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Title details for Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry - Wait list

Great Big Beautiful Life

by Emily Henry
ebook
Pre-release: Expected April 22, 2025
0 of 1 copy available
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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.
Named a Most Anticipated book of 2025 by The New York Times ∙ Rolling Stone ∙ People ∙ USA Today ∙ Harper's Bazaar ∙ Marie Claire ∙ 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.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      March 1, 2025

      Only ordering information is available to date for the latest from bestselling and LJ Best Book author Henry (Funny Story). Prepub Alert.

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Booklist

      Starred review from March 1, 2025
      Journalist Alice Scott has the career-making opportunity of her life: Margaret Ives wants to tell her life story. For the last 30 years, Margaret, heir to an infamously scandalous, tabloid-hounded family, has been a recluse, but through some inspired digging, Alice has tracked Margaret down to Little Crescent Island. However, upon arriving at Margaret's home, Alice discovers she has some competition, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Hayden Anderson. Margaret decides to give both Alice and Hayden one month to meet with and interview her, after which she will decide who will get to share her story with the public. It is a competition Alice needs to win, and she will do whatever it takes to best Hayden, even if the grumpy writer is turning out to be much nicer--and hotter--than she expected. Henry (Funny Story, 2024) continues to burnish her reputation for fashioning sublimely satisfying love stories with another perfectly calibrated, delectably witty tale featuring endearingly quirky, thoughtfully nuanced characters, including the redoubtable Margaret, whose family's history is deftly relayed in snippets stitched into the story line.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: With lots of media buzz, readers are primed for the latest from best-selling Henry.

      COPYRIGHT(2025) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Kirkus

      March 15, 2025
      Two journalists compete for the chance to write the biography of an aging heiress. Alice Scott works for a pop-culture website, but she hopes writing a biography of Margaret Ives, a reclusive heiress known as the Tabloid Princess, will boost her career to the next level. One problem: Margaret Ives is incredibly hard to track down. Make that two problems: When Alice finally finds her on a small island off the coast of Georgia, another journalist is there, too--Hayden Anderson. They both want this job, and Margaret wants to be sure she can trust the person telling her story, so she proposes an unusual deal. Both Alice and Hayden will stay on the island and work with Margaret for a one-month trial period, after which she'll decide who gets to write her book. Hayden couldn't be more different from Alice--while she's optimistic and friendly, he's cynical and standoffish. She's desperately seeking her family's approval and thinks she can get it by writing a book, and he's a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer. The two of them sign ironclad NDAs, but it's a small island and they can't help running into each other--and then, against all odds, they even start to like each other. Alice and Hayden's unlikely attraction is only one of the book's timelines, however. Although Henry is known as the queen of contemporary romance, here she explores the world of historical fiction as Alice interviews Margaret and learns about her family's history--going back to the gold rush and the early days of Hollywood--and finally the tragic love story that led her to retreat from the public eye. Alice also begins to unravel her own family history and learns that the stories she's been telling herself may not have been true after all. Alice and Hayden's romance is a delightful slow burn and Henry, as always, shines when exploring family drama, but the emphasis here is on Margaret's past and how it ties into everyone's future. Both a steamy romance and a moving look at the sacrifices people make for love.

      COPYRIGHT(2025) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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  • English

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