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.

I can not even find the words to tell you how happy, honoured I feel to have received an invitation to read and review Beach Read so early before it's publication.
I already know that this book will be on my "best of 2020" list.

It is a perfect, relaxing beach read even though it can be devoured in any time, in every possible corner of the world, not only on beach. (😜😎)(I mean, I read it during winter and still enjoyed it the most!)

The story is written in first person, following January (the name of our main character) who after loss of her father and revelation of his secret has hard time believing in happily ever afters, and suffers from the writing block, when she should finish her next romance novel.
Placing herself in the new house in a small town, she comes across her rival from Uni days, who is well respected, published author of literary fiction now.

They start spending more and more time together and January starts to develop feelings for him.

I enjoyed every page of this book.
Do you know that feeling when you read a good story and don't want it to end, so you start to read it at slower pace only to have more time with it?
That's what my experience was with Beach Read. I didn't want it to end.

My favourite part of the story was the chemistry between Gus and January, and her own self aware of her feelings for him, and the complication of their situation.
I loved watching their relationship growth.

Beside that, I loved reading about their writing process and journeys.

Since I read an ARC, I am not sure if my copy was messed up or if it had two different ends to the story, and that is why I can't give it full 5 stars. I guess I'll have to wait for the finished copies to see what the case is.
If it is the case of two different endings, then I think the one with only January and Gus is the better one.

Overall, Beach Read was an amazing story and I would recommend it to romance, general fiction and women's fiction lovers who are looking for a new, light hearted and relaxing read.

Beach Read is the romance I've been waiting for for years. It's witty, heartwarming, emotional without going the melodramatic way.... Really, a perfect book in my eyes. The two main characters, January and Gus, are super likable AND relatable. Also, their chemistry is out of this world. I will definitely One-Click anything else that Emily Henry writes!

Augustus and January (both named for months, although neither of them ever mentions this commonality) were college writing classmates and rivals, but haven't seen each other since. Until January moves into her late father's beach house on Lake Michigan to recover from a breakup and write her next book, and guess who lives next door? She can't believe her bad luck. He's condescending about her women's fiction novels, and she's annoyed by his literary pretensions. When the two make a bet that they can better write the other's genre, the fingers start to fly over the laptops. And the notes start back and forth through their windows.

This was bittersweet and funny and redemptive, definitely more relationship fiction than romance. Gus and January both have a lot of baggage from their families and past relationships, and they have to decide whether they can trust each other. I was rooting for both of them.

Two books in a row? Is this the end of my book slump? I will hope so. I'm about to start my third one so hopefully all goes well and I am back.

Beach Read... what can I say about this book without crumbling into a mess? Because for sure, this book made me a mess, with its beautiful writing and perfect descriptions, with its amazing romance and with the powerful journey these two characters took throughout the whole book. There are secrets, hope, forgiveness, memories, to sort but at the end of this journey you find the light in the darkness. January and Gus made me complete and are my favorite thing for this month.

I never thought I would love this so much. When I first saw this book, I never really put so much attention to it, I really thought it was literary fiction! That it had no romance. But when I started to see romance readers and trusted bloggers said it was amazing and that they loved the romance inside these pages, I was like wait just a minute, I kinda want to read this. I was blessed with a copy from Berkley and so here I am, long after reading the last chapter, the last page, the last word. And Emily Henry wrote my favorite 2020 book.

It's perfect for romance readers, and writers, because the main character, January, is a romance writer herself. She is having some writer's block, needs to write a new book in three months and doesn't know what to do. She's also dealing with the death of her dad, this new house she's living in and her next door neighbor who just so happens to be her college rival, Gus. Gus is a writer as well though! He writes literary fiction and his book couldn't be more different than what January writes. He has a lot of secrets and January has a lot of things to figure out. They really shouldn't fall in love, but slowly they do.

I talk about the small moments. The moments that matter to me. And this book has them; a lot of them. Hand holding, touching their hip/waist with your fingertip without even noticing you're doing it, those moments make a romance a good romance for me. January and Gus start this friendship with them and it's with the help of those moments and the deep talks and the being there for that person that leads them to find something in each other that they have never had before. In between bets (because they have a bet of writing each other's genre! and if they sell their new book they can gloat about it forever), this romance takes form and has a story inside that will enchant you very quickly.

Note: One thing that I'm really eh about... Gus is decribed with olive skin. Look at that cover. He's clearly white.

A+ romance! Everything about the book was such an unexpected treat. In addition to smoking hot chemistry between January and Gus, their witty banter was what made this book work so well for me. Seeing both characters' perspectives on the writing process was very cool too. I also appreciated the author's note at the end of the story that gave insight into how Beach Read came into existence. This is a very easy book to recommend. I loved seeing the evolution of the relationship between January and Gus, Thank you for the review copy.

Beach Read by Emily Henry is a witty rom-com perfect for summer! This is the first book I have read by Emily Henry and I really enjoyed it. January Andrews, a romance author, and Augustus Everett, acclaimed author of literary fiction, have been rivals since college and are now neighbors, at least for the next three months. Both are suffering from writer's block and strike a deal to swap genres - January will write the next Great American Novel and Gus will write a story with a happily ever after ending. What starts as a friendly competition leads to much more...

Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for an advance digital review copy in exchange for a review.

I picked up Beach Read looking for something light and flirty to help me escape from this stressful pandemic time. While I did enjoy the romance and humour, I was surprised by the emotional depth and warmth this book would bring. Emily Henry did a wonderful job of taking romance tropes that feel familiar, and breathing new life into them by making them feel more realistic than in any romance novel I have read in recent memory. January's journey to understand her father's years long infidelity and how it reframed her childhood felt relatable and very real. Her painful journey was carefully examined and not rushed. Sometimes in romance novels the pain or struggle of the heroine can be brushed over to make room for the lighter love scenes and happy ending - and the result is they lack depth. Not so with Beach Read.
Henry also does something different with Gus. While he starts out as the moody, misunderstood artist (that we know has a secret soft heart!), she reveals the pain he has lived through in such a tender way. She encourages the reader to genuinely care about his struggles, and cheer when he is able to overcome them. However he doesn't overcome all at once, or in a way that suddenly makes him into the typical romantic leading man. He grows in a natural flawed way, that gave me genuine hope that people in my life could work through their pain in a similar way, and open themselves up to love again.

Would absolutely recommend.

I was expecting cute, funny, light, playful. Instead Beach Read is romantic, touching, and witty. I really enjoyed it despite it going in an unexpected direction. I definitely recommend this book for romance lovers.

I absolutely see why this book is receiving so much praise.

Let me start off by saying that romance is 150,000% outside of my comfort zone. I do not read rom-coms often, but the premise and praise for this one really grabbed by attention.

In Beach Read we follow January Andrews, a romance writer who no longer believes in love and Augustus Everett, a jaded literary fiction writer who enjoys killing off his cast by the end. The two end up living next door to each other and strike up a deal. Each will write a book in the other one's genre. The first one to finish their book will owe the other a lifetime of praise and recommendation. Absolutely nothing could go wrong, right?

I went into this thinking it was going to be a light/fluffy romance and while it definitely delivered on that, it was SO much more. Both January and Gus are dealing with a lot throughout the novel that give this book so much substance and heart.

The writing was just excellent. January's voice narrating the story was just beautifully done, it sounded straight out of a movie. There are so many quotes I have highlighted on my Kindle. This story was full of some of the best characters I have read in a while. Such lovely people that you can physically feel the warmth (ahem, Pete and Maggie. I want to hang out with them! I promise not to bring up rocks!).

I really enjoyed this one. I am not sure exactly why it isn't a five star read for me other than I just didn't feel as deep of a connection to the characters as I would have wanted. I was very invested in Both Gus and January's lives and I was rooting for them the entire time, but I still felt like an outsider watching a movie anthd not in the plot with them. This could change as I think about the story more though.

All in all, highly recommend. If you already love romance and rom-coms, there is no way you won't enjoy this one. If you don't and are more comfortable with murder in your books, still give this one a shot. It may liven up your dead dead soul.

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

In stores everywhere on May 19th.

Review also submitted to Books-a-Million and will be published on Amazon once it is published.

January Andrews is a woman's fiction/romance writer and her college nemesis, Gus, is the exact opposite. He never has a story that ends happily. January is on a deadline for writing a new book, but she's having difficulty writing a love story when she finds out about her father's infidelity to her mother after his recent death. January feels as if everything she has known has been a lie, and finds herself in a writing slump. She also recently had to move to her father's second house because she is flat out broke. This is where Gus, who she has not seen since college, comes back into the picture since he is her new next door neighbor. The two decide to switch writing styles with each other; Gus has to write a love story, while January has to write, well, not a love story.

I loved this book for so many reasons! It was light-heated, relatable, witty, and endearing all at the same time. I loved the spunk of her writing style and the way she developed the characters. As I was reading I felt like January was my best friend and I found myself rooting for both Gus and January.

The plot was interesting and the romance was just enough without being mushy. I also liked the little bit of family drama thrown in there as well. Lastly, this book had so many relatable quotes that were either flat out hilarious or simply beautiful.

Absolutely zero complaints about this book. A five star read for sure.

4.5 stars. I'm so mad at myself for not taking better notes because I really wanted this review to be deeper than just *JAZZ HANDS* and IT WAS SO GOOD!! But that's what you're getting!

When January moves into her dad's lakeside Michigan beach house to write the book she has been trying to ignore actually writing, she also inherits all the problems that came with it. After her dad passed away she found out a dark secret about him... and that secret involves this house. And what else comes with this house? Her college creative writing rival, Augustus, who lives next door. He writes literary fiction with sad plotlines and death; she writes romcoms. When they both realize they're stuck with writing block they make a dare to swap genres: whoever gets their book sold first wins. They go on dates disguised as research and slowly learn to trust each other. This is a perfect blend of enemies-to-lovers and hard-hitting subplots about forgiveness and redemption.

A few small things about this book that I loved:
-their windows face each other and so they share notes like out of the You Belong with Me music video
-Augustus is afraid of vomiting (JUST LIKE ME!!)
-the setting of the lake is so fun
-the side characters are a delight and add so much to the story
-Red, Blue, and White Russians book club

It's not quite a 5 star because it was a bit overhyped for me and therefore I felt a tiny bit letdown at parts. This is a painful slow burn but it's a book you do not want to stop reading! Definitely recommend!

<i>Thank you to the publisher for an early copy of this book. All opinions are my own.</i>

Quick thoughts: I ADORED THIS BOOK! Easily one of my top romance reads of the year ❣️

This is an enemies to lovers rom com with a twist! This is unlike any rom com I’ve read before. It dealt with deeper subject matter, but was still fun. All around this is the PERFECT book to read during these difficult times. I read this over the course of two days, and I laughed, cried, and swooned over the characters.

All of the characters were witty and relatable. I loved every aspect of this story!