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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A masterclass in romantic fiction!
I want to sit on the beach with these two fictional
characters and eavesdrop. I fell into this story. It’s been a very long time since I’ve read a book that I loved that I didn’t want to rush through to find out how it ends. I wanted to savor this story. I’m finished and will probably open the book to page one again. It’s the story I didn’t know I needed.
4.5/5
I’ve seen lots of mixed reviews, but I really enjoyed this one (other than thinking it could have been tightened up a little).
Not your average rom-com as it also deals with long-term adultery, grief, child abuse.
Both January and Gus (new next-door neighbors who had coincidentally been rivals in college) have a lot to work through, both personally and professionally (they’re both writers, different genres). But as they become friends, they also become good support to the other.
The banter here is top-notch, so good! And there’s also some beautifully written, poetical insights about life/relationships as well. And I found the ending especially sweet. Enjoyed this one!
This book was amazing! It was my first Emily Henry book, but it won’t be my last. In fact, after I read it, I immediately bought another of her books and started it right away. I love, love, loved it! In fact, I think I might read it again. Maybe right now. 🙂
This book was not what I expected. I was expecting a light romance and this book was not that. January is grieving the death of her father and her ideal of who he was. Gus is also grieving. They knew each other as students and now they are living next door to each other in small town Michigan and both are battling writer’s block. They make a bet to switch genres, he will write a HEA romance and she will write a dark literary novel. Even though there is some romance there is also a lot of sadness. The story was all over the place and the ending was predicable. For me the book dragged on and it was too long. It was not the quick light read I was looking for word to.
Being an author, it’s a given I’d love a book that featured authors as the hero and heroine.
Gus is delightfully complicated, January is a confirmed romantic.
Their stories intertwine in a lovely way.
5/5 Stars
3/5 Steam Rating
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This book is so much more than a “Beach Read”. It’s an enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, second-chance romance, but it’s not. It’s a family drama, but it’s not. It’s so many things, yet it’s it’s own thing entirely. It’s predictable yet wholly original in its execution.
The sexual tension between Gus & January is off the charts and seeps from the pages. It’s the perfect balance of tension, steam, and emotion. This book had me swooning one moment and crying the next. It was expertly crafted with layer upon layers, to create a story that will ultimately steal your heart.
And can we talk about Shadi?! We all need a friend like her in our lives! Although we didn’t see nearly enough of her, she quickly became one of my favorite sidekick characters!
Beach Read:
January is an author, one who is suffering from writer’s block and personal family issues when she learns that her father may not be the man she thought he was prior to his death. She takes some time off to get inspired and write, visiting a beach town and her father’s old place. Enter Augustus Everett, yet another author, who January has actually had a prior acquaintance with in college. When they meet, they decide to strike up a deal to help one another with their writing blocks.
This book was such a hilarious rom-com! I enjoyed it so much and was definitely reaching for tissues to wipe my tears of laughter away at a point or two and let it be known, it takes a lot to make me laugh. I absolutely loved Gus–he was such an intriguing character who made me laugh and cry at the same time.
Both characters struggle with a lot of internal difficulties from various relationships in their life but as they embark on different research adventures together, it’s hard not to notice the undeniable pull between them. Picking up on strings left off years ago definitely is not easy, and neither is their relationship, but it’s described in such a beautiful way that you can’t help but root for these two all the way until the end.
This story is told from just January’s perspective, and while I usually am a fan of dual POV, this kept my attention the whole time and I didn’t feel that having only one perspective took away from the story in any way. Definitely recommend if you’re looking for a light-hearted fun read, though there is a touch of angst mixed in.
So this was a case of I really liked it, but… Honestly, I’m actually glad I read People We Meet on Vacation first, because I’m not 100% sure I would have read that one if I’d read this one first. I mean, I probably would have, but…IDK for sure. I definitely wouldn’t have been in such a hurry to read it, anyway.
What I liked:
Gus. I really, really liked Gus. I’m fairly certain I’d hate his books IRL if he were an actual author and they existed (though I did laugh out loud when January got to the end of the book he wrote for their bet–a surprised laugh, not a laugh of delight) but OMG I loved him as a character and as a love interest. Maybe seeing things from his POV would have affected this somewhat? But we don’t, so I love him.
The bet and the “lessons.” So much fun. Though it’s a toss up whether I loved the lessons or the text exchanges they had prior to them more 😉
Shadi, January’s BFF. OMG, I loved her so hard. The nicknames for boyfriends/crushes made me LOL every time.
The setting. I get why January wasn’t a fan of the house she was staying at, but reading about her house (and Gus’s) and the lake and beach? Makes me want to go on vacation, like yesterday.
January’s love for her genre and exasperation with the “women’s fiction” label. Also her appreciation of Meg Ryan movies (Gus’s lack of appreciation is obviously his major flaw)
What I wasn’t crazy about…
Although overall January is a sympathetic character and I really did feel for her–I mean, she’s a romance author! With writer’s block! And grieving is horrible–I didn’t always like her. I know losing her dad was hard and finding out about his secrets is even harder (and goodness knows, I find cheaters to be among the most difficult characters/people to like) but OMG, woman, everything isn’t always about you. Trying to force her mom to talk about an obviously painful subject on the day of her husband’s funeral? Not cool. Refusing to read the letter from her dad for more than a year? Also not cool. (Though that letter didn’t absolve him of anything, IMO it definitely made him more sympathetic than he seemed before, during the months after his death when she refused to read it) And she’d been jumping to conclusions about Gus for literal years, don’t get me started on that… (though his explanation for his behavior in college was priceless, and yet another addition to the why I love Gus list…it definitely added to the “one of these characters has matured and become self-aware, the other still needs some work in this area” dynamic going on here). I loved the ending of the book, which *almost* made me forget how aggravating January was for 90+% of the book. But then I came on to Goodreads and looked at its page here, and it all came flooding back…
So…will I read something else from the author? Yes, definitely. But whether that book is more like this one or like People We Meet… will determine if I read another one after that.
Note: I listened to the audio version, which was read by Julia Whelan. She did an excellent job, as always.
Rating: 4 stars / B+
January and Gus were in college and competed in writing classes.
January, a romance writer, has writers block. Her life is a mess and she is at her dead father’s [new to her] love nest near a lake in Michigan.
Gus happens to be next-door. He is a successful literary writer. Maybe also with a touch of writers block.
That story is nestled in the romance plot. Past and present misunderstandings. Neither is perfect. Neither is planning to hook up.
Delightful. Funny enough for laughter
Beach Read is not the typical “rom com” you think it is going to be but don’t write it off. You will fall head over heels in love for January and Gus’s story in the realist way possible.
With a title like this and the blurb I was expecting a light fluffy well “beach read” but this book was about loss, grief, self-discovery and hope. Just because you did not get your fairy tale happily ever after in the way you hoped does not mean your happily ever after isn’t coming to you in a whole new way.
“If you think the story has a sad ending, it’s because it’s not over yet.”
This is a must-read book!! January and Gus are not going to make you fall in love with them instantly, it is a slow process that will have you on the edge of your seat just waiting to see what happens next. Gus made me fall for the awkward boy who just wanted to be loved in a way that he wasn’t even sure existed. January made me feel so many emotions through her grief that I was blown away by her sheer power of love even through her heartbreak. I laughed with them, cried with them, and grew with them. READ THIS BOOK! It will give you a new perspective on your own happily ever after.
If you like smart rom coms with dialogue that is more brilliant than Heyer or Austen, you NEED to pick up this book.
I loved the wit and the banter between the characters! The wry humor was en pointe and I felt like the dialogue is what I would have created if I were to ever write a book. January was so relatable and I felt seen in the way she handled situations. So many emotions in this book and I love how the story felt new and fresh even though it’s the same old romance formula. Fantastic read!
I read very few romance novels but if I’m going to read one I prefer that it offer some unique insights into human nature — Beach Read definitely does. I liked the book’s underlying theme of of what happens when two wounded people are physically and emotionally attracted to each other. How do they deal with their insecurities? How do they overcome their past painful experiences to open their hearts to each other? This was more than a romance novel. It also deals with dark subjects like parental infidelity, a cult and emotional and physical abuse. But the author artfully weaves sexual tension, clever banter, funny observations, likable protagonists, engaging secondary characters, and the challenges of writers’ block into a compelling story that offers an uplifting view of the healing power of love.
This was such a delightful read! I absolutely loved it. Even though it has a great rating I didn’t have high expectations. I was expecting the usual rom-com but this was so much more!
Emily Henry managed to write a wonderful rom-com but with a deeper meaning and I just loved that. I love how real the character’s struggles are. And their reactions to those. I loved the friendship the love interests have and the lovely romantic relationship they achieved.
Emily has beautiful and unique writing. This novel was written in such a lovely way that you didn’t even feel you were reading. Everything just happened in front of your eyes as if by magic. I don’t why it took me so long to read this fascinating book, but I’m happy I did it.
Is safe to say I already ordered my copy of Emily’s newest release “People We Meet on Vacations” and I can’t wait to read it.
Starts out generic and dull … just when I was about to give up on it, MMC makes an interesting proposal to FMC, she agrees and … while it’s still generic so far, and there’s a very tired character (given up on love/ doesn’t believe in it anymore and is in a rut as a result), I decided to hang in there, thinking it could get fun.
However, I was wrong. It stayed extremely dull and predictable. Everything’s predictable, true. But this was one of those, from the first chapter, you can predict every single thing that happens, not just the ultimate outcome.
And … this is listed as a RomCom but there was not a single moment that made me laugh or even smile … very boring … at least for me. Not sure I’d give this author another chance since there was not a single scrap of originality anywhere to be found.
2 stars.
Note:
I listened to the audiobook. Great voice, smooth delivery. 4-star performance.
In my opinion this is a YA book with older characters. It’s EMO and angsty. Not at all what you’d expect when you look at the cover. I’m not saying that YA books are bad, but they’re heavy on inner musings and emotional monologues like this one is. I certainly never expected to read about a 29 year old woman who is emotionally stuck and learning a life lesson.
That said, Ms. Henry’s a really good writer. I haven’t read prose this good in a while now. It’s just that there are a lot of elements in it and it went on a little longer than I would have liked it to. I certainly can’t call it a rom/com—maybe I smiled a few times but that was it. I really did like the ending though.
Anyway, if you want a romance with more depth to it than the average, that’s well written and well edited and deals with some heavy issues, this may be for you. It would be good for book club discussions and there are questions at the end of the book.
I’ve just added Emily Henry to my list of favourite authors! January and Gus were the perfect pair for an opposites attract love story with humour and angst. Loved the characters and the sarcasm. So good!
I always enjoy stories about writers. This is a fun read!
I wouldn’t say that this book was my favorite read. I mean I did really like it but I felt like there was really no character growth or development. I feel like the author just gave us a surface level look at the characters and didn’t go into depth about there motivations. It was a super cute romance but I really wanted to get to know the characters more in depth.
I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway. I loved this book! The sweet story in a nutshell –
She’s a romance writer who has lost her faith in romance. He’s a real life documentarian focused on the dark side of life, which is getting him down. They challenge each other to write in the other person’s genre. He only has one rule: Don’t fall in love with me.
This was just the sort of laugh out loud, “just one more chapter” kind of book I needed right now. I thought the story was great, and the way the author lets the story unfold was just perfect. I would highly recommend for anyone looking for a great Beach Read!