It's been a while since I've read an Emily Henry book, and looking back on my reviews I seem to have loved every single one I've come across. To the point of even saying "automatic favorite and automatic author-buy" in one of my reviews. Which is wild...because I don't remember a single detail from any of those books. I faintly remember just really enjoying the stories as I was reading them and really loving the banter and the characters. This book is no different! Will I end up remembering this particular story in a couple of years? Probably not, if I'm completely honest. But I will look back on this one with the same fondness for the banter, the dialogue, and the writing overall.

My previous reviews give me absolutely nothing to go on about what I enjoyed most about the stories themselves. I hope to do my future self a service here and go more in depth about that. What I loved most about this story is what other people seem to dislike most: the story about Margaret and her family. I think this book helped me learn something about myself and about my taste in books, which is that I enjoy a sprawling family legacy drenched in scandal and extravagance. I like to read about multi-generational controversy, especially when it's from the point-of-view of a family that has a lavish lifestyle and is no stranger to the tabloid headlines. I don't want multi-generational drama from your normal, everyday family. I want the scoop from the heiresses and the well-to-do society. I want to follow stories like the Crawley family from Downton Abbey, or the Benedicts from the movie Giant, or The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. So this particular story struck a chord with me in a positive way. I didn't mind the long sections of this book that centered around the Ives family, in fact that's what I looked forward to the most. I loved the romance between Alice and Hayden, but their story wasn't why I kept reading. I understand that a lot of people were bored by that whole portion of the book, and the criticism for the way this book was misgenred (is that even a word?) is totally valid. I went into the book knowing absolutely nothing, so it worked in my favor.

I also know that Emily Henry's writing is not for everyone. It appears to be for me, though! I always seem to enjoy her dialogue and the banter between her characters. I also always seem to enjoy her characters in general. I like the stereotypical sunshine/grumpy, enemy to lovers tropes. I usually hate optimistic-to-a-fault type characters, but I actually really loved Alice. I liked seeing her try so hard to take the optimistic stance in every scenario. I think if this character had been in the hands of any other author, I would've rolled my eyes on every page. And I think I could probably go back to a lot of books and pinpoint that exact reasoning for why some stories didn't work for me. But I think that's why I love Emily Henry's writing so much, because even characters that I would typically hate seem to find me pleasantly surprised when she is writing them.

Overall, I loved it. I hope to remember it better in the years to come. I do think anyone interested in reading it should be aware that there are two storylines and a majority of the book covers a story that reads more literary fiction than romance.

I finished part 1 and I just can't force myself to keep going. There's a ton of characters but they all feel like the same person. Which really doesn't matter anyway because I have zero interest in any of them. And the plot itself is already so convoluted. I just know I won't have the desire to truly untangle the plot if I can't find interest in any of the characters. I am so sad to have lost interest so quickly, but if it hasn't really captured my attention by now, I don't foresee that it ever will.

If I had read this while I was in elementary school, I think I would have been obsessed with it! I think reading this in my 30's just gives me a very different perspective on the story and the magic.