Title- Beach Read
Rating– 5/5
Genre- Contemporary Romance
POV- First person, past tense.
Trope- Frustrated/argumentative to Lovers
Similar/Comps– People We Meet on Vacation (On my TBR), The Unhoneymooners (On my TBR)
My emotions- cozy, comfortable, settled, calming, heart wrenchingly perfect
Characters–
I appreciated that Gus was the more “insecure” one of the couple instead of that trait always falling on the heroine.
The mirroring aspect of Gus/January with Dad/Sonya was also… [insert chef’s kiss emoji here].
The characters all felt so believable and layered with wonderful character arcs. I loved the nicknames for Shadi’s boyfriends and their dialogue was extremely witty
Plot/Blurb-
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.
Quote-
“When I watch you sleep,” he said shakily, “I feel overwhelmed that you exist.”
Best part-
I keep trying to convince myself that I’m not a sucker for the romance genre due to the predictability and tropes, but I proved myself wrong yet again. The grand gesture gets me every time. Damn you, page 342. I totally teared up. Damn it.
I loved the authenticity of the theme of this novel. I could relate to SO many parts and the humor regarding writing/being an author was spot on. I really wish Emily Henry could write the books that Gus & January wrote, so we could read those fully, lol. Knockout ending with the last chapter, makes the reader feel all warm inside and fully satisfied.
What I’d change-
It borderlined “preachy” in a few sentimental parts near the end, but overall it was well balanced where it mattered most. There could’ve been a darker description at the New Eden campsite for a more dramatic impact, but I understand why it wasn’t done. I also wanted a half-level increase of steam… but the sex got hot enough. I wasn’t quite sure why the title of the book was “Beach Read” since they weren’t on the beach often, but oh well.
Cassie Swindon 