Review: Beach Read by Emily Henry

Hey all, Dani here.

Here we are at the final blog post in the month of June. That’s right, we have reached the end of yet another month in the weird, fast-yet-slow, chaotic year that is 2020. Seriously, this has just been a very odd year, with so many ups and downs (usually downs, sadly). I am so thankful that I have continued to work full-time during everything that is going on, and that I have been able to afford to buy the books that have kept me mostly sane through the year.

Obviously, most of what I read is fantasy and some sci-fi, because a vast majority of them take place somewhere else, and that escapism is really helping with the current world climate. But occasionally I just want the cute happy vibes of a romance novel.

For this particular book, I have been looking forward to reading it since I learned about it in March. So, what did I think of it? Was it a good beach read or did this beach bull bust? Well let’s jump into the review so I can tell you.

Book Details

Format: Paperback

Pages: 361

Publisher: Berkley

Publication Date: May 19, 2020

ISBN: 1984806734 (ISBN13: 9781984806734)

Summary

A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever afters.

Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.

They’re polar opposites.

In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they’re living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer’s block.

Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he’ll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really.

My Thoughts

Rating: 4.5 stars

What is with books this year and having characters that I relate to so much because what we’ve gone through has been fairly similar? So January’s dad has just died, and with that she learned that her dad had been cheating on them and that he had a whole other life and a beach house up in Michigan. This rocks January in a lot of ways, and crushes her belief in love, which is difficult since she is a romance author.

Obviously my dad hasn’t died, but he did cheat on my mom several times and then they went through a pretty brutal divorce. So all the emotions and struggles that January is having…I understood those, and at times it was a bit hard for me to read. But you know what, that’s okay. I appreciate that books can affect us in such emotional ways.

With a deadline looming and her bank account dwindling, January goes to the beach house determined to finish her next novel.

Now, the summary makes it sound like January and Augustus are just neighbors and writers, but the reality is that they went to college together, so there is a little history between them too. That was pretty interesting.

Oh, and I loved how the challenge got them both writing. And the little field trips and such were really fun and sometimes super romance trope-filled, but whatever, it was super entertaining.

I actually really enjoyed this book. I liked how it dealt with writers on a deadline, as well as writing in different genres. And I really liked that January and Augustus challenged each other, and helped each other grow a bit.

Overall this book hit the spot for a mostly cute, sometimes emotionally difficult, summery romance story. I’m glad I read it.

Where to Get a Copy

You can pick up your own copy of this book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-million, Book Depository, or from your local indie bookstore through IndieBound.