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Welcome back to Reading Between Deadlines, the podcast where we read books with the same crazed enthusiasm as we write them—and sometimes with significantly less enthusiasm when Emily Henry decides to pivot genres on us.
This week, your hosts Rachael Johns and Anthea Hodgson are back from their epic Book Club Retreat weekend (where book people proved once again that they are indeed the best people) to tackle the latest from romance royalty herself.
This episode's pick: Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry—her sixth novel and departure from pure rom-com territory into mystery/women's fiction waters. But did we want to take that journey with her?
In this episode, we cover:
📚 How we felt about this book (sorry, EmHen!)
🏝️ The premise: competing writers, mysterious heiress, and tropical island vibes
💔 When sexual tension doesn't quite hit the mark
🎭 Story-within-a-story structure: does it work?
🕵️ Is it really a mystery, romance, or women's fiction?
😴 The challenge of caring about fictional famous people
⭐ How this ranks against Emily Henry's previous books
And, of course, we rate it: Kiss, Kill, or Marry?
⏰ Timestamps
00:00 – Post-retreat glow and why book people are the best people
04:30 – Emily Henry bio reading and the "short bio = successful author" theory
06:00 – The Kiss/Kill/Marry verdict (spoiler: we agreed!)
09:00 – Ranking all of Emily Henry's books from best to least favourite
13:00 – Why Margaret's story felt like a slog
18:00 – The romance: when intimate scenes don't equal emotional investment
25:00 – Plot twists, coincidences, and soap opera territory
30:00 – The cult subplot we wanted more of
37:00 – Goodreads reactions: from "deathbed book" to "snooze fest"
Coming up next: Evening Class by Maeve Binchy with guest author Tess Woods, followed by Florence Knapp’s The Names.
We try to keep the podcast free and fun for everyone but it does take time to produce. If you're enjoying the show, we'd be so grateful if you'd consider buying us a coffee (or a prosecco).
👉 Listen now and tell us—are you still Team Emily Henry after this one?
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