This book was not what I was expecting it to be...it was even better. Beach Read is probably the least predictable romance I've read, and I've read A LOT. January (I'm sorry how cute is that name?) is dealing with the falout of her father's death and the revelations of who he was that came after. She flees to the house he left her to conquer writer's block and work on her next book.
Gus is January's next door neighbor and her nemesis from college. They decide to try writing their next books in each other's genre, which leads to them spending a lot of time together discussing how to write a story in a totally new drama.
I LOVED Gus and January. I loved their brokenness and how neither one of them wanted to let that stop them. I loved their vulnerability, not only with each other, but also alone. My only wish would be for more from Gus' perspective and what he was going through. In a lot of ways, he sounds like a more interesting character.
I highly recommend this book to any romance readers who want that story with heart and love, but with a lovely change of pace to keep you on your toes.

REVIEW | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Beach Read by Emily Henry, release May 19

January is a romance writer with writers block who goes to stay at her late-father’s beach house. Her neighbour is non other than her college nemesis, Gus, a literary fiction writer. When the two challenge each other to write a book in other’s genre, January learns an entirely new side to Gus, and herself.

First, let me start by saying I really liked this book.
⭐️I thought the writing style was beautiful
⭐️the characters’ backstories were rich, emotional, and layered
⭐️the slow burn pacing (the steam, the black moment) was spot on
⭐️I always love reading books about meta romance!!
⭐️I loved both January and Gus. I rooted for them the entire time!

Admittedly, the marketing of this book confused me. The cover and the synopsis on the back led me to believe this was an ultra fun, light, romance read. I thought it would be a literal “beach read”. It was not. It was beautiful, don’t get me wrong. But it actually quite heavy, emotional, raw, and sad throughout. There are a lot of trigger warnings for this one: cancer, death of parent, abuse... this marketing is not the fault of the author by any means. But I do find it could have done with a less peppy cover.

Related to this was while I did love the writing style, it really bounced back an forth between funny and light, and then literary and heavy a f. Again, I love both writing styles. There’s no rule that says the two shall never meet. But it did kind of confuse me a bit.

All in all, I truly did love this book! Highly recommend. Just be sure you’re ready for an angstier, heavier romance as opposed to something light.

Massive thank you to Berkley, Netgalley and Emily Henry for this lovely ARC 💗

WOW, this was so good!

I'm a big fan of rom-coms, and this was utter perfection. Easily one of my favorite books I've read this year so far.

This was real, raw and self-aware, yet still super swoony and romantic. This book doesn't shy away from the bad things; it actually embraces them. This was super different from what I was expecting, but I loved it all the same. It was the perfect mix between romance and literary fiction, which, funnily enough, is what the two main characters in this book, who are both authors, write.

All the characters were so well-developed, especially our two main protagonists. The banter between Gus and January was exceptional. And THE ROMANCE Y'ALL. I couldn't have hoped for a better enemies-to-lovers story. This was perfect in every way.

It was Emily Henry book, but I now want to give her other books a try!

Romance writer January Andrews has three months to finish her next book, so for a change of scenery, she’s staying in a beach house so she can focus. Problem is she’s got writers’ block.
Someone else has writers’ block as well — Augustus Everett, who has had success with his literary fiction, happens to be staying in the rental next door.
The local bookshop owner loves the fact that she has two authors staying in their little town, so she takes advantage of it by inviting both to come to her shop. When they might, January discovers that Augustus is the man who has been disturbing her thoughts with his loud music. In the course of a conversation, they both agree to switch genres: she will write a literary novel and he will write something “happy.”
I enjoyed the interaction between the main characters in particular.

What happens when a romance writer finds that everything she believes about love is wrong? When this happens to January she gets writer's block and heads to the house she never knew her father had. As luck would have it her college nemesis, Gus, also a writer, living next door. What starts as a competition to end their writer's block turns into something more. A story of loss and finding yourself and a life you never expected. This took me away from the world for a few hours.

I've been excited for this one ever since I heard about it and it did not disappoint! This was super cute and so much fun. It also felt incredibly realistic. These characters felt so real the entire time and I loved experiencing their story. I'm so excited for this to come out and for everyone to experience it.

I decided to finally pick this up today in my task to get through my ARC pile and I AM SO GLAD I DID. A hilarious, achey, beautifully-written enemies-to-lovers romance that made me yearn for my own beach house writer's retreat. I loved that January and Gus had history together outside of a random summer encounter, and that their misconceptions about each other contributed to so much fantastic tension as they slowly got to know each other differently than they did in their college years. There's a lot of emotional baggage for them to work through together and hurdles to clear, but I appreciate that Henry's characters are honest enough to acknowledge their own messiness and why that doesn't make them any less deserving of love.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3.5 stars.

I finished this last night and decided to sleep on it before writing a review. Is it a high C or a low B? I'm saying low B - only because I can't quite put my finger on why it didn't work for me. And in case anyone cares, the title is as misleading as the picture on the cover - neither of which has anything to do with the story within.

January's life is in free fall. After a mostly idyllic childhood, <i>aside from her mother's two bouts with cancer</i>, she's a published romance author in a committed relationship with a near perfect boyfriend. She has great parents who love her, and each other. Life is good. She's happy, she thinks. Ahem.

Unfortunately, when <b>Beach Read</b> begins, it's been just under a year since the sudden death of January's beloved father. The father who she belatedly discovered kept A LOT of secrets. Secrets like his long term affair while married to her mother. Secrets like the second home he sometimes shared with the other woman. Secrets that her mother already knew. And since meeting 'the other woman,' at her father's funeral - when the stranger pressed an envelope and key into her hands before fleeing - January is an emotional mess.

Unable to talk to her mother about the affair, unable to write, unable to continue in her own 'perfect' relationship...her life is a shambles. So she escapes to her father's beach home (oh, poor January) to try and put herself together. Her sojourn gets off to a rocky start when she discovers her neighbor is none other than Augustus Everett, an acclaimed author of literary fiction. The same Gus who was once her college nemesis/secret crush. The same Gus who looked down on romantic fiction and January. The same Gus who she shared one magical night with.

So that's the set-up. All good. I like the friends to enemy trope, and Ms. Henry does an excellent job putting her principal characters into regular contact with one another. Unfortunately, her characterization of these two never really gets much deeper than these essentials. It's clear January wasn't the only one who once had a crush, and they're antagonistic early meetings are half hearted, at best. Eventually we learn more about why Gus might have a slightly darker side - and that he has some pretty significant secrets of his own, but aside from their interactions with each other and with some of the stereotypical secondary characters (or, caricature's) that are always present in these little towns, these two mostly exist in a bubble of their own making. Most of what we know about them is colored by their relationships with their parents, and their skewed memories of their college years. I felt like I knew more about January's dad than I did about her - and the story is entirely told via her POV!

Even though I felt her characters are underdeveloped, I enjoyed the snarky, funny, sharp dialogue between Gus and January, and it's a highlight of the novel. Both characters love a good zinger, and I giggled a few times when they delivered a particularly excellent one. These two have great chemistry, and the best parts of the story are definitely when they're together on the page. The author, who I believe writes mostly YA, does an excellent job building the sexual tension...until we get to the actual sex scenes. They're awkward, involve lots of January getting into Gus's lap (every time!), and are much too brief. Perfunctory almost. I was so excited for all that steam to combust in some juicy lovemaking, and when it doesn't, it's a major letdown. Frankly, a fade to black might have been better. Henry is all tease and zero delivery.

But let me circle back a bit. Gus and January wind up in each other's pockets after they challenge each other to write a novel in each other's preferred genre. January uses Gus's research trips as a framework for her story, and - well, maybe it's a spoiler - Gus doesn't? For most of the book, I assumed the climatic scene would include them realizing they were both writing the same story with different endings! A story about themselves and their unfolding relationship! Am I the only one who thought that? Look, I think the books provided a great opportunity to delve deeper into how each of these character felt about what was developing between them, and instead they were just sort of meh revelations. A missed opportunity for sure.

<b>Beach Read</b> is an occasionally funny, sometimes steamy, mostly good rom-com. It wasn't quite what I expected, and I didn't walk away from it with all the happy feels many of my friends expressed. I still don't feel like January's complicated memories of her father are sufficiently resolved, and the ending is underwhelming.

I liked it, but I don't know if I would recommend it.

Easily my favorite book of the year so far. I just finished it and I already want to do a re-read to spend some more time with January and Gus. MY HEART. This book was equal parts swooney and grumbley while also being SO self-aware and I loved every little bit of it. Plus, the banter in this was *chef's kiss* PERFECTION.

I didn't know what to expect, I went to this one blind and I really enjoyed it!I was hooked immediately and I find the story intrigued. This is a love story between two very broken and complex characters.I liked the romance it was slow burn.

"Bad things don't dig down through your life until the pit's so deep that nothing good will ever be big enough to make you happy again. No matter how much shit, there will always be wildflowers."

Well developed characters and a story that touched me from the beginning!It has all the feelings, you will laugh , cry , be frustrated in a good way and feel overwhelming!This book was really good!I'll definitely check this authors other books!

Oh this stupid review isn’t going to do this book justice.

First of all...Hollis. You know I love you. Our conversations. Your reviews. Your recommendations. I only stumbled upon this book because of you - and, man, I am thankful for you in a million different ways.

Second, the cover and title are...wrong. I feel like someone once said “don’t judge a book by it’s cover” or something along those lines. And yeah. The title says fluff. The cover says fluff. And this is a actually a fluff-free zone.

Third, I have a thing for funny/sad books. Snarky. Poignant. Books that get that you hurt a little (or a lot), that we’ve all been through it, but fuck, we want to laugh sometimes or we’ll cry and just not stop.

January is a down on her luck optimist. And we go on this ride with her. What do you do when your default setting is “it’s all going to be all right” and you’re living in that moment when it isn’t going to be all right at all?

I laughed. I cried. I have the book hangover from hell. I’ve been giving out two and three star reviews like they’re raisins at Halloween. And now I feel seen. Heard. Appreciated.

This is my current contender for my Book of the Year. Emily Henry’s voice is fantastic, and I look forward to reading lots more of her.

*As always, a thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to offer my honest opinion.*

<a href="http://alleskelle.com"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1531392914r/25962167.jpg?v=1531392917324"width="400"></a>

This book was so much fun! I'm so excited to review it this summer. I heard people talking about it on social media and wanted to see what it was all about. My customers are going to LOVE this, too. I love books about "books" and about "authors." I also love books that are enemies to lovers, or, in this case, two people who got off on the wrong foot. Watching them encourage one another to write the opposite in order to get their juices going again was so much fun!

And I LOVED the epilogue to see the fruits of their labors, although, knowing what I do of the industry, it was a little unrealistic that she was holding her ARC and asking him to read it for the first time for a blurb because that has normally happened by then!

Still super cute and fun. I loved it!

"Bad things don't dig down through your life until the pit's so deep that nothing good will ever be big enough to make you happy again. No matter how much shit, there will always be wildflowers."

BEACH READ by Emily Henry was an extension of my hand for 12 hours reading it off and on, just waiting for the next opportunity to pick it back up. I finished it at 2:30 am and I had tired teary eyes, and a very full heart. Needless to say, it was incredible. The kind of book that plants itself into you and blooms.

Listen, here me out: Emily Henry writes with bits of glittery magic shooting out of her fingertips. I'm convinced!! This is how I picture her sitting at her computer, creating the most charming, captivating stories you can only dream of. How she can go from Young Adult fabulism (sidenote: A MILLION JUNES is one of my very favorites, as well) to Adult contemporary fiction and *still* manage to have this tangible magic between the characters is beyond me. She writes with such an understanding of the human spirit, and what breaks us down, and what keeps us going, that reading her books creates a cathartic experience. Also, she just understands what romancing is. Emily Henry just gets us.

I mean, how can one resist a book that is about a romance writer, January Andrews, who has stopped believing in love and a literary fiction writer named Augustus Everett having writer's block, and them challenging each other to write their books over the summer, from their beach houses where they currently reside parallel to one another. To go even further, January challenges Gus to write something happy for once, and Gus challenges January to write the next great literary masterpiece. She will take him on rom-com level dates for inspiration, and he will take her to interviews that may or may not involve death cults. Did I mention that the writers also have a *history* from way back in college in which they were nemeses?

Yes, I know, it is to die for.

At the story's heart is a tender, beautifully paced and developed and love story, but there are pieces of from each writer's past, and how they're trying to heal from them, that propel it to another level entirely. And don't be fooled by the bright cover, albeit adorable, this book is more serious in tone than a lot of other romances, which I felt was a nice change. BEACH READ is rich with character and relationship development, and wow, it made me cry it was so wonderfully done. All of it was fantastic. There is truly nothing I would want to be changed. I feel so honored to have read it early so I can shout about it from social media and my own rooftop (as I *am* quarantined).

This book is special, folks. The ongoing writing challenge fun to read as it forces the characters to see each other often, bantering all the while, and creates the kind of tension that makes you breathe a little heavier and heart beat a little faster, which is what every reader wants in a romance, to be completely honest. The chemistry is *chef's kiss.* They sizzle when they're together. And separately, January and Gus are full, complete, smart, and endearing characters. I loved them both.

I was enthralled from the first chapter and was left extremely fulfilled by the end. It is such a sweet, joyous, uplifting reading experience. This is one of the best books any person will read in 2020, guaranteed. Emily Henry, I bow down to you. 5 stars.

Beach Read deals with a lot of heavy issues for the two main characters. January is dealing with the aftermath of the death of her father and the exposure of his affair. Augustus has his own issues from his past that he has not grappled with. In this enemies-to-lovers romance the two characters, both authors suffering from writers block, come together to get over their issues both in writing and in life. What follows is an intense connection on a journey of self discovery.

A book you need to read in 2020! January's conflicted feelings about her father and her new relationship with Gus are brought to a head on Lake Michigan. This story was laugh out loud funny and extremely emotional all at once. I loved everything about it.

I loved this book so aggressively that I gave myself a headache. From the start, you are swept up into a story you never want to end. Each chapter is something special. January and Augustus are wonderful to watch unfold and dance around each other. The dialogue is entertaining, the writing is beautiful. I truly and honestly loved every second of this book and I'm sad it's over.

I cannot think of anything I didn't like. I think this is a favourite read of 2020 so far.

I have to say up front that I didn't find this a beach read, that is, a funny, fluffy romance.

I found it to be a writers' romance. The prose is gorgeous, thoughtful, sly, witty, insightful, as January goes to the house she was left by her recently deceased dad. This is the house where her dad, who she thought she knew, kept secrets. As she reluctantly prepares it for sale, room by room, she uncovers layers of emotional stuff that comes between her and happiness.

One of those layers is Gus, a literary writer who she crushed on once, until he crushed her heart. She writes romance, he scorns romance. They end up next door to each other . . . and in a bet that is mostly challenge, they dare each other to write what the other writes: she has to write a literary novel, and he a romance.

Enemies to lovers is one of my favorite tropes, but it is not bulletproof. I can't stand bickering, in particular when the characters stay in the same bitter emotional space for that bickering. I love banter, especially when it's witty, but even when it isn't, it needs to go somewhere for one or both characters, preferably both.

This author got that.

Add a lot of insight about writing, a host of delightful secondary characters, excellent female friendships, the whole adding up to a lot more than what I expect of a beach read!

Oh man. I have a feeling this book is going to confuse and mislead some readers because the vibe from the cover, and my understanding of the plot from the skimming I did of the summary when I requested it (#TeamMostlyBlurbFree), gives you a very different idea of what the whole of this experience is going to be. I'm not saying the book, or the marketing of said book, is a lie but that it's so much more than what you think it'll be. Also, like, I don't think this book is a book you would actually take to read on the beach. But the title is still very relevant to the story.

With that said, though, I totally loved this? Sure, I picked it up thinking it would be the fluffy frothy happy delight I needed after some not-remotely-those-things reads, plus, like, I needed a break from the dystopian nightmare world we're living in right now and instinctively reached for some brightness, but instead I got that <b>and</b> more.

"<i>You never told me what <b>you</b> write, Everett. I'm sure it's something really groundbreaking and important. Totally new and fresh. Like a story about a disillusioned white guy, wandering the world, misunderstood and coldly horny.</i>"
"<b>'Coldly horny'? As opposed to the very artfully handled sexual proclivities of your genre? Tell me, which do you find more fascinating to write : love-struck pirates or love-struck werewolves?</b>"

This is definitely filled with banter, as these two writers of very different subject matter duel with words and perspectives and challenge each other to swap genres. It's full of that delicious tension where amidst that challenge there's even a promise they won't fall in love with each other (a throwback reference to a popular romantic movie because this book has lots of references, but also, heyoooo). Equally (nay, more?) delicious were the makeout scenes leading up to fireworks because, uh, hi, hello. Have I been skimping on romance lately or is Henry just hella good at this because wowza.

But there was also an edge to this story, both in one of the subplots and in the characters. Each are dealing with things they've either carried with them throughout their lives or that have just sent them reeling and reevaluating so much of what they thought was true. There's loss, grief, betrayal, abandonment.. there's a lot to deal with. We also do have some bits of miscommunication between the leads but, delightfully (how many more times will I use this word, you might be wondering..), things are dealt with in a fairly timely manner. Like the summary says, these two are polar opposites. Gus is wrapped in layers, January wears everything on her skin, and while they fall into a headlong intense connection, full of that hot excited desperation to be around each other, it isn't without work to stay together. To understand.

<i>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>

Beyond the romance, though, we also have an amazing female friendship. Which is made more amazing by the fact that the friend gets hardly any page time beyond some text communications and yet I still felt the love. Don't believe me? The first time I cried was during a scene where they are together on page. Friendships for the win.

Oh, yes, probably should've mentioned. I cried a few times. Or rather the same cry on and off near the end. You've been warned.

So, is this a book you might want to pack for the beach after release? And by beach I mean the towel you spread on your living room floor in front of your computer's screensaver showing some tropical location in the effort to remain socially distant? Maybe not. But if you love banter or an opposites attract situation; if you love books about books; if you like some emotional backstory and good realistic, complicated, backbones to your fiction, you'll love this. For me, this is like biting into a shortbread cookie and finding out the inside is stuffed with brownie. It was going to be good as it was, and instead it ended up even better, more substantial, and delightfully (!) delicious in an unexpected way.

Read this book.

This one took too long for me to get into. I liked the premise and the characters but the story dragged for me. They are both authors of different genres and they took each other on research outings so they could each see the other's process. I just felt like the outings took away from the two of them and went on too long. The male was interviewing people from a cult which sucked the romance out of the book for me. The last part was good when we just learned about the main characters and what was going on inside of them.

Well, I don't think I can talk to another human being for a while, because if I do, it's going to be solely about this book for the foreseeable future.

If someone ever asked me to describe the elements of a perfect romance novel for me, I'd just send them a copy of Beach Read. It's got it all: Snappy AF dialogue! An enemies-to-lovers storyline! Writers as main characters who I, for once, don't want to punch in the face! Enough steam to fog the windows but not enough for me to think I'm just reading straight fan fiction! A charming summer town! Loads of family angst! It's truly everything I could ever want in a romance book.

To compare this novel to anything (or frame it in a "you'll like this book if you liked X" sort of way), I'd say it reminds me of Evvie Drake Starts Over, one of only a few other romance novels I've given five stars to. They had very similar vibes—and that's probably why I couldn't get enough of both.

GOD, I LOVED THIS BOOK.