The premise sounds like the perfect summer romance novel, but that’s not actually true. The book is an interesting and odd read. Is it romance? Yes, it is. But it’s a sad and unexpected story. I think that the romance part of the story is just a nice frame in which you insert a beautiful painting. The story itself is way bigger than just a love story.

January is a writer, she is well-known in the romance community and loves to write happy endings. But right now she can’t find happiness in her own life and so she can’t write it down on the pages. Everything felt apart around her and the only thing left is a lake house that her father kept secret from her and her mom. She moves there for the summer and soon find out that her new neighbour is none other than her nemesis: Augustus Everett. The two seems not to get along at first, but soon they discover they have something in common: they both suffer from writers-block. One thing led to another and they end up making a bet: Augustus will write a story with a happy ending, while January will write something sad. This brings them to experience a series of dates, where January shows him how to be book-romantic and Augustus shows her how cruel the world really is.

This story takes an unexpected turn. It gets very intense very fast and you need to prepare yourself for it.

I loved how it talked about writing, as an aspiring writer myself I saw how realistic everything was.

I liked the relationship between January and Gus. If this book was just a romance, I would have complained about how I wished there was more hate to love or just a deeper connection between the two. But that’s not the focus of the story so I’m okay with how things went.

The main reasons why I gave this book four out to five stars are two. The first being the fact that I don’t think title and cover are right for the story. I love this new style of covers for romance books, but I would have preferred something more old style. The second reason is that I wished there where Gus’ POV. We see everything just through Januarys’s eyes, but sometimes I wanted to know what Gus was thinking, I wanted to feel what he was feeling and to know his deepest desires.

But don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed the story, I laughed, I got emotional and I really loved some parts. So I recommend it to you. This is the first book that I read by this author, but it won’t be the last.

I was a bit hesitant entering this novel due to all of the hype surrounding it. I am happy to say that I was very pleased with it overall. Both characters were enjoyable, though I do feel like we didn't get quite enough from Gus. The enemies to lovers trope was well represented here, and their seclusion just added to the atmosphere of the novel.
Will be picking up more Emily Henry soon, and I hope that she continues to write more romances.

Emily Henry has two ways to describe the premise of BEACH READ: one for writers, and one for readers. For readers, it is a book about a romance writer and a literary fiction writer that enter into a bet to exchange genres for a summer. For writers, it is a “book about writer’s block”. And while Henry means a literal writer’s block, the kind of active struggle to find a story and the motivation to write it, I think readers find, in the end, that BEACH READ is about many different kinds of stumbling blocks: the kind that the world throws at you, hard and randomly. The kind that follows your life like a fly that you just can’t seem to get rid of. The kind that you create for yourself, some version of self sabotage.

January and Gus are people we know and people we’ve been. The girl that loves a happy ending as a means of escape from a life that is less than that; the boy that has been dealt a harder hand that most in life, and finds it follows him well into adulthood; the daughter that adores a parent to the point they can’t mesh together the hero and the fully-formed person; the son that puts duty above self-preservation; and the couple that finds themselves in love despite all attempts to escape it.

BEACH READ is full of the absolute best of romance tropes, through and through: a glorified Second Chance, slow burn enemies-to-lovers, a bet, a bond that seems harmless until it isn’t, a past that finds itself present once again, the happily-ever-after. But it’s the happy-ever-after that wraps things in a unique sort of bow. It is not the sparkling perpetuity that we are often used to: it is a shimmer in the sunlight, gone as quickly as it appeared, but it was there, and it was worth it.

<i> "People were complicated. They weren't math problems; they were collections of feelings and decisions and dumb luck. The world was complicated too, not a beautifully hazy French film, but a disastrous, horrible mess, speckled with brilliance and love and meaning." </i>
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I fell in love with Emily Henry's writing a few years ago when I read A Million Junes. I am happy to report that after reading Beach Read, I am still here for Henry's writing, and will continue to read her books! I like her unique and witty style and her character banter, and her ability to transport the reader to the scene!
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This story is about two authors, January and Gus, who end up living next to each other on the beach in Michigan. Both are working on their respective new books that need to be finished by the end of the summer. Beach Read is a love story, but definitely not a rom-com. There are bits of heavy thrown in the mix and a lot of real-life speculation and waxing poetic. The parts I largely enjoyed were the love parts, though. I could have done without the long-winded explanations of the books that January and Gus were writing, and more of the sweet parts that Henry wrote so well. There is an element of enemies-to-lovers as well as second-chance romance and I liked how both played out.
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Overall, for a fun love story that hits a serious note, I definitely recommend this read! Thank you to Berkley Pub and NetGalley for this arc!

BEACH READ was a good one! I thought it was cute and romantic with interesting characters. I really loved the male protagonists *spoiler alert* aunt who lowkey set up Augustus, a literary fiction writer and mortal college enemy to January Andrews a romance writer.

January is coming to terms with the truth about her family and happily ever afters, and Augustus has never fully recovered from his family. Both are tasked with writing a book for their publisher, but making no progress. They were college rivals, and January does not like Augustus much at all, but they make a bet challenging to write the others genre. Happily ever after January has to write a literary fiction novel and sell it to the publishers and Augustus has to write a romance. They plan field trips for each genre to teach the other and these outings bring them closer together but also force them to face some harsh realities.

I thought their field trips were really sweet and I loved their chemistry. Enemies to lovers is always a fantastic trope! This novel was funny, sad, and romantic all in one. It’s hard watching characters come to terms with loss, grief, and a painful truth but as they discovered you can’t spend your life worrying about having a happy ending, you need to be happy for now.

The characters were very interesting, but they were also so angsty omg. There was a lot of “I just had a rough childhood don’t ask me to open up” and “true love doesn’t exist because my dad made one mistake” and “ugh my dad gave me this awful beach house on a beautiful lake but this sucks” so while for me it didn’t take away from the book too much I can see for others how it might. I gave this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Stars.

My six word review:
Facing the truth hand in hand

Man. This book is special. The characters are special. I'm blown away.
When I saw the high ratings for THE BEACH READ I was cautious as I always am with early review but they are all true! This author has enormous talent. There were beautiful lines like. .... and. ... and other times I was laughing and giggling. Other times I'd swoon over Gus or my heart broke for him and January. This story has everything you want in a book.

Gus is the glass half empty kind of guy and his insecurities make him feel so real. His whole life, his childhood, his college and adult years people failed him.
January is the opposite. She is the romantic type who witnessed her parents' marriage and thought it was perfect until she learns that her sweet, bookish dad cheated on her mom. With him having passed away, she's unable to ask the question she has a right to know about. Angry and sad, she flees to the country to find solace and peace.

Both January and Gus are writers and for the first time I realized how painful writer's block must be. When your creative outlet is hampered by emotional baggage. While they try to find back into the groove they start to spend time together. after their rocky start they find they have more in common than they first thought.
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.

I loved their beginnings, there were a lot of laugh-out-loud funny scenes I adored. And as Gus and January's emotional bond grew I was so firmly in their corner that I felt every heartbreak they went through. I loved them so hard - these two gave me all the feels.

The notes they wrote to each other and their clever banter were an endless source of laughter and swoons.
JANUARY, JANUARY, WHEREFORE ART THOU, JANUARY?
The message was ironic. The butterflies in my chest were not. I pushed the box onto the table and grabbed my notebook, scribbling in it. I held the note up.
New phone who dis

This story deserves every praise it's getting. I had so much fun reading it. I am super excited to have found a new author whose writing is everything I look for in stories. This was absolutely heartwarming and beautiful.
“I do, you know,” he said. It was almost a whisper, a tender, rugged thing like Gus himself. “Care about you.”

TW: death of a parent, cancer, cults

I thought I was going to enjoy this book but did not expect how head over heels I would fall in love with it. This features so many tropes I love wrapped into one: rivals to lovers who knew each other in college so it has the flavor of second chance romance. Not only was the romance and banter top notch, the book also managed to cover grief, loneliness, and female best friendship masterfully. While being peak romance, the story also managed to feel grounded and no obstacle felt thrown in just for the sake of drama. I cried at least 3 times not necessarily because it was sad, but because I truly felt so seen by so many lines. I plan to get a physical copy of this book, because I will absolutely be rereading it in the future.

I can’t get over how much I loved Beach Read! This book is about January, a women’s fiction writer who has recently lost her father. She finds out at the funeral that he had been having an affair and had a second home in the Michigan beach community he grew up in and he’s left the house to her. Down on her luck, January moves into the house for the summer with the hopes of being able to write the book she’s promised her publisher as well as pack the house up and sell it. When she arrives to the town she bumps into her college nemesis, Gus, who happens to live next door. He writes dark literary fiction and seems to look down on January for her always happy endings. They challenge each other to write a book in the other’s style. Gus must write a happy ending and January must write something sad. What happens next is such a fun and heartfelt read. I couldn’t put it down!

January Andrews writes romance filled with happily ever afters, brave handsome men, and sunshine bright beautiful women. For the last several months she has suffered writer’s block mainly due to the triple shock of losing her father, finding out he had a secret life, and being dumped by her “perfect” boyfriend. To say January was devastated is putting it mildly so recently all she has been doing is staring at blank pages on her computer screen. When January moves to a house she was astounded to learn her father owned on a lake in Michigan, January is surprised to discover her neighbor is none other than an old college writing school rival, Augustus Everett, who has been quite successful penning “serious” books: the often dark and depressing genre of literary fiction. Gus is having his own writing dilemma as well because of some ongoing difficulties in his personal life.

After a rough start, January and Gus, who seem like oil and water as not only writers but in their personalities, agree to a contest: he will write a happy feel good book while January will compose a novel with all the seriousness and dark tone of the literary greats. In order to facilitate their work, January takes Gus on “rom-com” dates while he brings her along on interviews and research trips which are often grim and deeply disturbing to both of them. Gus had been studying a defunct rural cult group who had a horrific ending.

January’s multifaceted angst comes not only from what she sees as her father’s betrayal, but her mixed feelings about Gus, those from college and now as competitors who become immersed in their writing as well as the growing attraction between them. Gus is so enigmatic that January feels she has to peel back his layers slowly to get at the heart of this man whom she has very complicated feelings for that are intertwined with why she writes romance. Gus believes in the bleakness of life; for him, it is about staring into the deep abyss and struggling to maintain against the dark. Gus would have been great drinking buddies with the nihilist writers of the twentieth century.

There are many reasons why I thoroughly enjoyed this book including the witty dialogue, the very clever juxtaposition of the two genres which usually, never the twain shall they meet, as well as Gus and January’s relationship. The Romance genre often gets no respect unless the work also is under the category of Women’s’ Fiction and even then, the work gets criticized for being too angsty and emotionally overdone. This book does a fine job of blending different types of fiction so well I think readers who from several genres would enjoy it. The near metafictional style of two writers working on respective novels about their characters while being characters in a story themselves add interesting layers to the process as well as enjoyment of Ms. Henry’s very excellent book. It is at the heart a romance about how two deeply wounded people can find a home in each other, but the path to that happy is neither light nor fluffy. Their journey is much in tune with real life, which in this case, is a good thing. When I come away from a book a still thinking about it longer after and feeling pleased with the ending, I consider that a very good thing.

Oof my heart freaking H-U-R-T-S!!

I would like to thank Emily Henry for blessing my life with this book. I'd also like to give her a hug and be best friends with her.

Ughh I. LOVE. THIS. BOOK.

The writing? Perfection. The dialogue? Also perfection x10000. That banter was *chefs kiss* and I DIE LAUGHING. The characters? LOVE THEM TO PIECES!! The plot and premise? Heck yes, it was fantastic.

The way that this story feels so three-dimensional and full of layers. It's just my favourite kind of romance and I'm here for it.

I shipped our two characters so dang much ahh!! Their chemistry is just... SO GOOD? What even is life rn? Their lives feel so real and I genuinely felt like I was there with them at the beach. I loved how their backstories intertwined. The development was perfect. I just loved it all okay.

Also, I almost cried. That was a thing. I just always get sad when characters have to go through grief and loss. I LOVED how Emily Henry put that into the story, it felt really personal. This whole book felt very personal and real, which was WOW. Anyways, yeah, even though it sucks, I still loved how it was a part of the story.

Can I just go and bury my own grave now? Because WOW WAS THIS AMAZING?! *insert all the exclamation points to portray my emotions*

I,,, don't know what else to say, send tweet. Actually no, SEND HELP.

Loved loved loved loved.

{Review coming on blog @ www.rubyraereads.co.za}

I'm starting to realize my favorite type of contemporary romance books are like this one. It is full of banter, tension while also focusing on serious topics without feeling like it's being forced.

After her father’s death, January discovers and heads to his secret 2nd house to empty it, sell it, while also riding out a deadline to her next book. A fan of happily ever afters and romance writing, she stumbles upon her college rival (who happens to be the grumpy neighbor), Gus. An author of literary cult fiction. To settle things once and for all, they set on a quest to each write the opposite of what they normally do—January to literary fiction, Gus to romance (despite having no belief in it whatsoever). What unravels throughout this story though... is: SO. MUCH. MORE.

First off, you’re going to want to sip on a gin and tonic when you crack open the first few chapters. Second, the banter was other worldly because it was witty and quick with a bit of snark. Third, I couldn’t even begin to tell you how much I really enjoyed reading January’s story. Yes, there was romance. Yes, there was conflict. Yes, I laughed. Yes, I cried.

Ok. But real talk, in order to find out what happened along the way, you’ve got to read it for yourself! This was an outstanding, well-written, complex yet simple story about understanding and falling in love; the kinks along the way and all their imperfections were what made this story beautiful.

Beach Read - 2 polar opposite writers with a past move in next door to each other. January writes fairytale ending Rom Com's and Gus writes literary fiction.

January's dad has recently passed away and when he did, she discovered that he's been having an affair and owns a beach cottage in Michigan with his mistress. January is devastated but when it's discovered that her dad left her the beach cottage, January decides it might be a good place to finish her next novel. The problem is she no longer believes in love, and writing about it seems next to impossible.

Gus, her rival from college, just so happens to live in the cottage next door. The two become reacquainted and decide to make a plan to each swap genres. Gus is going to attempt a Rom-Com and January will attempt literary fiction. But first, each will teach the other everything they know through a series of "field trips". One thing leads to another and before we know it Gus and January have fallen for each other. The only problem is, troubles from their past may be a dark shadow over their relationship making it difficult for them to truly let go and fall in love.

Beach Read is a little heavier than I would normally choose for a "beach read" but it's still a great, sexy summer read! It's definitely one I recommend picking up this summer for a fun read.

I 👏🏻 Loved 👏🏻 This 👏🏻 This is my favorite read of the year. I was obsessed. These characters were so perfectly my favorite. I want to read it again, right now. I got an early ebook copy from the publisher, but I just preordered a hard copy for my shelves. One of my favorites!!!! The chemistry between these characters was so real and I could feel it all around me. I loved their banter. I want to be BFFs with January. I loved it. Read this!

Holy CUTENESS. I had super high expectations going into this book. Everyone is getting early copies from Book of the Month and my fiends with ARCs have been raving about the story. I love books about writers and readers, so I had a feeling I was going to love this book.

January moves into a beach house and soon realizes that she's living right next door to her nemesis from college, Gus, who also happens to be a writer. I completely connected to January's character when she talked about how romance and women's fiction is looked down upon and not taken as seriously as literary fiction. As a bet, January and Gus decide to swap genres for the summer since they aren't feeling inspired and also agree to go on "research" trips with one another. These research trips were so fun and I loved how they were writing with each other and becoming friends as they spent more time together.

The first half of the book was SO CUTE and I could not stop smiling and giggling as I read. The second half did take a much more serious turn and really looked at how people change because of things that happen in their lives. January and Gus were both dealing with hurt that had happened in their pasts and were trying to navigate that pain while slowly falling for each other.

In the end, this book was just a joy to read and I was obsessed with it the entire time I was reading it. I loved the banter, the pop culture references (not too many- just enough!), and the slow burn of the romance. I definitely recommend picking up Beach Read!

Dirty Love
Just another silly love story but this time about a romance writer who is heart-broken and a literary fiction author from her past, both experiencing writer’s block and spending the summer in neighboring houses on a lake in Michigan. They re-meet-cute, argue, flirt, assume the worst of each other, etc. You know the drill–speaking of, they also get very physical all over the place before they finally do it making for many pages of explicit sex scenes, MANY pages. The handles of gin she moves in to the beach house in the first chapter don’t make enough appearances but still, good times.

Wendy Ward
http://wendyrward.tumblr.com/

Beach Read by Emily Henry is an ideal story to start off your summer reading list!

January inherited the beach house from her recently deceased father and guess who’s her neighbor: Gus (Augustus) who is also her college rival. Yes, it’s a stretch that suddenly they’re neighbors but suspend the believability component on that and just roll with it.

Being such an avid reader, I loved the concept of bringing together a literary fiction male writer with a woman who never ends her stories on a sad note. Gus, in the beginning, reminded me so much of many male writers that I know: believing literary fiction is much more important than other stories. January tries to emphasize that women’s stories are just as important as male stories and I felt myself nodding along with it! The banter between the two is very entertaining.

Okay, so it’s not a spoiler to say that January and Gus fall for each other. But I think what makes this one stand apart is their journey is not easy and they both have plenty of baggage that they have to work on. It’s not simply an enemies-to-lovers romance but much more is going on there. Despite their feelings for each other, it’s not going to be smooth sailing.

January also must come to terms with learning about her father’s secret that completely changes everything she ever knew about him. This is also a big reason of why she’s suffering from writer’s block as she’s suddenly confronted with the idea of happily-ever-after might be a myth. Or is it?

Second chances show up in the strangest places under the strangest circumstances.

January Andrews is sure that her life cannot possibly get any worse. Her dad died nearly a year before, it turns out he was cheating on her mom (while she was fighting cancer), she didn't know about this until right after the end of the funeral via meeting the Other Woman, her depression led to her boyfriend breaking up with her, she's broke, and--oh yeah--her agent's on her back because she hasn't written anything since her life got turned completely upside down. This is a problem when you make your living as a romance novelist.

In a desperate bid to get her book finished, January heads to Lake Michigan, where her dad left her a beach house. Yes, the one in which he had an affair in. Let's not get into that. But then she embarrasses herself in front of her new neighbor, her first night is spent drunk and listening to "Everybody Hurts" blasting from the house next door, and... That new neighbor? Is her worst enemy from college, Augustus "Sexy, Evil Gus" Everett, author of "serious" literary fiction. Ugh.

January and Gus soon challenge each other and make a bet: they spend the summer writing each other's genre, and the winner will be determined by who gets their book sold first. As part of this, they go on writing field trips to do fabulous things, such as line dancing and interviewing former cult members. You know, the usual. But the more January and Gus spend time together, the more sparks begin to fly. Will they have a finished book by the end of summer, and maybe something more?

For a book titled "Beach Read", this is actually kind of heavy, but in the best possible way. As Henry beautifully states in her author's note, this is not really a romance. This isn't even about writing. It's a book about writer's block. Which I felt on a deep, spiritual level as someone who has frequently experienced writer's block. It sucks. On the other hand, I'm incredibly impressed that someone can write an entire novel about writer's block, especially one this funny, heartfelt, heartbreaking, sexy and powerful. Because, in a way, "Beach Read" is a love letter to writing and for fellow authors it will strike differently, because they will know the pain, the work, the tears, and the gazillion cups of coffee that go into ultimately producing a finished book... and how they'll do it all over again for the love of writing and creating.

And, of course, I love January and Gus, and how they work through their respective issues to do what they love--and find love at the same time. Both are incredibly well written, and both go through their phases of growth both as creators and as human beings. Again, for a book that was written about writer's block and ultimately inspired by writer's block, Henry's mastery in writing every part of this book is breathtakingly astounding and addicting.

Cute story that is a love letter to romance books and writing. I loved the two main characters and thought they had great chemistry and witty repartee. The kind of book we need to right now!

Beach read. For me is a no. I just could not get involved in the story. The main characters were shallow and I had no interest in what happened to them. I would leave this one home