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Great big beautiful life
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.
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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Community Reviews
I haven’t read a book that I was this invested in in a very long time. Definitely one of my favorite reads so far and it’s inching its way to being my favorite read of the year!!
This book is about two writers fighting for a spot to write a book for a former famous celeb. Sounds mundane but it’s not! I was turning pages so quickly because I wanted to know what happened next. The romance is a slow burn but done perfectly, the characters are written amazingly and the writing itself is beautiful. The plot twists had me floored at the end. Completely baffled! 4 stars only because I didn’t like the whole explaining the whole family tree thing aside from that, I was happy reading the entire time.
Actually can't possibly understand why people are saying this isn't a romance?? Not my fav Emily Henry but definitely not my least fav!
I enjoyed this and am happy Emily Henry broke out of her typical formula! Although I did think Hayden was very similar to Gus from Beach Read, and the premise was also similar. Margaret was a beautifully written, flawed, fascinating character. I get why people are saying this has TJR vibes but tbh it's much better written than Evelyn Hugo. There were a couple of plot lines that seemed kind of irrelevant me and didn't add anything to the story, like Alice's situation ship with Theo and her sister Audrey's backstory.
I enjoyed this and am happy Emily Henry broke out of her typical formula! Although I did think Hayden was very similar to Gus from Beach Read, and the premise was also similar. Margaret was a beautifully written, flawed, fascinating character. I get why people are saying this has TJR vibes but tbh it's much better written than Evelyn Hugo. There were a couple of plot lines that seemed kind of irrelevant me and didn't add anything to the story, like Alice's situation ship with Theo and her sister Audrey's backstory.
SUCH a good romance novel with a dreamy male lead. I love the mystery component. One star missing because I think the ending could have been better, but I could not stop listening to/ reading this book from start to finish!! Makes me want to go to an island in Georgia 🏝️
I was rather disappointed with this book because many things went wrong. First, I didn't feel any romance or romantic tension between the two characters. It seemed like they fell in love simply because they had to, rather than through meaningful development. Second, the story wasn't really a mystery novel; I could easily predict the plot. As a result, there weren't any significant moments that made me feel more connected to the story. That being said, Emily is an incredibly talented writer.
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