Great Big Beautiful Life was unfortunately a huge miss for me. I will read every single Emily Henry novel, no question! But this undertaking seemed so incongruent and lost my attention quickly. The protracted history of the ‘reclusive Hollywood star’ was poorly executed: the family tree was unnecessarily complicated, nor do I think it was necessary to go back as far as the great-great grandparents - if it WAS, at least get in first person narrative so I can understand those characters rather than read a few page summary of their lives. It detracted greatly from the forward momentum of the present day story, which was not engaging either. I did not understand the main character’s mother and their fraught relationship. It seemed like such a repetitive sticking point, with no real concrete explanation for the mother’s behavior even once they hashed things out about the death of her father. I also thought the competition between the two writers seemed like an unrealistic and watered down version of Book Lovers. 

The setting and atmosphere, though? Excellent! All very vivid - like I was on vacation in coastal Georgia drinking ice lattes in the mornings and singing Margaritaville in the evenings. On to the next Emily!