Beach Read was a true delight! January and Gus were dynamic characters that felt relatable and authentic. The book was the right balance of real emotional issues and fun romance. I devoured this book and would recommend it to any friend and patron of the library.

Yes, I'm rating this as a two star read. In other words...it was okay.
Looking around at my friends that love it...…….


It was such a cute concept. A woman goes to a lake house to recover from her dad's death and starts googly eyeing the hot author guy next door.

The thing is? I didn't like her for most of the book.


She got some stuff going on.


And then she really started getting on my nerves!


The money issues made me cringe for her. She almost at times seemed like she was waiting on hot dude to pick up the bill. So much for independent women.

I probably wrong read the heck outta this one. Don't worry I have a history of it.
Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.

This book is exactly what you want to read if you're craving some romance. The build up of the relationship was fun, the banter was so enjoyable to follow, and the payoff was super hot! Such and enjoyable, fun, read.

I really expected to love Beach Read . Granted, I go into every book I read for pleasure expecting to enjoy it and sometimes it just doesn’t pan out. However, the blurb lead me to expect a bright, fluffy, and fun beach romance with bickering and interesting characters. That’s not what this book is, so if the blurb and the cover are what make you want to read this, you might want to reconsider.

Taking Beach Read (do they ever even get to the beach?) for what it is – a story of a woman recovering from the death of a parent and having her worldview shattered by secrets that have been revealed – it still wasn’t a book I could get through. It’s not horrible and Emily Henry’s writing itself is fine, but it’s something much more annoying to me: aggressively bland. I couldn’t get into the story, never grew attached to January, and didn’t feel any chemistry between January and Gus. I liked Gus, thought he was an interesting character who I’d like to learn more about. But Beach Read is January’s book and she’s…annoying. I like a flawed heroine but was kind of expecting January to grow from the purse wine-loving, self-pity champ she started out to be. By the halfway point she was slightly better, but I grew irritated with her inner dialogue, her immaturity, and how self-centered her viewpoint had become. She’s not a horrible person, but I simply didn’t care about her and dear heaven this book dragged because of that. I finally had to give up because I simply didn’t care. Not about January, not about her father’s secret, not about the cult she and Gus were investigating, and not about the love story. I felt like the book would never end and when I hit the halfway point I was so depressed about having to continue slogging through it that I finally quit.

I do want to highlight the parts of the book that really stood out in a good way, which were the times when January and Gus were discussing writing. Those all-too-brief moments were what kept me going through the first half of the book and Ms. Henry’s writing shines in those passages.

Beach Read just wasn’t the book for me. However, I’m in a very small minority at this point so take that for what it’s worth.

Wow, this book was just perfect for summer. Loved everything about it. As a librarian it definitely hit the sweet spot for 2 protagonist writers who love/hate each other. I'll be recommending this!!

I’ve been duped but I’m not upset. This title led me to believe that this was a breezy, entertaining, summer read that takes place at the beach. It was and it wasn’t. Confused? They rarely even visit the beach and especially in the summer. Beach Read is a romance with a whole lot of baggage or fiction with a romance.

January Andrews is a romance author who owes her publisher a book and time is of the essence. Gus Everett is a literary fiction writer and, January’s sexy, evil, college nemesis, and current, albeit temporary, next-door neighbor. Gus issues a challenge to January so they switch genres and see who can sell their book first. There is a lot going with these characters. This book has it all: family, friends, love, loss, infidelity, humor, and some sizzle.

My first real romance of the year and it was phenomenal. I loved this book. It deals with some difficult topics while still being dry and laugh out loud funny. The characters are so realistic, and I had the best time.

I’ll admit that I was leery on picking Beach Read up after hearing so many reviews all across the rating scale, but it just went to show once again that we all take in books differently, as I ended up really enjoying this one and am so glad I gave it a chance! This is a romance that isn’t going to feel all heartwarming and swoon-y as you’re reading it (but is still heartfelt and sweet underneath). It’s emotional and has a heaviness to it that comes into this story with these character’s baggage and struggles that they’re carrying. I really appreciated how real and genuine Gus and January were on the pages, and their honesty in working through everything both independently and together. Talk about characters you can root for! Phew, this story of new beginnings and love had me tearing up on one page and laughing on the next.

Alongside all of that, this was a very #bookish book which is always so fun to me and was a definite highlight here. Getting to come alongside these two writers dealing with writer’s block and as they found their inspiration again by switching genre’s with each other was such a great angle. I thought the writing was superb on the author’s part!

Beach Read was such a fresh addition to the romance genre. If you’re a fan of romance reads with lots of depth or that have the vibe of The Flatshare, I think you’d love this one like I did! (Just a heads up content-wise: there’s definitely some spicy scenes in this one, but they’re easy to skip over, and a hint of language)

Thank you Berkley Pub and NetGalley for the gifted copy.

Beach Read by Emily Henry was phenomenal. The emotional rollercoaster was what really made this novel, a must read for the summer. Then, there’s the cast of characters. Their flaws made them real. I liked both Gus and January. Their pain, loss, and fears could be felt on every page. Plenty of tension, action, and good dialogue to keep my full attention. I was glued to their story. The book was well-written. As a reader, I needed to read every single page because I just had to know every detail. Gus and January were broken both emotionally. January lost her dad and found out about his betrayal. Gus was hurt by his wife. Together, their pain and writing United them. Writers from opposite genres, it was fun following their adventure. Hope, healing, and new beginnings were also a part of this read.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52867387-beach-read" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Beach Read" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1589881197l/52867387._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52867387-beach-read">Beach Read</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13905555.Emily_Henry">Emily Henry</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3166630861">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Sometimes you just need a charming beach read for poolside, and Henry delivers. It's a meta story about writers challenging one another to write and overcoming writer's block...and other blocks, together.<br /><br />I had some warm fuzzy moments, some smiling to myself like a weirdo moments, and all in all the title gives you what is promised: a beach read.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/13229544-erin-boyington">View all my reviews</a>

I loved this book. Easy going and oh so fun. It really is a great summer read that has you immersed in the story and laughing out loud. I will be recommending this to my followers and friends and family.

Beach Read is so much more than a beach read book, though it is perfectly that too. Emily Henry's writing strikes a heartfelt chord with her audience. January and Gus are a couple you will root for the entire time while reading this fantastic romance. I laughed, cried, held my breath and smiled throughout this book. I highly recommend!

Review will be posted on 6/18/2020

January father left her a beach house in his will, but this isn't just any vacation home. This is the home he shared with his mistress, whom she just found out about at his funeral. Talk about bad timing, right? January, a romance author, plans to spending the summer at the beach house, cleaning it up and then ultimately selling it at a profit. She couldn't possible stay at this house, could she? Things are even more stressful when January suffers from writer's block and she has her publishers breathing down her neck. To top it off, she finds out her next door neighbor is Augustus "Gus" Everett, a literary sensation, and her college crush. The more she hangs out with Gus, the more she realizes they still have a bit of a rivalry going on not to mention he is currently suffering from writer's block as well. However, they are polar opposites. Where January believe in true love and happy endings, Gus is all about keeping things real and at times dismal when it comes to life and literary fiction. Knowing this, they make a bet---Gus has to write a romance novel and January has to write literary fiction. While they are writing the summer away, they each teach one another about their respective genres and even include "field trips" to further their understanding. This ends up being a cathartic experience for both Gus and January who are both dealing with some longstanding emotional baggage. As you might expect, sparks fly between the two making Beach Read by Emily Henry one of my favorite novels of 2020.

Readers can't really blame January for her angst in Beach Read. Not only did her father die an untimely death (after her mother beat cancer!), she also finds out he lived a double life. We find out why this is as the story unfolds, but either way, it's a lot for her to process. January can't hide from it though, she has to face it by living in her father's beach house. January is suffering from writer's block and having some sort of existential crisis as a writer. She is a romance writer, which should be all about happy endings, but after what happened with her father, she is feeling uninspired. This is where Gus comes in.

Gus lives next door and while they started off a bit rough (and that's putting it mildly), they get to know each other again in Beach Read. Their relationship develops through a love of literature, but they also tackle some ongoing issues they have by writing novels from a different genre. Gus, who is a hardcore realist, and doesn't really believe in a one true love, has to deal some emotional scars he has from his last relationship. While writing literary fiction, January is able to process some issues of her own as well as the trauma from the past year.

But January and Gus's relationship isn't all about writing in Beach Read. While writing is the glue that holds them together, they have a genuine connection and their romance was definitely a slow burn. I love a slow burn and Henry does it very well. Their discussions, the witty banter, and the behind the scenes look at writing a novel was all very memorable. I enjoyed every second of it!

If you are a looking for a smart beach read that has a lot of heart, but also explores some important issues in women's fiction, explores second chances, as well as the importance of mental health, you'll appreciate Beach Read. It is one of my favorite beach reads of the summer and I recommend it, especially if you are a bookworm.

Beach Read by @emilyhenrywrites ☀️ This book was literally perfect! I laughed, I cried, and I swooned! 💕

@emilyhenrywrites delivers a pitch perfect novel about love, loss, searching for closure, and maybe falling in love along the way.

January and Augustus were hilarious! I wanted to keep reading about them! Their chemistry was off the charts!⚡️ Beach Read will be available on May 19, 2020! You are not going to want to miss this book! 💛

Thank you @netgalley and @berkleypub for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. 💙

I always love a good romance story and this one definitely filled that quota! While I was expecting more of a fun, beachy-like read, what I also got was a more serious one that packed a serious emotional punch. Right from the start, I was immediately in love with both January and Gus's characters and the banter between the two of them! Their personal backgrounds were also something that escalated this book to another level because of the intricacies of their lives and the heart wrenching moments that followed as a result of it. Overall, the storyline of having the two authors step out of their creatives bubbles to write a new novel, was so fun and fresh for a romance! This book laughing at times, while also feeling so many different emotions and I think that is what made this book so special.

I fell in love with Emily Henry's storytelling with her debut novel, The Love That Split The World, and this book was every bit as wonderful. It's a heartfelt romance about second chances, grief and betrayal. In the story, a romance writer and a literary fiction writer decide to switch genres — they're both stuck in a rut, struggling with writer's block. There's so much more though and it's definitely one to pick up.

This was cute! I love reading books about authors/booksellers/anyone in publishing because I can relate to the book world stuff that they talk about, so I really enjoyed that about this book. I kind of lost interest for a chunk of the end, but that may be more due to current events than the book honestly. However, in the last 20 pages or so it got my attention back. I'd definitely recommend this!!

Where do I begin with my love for this book? Although i find the cover to be misleading this book completely had my heart. I read this book in one sitting and was absorbed into these character's lives and I could not stop thinking about it for days after. This story has a fragile edge, tinged with heartbreak and longing and to see the romance unfold and develop between these two characters is good for the soul.

Great summer read, chick-lit, romance story with some serious subjects thrown it. Not your typical beach read! It was fun and I definitely did not want to put it down. The chemistry between the two main characters is undeniable - and the preface is pretty unique. If you’re a fan of Elin Hilderbrand, Jane Green, JoJo Moyes or chick-lit in general, you’ll enjoy this book! Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

Thanks to Netgalley for a chance to read this book.
This was a really good read. It had a slow start, but once it got going I found it a really engaging story and quickly became emotionally invested. January, a writer, moves into her fathers house with the intention of selling it after his death. She is navigating a tense relationship with her mother, her feelings towards her dead father, and the discovery that he had been cheating on her mother. While navigating that, she is trying to write her next book. On top of everything else, she soon discovers that her grumpy neighbor is actually an old college rival, Augustus.

I think thats what I liked most about this book, is that it felt very grounded. January is stressed about her job as she tries and fails to write, stressed about money, stressed about her family and how they aren't talking about painful topics, mourning her father, and then navigating complicated feelings towards Augustus. Nothing in this book is clean or uncomplicated, but everything feels all the more real because of it. The emotions come across as genuine. The romance isn't perfect, but is all the better because of that lack of perfection. Both January and Augustus come with previous problems and those problems manifest in their relationship, but they work to move through them together.

The book puts as much emphasis on the characters relationship with others as it does on the relationship between January and Augustus. All of the relationships intersect with and impact each other.

Overall this was a better read than I was expecting. The first 20% was a little slow, but once you get into the book it really grabs you.