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.
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I’ve been doing a lot of deep, important reading lately, and I wanted to lighten things up. BEACH READ was the most perfect book for this. I couldn’t stop reading, and I had to keep putting it down because I didn’t want it to end. Emily Henry has a wicked sense of humor and knows exactly which rom-com tropes to touch upon and which ones to fling out the window to allow for a deeply satisfying story. Plus – writers writing about writers writing is my FAVORITE theme. A perfect summer read.
What can I say? BEACH READ by Emily Henry is a fun book. It’s definitely a romance, albeit dressed up as women’s fiction. From a marketing POV, this is a smart move. Put a couple in an embrace on the cover, and the book loses sales across genre lines. Sad but true. Besides, my calling this a romance is a positive thing. It’s terrific.
The premise? A writer of romance inherits a Lake Michigan beach house from her newly-deceased father. Her house sits directs beside one owned by a writer of literary fiction. Our heroine, January Andrews, and the owner of this abutting one, Augustus Everett, had a slightly dubious acquaintance with each other in college. Neither is pleased to see the other.
And so it goes. Sparks fly in the writing style of the clever-chic Gen Y type. And hey, I’m far from Gen Y, but this is very well done. The dialogue is real and clever, the characters feel fleshed out, and the pacing is wonderful. Around and between the lines of the romance is a solid story of families, both dysfunctional and not, with enough dawning insight to give the whole thing purpose.
And the ending? It is happy. And what, I ask you, is wrong with that? In this day and age of protests, pandemic, and political divisiveness, WHAT IS WRONG with escaping into a book like BEACH READ that ends well?
Absolutely nothing.
ALL THE STARS!
“The sun was low on the horizon, the thin blankets of clouds streaked a pale tangerine. They looked like melted Dreamsicles floating in a sea of denim blue.”
Don’t be fooled by the cover or the blurb of this book. Beach Read by Emily Henry was so much more than a romance. It’s such a deep rooted story about love, loss, life, and everything in between.
The tale begins with the heroine contemplating her perfect life and what went wrong. She’s broke, she no longer has the boyfriend, nor the loving parents, and she’s lost her writing inspiration. January finds herself at a gorgeous lake house that once belonged to her deceased father.
“For years, I had a purpose, something good to focus on. But when Dad died, suddenly writing—the one thing that had always put me at ease, a verb that felt more like a place only for me, the thing that had freed me from my darkest moments and brought hope into my chest in my heart’s heaviest— had seemed impossible.”
January discovers that her neighbor is non other than Augustus Everett, her nemesis from college who also happens to be a writer. Once again, they’re butting heads. Gus proposes a bet of sorts to swap writing genres and see who can finish a book first.
“You try writing bleak literary fiction, see if that’s who you are now, if you’re capable of being that person”— I rolled my eyes and snatched the last bite of donut from his hand . He went on, unbothered—“ and I’ll write a happily ever after.”
January and Gus embark on these research road trips, where they slowly open up to each other. Soon, conversation between the two becomes an easy going thing as they get to know the other on a deeper level.
Two slightly broken people who have loved and lost, learn to care for the other. January being at her most vulnerable brings her closer to Gus.
“As different as I’d thought we were, it felt a little bit like Gus and I were two aliens who’d stumbled into each other on Earth only to discover we shared a native language.”
Beach Read was such a swoonworthy story that will open your mind and your heart to endless possibilities. Emily Henry has warmed my heart with her writing and these wonderful characters. Sign me up for her next book please! Must read
What a sparkling romance novel! I love this author’s writing voice–she completely sucked me in and held me with her witty writing and fun characterizations. Those elements kept the tragic backstories and certain plot points (the nihilism vs. optimism battle) from weighing down the story. Of course, as a writer, I also smiled through all of the descriptions of these two author-characters’ career ups and downs. The title is apt–not only because of the setting but also because it is exactly the vacation book you want to read: breezy, funny, and heartwarming, with just enough depth to make you think a little bit about the way you see the world. I heartily recommend this book to anyone looking for a pick-me-up.
Delightfully romantic and slyly poignant, Beach Read is brimming with crackling banter and engrossing prose. It has every flavor of booklover catnip: rivalry, creative struggle, family secrets, and the sweet head-over-heels tumble into love. Emily Henry’s Beach Read is 2020’s perfect anywhere read.
Beach Read is original, sparkling bright, and layered with feeling. Has trying to see the world through your long time crush/rival’s eyes ever been this potent and poignant? If whipcrack banter and foggy sexual tension is your catnip, you’ll adore this book.
I was captivated by the book cover and delighted by the contents. A story about two different writers switching genres as a competition and falling in love in the process was a delightful way to start Mother’s Day. With several want-to-underline moments, I’ll be glad to recommend this to friends.
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.
This is a perfect book to tuck into your beach bag and take to the beach or the pool. It’s a romance with two very endearing characters who struggle not to fall in love even as they are falling in love. At first, they think they are enemies but the more time they spend together, the more it’s just the opposite.
January is a romance writer in a writing slump. She has been betrayed by her father and (she feels) ignored by her mother. Her father left her a beach house on Lake Michigan so she is convinced she can write her next book – which is due very soon – while she has the peace and quiet. Augustus in a popular novelist of literary fiction. He too is in a writing slump and trying to get his next book written. He lives in the beach cottage next to January. At first they make fun of the genres that the other writes. Augustus doesn’t feel that books with a happy ending are very realistic because life doesn’t always have happy endings. January feels like literary fiction is usually bleak and unhappy. They make a deal — during the summer, January will write a book of literary fiction and Augustus will write a romance. To help them along, every Friday Gus will take her to do research to write literary fiction and every Saturday, she will take him to do something that could show up in a romance novel. When they start to spend more time together, their feelings for each other begin to change but there’s still a lot of baggage that needs to be settled before they can have a relationship.
Beach Read is more than just a light fluffy romance. I enjoyed both of the main characters and what they went through after they switched genres. I enjoyed their relationship with each other – they were both very witty and parts of the book were very funny. But each had a very serious side and both definitely wanted to write a great book. Grab this book and go out in the sun to read it.
Like everyone else, I am totally in love with the voice in this romantic comedy. It truly is a perfect beach read. Old college rivals meet unexpectedly one summer. Turns out, they are staying next door to each other. She challenges him to write a romance, he challengers her to write a thriller. Great summer read
As a writer, I especially loved the characters’ grappling with writer’s block and with exploring each other’s genres. Even if you aren’t a writer, the romance is really great.
I always go by my book buddies’ recommendations, but when Beach Read popped up in a retailer’s email, I thought I’d give it a go. Boy, am I glad I one-clicked it! The cherry on top was not only discovering a new author but also getting to know her versatile writing style. She’s cannily merged the stories of two writers together who make a deal difficult to accomplish; that could change their whole storytelling perspective.
Gus Everett has issues with happy endings. He scoffs at them, has trouble believing they exist and questions his new neighbour’s belief in love. Laugh until I cried, her astonishment is so noteworthy that it became one of my many highlights. So, what does Gus publish when he’s not in a writing doldrums? To January Adams’ chagrin, bestsellers that don’t have HEAs but leave his readers wanting more. And to rub salt in the wound, her agent’s on her heels, and the publishing date for her next romance which is barely coming together adds more stress to her present-day dilemma.
Bringing out all the smiles, I adored their awkward collegiate past and if not embarrassing meet up. But more than anything, I loved how the author made me doubt her protagonists’ abilities to write genres they weren’t familiar with. I had a hard time imagining Gus writing Chick lit or January putting a literacy work of his calibre together with everything it entailed. So, when the author combined bluntness with subtlety and imagination, she had me turning the pages at lightning speed.
Gus and January’s backstories are realistically heartbreaking. I easily forgave their excuses for the now because hey, life is by no means perfect! Changing the subject, for those of you who have read my reviews, you’ll know I’m a banter snob to the core. I simply can’t do without it. I lapped up the sharp humour and quick-witted comebacks, and the well-thought-out texts were something else. But what gave me all the feels was their empathy towards each other.
Coming to terms with the past is at times, complicated. However, Henry drove home hope and acceptance with abounding optimism. Now for the heat. In a palpable sense, the steaminess is off the charts. In a sentimental one, it made my reading experience even better. Exceptionally well-written, this so quotable book I cannot praise enough. Bravo, Henry!
This is a very well-written rom-com that exposes the inner life of writers along the road to romance. I enjoyed it and it held my (pandemic) attention. Recommend!
*4 Stars*
ARC kindly received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was a really different kind of romance novel, if you can really call it that. It explores so many different themes – grief, romance, truth and lies, moving forward, finding yourself – just so many things.
I liked both our main characters, and I liked that this was so different from the norm in terms of chick-lit or romance novels.
It’s kind of hard for me to review this without going to into depth about the storyline, and I think it’s really a book that just needs to be read to be experienced. Two authors that have their views challenged and not necessarily, changed, but expanded. Definitely a really interesting experience.
I enjoyed all aspects of this and would definitely recommend.
Beach Read is part romance, part family drama. The story takes place on the beautiful coast of Lake Michigan where two writers reside next door to each other. It turns out they knew each other in the past, but this time, their relationship takes a different turn. I liked the main characters and the chemistry between them, and was rooting for them to get their happily ever after. Good read.
Just when I thought it’d take me days, maybe even weeks before I’d get so consumed with a book and it’s story—along comes Beach Read in all its glory and punches me with the feels.
Beach Read was my first Emily Henry book I’ve read and I was blown away. Don’t let the cover fool you, this isn’t some light and fun story. It’s a raw, but beautiful romance that has a lot of depth and emotion and I loved it so much.
January and Gus are two broken individuals. They are both published authors in neighboring beach homes. January writes romance and writes about happiness and her characters finding their happily ever after. But her recent life events have left her questioning everything she once believed in, and it’s making it difficult for her to write the romance she’s good at. Gus writes fiction and he searches for the dark and uncomfortable things and pours his words into literary fiction. January and Gus decide to switch genres as a bet to see who can write and sell a book first. And in order to do this, they end up spending a lot of time together and go on adventures to help each other out.
I loved the friendship January and Gus developed. I loved how they could be open and honest with each other and they challenged each other in the best ways. I really loved the slow burn romance between these two, watching them falling slowly in love was one of my favorite things. I loved their witty banter and I can’t tell you how many times they had me laughing.
Beach Read had me smiling then laughing then crying then swooning and laughing and crying some more. It’s not your perfect romance, but that’s what makes it so much better. It’s a romance that’s raw and real and filled with imperfections. It’s about two broken people finding happiness with each other. I’m so in love with January and Gus and their beautiful romance. They managed to chip a chunk of my heart and call their own. This book is 100% being added to my best of 2020 shelf. A definite MUST READ!
I enjoy books about the struggles of other authors, but this one was so much more–it ended up being a commentary on how to unconditionally love someone and accept love.
Irresistible premise that delivers on its promise. Especially fun for writers. 🙂
All the stars! The perfect feel-good read for the summer.
I…was not expecting this book, you guys. I’d had friends read and recommend it and say that they laughed throughout. That it was a good, light, funny book. And while it was, I suppose, all those things, it was also haunting and emotional and gut wrenching at times. The humor, while there, was not what grabbed me by the throat and didn’t let go. It was the heroine, January’s, journey throughout the book and the ghosts she had to face.
Henry’s prose is so beautiful and moving without being overdone. The kind where you want to reread sentences or even whole passages just to sit with the words a bit longer. The kind that, honestly, make me want to hang up my hat as an author and never write another word while simultaneously urging me to my laptop to pour my soul out immediately.
BEACH READ was a surprising and delightful story full of wit and emotion with enough banter, snark, and humor to balance out the difficult parts. And it is, without a doubt, my favorite read of 2020.
Our protagonist, January, a women’s fiction author finds refuge in a lakehouse her father left her in his will as she attempts to write her next novel. Struggling with the discovery that her father wasn’t exactly the man she thought she was, she’s having trouble writing her typical happily-ever-after romance, when her current outlook on life is anything but rosy. Insert her new next-door-neighbor, Gus, a “serious” author who writes anything but happy endings, who also happens to be her college writing rival. Can these two spend a summer overcoming writers’ block without killing of falling in love with each other…?
Despite this book’s title, which is basically a tongue-in-cheek reference to women’s fiction being encompassed by so-called “beach reads,” this book has so much more depth than your standard woman-escapes-to-the-beach-after-family-trauma-and-reconnects-with-an-old-flame trope. In fact, it makes fun of those tropes and challenges one’s perspective on women’s fiction at every turn of the page. The characters feel real and raw and you believe they’re talented writers because the author (Emily Henry) is quite talented herself. The book has some heavy moments, including both the main character’s family wounds and a visit to a former cult compound (unrelated to said family wounds, except metaphorically), but the romance anchoring this book keeps things light enough for the story to not be a downer. One of the best qualities of this book is how strikingly the emotion comes across, how real it feels. This book is anything but a simple “beach read,” though I certainly wouldn’t mind to read it there…