Synopsis:
He doesn’t believe in happy endings.
She’s lost her faith that they exist.
But could they find one together?
January is a hopeless romantic who likes narrating her life as if she’s the heroine in a blockbuster movie.
Augustus is a serious literary type who thinks true love is a fairy-tale.
January and Augustus are not going to get on.
But they actually have more in common than you’d think:
They’re both broke.
They’ve got crippling writer’s block.
They need to write bestsellers before the end of the summer.
The result? A bet to see who can get their book published first.
The catch? They have to swap genres.
The risk? In telling each other’s stories, their worlds might be changed entirely…
Review:
Beach Read was my first Emily Henry book and I’m now kicking myself for not reading it sooner. It’s been sat on my shelf for well over a year and I’ve constantly put off reading it, something that I now feel very stupid for doing.
This review is probably going to be terrible and all over the place because I always struggle to write about the books I love and this is now one of them. I don’t know why, but I find it way easier to write reviews for bad books/ones I didn’t like.
I went into Beach Read expecting a fluffy romance and I can’t tell you how happy I am that it wasn’t. Yes, there is quite a lot of romance, but it isn’t the main point of the book. It has so many deep and complex relationships that really shape the characters and the story. I found January’s turmoil over how to feel about her dad so interesting because it was such a strange situation to find yourself in – that is hard to explain without giving spoilers, I feel like if you’ve read Beach Read you get what I mean.
I’ve seen a lot of love for January and Gus over the years, so I knew I’d love them, but I didn’t realise how much. Some parts had me smiling like an idiot, especially an interaction near the end. It was a bit of a cliche moment, but the good kind. It makes sense to have a ton of cliches in a book with two writers as the main characters.
I love a good bet in a book/film and this one was so fun. What would have made it even better was if we got to read some excerpts from both of their books. The descriptions of them being written weren’t enough, I want to read them for myself.
Speaking of their books, I love that they took the other person’s genre but put their own style into it. Gus was never going to write a fluffy romance book. I do want to witness a romance book set around a cult now though, I’m very intrigued by the idea.
I don’t know what else I can say about this book that isn’t just rambled gushing. The characters are fun but complex, the romance is beautifully written and for me, it was quite a speedy read – I did not want to put it down.
If you haven’t checked out Beach Read yet, you absolutely must. It has a lot of depth while still remaining a cute romance. You won’t regret it!
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I got a copy of “Beach Read’ at the start of the year and am yet to read it (I have an enormous TBR, seriously it’s ridiculous) But am excited to get to read it before the year is out. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the novel, it’s given me some weird sort of self satisfaction that I’m in for a good time reading. Do you think you’ll read another book by Emily Henry, and if so which one?
I’m definitely planning to read another one, I’ll probably pick up Book Lovers next because I already have it!
I hope you enjoy Beach Read!