"If you’re anything like me, a new Emily Henry book is an instant must-buy. Ever since I picked up her debut romance novel, Beach Read, a few summers ago, I’ve been hooked by her ability to portray life and love in all their messy, complicated, and beautiful glory. She is a sensation on BookTok, and readers love her because of her relatable characters, emotional depth, and amazing writing style.
Fans have read about January and Gus inspiring each other to write their novels, seen Poppy and Alex find their way back to each other, and most recently, watched Daphne and Miles find love in the most unexpected way. But now, it’s time for a new story because the newest Emily Henry book is in the works: Her sixth novel is entitled Great Big Beautiful Life. We’ll have to wait until April 22, 2025, for the new book, but eagle-eyed fans have been able to parse clues about what the book is about. Here’s everything we know:
What do we know so far about Great Big Beautiful Life?
For the past few months, Emily Henry has been releasing newsletters, AKA her “grocery lists,” with information on her upcoming release. She took inspo from Taylor Swift, leaving little Easter eggs here and there that had fans hooked to learn more. Before she officially announced the title Great Big Beautiful Life, she left the words “Great,” “Big,” and “Beautiful” either capitalized or bolded in previous grocery lists, which is how some fans figured out the book title prior to the announcement.
Emily revealed that this novel will be a love story, it will feature a vacation, and there will be a complicated family dynamic. It falls into the romance genre like her other books, but this one will venture into other themes as well. She also teased that there is a mystery element that will remain a secret for the time being.
Speaking of Taylor Swift, Emily has finally revealed that the song that inspired the title Great Big Beautiful Life was The Last Great American Dynasty from Folklore. Given the teasers about a vacation love story, we might be in for a wealthy socialite in an East Coast mansion in this book—which makes the announcement even more exciting.
What will the plot of Great Big Beautiful Life be?
In case you aren’t familiar with The Last Great American Dynasty, first of all, time for you to add it to your Spotify. Second of all, here are the details of the song that might give some clues as to the plot of Great Big Beautiful Life. The Last Great American Dynasty tells the story of Rebekah Harkness, a wealthy socialite living in Rhode Island in the 1900s. Rebekah lost her husband a few years after marriage and became a widow.
Since the new Emily Henry book does in fact correlate to this song, there are a few things we can infer about the plot in addition to the official description. Great Big Beautiful Life will be about Alice Scott and Hayden Anderson, two writers competing to write the life story of the reclusive, tragic heiress Margaret Ives. Margaret offered both Alice and Hayden an opportunity to write her biography, and when she’s done giving them little bits and pieces of her life to spin into a story, she’ll choose her favorite to be published. Obviously, Margaret is based on the character of Rebekah in The Last Great American Dynasty, so we can assume that this story will be about her wealthy eccentricities in addition to Alice and Hayden’s romance.
What tropes will be in the new Emily Henry book?
Let’s dive into what tropes we are going to see in Great Big Beautiful Life. Drawing inspiration from The Last Great American Dynasty, we’ll obviously be dealing with themes of new versus old money, female empowerment, and maybe even a Gatsby-esque commentary about the corruption of wealth. However, when it comes to romance tropes, it’s clear that the first trope we’ll see in Great Big Beautiful Life is enemies to lovers. After all, Alice and Hayden are competing for a big break in their careers as the premise of this novel.
I have a feeling we will see an opposites attract trope come into play in this book, too. Given that Alice is an “eternal optimist” and Hayden is a “human thundercloud,” Henry is clearly going to show these two characters balancing each other’s points of view. We might just see a romance where two very different people find common ground and spark something unexpectedly strong, which is Emily Henry’s bread and butter as a romance author.
When will the new Emily Henry book drop?
Mark your calendars! The newest Emily Henry book, Great Big Beautiful Life, is out on April 22, 2025—but you can preorder it now to start reading the day it drops. Personally, I’ll be eagerly counting down the days until its release.
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.