Beach Read by Emily Henry is a fun romantic stand-alone novel focusing on two authors, who are totally different.
January Andrews, our heroine, arrives at her new beach home on Lake Michigan which she inherited from her deceased father. January is a romance author, who is currently having writers block, and is having money problems. The house is a surprise, as she discovers the father she always loved, was also having an affair, and owned this beach house with his mistress. January has problems coming to terms accepting the truth about her father, especially with her mother still alive, having recovered from cancer, and her mother never told her about his other life. All of this make it even more difficult for her to write happy ever after romance novels.
Gus Everett, our hero, is January’s next-door neighbor, and the two get off on the wrong foot immediately. Gus is also a writer, but he writes literary fiction more towards dark story lines, and he too has his own issues writing his next book. They are both totally opposites, as Gus is more pessimistic and January is an optimist, though things will change.
In a short time, they begin to get to know each other, and a friendship will develop. The banter between them was cute and funny, and with both of them unable to write, they decide to help push each other by making a bet. January will take Gus to romantic field trips, dinners, to teach him how to write a romance novel with a happy ending. Gus will take January to meet people who have suffered a loss, visit a grave yard or meet someone involved with a cult. The bet is for them to write something different, and whoever sells their manuscript first will win.

What follows is a romance between two people who had their own issues with family, leaving both of them somewhat damaged. In a short time, they both will move forward past their friendship to love. Gus comes off of a divorce, and his fear of getting hurt again keeps him from making the next step toward his relationship with January. January has her own problems dealing with her feelings of betrayal by her father, and though she knows she loves Gus, she too is scared to move forward. During this period, they enjoy each other’s company, as they do all the things together that require research for each of their novels. There was a lot of fun and bantering between them, and we knew they were perfect for each other.

Emily Henry has written a wonderful story of two people who deserve happiness and each other, but there was much heart wrenching angst, betrayals, secrets, and pain that made it difficult. But in the end, happiness, forgiveness and love will change everything. I wholly suggest to your Beach Read.

This was a fabulous book and - no surprise here - is the perfect beach read. The two main characters, Gus and January, were brilliantly described and I couldn't wait to see where their love story ended. Their antagonism was really well drawn at first and I really couldn't work out where it would end - in a very good way! It wasn't just a fluffy romance either, there were some deeper issues, like grief and lost love covered which were really well written about. Brilliant and perfect for summer.

When I chose Beach Read for my next read, I expected a light and fun...beach read. This turned out to be a book about two authors who meet again while both are at a crossroads in their loves. January is a romance author who hasn't been able to write since her father died. Gus is a literary fiction author who is trying to write something less depressing. I knew I would like this book, based on friend recommendations. However, I wasn't expecting to love this book as much as I did. I always love when books go deeper than I expect they will. This is a title I see myself reading again and again.

There are two key indicators that I loved this book:
I unconsciously disobeyed the laws of a pandemic and found myself constantly touching my face - pressing my hand over my mouth to hold in gasps of surprise and sighs of happiness.
I sat staring blankly at the pages after certain scenes, trying to pinpoint what exactly it was making the butterflies swarm in my belly.

Beach Read, I feel, will be my new recommendation for people who like Women’s Fiction and find they want to get into romance. To me, I think this book could easily be categorized as both.

The “deep dive into everyday, angsty life” aspect felt very Women’s Fiction-y, but the romance was one of the strongest elements of this story… and it helps that it was done really well.

Also… the humor in this had me snorting out loud so many times. The one-liners in this book were on point. I had to keep a pen with me anytime I picked up this book so that I could underline my favorite parts.

Let’s talk about the romance because I realized a few things.

This book had two key elements that many of my favorite romance novels have: pining and longing. Extra points for when one of the love interests has no idea those two things are going on.

This. This is exactly how I want to feel when I read a romance novel. I want to feel giddy and excited and hopeful. I also like feeling as though I went through something to get there. That I earned it.

Beach Read was all of those things. The hype surrounding this book is well deserved.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought the characters were quite a bit deeper and more fleshed out than romance characters often are. The chemistry and tension buildup between the characters were wonderful and the side characters were also well-developed. I can't wait to read Shadi's story next. My only complaint was that it might have been just a little bit too long and also some of the interactions between the two main characters got a little repetitive. But overall I enjoyed it, stayed up way too late reading it, and will recommend it to many.

Romance novelist January's life falls apart when her father suddenly passes away and she discovers he wasn't quite the man she thought he was. She moves to a house he left her to pick up the pieces and write the new book that her publisher is hounding her for. Lo and behold her new neighbor is her nemesis and former college crush. I really enjoyed the main character of a women's fiction story being the author of women's fiction. Clever twist. Beach Read is a great beach read!

Beach Read is anything BUT a quick, light, fun beach read. A beach read you can read a couple chapters, put the book down, go for a dip or a nap, pick back up where you left off.
Beach Read was un-put-down-able! This is the romance novel we’ve all been waiting for! It was heart-wrenching, it was messy, it was tense. It was also full of great witty and sarcastic dialogue, likeable characters and tender looks & moments.
The character development, the relationships, the backstories interwoven throughout the book. It was all perfect!

I don't read many romance books, but when I do, it's usually because of the promise of realistic, well-developed characters, and above all-humor- and this book delivered on both.
Peppered with the kind of banter and zingers I wish I was able to dole out, I was so charmed by the wit and style of Emily Henry's writing, and what fun to spend time with two writers who have the same passion for writing while approaching their work in different ways.

In my store, or in book club, I'm quick to point out that every reader brings their own experiences with them when they read a book, which colors how they feel about the experiences of the characters. In the case of this book I loved seeing how an author's experiences color what they write and how they write it, which feels like a "duh" sort of thing, but my point is I liked seeing those reasons spill out across the story.

I loved January's relationship with her friend, Shadi. Their inside jokes were top notch and I can't stop thinking about the phrase "Haunted Hat." I adored Pete and her coffeeshop/bookstore and Maggie, and the labradors- just so many charming but realistic details that made this story hum.

As someone who reads a lot of mysteries and thrillers, this was the perfect break, and I think this is exactly the kind of my pick-me-up we could all use right now.

Trigger Warnings for This Book: mentions of abuse, mentions of a cult, cancer, and death of a parent, mention of cheating.

If you are looking for enemies to lovers romance then this is definitely the one you wanna read. This book was such a quick and fun read. If you don’t know already I will read almost any book that has the enemies to lovers trope. Augustus and January are such cute characters. I love them so much. The author made them flawed with their own problems hopes and dreams.

January writes romance novels with a happy ending. Augustus writes suspenseful action with sad plot lines and endings. They were enemies during college but we don’t really get a whole lot of background information on them besides that he always made the comment about her books always have a happy ending. They make a bet to see which one can write the other genre and get that book published before the other. I love this idea so much. It’s such a fun and cute idea. We get to see all of their interactions and they are so funny when they try to teach the other how to write their genre.

I really enjoyed how each character had a different thing going on. I won’t say anything about it because of spoilers but it really helped make them well-rounded characters. The cover for this matches the book so well and it’s one of my favorites styles.

I have a feeling this book will be on one of my top books of 2020. Definitely not your typical romance book. This was the first book I’ve read by her and if she writes any more romance books I will be picking them up.

Well I can't say that this book was bad because it isn't! I feel like im just not in the mood for this type of romance. It started out good, but I just got bored with it!! I can see why others would definitely enjoy this one!

💛 BEACH READ 🏖
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Good morning, friends! A little rainy here this morning but the sun is finally trying to peek through the clouds. I bet it will end up being a beautiful day here!
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I wanted to share my review of BEACH READ. Thank you @berkleypub @berkleyromance {partners} for my gifted copy.
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After an intense thriller, I read this book and was immediately drawn in. I’ve heard people describe this one as The Notebook meets You’ve Got Mail meets The Lake House (some of my favorites) and that is a perfect description of this book!
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In fact, the story of January Andrews, a bestselling romance author who after her father’s death realizes the world isn’t quite how she envisioned it was... well it will grab hold of your heartstrings. Because we can all relate to a situation in our life when our naive view shifted due to heartbreak.
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When she finds out she is left a Lake house she decides to move into it in hopes of learning more about her father, while also rediscovering her passion for writing, and hopefully writing her next book.
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When she realizes her old college rival, Augustus Everett, lives next door she realizes that some things never change as their rivalry and tension pick up right where they left off.

As she works on penning Happily Ever After, he loves literary fiction where the cast ends up dead. To say they are complete opposites would be an understatement.
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But, can you overcome the baggage and struggles of your past, as you accept the truth life gives you, to become the best version of yourself? Or, are you destined to carry that baggage, and those hurts, with you for life?
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This story grabbed hold of me and I flew through the first half! I will say I found the last half to be slower paced but I loved the story with people with messy, real life issues and insecurities. Plus, I love a classic enemies to lovers trope. .
My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I wanted to love this book: rivals to lovers, romance author and literary fiction author swap genres and compete to see who sells their book first. It just sounded like so much fun.

And it was fun, for the most part. And the book packed quite the emotional punch as well. But I started getting a little bored pretty early on, and that didn't really fade for the remainder of the book. The thing is, I just feel like this book was a lot longer than necessary and it felt quite long-winded because of that. There were parts that felt less relevant to the storyline and parts that I felt didn't get all the attention they deserved in favour of less interesting aspects. I would have preferred if the book had been more structured and more condensed, so it could really focus on the main storyline and the character's development.

Because the character development felt a little like it was secondary to the story at times. Don't get me wrong, there was quite a lot of it, but the execution of it left me wanting. We have a love interest who goes through a lot of development, but that means his personality pretty much makes a 180 turn, and he's almost unrecognizable towards the end of the book. And we have a main character whose main struggle's resolution is left to the very ending of the book, which made it feel rushed.

Don’t be fooled by the cheery cover; I loved this book, but it’s no rom-com. January is a 29-year-old romance writer who no longer believes in happily-ever-after. Demoralized and broke, she moves into the beach house she inherited when her father died, hoping to lick her wounds and finish her current manuscript. But then, in a cruel twist of fate, she discovers her neighbor is the beloved literary fiction writer Augustus Everett, her college rival (and crush), whom she was hoping to never see again. But it turns out Gus has troubles of his own, and so the two make a bet to get their writing back on track: January will try her hand at the “bleak literary fiction” that Gus writes, and Gus will write a romance novel. A warm and delightfully meta take on love, writing, and second chances.

This book is a delight! VOICE. Right from the jump, I was just drawn in by the voice in this book. I am often skeptical of 1st person from exclusively the female character's POV, but this book proves I can be charmed by it. I think people who are curious about romance and think they'd be most interested in a contemporary setting might enjoy this.

This is a contemporary romance that has family secrets and cults in it, and I'm all in on that! It's funny, both main characters are engaging and interesting, and all the meta stuff in the book, brainstorming books within books, is another thing I'm drawn to. I also think it makes a good point that is hard to wrangle with, which is that we want to neatly categorize people as "good" and "bad," but it's a pointless endeavor when the better endeavor is to try to be comfortable with having complicated feelings and resist the urge to reduce them.

What kept it a 4 star book for me is that Gus's story is a little bit too much of the stereotypcial "man pain" for me, and I didn't find there to be that much tension built into their story. I often think the "one honest conversation could solve all this" to be a weak criticism for a book, because it's not as if honest conversations are easy or common, but here I am kind of making that criticism, I guess. Also, there's a runner about "give up pants," and that reads as fatphobic to me. And weirdly, more potty humor than I ever want in a book? To each their own, but I'm never going to find a farting dog funny.


***Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing and ARC in exchange for my honest review.***

Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. While she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast. The only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they’re living in neighboring beach houses and bogged down with writer’s block. Until 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. review: This was another one of my Book of the Month picks and while it was a cute read, it definitely wasn’t one of my favorites this month. I think I was expecting more of a light-hearted rom-com and, while there were certainly aspects of that, it was a bit more deep and different than I was expecting! I liked the premise and thought it sounded so promising. To me it read more like women’s fiction with a bit of romance mixed in. Not only does it delve into the relationship with Augustus and January, it really focuses on the grief January feels losing her dad. With that said, I did enjoy the book. I really liked both Augustus and January – I thought they were well-developed and the banter between the two of them was fun to read! I also enjoyed learning a bit more about the writing process of authors and the pressures that come along with it. rating: 3.5 out of 5 ⭐️

This was my first book by Emily Henry and I adored every second of it!! I’ve been struggling with contemporary romance since coronavirus started, finding most don’t distract me from the real world enough, but Beach Read was like a breath of fresh air. Something about this story was so delightful and new. I was immediately entranced by the characters and found the banter between the two to be exactly what I needed. This story has so much heart and emotion, but still has some funny moments. However it is not the rom-com it appears to be with this cute cover. There’s definitely quite a few heavier moments. But I loved every second of this book and recommend it highly!

I have loved every book by Emily Henry and Beach Read was no exception! An incredible read with a great cast of characters that will be perfect to read this summer.

This book is AMAZING. It’s all the way up in my rom-com loving feels. Their banter is laugh-out-loud cute, their chemistry is achingly taunting & the whole story is touching. I LOVE IT. My full review will be on my blog soon, www.bookishabigail.com and on my Instagram- @BookishAbigail!

An incredibly well written, thoughtful romance that I literally couldn’t put down! I really enjoyed how nuanced Emily Henry wrote both characters and their different backgrounds and opinions on life, writing, and romance. Definite recommend!

Wish I'd been able to read it before the LibraryReads deadline, as I would have voted for it. I enjoyed what I got a chance to read, and will buy copies for the library and recommend it to my customers.