THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER FROM THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION!“Original, sparkling bright, and layered with feeling.”—Sally Thorne, author of The Hating GameA 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.… 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.
more
Beach Read by Emily Henry has everything the title promises — a romping plot, family secrets, and the thrill of falling in love, all set on the sweeping shores of eastern Lake Michigan. I cannot wait to read what Henry writes next.
Reader, I swooned! Beach Read is a breath of fresh air. My heart ached for January, and Gus is to die for — a steamy, smart and perceptive romance. I was engrossed!
Beach Read is exactly the witty, charming, and swoony novel we always want; it also happens to be the unexpected wallop of emotional wisdom and sly social commentary we need right now. I adored it.
This is not my usual genre, but I LOVED this book and am recommending it to everyone I know. It was a fun to read book, and I couldn’t wait to see what would happen to the characters next. Only 1 POV, which I think really helped with the story. The character development was wonderful, I found myself really caring about the characters and what would happen to them next.
If you liked Sally Thorne’s The Hating Game and Linda Holmes’s Evvie Drake Starts Over, you will definitely be into this, which feels like their spawn. (No one asked me to say this, by the way. I’m just high on that happy-sad feeling of finishing a book I enjoyed, that I wish wasn’t over.) Well played.
Beach Read was my first book by Emily Henry and it did not disappoint. This is a beautifully different romance novel. January Andrews and Augustus Everett have gone through so much pain. This story goes beyond romance and takes an in depth view of recovering from loss and life not going as you expected.
January has become disillusioned with her career as a romance writer after discovering her deceased father had a secret second life she had no idea about. She feels as if her past and family memories were all a lie and is unsure about how to move forward. She unexpectedly bumps into Gus, a fellow writer and her college crush and nemesis when he turns out to be the neighbor at the house her father left her. Gus is a man full of mystery and secrets. A non-believer in love and happily ever after. They agree on a bet in which both of them switch genres, leading to them slowly realizing there is more to each of them than they thought.
The chemistry between these two jumps off the pages and you can’t help but root for them to finally tell each other how they feel. Gus and January are the type of characters who stick with you even when you’re done reading. There two people who feel broken to themselves, but together find the happiness they deserve.
I will definitely be reading more Emily Henry!
This book really took me by surprise in the best possible way. I expected Beach Read to simply be a lighthearted romance, perfect for a day of relaxingl. While there is humor a plenty, which I gobbled up, it is actually a very touching story.
January Andrews is a disillusioned bestselling romance author suffering from a severe case of writer’s block. With a publishing deadline looming over her, January retreats to a beach house to revive her passion for writing and work out some personal issues.
January’s new neighbor is Gus Everett, a renowned author of “serious” (in his case, introspective and depressing) fiction who has stalled in the middle of writing his next book. The two authors could not be more different in terms of writing styles and personalities. January has always been open, cheerful, and sentimental. Gus is mysterious, pessimistic, and judgmental. Their quasi adversarial relationship evolves after the two strike a deal to swap genres and complete their books by the end of summer.
I was completely enamored by January. She no longer has the ability to care about what others think of her and that really resonated with me. With her razor sharp wit, she could give a TED Talk on trading barbs. Gus is a favorite target of hers, but he keeps up with his end of their flirty banter. It’s January’s transparent vulnerability that truly moved me. She is struggling with a bit of an identity crisis and both characters are grappling with betrayal and loss in various forms. I was rooting for these two every step of the way. Their weekly outings are sometimes whimsical and sometimes emotional.
I really enjoyed January’s relationship with her ride-or-die best friend. Every person needs a friend like Shadi. The quirky townspeople are also a hoot.
Beach Read is a clever, funny, and poignant love story. What a treat to read.
* I received an early copy of this book to voluntarily read.
I was expecting a whimsical enemies-to-lovers rom-com but Beach Read turned out to be a multi-layered story with interesting subplots, too.
January’s loss after her father’s death is compounded by a family secret that comes to light. Unable to accept it or face her mother, she escapes to her father’s beach house only to find that her nemesis from college, Gus Everett lives next door. Gus is also a successful novelist and they’re both coincidentally suffering from writer’s block. In an unusual move, they agree to call a truce and help each other overcome their writing slump by learning about the other’s preferred genre. As they become closer, they start to open up and face the many truths they’ve been fighting so hard to avoid.
I enjoyed this novel immensely. There was humour, heartbreak, forgiveness and redemption. I thought it was slightly slow burn and I liked the pace at which January and Gus’ friendship evolved into something deeper. I admired how their love scenes were written as well. They were sensual and it did feel like their vulnerabilities were on full display, that those emotionally intimate moments truly meant something more than just physical. Reading about how they worked to come out of their writer’s block was also fascinating. I think where Beach Read triumphs is with their respective story arcs. They’d been contending with extremely personal and sensitive matters, some of which had affected their psyches so deeply. They just needed to be with the right person in whom they could trust, who would stand by them through their emotional journeys. Henry succeeded in not only how she approached them but in making me care equally about January and Gus.
Beach Read was smart and delightful even during the harder moments but everything about it felt so authentic. It will be added to my re-read pile, for sure!
~ Bel
Source: ARC provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review
Beach Read by Emily Henry has received a lot of hype, so I was happy that it lived up to my expectations and did not disappoint. First of all, I loved the unique premise. I can’t think of many romances featuring two authors. I loved both characters, Gus and January, and their chemistry was off the charts. Gus is all dark and brooding, and January is the total opposite. Gus calls January fairy princess because she writes romance and gives all her characters a happy ending, while he writes depressing literary fiction. They are complete opposites but they bring the best in each other.
The book has two of my favorite tropes: second-chance and nemeses-to-lovers. And although Beach Read has a lot of funny moments, it also has some somber and more profound themes of loss, grief, and child abuse. This book satisfied a lot of my cravings. It was funny, angsty, emotional, and clever. I thought the ending was a little rushed, but maybe it was because I didn’t want to say goodbye to these characters. If you are looking for a captivating contemporary romance, make sure to pick this book up!
This isn’t the cutesy romcom I expected but I still loved it!
January Andrews is dealing with grief after her father passed. Besides that, she also finds out secrets her dad has been hiding so she’s trying to reconcile the version of her dad she knew before his passing. Since she is a romance author, this affects her writing process — she didn’t believe in happy endings anymore.
She goes to her dad’s beach house that was left for her. Her next-door neighbor happens to be her college rival Augustus Everett who’s also a struggling best-selling author like her. Unlike January, the books Gus writes don’t contain happy endings. He’s gone through so many hurts in the past so he doesn’t believe in them anymore.
They grow closer since they’re both struggling with the book they’re currently writing. This leads them to form a pact to challenge each other: January has to write a book without a happy ending while Gus has to write a book that delivers one. They also spend time helping each other with research for the books they’re writing.
It’s told solely in January’s POV so I enjoyed slowly unraveling more about Gus as she gets to know him more. I liked the romance. I’m a sucker for good banter and this book definitely had a lot. They have such good chemistry and there’s a lot of cute and swoony moments as well.
January and Gus are two characters with emotional scars. All the family aspects on January’s side and know more about Gus and his past is honestly really sad so really, don’t expect a romcom. But this book is still worth a read, I’m adding it to my 2020 favorites.
Talk about a book hangover!
I absolutely love the story Beach Read by Emily Henry. A love story like no other but a ending you would see in a chick flick movie.
I love how you get to read into the main characters love story vs. other romance books where the couple is in love and getting married a week into knowing each other.
Certain parts of the book you could just feel January’s emotions coming alive off the page and effecting you in a big way.
Loved this book!!
Umm…..WOW!!! Loved, loved, loved Beach Read!!! I added this book to my Book of the Month box last month and I am so glad I did!!!
January was such a strong woman; I felt like I was on the path of self development with her. Gus was such a great addition to the story and the connection that he had with January was beautiful. I loved Gus’ vulnerability, it humanized him and his life.
Dana’s person rating:
Tear factor:
Highly recommend
This is my first book by Emily Henry and I was blown away ! I went into it completely blind without any expectations, except from having seen it quite often on #bookstagram. The cover gives me the impression of a fun, light, and fluffy chick lit. But I couldn’t be more wrong! This book is so emotional and engaging, sometimes whimsical and fun. It’s about family relationship, secrets and betrayal, friendship and acceptance, about how one’s personal life experiences shape how they view the world, and how two persons falling hard in love despite their differences…
January Andrews’s perfect life was shattered when her beloved father died suddenly. As a romance author, she couldn’t bring herself to write an HEA love story during this tough period. She decided to check out the lakefront house her father had left her, and hoped to finish the book her agent and publisher wanted her to write. Here, she ran into her crush-turned-nemesis college rival who happened to be her lake house neighbor, now a literary fiction author Augustus Everett…
Thinking that Gus judged and looked down on her choice of genre, she decided to challenge him by proposing a bet in which they’d swap their genres: he’d write a rom-com book and she’d write a dark and bleak literary fiction. They agreed on helping each other do research for their new genres. During these research trips, they got to know each other more deeply and to see the world under the other person’s view…
I really enjoy the banter between January and Gus. Their falling in love is based on the mutual understanding and gradually lowering their guards. It is quite natural and genuine, like pieces of the puzzle being put together slowly one by one. The relationship between January and her father plays a major role in the plot, and it made me literally sob like a child . This book is witty, funny, sweet, emotional, sexy, and romantic… complete with beautiful character transformation. I’d highly recommend it !
5 read for me!
*Special thanks to Berkley Romance for the free ARC via Edelweiss.”
I love Emily Henry’s writing and was not disappointed when I picked up her debut adult. It reads more women’s fiction than genre rom com, in terms of heat expectations, but it is satisfying and funny, poignant, sweet. Looking forward to more of Emily’s books!!
I LOVED Beach Read by Emily Henry — light-hearted, funny as hell. I devoured the whole thing in a day and a half. A terrific escape.