Romance · Free kit
Great Big Beautiful Life
Alice Scott, a sunny staff writer hungry for a serious book, tracks reclusive heiress Margaret Ives to Little Crescent Island off the Georgia coast. Pulitzer winner Hayden Anderson is already in the living room. Margaret offers both of them a paid month of interviews, an ironclad NDA, and only pieces of a century-long family story — then lets the wanting between the two writers become part of the mystery. Henry's 2025 novel is a slow-burn romance braided with a media dynasty's secrets: who gets to tell a life, who gets protected from it, and what a story costs the people living inside it.
“There's an old saying about stories, and how there are always three versions of them: yours, mine, and the truth.”
Complete free book club kit
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Plan your meeting
Great Big Beautiful Life Hosting Guide
A free, printable-minded plan for hosting Great Big Beautiful Life.
Invite hook
“Two writers. One reclusive heiress. A month on Little Crescent Island, and an NDA that says they cannot put the pieces together. The story could be a mystery, a tragedy, or a love song — depending on who is telling it.”
The question you’re arguing about: If a family secret could protect someone and still ruin the person sitting next to you, would you tell it?
Shopping list
- □Green tea and a real coffee setup (Alice and Hayden's doorstep truce, in drink form)
- □Sweet tea, lemonade, peach juice, and sparkling water — Georgia island energy, easy to pour
- □Iced tea with lemon and a pitcher of still water for a long, talky meeting
- □Croissants and a fruit plate, plus peaches if you can get them (homestead-garden, not hotel-generic)
- □Shrimp rolls or lemon-herb chicken sliders — Fish Bowl seafood energy without the fuss
- □Peach cobbler or simple shortbread you can break up at the table
- □A small bowl of sea glass, broken ceramic, or scrap tile as a mosaic centerpiece, plus a turquoise runner or hot-pink napkins for Margaret's door
- □Index cards labeled yours / mine / the truth, printed bingo cards, and pens
Day-of timeline
- 0–10 minWelcome with sweet tea, lemonade, or coffee; guests draw a yours / mine / the truth card and do icebreakers
- 10–20 minTrivia warm-up — start easy with Little Crescent, The Scratch, and the one-month trial
- 20–55 minMain discussion: the ruse, the adoption, the NDA, and whether Margaret was protecting anyone or repeating the family pattern
- 55–70 minWould You Rather or Speed Debate: Was Margaret right to give Nicollet up? Keep a timer; the Ives tree will steal overtime
- 70–80 minBingo leftover squares, rate the book in one word, vote on next month
Surprise touch
At the door, have guests draw one of three cards — yours, mine, or the truth — and sit with that label for the first ten minutes. Then let them say which version of a family story they usually get stuck telling. It is cheap, instantly on-theme, and it makes the novel's opening line a game before anyone has to argue about 1967.
Wrap-up
- □Group photo with the mosaic bowl or the yours / mine / the truth cards as the prop
- □Quick rating: 1–5 stars and one word each (try to ban swoony and messy — make them work)
- □Vote on next month's book together