Mid-Columbia Libraries

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2025

Title:	Great Big Beautiful Life Emily Henry
Author:	Henry, Emily
Format:	Eaudiobook, Audio Books, Nonmusical Sound Recording, Sound Recording, Electronic Resources
Publisher, Date:	[S.I.] : Books on Tape, 2025.
Summary:	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 new novel from Emily Henry. 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 20th 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.
Subjects:	Fiction Literature Romance Humor (Fiction)
Other Author:	Whelan, Julia Overdrive Inc.
Notes:	OverDrive Listen audiobook-overdrive
Call Number:	Downloadable Audiobook

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Rating:
Publication date:	2025

Description:

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 Los Angeles Times ∙ 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.

Reviews:

Golden Voice narrator Julia Whelan delights listeners with this heartfelt contemporary romance. Alice Scott is optimistic about her writing--always hoping for a big break. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hayden Anderson is a grumpy enigma. Both find themselves on Little Crescent Island for the same reason: They're competing to write the biography of an elusive heiress, the daughter of one of the most scandalous families of the twentieth century, whom no one has actually seen in years. Whelan's expressive yet nuanced performance captures Alice's determined spirit while also creating a unique voice for each supporting character. Varying her tone and cadence, Whelan expertly conveys Alice and Hayden's hilarious, genuine, and intimate conversations. J.J.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award

Great Big Beautiful Life takes readers on a suspenseful romantic journey that echoes two of Emily Henry’s most beloved books. The sparkling dialogue and competitive enemies-to-friends-to-lovers frisson between celebrity magazine journalist Alice Scott and her literary darling rival, Hayden Anderson, harkens back to Henry’s adult debut, Beach Read, the first of five consecutive number one bestsellers for Henry. The small-town setting and complex family connections echo Book Lovers, the novel that multiplied her fandom. But the epic, intergenerational story of fabulous wealth and heartbreak that Alice unpacks in pursuit of her career-making break in Great Big Beautiful Life is a substantially new spin on the usual Henry formula. Alice is a Georgia-born and -raised, now Los Angeles-based writer covering the celebrity beat for The Scratch (modeled on New York magazine’s uber-popular, culture-driven spinoff The Cut). Alice has a tight circle of fellow writer friends and a sister she loves dearly, but “not much else” going on in her personal life. As she bemoans, "I am not even officially the girlfriend of the man I’ve been dating for seven months.” An aspiring biographer, Alice is determined to secure her dream assignment: writing the life story of the elusive Margaret Ives—heiress, widow to a rock star, and recluse who has been out of the public eye for decades. Aside from her subject’s reticence, one thing stands in the way: Hayden, a writer with more experience and far more literary cache. In addition to being competitors, Alice and Hayden have, at least on the surface, a grumpy-sunshine attraction of opposites. Where Alice seems perpetually friendly, smiling and eager like a golden retriever, Hayden has the aloof sleekness of a cat. But the reality is more nuanced. When Margaret decides they should stay a month to get to know her and vie for the assignment, the two are forced into proximity, and layers of personality and attraction are revealed. It’s an expert marriage of character and circumstance. Great Big Beautiful Life boasts the perfect bone structure of a classic Henry rom-com—the banter and physical and emotional intimacy are exquisite—but there are also strong differences between this and Henry’s previous work, primarily the space given to Margaret’s past. Her painstaking, multicentury account of her illustrious yet tragic American family and Alice’s dogged investigation into the parts that Margaret holds back are intertwined with the love story. Margaret says this reflection on the past is crucial to understanding who she is, likening her life to a quilt. But Alice gets frustrated that Margaret won't focus more on her own square in that rich pattern. This difficult balance is mirrored within the book itself. The compelling if expansive story-within-the-story at times threatens to overwhelm Alice and Hayden’s gorgeous, inexorable tumble into love. But their chemistry is just strong enough to sustain them both.

Starred review from February 24, 2025
What begins as a charming if standard rom-com evolves into a hauntingly beautiful meditation on what makes a life well lived in the latest showstopper from Henry (Funny Story). Thirty-something entertainment journalist Alice Scott jumps at the chance to interview an octogenarian claiming to be the infamous Margaret Ives, descendant of American media royalty and a “Tabloid Princess” of yore. Alice heads to Little Crescent Island, a small coastal Georgia town, with dreams of Margaret’s biography being her big break. She’s not the only one vying for the job, though: Pulitzer winner Hayden Anderson is also in the running. They have a month to each separately interview Margaret then pitch their proposals. But Margaret’s stories don’t quite add up, leading Hayden and Alice toward each other as they search for answers. Flashbacks to Margaret’s glamorous past are threaded throughout the contemporary narrative, offering a candid glimpse into loves and lives lost and serving as a poignant counterpoint to the romance between Hayden and Alice. There’s also plenty of Henry’s trademark wit and even a hint of mystery as the sparring hearts probe the veracity of Margaret’s tales. This is a stunner. Agent: Taylor Haggerty, Root Literary.

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.

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.

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.

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