy Great Big Beautiful Life.
But if you were craving depth, sweeping family saga and grandeur, or a story that made you ache in all the right ways—this probably wasn’t the book you were looking for. Not even a powerhouse romance. This was nothing but a missed opportunity.

It felt like a book caught between two worlds: trying to be both a modern romance and an epic family saga — but not fully committing to either.

In the end, I would say it wasn’t bad.
But it wasn’t unforgettable, either.

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Final Thought

Much Ado About Nothing.

Level Up Your Book with My Beta Reading Services

Speaking of gripping books, this is exactly what I help authors achieve through my beta reading services. I know what makes a book work – those perfectly-landscaped grandeur, the mounting awe, and characters that leap off the page. Having analyzed countless books like this one, I offer both beta reading and developmental feedback that helps authors polish their manuscripts into stories that readers can’t put down.

If you’re working on your book and want to create that spell-binding experience a story should craft, let’s connect for a beta reading session.

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