Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

I’m not a romance reader but I’ve appreciated the escape of Emily Henry books, so I figured I’d read this one and see what it was about. But oh my Taylor Jenkins Reid!! What was this??? It seriously felt like a poor imitation of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo with a bit of the reporter aspect (and reveal) of Daisy Jones and the Six thrown in for good measure. And I know Taylor Jenkins Reid isn’t the first or only person to tell a story in interviews or have that type of twist, but the similarities are just really strong and, the nail in the coffin, is that it wasn’t done well. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a master at creating realistic characters you care about, even if they’re awful people. The emotion tethers you to the story. Well, Henry didn’t have that emotion, her characters were flat and boring, and the romance was lukewarm at best. The will-they, won’t-they wasn’t that strong and the side story with Alice’s mother issues seemed tacked on after the fact.

Also, this is incredibly petty, but the title gave me great big beautiful Tr*mp vibes. Why not pick any other title that actually gives you a sense of the story instead of something so general and bland? Oh wait, I guess that does fit the book...

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I've read everything by Taylor Jenkins Reid and always love her characters more than anything else. I feel like she dives so deep into these characters they become real people. And that was certainly true here. Even the side characters felt like real friends now hovering at the edges of my social circle.

I started reading this one in the library as soon as my hold came in and finished it the next day. I love Reid’s approach to humans and connections and thought this was really well done. The astronaut aspect was interesting to me but I’m not big into space so if there were any issues there, I didn’t notice - I was here for the relationships. And she does them so well, and makes them feel so complete. Even though the story covers a lot of time, I felt like there were enough details to make it feel like a satisfying, complete story I could get invested in. 

Light spoilers ahead...