Erica Ezeifedi, Associate Editor, is a transplant from Nashville, TN that has settled in the North East. In addition to being a writer, she has worked as a victim advocate and in public libraries, where she has focused on creating safe spaces for queer teens, mentorship, and providing test prep instruction free to students. Outside of work, much of her free time is spent looking for her next great read and planning her next snack.
Find her on Twitter at @Erica_Eze_.
Would it be the 2020s without a new contemporary romance by Emily Henry to look forward to?
The mega bestselling author’s latest is titled Great Big Beautiful Life, and feels like it fits in a familiar groove. It’s a contemporary romance about two writers (like 2020’s Beach Read) that will, undoubtably, plumb the depths of heavy topics, serve up cutesy sex scenes, and deliver an all-together heartwarming romantic story — all things we’ve come to expect and love from Henry.
But even with the familiar Henry trappings, there are some refreshing elements. The story follows writers, as we mentioned before, but this time they’re competing for the right to write the story of Margaret Ives, a storied octogenarian who hasn’t been seen in years. The former tabloid princess and daughter of one of the most scandalous 20th-Century families invites the sunshiny Alice Scott and the award-winning “human thundercloud” Hayden Anderson to Little Crescent Island for one month each to see who she’d like to write her life’s story.
Thing is, Margaret is giving each of them disparate parts of her story…and then there’s the matter of the inescapable pull between them.
Great Big Beautiful Life is out in the spring of 2025.
Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books.
English (US) · 