This blog is surely not where I’d hoped it would be in January, but life, as we know, has twists and turns. Family matters kept me on the road most of March and April. I was reading, but I did not have time (or energy) to share my thoughts. Today, I decided to post a review of a book I read weeks ago. Maybe I will catch up on  all the books I’ve read this year – maybe not.

Anyway – Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

Here’s what Goodreads has to say: 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.

Here’s what I thought: This book is set in the coastal south, so I already knew I’d love it. It’s a sweet book about family secrets, lies, love and redemption. If that’s not Southern Lit, then I don’t know what is.

I gave this book 4 stars and 2 spicy peppers. (It’s not over the top, but you may blush.)

As for the 52 Book Club, this satisfies prompt 8 – three-syllable word in the title.

This was my first Emily Henry book, but I liked it well enough to read more of her stuff. If you like a little romance mixed with mystery, then this might be for you.