Like death and taxes, the release of a new Emily Henry bestseller has become a certainty. With the publication of GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL LIFE, she proves that her reign as the rom-com queen is far from over.

Margaret Ives was the daughter of a media mogul. But with access to fame and wealth came her own notoriety, and she soon transformed from heiress to a newspaper fortune to princess of the cover page. In between, she watched as celebrities drank, smoked and swam nude in her father’s pool (usually not with the same partners they arrived with), fell in love with Cosmo “The Great American Storyteller” Sinclair, and then lost him tragically. So after spending 33 years in the public eye, Margaret retreated, formally beginning her years as a “recluse.” But then she did something even more radical: she disappeared completely. For the past two decades, no one has seen her --- that is, until reporter Alice Scott tracks her down.

Alice has yet to meet a stranger she hasn’t befriended, an article she couldn’t write, or a glass she couldn’t half fill. So even though her career as a pop culture journalist at The Scratch isn’t exactly taking off, her mother refuses to see her work as meaningful, and her “boyfriend” is really just a guy who texts her shirtless selfies sometimes, she still feels that change is on the horizon. Which is why she spends countless late-night hours poring over message boards and forums dedicated to finding “disappeared” and reclusive celebrities.

"Whether you’re a longtime fan of the author or just wondering what all the buzz is about, GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL LIFE will convince you of Henry’s brilliance and leave you wondering about your own story, that of your family’s, and where exactly the truth lies between it all."

Alice’s positivity pays off when she gets a tip that Margaret Ives is living on Little Crescent Island, a sunny, colorful seaside haven off the coast of Georgia. Her first call to Margaret ends in a dial tone, but her second one ends in an offer: Margaret has invited Alice to come interview her, with hopes that their meeting will one day result in a tell-all biography. There’s just one problem…and because this is an Emily Henry novel, that problem is tall, dark and handsome.

A few years ago, Alice might have said that Hayden Anderson was a music journalist. But ever since the release of Your Friend Len --- an explosive, poignant biography of an aging rock star as he navigated his dementia diagnosis --- Hayden isn’t just a reporter, he’s a Pulitzer Prize–winning star. Unfortunately for Alice, he’s sitting in Margaret’s living room, closing in on Alice's lead. And then Margaret delivers a gut punch. Having waited decades to tell her story, she’s in no rush to get moving, and she’d rather focus on trust.

So Margaret proposes a competition. She will hire both Alice and Hayden to live in Little Crescent for one month, during which time they will have unfettered access to her and her life story. At the end of the month, she will choose only one of them to be her biographer. Alice knows she is up to the task, but feeling confident and competing against a Pulitzer Prize winner are two very different things, and Hayden’s steely exterior doesn’t lend itself to camaraderie. But if there’s one thing Alice is especially good at sniffing out, it’s hope. And looking at Hayden, she has one very big reason to hope: he’s terrified at the thought of going up against her.

As Alice and Hayden adapt to small-town living and their very full-time job of interviewing Margaret, one thing becomes abundantly clear. Margaret is slipping half-truths and omissions into her story. Even more curious, she is adamant that her story begins not with her birth, her rise to fame, or even her marriage, but with her great-grandfather, the man who started the Ives family on the path to Old Money. As Margaret chronicles her family’s history through the Gold Rush and the early days of Hollywood, Alice becomes more intrigued by what she’s not saying. Despite both of them having signed NDAs, she and Hayden start to compare notes to confirm that Margaret is not being completely honest with them. So why agree to being written about at all? Does the former media princess have an angle?

Of course, no Emily Henry novel is complete without a subplot. In the case of Alice and Hayden, each is dealing with their own ideas of legacy and story: Alice’s mother is too quick to poo-poo her career, and Hayden has never quite lived up to his father’s expectations. Add to that the crackling chemistry between them, the intoxication of competition, and the heady warmth of Little Crescent Island, and you have the makings of an unforgettable romance. But again, this is not just any romance we’re talking about, it’s Emily Henry. Which means that there is far more than meets the eye to this grumpy-sunshine romance.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve no doubt heard about the Emily Henry hype train (I’m a certified member), and it should come as no surprise that GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL LIFE is every bit as swoon-worthy, romantic, sexy and fun as her previous books. But it’s also her most ambitious and successful work yet. In combining her trademark rom-com skills with a historical fiction angle (and a story within a story), Henry pushes her themes farther than ever before. She asks her readers to consider not just what they (or her characters) will do or give up for love, but what it means to live with the consequences of these choices.

The story-within-a-story format also allows Henry to really skewer the idea of “story” and what it means when the tale you’ve lived with turns out to be less than true. As always, she deftly connects her characters’ individual motivations and backgrounds to the romantic plot, allowing each storyline to inform and elevate the other. The novel doesn’t only deliver, it rewards, and Henry’s brave willingness to step away from familiar rom-com tropes and forge her own path is totally refreshing.

Whether you’re a longtime fan of the author or just wondering what all the buzz is about, GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL LIFE will convince you of Henry’s brilliance and leave you wondering about your own story, that of your family’s, and where exactly the truth lies between it all. But in a world full of uncertainty and trauma, spin and deception, there’s just one resounding truth: Emily Henry simply can do no wrong.