If you’re as excited as we are for Emily Henry’s next book release, we’re sure you’re dying for details as your copy arrives. During her press tour for Great Big Beautiful Life, she revealed how book six is a bit different from her past romance novels and the themes she explored. We rounded up some of the best insights from EmHen’s recent interviews to bring all the latest to you!

A Reese’s Book Club Pick and a Story that Gripped Emily

It was just announced that Great Big Beautiful Life would be Reese Witherspoon’s next book club pick, a first for the #1 New York Times bestselling author and perhaps a signal that this one isn’t quite like her others.

Recently she’s been quite clear that in her sixth book since her 2020 mega-hit, Beach Read, she has taken a detour from what we’ve come to expect. In her own words, as she celebrates her release day on Instagram, she’s feeling both excitement and nerves:

“I am so thrilled and terrified for this one to be out in the world. I’ve told you it’s a little bit different from what I’ve done in the past, but it also gripped me in a way that writing hasn’t in years so I’m trusting that even if it’s not for everyone (frankly, a tall order), it will mean something to one of you the way it has to me in this past year plus.”

It seems to be the repeated sentiment of the book that readers shouldn’t go in expecting the standard (albeit adored) Emily Henry recipe with this.

On Great Big Beautiful Life Being a Departure

But rest assured, there will still be plenty of her signature style. In an interview with Good Morning America, Emily was asked how Great Big Beautiful Life diverts from the winning romcom recipes of her past five books.

“It’s still a romance. It’s still a love story, but there is a departure. There is a lot of intergenerational story to unfold there.”

She goes on to say:

“I wanted to be able to tell a different kind of coming-of-age story.”

When asked about the upcoming adaptations of her novels (all of which are in some stage of development), she had a little bit of news to share with everyone eagerly awaiting the debut of her first book-to-screen experience.

“I don’t have a release date, sadly, that I can share yet but I have seen a cut of it–that’s People We Meet on Vacation–and they did such a beautiful job. I think the readers are going to be so thrilled because I was so thrilled.”

Emily went on to share about how she felt about the casting in PWMOV, the mother-daughter relationship in Great Big Beautiful Life and the potential for a snowy destination in a future book throughout the GMA interview.

On the Crafting a Forbidden Love Story and an Intriguing Subplot

In an interview with The Times, Henry discussed the necessity for creating a tension-filled scenario where her two characters couldn’t date:

“…the thing that I was most concerned about was creating a situation where two characters realistically could not be together for concrete reasons. And so, because I did that, the interpersonal conflict between the main characters was set, and that was easy, but there were all these other new issues.”

Great Big Beautiful Life has been compared to Taylor Jenkins Reid’s The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets Succession. It strays from Henry’s winning formula in that the couple we’re watching fight feelings for each other isn’t the only storyline at play. The book also weaves the story of an octogenarian media heiress detailing the history of her life to these two writers. While it’s still going to have Henry’s signature warmth, it doesn’t appear to be the banter-filled romance plot of her past five novels, instead adding layers of story beyond the two MCs.

On Exploring a Different Parent/Adult Child Bond

When chatting with NPR, Henry talked about another switch in GBBL, this one having to do with the parental relationship she explores through her characters:

“I’ve written kind of a lot about father-daughter relationships. It’s something I really enjoy both writing and reading about. But this was the first time that I had really tried to drill down into mother-daughter relationships because I just find them to be fascinating in different ways.”

This book has been dedicated to her mom, a relationship she holds very dear, and is offering readers a different lens for character dynamics with their parental figures.

But Emily is Emily at her core and as she went on to tell NPR, love is still the driving force of GBBL even if the focus isn’t solely on the couple centered in the novel:

“But I don’t necessarily even think that one is more valuable than another, like romantic love versus friend love or familial love. I think all of them matter to each of us on different levels.”

If you haven’t already preordered, make sure you head over to grab your copy of Great Big Beautiful Life. Not only will you get some of the signatures you’ve come to expect from Emily Henry’s international bestsellers, you’ll also get something fresh and new from this beloved author.

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

Alice Scott, a hopeful writer, and Hayden Anderson, a grumpy Pulitzer-winner, are both vying to write the biography of the elusive and enigmatic Margaret Ives on Little Crescent Island. As the two navigate a month-long trial, secretive interviews, and an undeniable spark between them, it becomes clear that the story they’re uncovering—and the one they’re writing together—might turn out to be a mystery, a tragedy, or an unexpected romance.

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