Latest news with #EmilyHenry
The Age
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
She's written five bestsellers in five years, all before turning 35
This story is part of the June 1 edition of Sunday Life. See all 14 stories. There is a theory that the best romantic fiction mimics the intoxicating feelings of falling in love – joy, euphoria, anguish, distraction, hope. It's no wonder, then, that Emily Henry has such a devoted following. Every year, without fail, she makes her readers fall hopelessly in love. For Henry herself, the process is an equally seductive experience. 'Even when I'm writing these books, I feel like I'm falling in love,' she tells me over Zoom from her home in Cincinnati, Ohio. 'When I read my favourite romance writers, I feel that same giddiness and desperation for more. You just can't get enough.' The 34-year-old, who grew up in Kentucky and Ohio, began her career writing young adult fiction after graduating from university. Then, in 2020, Henry published her first adult romance, Beach Read. She has published a novel a year since, selling more than 10 million copies worldwide and dominating The Sunday Times (UK) and The New York Times bestseller lists. All five of those books are being adapted for film or television, with every production update and casting announcement sending her excitable fans into raptures. In the modern romantic literary universe – where the author Rebecca Yarros creates fantasies featuring dragons and battles, while Colleen Hoover explores trauma and heartbreak – EmHen, as she is known to her fans, has established her own category of crushingly romantic books charged with longing and sexual chemistry. Her novels typically include women who are self-possessed and funny and men who are emotionally available, while the setting is always picturesque; the distinctive ice-cream colour palette of the book covers depicting these sun-kissed settings belies the sophistication of her writing. There is plenty of rom and even more com, but Henry elevates the genre with carefully wrought characters and clever banter. Loading A love of literature is all-defining for Henry. Many of her characters are authors, or work in publishing, and she regularly shares book recommendations on social media. These are mostly new titles, though the classics regularly come up too – J.D. Salinger and Jane Austen are just two of the names she drops during our conversation. In person, Henry is as thoughtful and disarming as the characters she conjures up. Having been married for a few years (she won't share how many), she says it's a long time since she's had her heart broken but that she's still able to summon the emotions from formative heartbreaks. 'I've always been a person with really, really big feelings, so those heartbreaks definitely made a mark.' Big feelings are key to the enormous success of Henry's books, in which both her characters and readers have to really earn the emotional rewards. In You and Me on Vacation, which was published in 2021, Poppy and Alex spend 12 years and 361 engrossing pages navigating friendship, professional disappointments and misunderstandings on the path to realising what they mean to each other. In Beach Read, the title of which is a knowing wink to the preconceptions about the genre, January and Gus, both authors crippled by writer's block, have to confront their individual relationship histories and overcome their creative conflicts before they can enjoy true happiness together.
Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
She's written five bestsellers in five years, all before turning 35
This story is part of the June 1 edition of Sunday Life. See all 14 stories. There is a theory that the best romantic fiction mimics the intoxicating feelings of falling in love – joy, euphoria, anguish, distraction, hope. It's no wonder, then, that Emily Henry has such a devoted following. Every year, without fail, she makes her readers fall hopelessly in love. For Henry herself, the process is an equally seductive experience. 'Even when I'm writing these books, I feel like I'm falling in love,' she tells me over Zoom from her home in Cincinnati, Ohio. 'When I read my favourite romance writers, I feel that same giddiness and desperation for more. You just can't get enough.' The 34-year-old, who grew up in Kentucky and Ohio, began her career writing young adult fiction after graduating from university. Then, in 2020, Henry published her first adult romance, Beach Read. She has published a novel a year since, selling more than 10 million copies worldwide and dominating The Sunday Times (UK) and The New York Times bestseller lists. All five of those books are being adapted for film or television, with every production update and casting announcement sending her excitable fans into raptures. In the modern romantic literary universe – where the author Rebecca Yarros creates fantasies featuring dragons and battles, while Colleen Hoover explores trauma and heartbreak – EmHen, as she is known to her fans, has established her own category of crushingly romantic books charged with longing and sexual chemistry. Her novels typically include women who are self-possessed and funny and men who are emotionally available, while the setting is always picturesque; the distinctive ice-cream colour palette of the book covers depicting these sun-kissed settings belies the sophistication of her writing. There is plenty of rom and even more com, but Henry elevates the genre with carefully wrought characters and clever banter. Loading A love of literature is all-defining for Henry. Many of her characters are authors, or work in publishing, and she regularly shares book recommendations on social media. These are mostly new titles, though the classics regularly come up too – J.D. Salinger and Jane Austen are just two of the names she drops during our conversation. In person, Henry is as thoughtful and disarming as the characters she conjures up. Having been married for a few years (she won't share how many), she says it's a long time since she's had her heart broken but that she's still able to summon the emotions from formative heartbreaks. 'I've always been a person with really, really big feelings, so those heartbreaks definitely made a mark.' Big feelings are key to the enormous success of Henry's books, in which both her characters and readers have to really earn the emotional rewards. In You and Me on Vacation, which was published in 2021, Poppy and Alex spend 12 years and 361 engrossing pages navigating friendship, professional disappointments and misunderstandings on the path to realising what they mean to each other. In Beach Read, the title of which is a knowing wink to the preconceptions about the genre, January and Gus, both authors crippled by writer's block, have to confront their individual relationship histories and overcome their creative conflicts before they can enjoy true happiness together.
CBC
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
What's behind Emily Henry's wild popularity?
Emily Henry is back with one of the most anticipated novels of 2025, Great Big Beautiful Life. The romance and women's fiction author has become a phenomenon in the past few years, with her books topping bestseller lists. Today on Commotion, host Elamin Abdelmahmoud is joined by Rolling Stone's internet and culture writer CT Jones and bookish content creator Alicia Foshay to discuss what makes Henry's writing so popular and whether she lives up to the hype. We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player. WATCH | Today's episode on YouTube: Elamin: A lot of the discourse around her books are around the writing style and the idea of straddling the genres between romance and literary fiction — or more specifically, women's fiction — moving between those two universes. I think we've got to define these categories. CT, how would you describe the difference between this idea of romance and women's fiction? CT: I am so glad you asked. What a beautiful question, Elamin. The answer is sexism. I'm joking — actually, I'm not joking. Elamin: That's real. Get into it. CT: Women's fiction is an umbrella term…. It's kind of this term to be like, "We think girls will pick this up in a library and we think that moms who are on vacation to Mallorca will see this in the middle of the airport and say, 'I could read this for a couple days.'" That's what people think of when they think of women's fiction. It's also important to note that there is no comparable version for men's fiction because people just assume that men can understand genres better. So instead, you don't have to be like, "This is for the boys." You just get to write a book and put dragons on it, and everyone apparently knows who it's for. But one of the things about women's fiction that you can usually tell it by, is people usually market it if there's a big emotional journey, some kind of giant life change, or people are working through their emotion, their feelings about being human in general, or some kind of historic event. And then romance, the easiest way that I can think about it is: emotions can occur and sometimes it's awesome if they do, but if there isn't a happily ever after at the end of the book, there will be hell to pay. Elamin: That's the expectation. Take me to that place. Alicia, famously, men don't have emotions, that's why they just call [their books] "fiction," I believe. What are your thoughts? Alicia: I am in complete agreement, and I don't think we should pull back on the sexism thing. I think it's completely true. I think people, in general, are comfortable with things tailored to women that are one-dimensional. And so they like to fit things into boxes because the idea that a book tailored to women could be about more than romance, love and daisies is unfathomable. It's the same way that George R. R. Martin can write Game of Thrones, which is a highly sexualized fantasy series, and it's not called "dragon smut." But when Rebecca Yarros does it — the exact same thing — it is [called "dragon smut"], and it is tailored to women, and it's viewed as not an important book in the space of fantasy. I also think that it's almost a little bit insulting to men too. You, Elamin, are reading Emily Henry and you're enjoying them, like men can enjoy highly emotional books. We all have the capacity to move between genres, and I think that's kind of what Emily Henry is doing with the evolution of her books.
Los Angeles Times
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
The week's bestselling books, May 18
1. Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (Berkley: $29) Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of an heiress. 2. My Friends by Fredrik Backman (Atria Books: $30) The bond between a group of teens 25 years earlier has a powerful effect on a budding artist. 3. James by Percival Everett (Doubleday: $28) An action-packed reimagining of 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.' 4. My Name Is Emilia del Valle by Isabel Allende (Ballantine Books: $30) A young writer in the late 1800s travels to South America to uncover the truth about her father. 5. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (Riverhead Books: $30) Worlds collide when a teenager vanishes from her Adirondacks summer camp. 6. Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (Simon & Schuster: $29) A love triangle unearths dangerous secrets. 7. Audition by Katie Kitamura (Riverhead Books: $28) An accomplished actor grapples with the varied roles she plays in her personal life. 8. Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Flatiron Books: $29) As sea levels rise, a family on a remote island rescues a mysterious woman. 9. Silver Elite by Dani Francis (Del Rey: $33) Psychic gifts can get you killed in the first book of a dystopian romance series. 10. Strangers in Time by David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing: $30) Two London teens scarred by World War II find an unexpected ally in a bereaved bookshop owner. … 1. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins (Hay House: $30) How to stop wasting energy on things you can't control. 2. Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster: $30) A call to renew a politics of plenty and abandon the chosen scarcities that have deformed American life. 3. Life of Your Dreams by Mark Pentecost (Mission Driven Press: $28) The billionaire entrepreneur reveals the seven steps that took him from surviving to thriving. 4. The Book of Alchemy by Suleika Jaouad (Random House: $30) A guide to the art of journaling, with contributions from Jon Batiste, Salman Rushdie, Gloria Steinem and others. 5. We Can Do Hard Things by Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach and Amanda Doyle (The Dial Press: $34) The guidebook for being alive. 6. Notes to John by Joan Didion (Knopf: $32) Diary entries from the famed writer's journal. 7. Joy Prescriptions by Dr. Tiffany Moon (Legacy Lit: $29) The doctor and 'Real Housewives' alum on how to find happiness. 8. Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton (Pantheon: $27) A meditation on freedom, trust, loss and our relationship with the natural world. 9. Conquering Crisis by Adm. William H. McRaven (Grand Central Publishing: $26) The retired four-star admiral's personal stories illustrate the principles of effective leadership during times of crisis. 10. The Prism by Laura Day (Spiegel & Grau: $32) Seven steps to self-discovery and renewal. … 1. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (Ecco: $20) 2. Table for Two by Amor Towles (Penguin Books: $19) 3. One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune (Berkley: $19) 4. The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl (Random House Trade Paperbacks: $19) 5. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Vintage: $18) 6. The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese (Grove Press: $22) 7. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (Transit Books: $17) 8. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper Perennial: $22) 9. Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Grove Press: $17) 10. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (Anchor: $18) … 1. On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder (Crown: $12) 2. The Wager by David Grann (Vintage: $21) 3. The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan (Knopf: $36) 4. Sociopath by Patric Gagne (Simon & Schuster: $20) 5. The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron (TarcherPerigee: $20) 6. The Art Thief by Michael Finkel (Vintage: $18) 7. All About Love by bell hooks (Morrow: $17) 8. The Last of His Kind by Andy McCullough (Grand Central Publishing: $22) 9. The Best of Me by David Sedaris (Back Bay: $22) 10. The Body Keeps the Score by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk (Penguin: $19)
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Need a New Wedding Suit? Here Are 6 Sharp Options
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission. Finding the right suit for a wedding is harder than it sounds. You probably don't want to use the same suit you wear to the office (it's a special day for everyone), but it shouldn't be too casual or loud either. Plus, with many weddings in warm weather or far-away places, you might have to consider temperature and travel capabilities too. More from Rolling Stone All the Small Things: The Best blink-182 Merch to Shop Online, From Tees to Vinyl The Best Deals From Amazon's Book Sale, From the New Emily Henry Book to the Latest Kindle Stagecoach Livestream 2025: How to Watch the Country Music Festival From Home Best Overall: Navy Fit Solid Suit Budget Pick: Tailored Fit Solid Suit Warm Weather Pick: Slim Fit Linen Blend Suit Destination Wedding Pick: Traveler Performance Collection Wool Blend Suit Casual Pick: Reserve Collection Tailored Fit Solid Suit Black Tie Pick: Slim Fit Black Palm Tuxedo If you're in need of a new wedding suit, we recommend checking out Jos. A. Bank. The menswear retailer has one of the best selections of wedding suits, whether you're shopping as a guest or the groom. Best of all, most of Jos. A. Bank's wedding suits are very affordable, which is a nice plus when every other aspect of a wedding is expensive. Below, we've rounded up some of the best wedding suits at Jos. A. Bank, including picks for destination nuptials, more casual weddings, and formal affairs. BEST OVERALL $350 Buy Now You can go wrong with a classic navy suit. This best-selling example from Jos. A. Bank features the brand's 'tailored' fit, which is between slim and traditional — just right for the current suiting landscape (and most body types). You can also get a matching vest with this one, which we love for the groom or his groomsmen. BUDGET PICK Weddings are expensive, whether you're the guest or the couple-to-be. Luckily, you can save a bit on your outfit with this budget-friendly suit at Jos. A. Bank. It's currently discounted to just $200, down from $449. It comes in three classic colors (navy, dark gray, and black) and also comes in big and tall sizes. WARM WEATHER PICK $350 Buy Now If you're heading to a wedding somewhere toasty, check out this linen blend suit. Besides being more breathable than a typical wool suit, this linen number also looks more summery and special for your loved one's (or your) big day. DESTINATION WEDDING PICK $475 Buy Now This Traveler Performance suit is designed to be worn comfortably for hours on end (say, on the plane) thanks to a stretchy fabric and anti-odor properties. Plus, the suit is wrinkle-resistant, which comes in handy if you're putting it on right out of the suitcase. Despite all these performance features, it still looks sharp, making it a great choice for destination weddings. CASUAL PICK $649 Buy Now Plenty of weddings are more casual these days. If you're heading to one, this light gray suit is a good option. The light color is more playful than the dark ones, but it's still easy to pair with just about any shirt and shoes combo. This one is also made in the USA using high-quality pure wool fibers. BLACK TIE PICK $349 Buy Now On the flip side, some nuptials are still formal affairs. If you're in need of a tuxedo, check out this one from Jos. A. Bank. It's slim fit for a sharp silhouette, and the details are all subtle and classy. Best of Rolling Stone The Best Audiophile Turntables for Your Home Audio System
