This was an enjoyable enough experience, but sadly, not a new favorite! I completely understand why this book is as beloved and popular as it is, but it didn't really do much for me personally.

As I read more romance I am coming to realize what I do and don't enjoy, and I think I really don't enjoy romance that hinges on a lot of sexual tension, which this one does. That's not to say that it's just sexual tension; the relationship between the two leads is actually grounded in a decent bit of friendship, but the main female lead, January, is constantly sexualizing the main male lead, and I just don't find that appealing. I also found January really, really immature and also very QuirkyTM in a way that got under my skin.

What I did really love about this book was that both main characters were writers! I'm coming to realize that I love reading books about writers; as a writer myself, it's such an easy way to form a connection with characters. I really enjoyed reading about these characters' struggles with writing, or how they formulate a plot and think about character motivations.

Also a very quick read, with some occasionally really, really pretty lines! Atmosphere is pretty strong too; I could very easily picture the beach-lake, the heat, the beach houses, etc.

Loved this book so much! I love a great feel-good romance with rich backstory and well-developed characters. This is a great "grown up" romance because the characters are older and the romance sparks right away because they are more mature and don't dilly daley around the physical and emotional sparks that are charging between then.

Two authors who are trying write their follow up novels are new neighbors who just so happen to have an interesting past. January Andrews and Gus Everett have their own stories of love lost and family drama to tell. It's not until they reach out to eachother for help with their books that they find what they really need from eachother.

Highly recommend

I can’t get over how much I loved this book. I went into it thinking it would be just a fluffy romcom and while it was funny there was definitely a more serious side too that I enjoyed. January and Gus were a great duo. The plot and the relationships (both fun and not so fun) made a fantastic novel.

This was for the most part a pleasant beach read-pun intended.I liked the interaction between the neighbors . There was a book writing competition which was an interesting twist. However, I wasn't a big fan of Everett's research for a future novel. It seemed unnecessarily grim for a lighthearted beach read.

We have January Andrews and Augustus Everett. They're both successful writers. January writes romance and Gus writes literary fiction. They are both having writer's block so Gus has come up with a deal and January agrees. She will write a bleak literary fiction and he will write a romance novel.

I was so sure that I was going to give this book a 5-star rating when I started reading it and boy I was wrong. First things first. I was expecting for a light, fluffy, and breezy rom-com read because the cover and title scream summer! I don't read book synopsis so imagine my surprise when I got into the middle part of this book. Don't get me wrong. There were parts that I genuinely enjoyed and loved. I loved the setting! I liked the idea of January and Gus switching genres. It was interesting to read their writing process and their inspirations behind their stories. One of my favorites was how January stood up and defended her books and women's fiction in general. (whether we like it or not, there are book snobs out there) I enjoyed their witty banter and writing of notes "You Belong With Me" style. But something changed when they started "spending time" together. The second half of the book felt so slow for me. I didn't want to dnf it because a small part of me was still curious on how the story will end and after almost a month, I finished it. I'm obviously part of the minority here so if you're planning on reading this book, please do.

*Thanks to BerkleyPub for gifting me an early copy of this book. This did not affect my overall opinion of the book.*

I kept hearing about Beach Read and am so glad I requested it. I literally could not put it down once I started reading. What a fantastic (literal) beach read! Loved the story and the cast of characters (especially Gus)! Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy. I will most definitely be recommending this book to everyone!

This ARC was received by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Generally I gravitate towards any type of enemies to lovers/ friends to lovers romance because the relationship is most often established before the narrative begins, which helps avoid the romance feeling rushed or "insta-lovey." That's one of my least favourite aspects of romance, where they basically fall in love over the course of a week. It rings false and corney, and completely takes me out of the story. When the characters already know one another fairly well, it feels much more natural that they might develop emotions.

Exactly as in the title, this is a breezy, fun summer read. Would recommend to anyone who is enjoying this brand of contemporary romance- populated by real people navigating modern romance.

Fun, fun!

There was something remarkable as I read Beach Read that I would never have thought I would experience when reading a contemporary romance. This book made me feel giddy and made me smile widely and truly proved that the five star rating I’m giving it is well deserved.

January Andrews is a romance author while Augustus “Gus” Everett is a literary fiction author and their connection throughout the whole book was amazing. They are both broken and trying to heal in their own ways and when January arrives at her father’s beach house to write her book and power through the writer’s block that she is going through, she discovers that her neighbor in the adjacent beach house is her college rival, Gus.

Gus believes that January only writes happily ever afters and January believes he only writes in sad, depressing fiction so they decide to strike a deal on who can write the best novel of the opposites specialty for the entirety of their summer at the beach house. They each take turns once a week bringing each other to show them different aspects of their own writing, January brings Gus on cheesy romantic dates while Gus brings January on trips to interview cult survivors.

Not only do these small weekly trips bring them closer, but January discovers that their small college rivalry was really a meaningless rivalry and that there was something deeper behind said rivalry. I fell in love with January and Gus and they way the had cute moments throughout writing their manuscripts in the beach house and how they slowly became comfortable with each other. They communicated with each other well and when one or the other was feeling down or being closed off toward the other, they lifted each other up.

I loved the way that it mad me smile, laugh, tear up, and just feel so happy to read this. I loved the way that January wasn’t a typical heroine all shy and continuously blushing but fought back on sarcastic comments and jokes toward Gus. Their banter was adorable to read and their dialogue was sarcastic, smart, and adorable and it was so clear how they connected even though they were enemies at first.

I’m so glad that I got to pick this up and enjoy this book because it made me feel comfortable and happy as I read this book and I thoroughly enjoyed this book and gave it five well deserved stars. The hype around this book is true and I would recommend anyone to get this book!

Beach Read is a beautiful examination of grief, disappointments, and finding love. It brings together two characters who are still processing deep losses. We watch these two move from bickering neighbors, to friends, to lovers. It's a delicious slow burn with great character development.

I really enjoyed this book. Honestly I liked it a lot more than I expected to since it started out shaky to me. This is a new to me author, but I'd heard a lot of hype about Beach Read. I have to save, it lived up to the hype.
The first thing that struck me about Beach Read was the humor. I love that January and Gus have the same twisted, sarcastic sense of humor that I have so there were lots of times that I laughed at inappropriate jokes made at the worst possible time. I think the humor served a great purpose in this book that has a good bit of darkness and angst as well.
It took me a little while to warm up to January and Gus. But by the end of the book I felt connected to both of them. Not going to lie though, I still think it's weird that January brought a box of gin with her but, what seemed like an obvious drinking problem was never addressed except as a joke early on. I thought that was going to play a role in the story but it didn't. Aside from that, January and Gus really are both such interesting characters and the way that they interacted with each other was great. I think Emily Henry did a good job of creating characters that really evolved through out the book. There were definitely times when I wanted to reach out, grab the characters by the shoulders, and shake them. And while that might be frustrating, it means that I've truly became invested in the characters.
I really liked the romantic aspect of Beach Read, it was a slow build up and that worked really well based on the situation. I really liked that while there was the "big conflict" that must be resolved like in all romances, it didn't go on longer than necessary and was actually resolved by the main characters having an actual conversation.
I think relationships played such a big role in this book. The relationship (or lack thereof) between Gus and January was the main focus, but so much of the story was influenced by the relationships they had with others in their lives, particularly both January and Gus's with their parents, January and Shadi's, and Gus and Pete's. I always enjoy well written secondary characters and I loved reading January and Shadi's friendship.
Overall I think this was a great book. In the discussion questions at the end of the book (I have mixed feelings about discussion questions in books but it's becoming more and more common in romance) the author asks about a sequel. I honestly hope they don't get one. I read romance for the happily ever after and while I liked January's statement that her happily ever after was just a series of happily for nows, If there's a sequel, that means something went wrong and I definitely prefer to believe this was their HEA and that's the end of it.

This story was not the light, beachy romance between two writers I was expecting! While its premise sets up the possibility for a fun read, full of witty banter and funny will they/won’t they moments, this book surprises when it accomplishes this and so much more. Dealing with topics such as death, infidelity, and abuse, we see both main characters work through grieving, coming to terms with old hurts, and the reality that it takes time to heal from these wounds. I appreciated the way the author dealt with the truth of past traumas and how they impact developing relationships while still maintaining humor and romance.

January's "happily ever after" life crumbles at her dad's funeral when she learns he was living a secret life, with a secret girlfriend, in Michigan. Newly single, suffering from writers block, and broke she decides to spend the summer at her dad's lake house, finally writing the novel she has been promising her publisher. However, when her new neighbor turns out to be her college writing rival/secret crush the summer does not go exactly as January had planned.

So, this was not at all the story I was expecting.

You’ve probably seen this book floating around Instagram lately, and in almost every review I’ve seen of it, readers have been describing this story as the perfect light summer romance. And with a bright yellow cover, and a cute title, I believed it! Though I very quickly realized this is not a light book. I even had to reference the cover of my book to make sure we were all reading the same one.

Let me say—there is a cute romance between the main characters, and we do get a happily ever after, so in that sense this IS a romance. But, I would not describe this as a light read. Just in the first half of the book we read about adultery, cancer diagnoses, death of a parent, mental and physical abuse from a parent, suicide cults, anxiety, and probably more that I’m not remembering at the moment.

That being said, I still really enjoyed this book. The author wrote about the characters in a way that made them feel real, and not just part of a book. Even though romance was a large part of this book, the heart of this story was author’s ability to take us along with the characters as they dealt with past and current traumas. Reading through this story made me feel a full range of emotion. I felt devastated, frustrated, giddy and hopeful—and I loved it! It wasn’t the story I was expecting, but it was still a story I enjoyed and would recommend!

What a fun easy read! I enjoyed this book immensely and had a hard time putting it down. While the title has you thinking it will be a typical beach read, it was so much more.

I just finished the highly anticipated Beach Read by @emilyhenrywrites and @berkleypub and oh my goodness ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. I cannot praise this book enough the title is so misleading! What a deep wonderful romantic story which deals with death and starting over. 💕just thinking about it makes my heart so happy. Synopsis: when January moves into her fathers lake home to help sell it after his death, she is greeted by her next door neighbor and college rival Augustus. Gus always knocks January’s novels because they’re romantic with a happy ending. So they challenge each other to write outside of their comfort zone and tackle their writers block-her book will be research based and his will have a happy ending. Each trip they take will draw them closer until the lines of this college rivalry will blur. January is also struggling with the death of her father and accepting some of his dark secrets from the past which continue to haunt her. This is not your typical romantic novel, it will blow you away. With themes of acceptance, grief, and finding yourself it will tug at your heart strings. I laughed, I cried, and I can’t praise this book enough. Run now and pick up your copy anywhere books are sold. Also don’t forget to enter the giveaway on my last post, it ends Sunday! 💕

I did not expect the setting of this book to be LAKE MICHIGAN based on the cover and description. I saved this "for a true 'beach read' and was slightly confused by the title/cover art when the characters go to the 'beach' so infrequently in the book...and why is the house a 'beach house' and not a 'lake house' if it is on Lake Michigan?
Once I got over that (and it did not take long) I really enjoyed the book. I enjoyed the 'opposites' January and Gus. Their characters were fleshed out fairly well and were balanced enough to not seem overly moody or overly optimistic. The message of healing, hope, and finding both strength and weakness valuable in life's struggles was appreciated and gave me 'the feels' that I am always game for in Women's Lit. Thanks for a great read!

I am in the minority when it comes to liking this book. I felt it was just an exercise in Millennial melodrama and angst. The H/h were so immature it was difficult to understand how they were so successful in their respective genres. Their field trips were to expose the other to their genre, but there is nothing romantic about going to a carnival, riding rides and vomiting. There is nothing enlightening about going to a massacre sight and having sex. I kept shouting at this book “Just grow up.” Sorry but unless you can really relate to these characters I suggest you skip this one.

LET'S GET IT ON with Beach Read by Emily Henry

First Impressions



This cover is so adorable, and perfect for the book. Cutesy cartoons are all the rage right now, but I find this one particularly well done. Maybe my favorite detail is the way "a novel" is embroidered on the rim of January's hat!

What's Your Type?

Enemies to lovers, forced proximity, bets, beach houses, writers, opposites attract, old grudges

Dating Profile

January Andrews has it all, she’s a young, best-selling romance author with a perfect apartment, perfect boyfriend, perfect family. That is, until she suddenly finds herself single and homeless with nothing left but the key to her dead dad’s love shack. Yeah, you read that right. Her dad died and left her the beach house where he used to shack up with his mistress. Y I K E S.

So when January arrives at her new home, she’s already in a pretty shit mood. Finding out she has an asshole, partying neighbor is just the icing on top of the shit cake. And the rainbow sprinkles on top of the icing on top of the shit cake? The fact that her asshole, partying neighbor is none other than acclaimed literary fiction author Augustus Everett, a.k.a. the pretentious asshat she had to take creative writing classes with all through college.

Turns out January and her long-time rival are both struggling with a bit of writer’s block, and in an attempt to get those creative juices flowing, they make a bet. January has to spend her summer writing a literary fiction novel, and Gus has to write a romance novel. And when they aren’t writing, January will school Gus on all the best rom-com tropes, and Gus will take January to interview former members of a doomsday cult. Suddenly, these two college rivals find it hard to deny that they have more in common than they always thought.

Meet Cute

Before she even knows who he is, January knows she hates her neighbor. He's kind of a jerk to her one night when it's too dark to see his face, and then he has this huge obnoxious party while she's desparately trying to write. When she stumbles into the small town's book store and offers to sign copies of her books - only to be told by the bookstore owner that they don't HAVE any copies of her books for her to sign - she is mortified when none other than Augustus Everett himself appears in the store. AND OF COURSE the store not only has tons of copies of his books, but an entire display of them in the middle of the store. It's a perfect set up to lend weight to January's hatred of her old rival Gus, and the reader is immediately on her side as she commences hating him once again.

But with Gus living next door, it's almost impossible for them to avoid each other. And once they realize that they're in the same writer's-blocked boat, they throw caution to the wind and decide to stop trying to avoid each other and instead trying to work together...apart. Which is more challenging than expected.

The Lean

As a person who reads/writes romance novels AND loathes pretentious, literary asshats, this enemies-to-lovers set up was incredibly enjoyable for me because Gus is totally the guy I love to hate. Only he’s also hot, and he can banter with the best of them, and okay, maybe he’s not as bad as January always thought. The set up for their mutual disdain felt real but so did the undercurrent of HOT attraction they’d both been trying to deny since college. It’s inevitable that they eventually give in and jump each other’s bones (this is a romance novel, after all), and when they do, the decade’s worth of pent up sexual frustration sets these pages ablaze, baby!

Dirty Talk

Henry makes us wait for it, but the build-up is so heady at times that Gus and January's banter feels like actual foreplay. There are enough sexy moments sprinkled throughout to satiate, but the pacing doesn't drag. Even once January and Gus give in to their lust (a poem!), there are still plenty of things keeping them apart, which makes every moment they have together sexy as hell.

Ms. Perky's Prize for Purplest Prose





Henry knows how to please a reader: sex against book shelves. The ultimate fantasy! Here's a sneak peek at one of January and Gus' more *ahem* literary moments.

His first thrust was mind-meltingly slow, and everything in my body pulled taut around him as he sank deep into me. My breath caught, stars popping behind my eyes from the surprise of his size and the wave of pleasure racing out of him.

"Oh god," I gasped as he rocked into me.

"Are you praying to me?" he teased against my ear, sending a tingle down my spine.

We Need To Talk

Here at FYA, we were already big-time fans of Emily Henry. Not only is Beach Read her first crack at adult romance, it’s also a rare instance of contemporary writing for her that isn’t magical realism (the exception to this being Hello Girls, a YA Thelma and Louise that she co-wrote with Brittany Cavallaro and which you should absolutely read this instant). I was excited to get my greedy hands on this book for, like, all the reasons listed above, but also because I was interested to see how Henry’s ethereal writing would translate to adult rom-com. And great news for all of us: it translates flawlessly.

Was It Good For You?



Girl, yes! This felt like such a smart romance novel. It has all the tropes you love, without ever crossing the line into cheesy cliches. The banter was witty and never cringy. The characters are cool and eccentric but feel like real people that you definitely want to hang out with IRL. The slow burn from enemies to...not enemies is well-paced and filled with a few surprises along the way.

QUICK TAKE: not my typical genre fare, but I found a lot to like about this romance between two writers- a romance author and a literary fiction novelist- who swap genres as a way of breaking their writer's block, and eventually fall for each other. The east coast setting also gave me all the summer vacation vibes and I was here for it.

Wow. You look at the cover of Beach Read and think it's going to be a lighthearted, fuzzy, contemporary romance read. But there's so much more depth to this book than you initially think.

Beach Read follows January Andrews, a romance writer who no longer believes in love. Along with Augustus Everett, who is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. They're polar opposites, and the only thing they have in common? They're going to be neighbors for the next 3 months.

While they're both going through severe writers block, they decide to engage in a summer challenge. January must write the Next Great American Novel, while Augustus must write a happily ever after.

This story is emotional and full of serious and deep moments, along with banter and slow-burn romance. I enjoyed the characters, the plot, and the writing. Definitely recommend this one!