Does this Goodreads Choice Best Book of the Year Winner Hold Up?

I’ve officially hit 65 books read in 2025. But shockingly, I’ve only just hopped on the Emily Henry train. Henry, for the uninitiated, is the current queen of the romantic comedy. Her lighthearted stories—often about writers or bookish women—steer her protagonists through hilarious situations with sharp, witty dialogue that have become her M.O. Henry’s published a total of eight novels, with several, including Funny Story, Book Lovers and People We Meet on Vacation, which are in development or will soon be released as screen adaptations. Her newest, Great Big Beautiful Life, also happens to be the winner of the Goodreads Choice Award for best romance book of the year—and a Reese’s Book Club pick. With 610,000+ ratings and a nearly 4-star average, it’s hardly surprising. Here are my thoughts after finishing it back-to-back after her other books.

For those unfamiliar with the premise of this romantic comedy, think Taylor Jenkins Reid’s The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets the Roy family in Succession. Henry’s latest chronicles a battle between established music journalist Hayden Anderson and celebrity writer Alice Scott. On the line? The chance to write the biography of the reclusive Margaret Ives—heiress to what was once the most glittering media empire fortune in the United States. Told in alternating timelines between past and present, Henry dives into Maragaret’s life of glamour and tragedy while creating sizzling tension between Alice and Hayden, who have secrets to uncover about their mysterious subject, as well as the beach town in which she resides. 

After blowing through four Henry novels in the span of the same number of weeks, I can see the appeal. Her characters feel like real people. There are good, clear backstories with crystal-cut motivations, and it’s easy reading. As someone who goes through a lot of classic lit, I appreciate that the writing is clean and without pretension, while still adhering to lovely, writerly prose. Though not elaborate, it’s pleasant.

Of all the praise heaped upon Henry, the most common is that she’s good with dialogue. I was skeptical at first, because dialogue isn’t something I’m usually drawn to—I tend to gravitate toward the characters’ inner monologues. But here I was, chortling at Henry’s rapid-fire exchanges. Actually, this is the first book I’ve read since Curtis Sittenfeld’s Eligible (2016) to have me full-on dry-heave cackling on the couch.

Because I read so many of Henry’s novels in a short period of time, it was easier for me to see the pattern in her story structure: Up-and-coming young professional falls for hot man with square jawline. In Great Big Beautiful Life, Alice is a journalist struggling for a career breakthrough. In Beach Read, January Andrews is a novelist with writer’s block. Funny Story’s Daphne Vincent is a stunted librarian. Similarly, their love interests are tall, have some sort of notable hair, piercing eyes and very angular chins (paging Timothée Chalamet and Jacob Elordi, anyone?). Most of the protagonists are women in their 20s or 30s experiencing some degree of success-mixed-with-identity-crisis, and all have a backstory that heavily involves their family (often their mother) that’s driving them forward, with the same sweet, ambitious-but-I-am-cognizant-of-others’-feelings disposition. This formulaic approach wasn’t necessarily off-putting. Just something to know going in.

If you’re obsessed with legendary families like the Hearsts, Pulitzers, Rockefellers and Vanderbuilts—with their glamour, opulence and dynastic disfunction—you’ll love Great Big Beautiful Life. While at times harrowing, it’s ultimately a lighthearted—but smart—contemplation on family, loyalty, love, friendship and the secrets we choose to keep.