Our Take

Emily Henry has built a reputation on smart, banter-driven romances, but Great Big Beautiful Life stretches her range further than ever by wrapping the love story inside a mystery about the sprawling, secretive life of an aging heiress. The dual narrative structure, present-day rivalry between two writers competing for the same story and glimpses into the heiress's astonishing past, gives the novel a layered depth reminiscent of Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, where a fictional oral history slowly reveals a bigger emotional truth. Fans of Henry's earlier books like Beach Read and Book Lovers will recognize her gift for charged, witty dialogue between two people who are ostensibly professional rivals but clearly meant to be something more. What sets this one apart is the ambition of the historical thread: it demands patience and rewards it, unspooling slowly rather than racing to easy answers. Readers who enjoyed the multigenerational mystery-meets-romance feel of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid will find a similar pleasure here, minus the Hollywood glitz but with the same sense of a life too big for one telling. This is a book for readers who want their romance with a side of intrigue, and who don't mind a slower burn in exchange for genuine emotional payoff by the final chapter.