Emily Vance Brown

by Emily Henry

1/5

Let me preface by saying this: I am not usually a romance reader. I’ll read them occassionally, especially if recommended by a friend, but it’s not a genre I seek out on my own. That being said, while I was impressed with the non-romantic subplot of Great Big Beautiful Life, I thought the romance was incredibly underwhelming. This is the first book I’ve read by Emily Henry, and unfortunately, I did not find that her writing lived up to the hype.

If I have to read one more sentence about knees knocking together under the table, I am going to lose my mind. Tall, yes, we get it, they’re both oh so very tall! I do not care! “Tall” is the only personality trait that either of them seems to have at all. The main character, Alice, is whiny, meek, and all-around rather annoying. The love interest Hayden is so obnoxiously inconsistent in his behavior and personality that I’m not sure how any woman would be attracted to him at all–sometimes he loves Alice so much that he can’t bear to risk breaking her heart (while deciding on her behalf what would break her heart and what wouldn’t) and other times he’s a straight-up asshole towards her. If the story had been presented as literary fiction focused on the two writers’ experiences with Margaret Ives, I would have been much more inclined to enjoy it. As it is, I would not recommend Great Big Beautiful Life, and I most likely will not read other books by Emily Henry.