A uniquely dazzling read. BEACH READ is such a great novel. The author takes a simple premise but completely makes it her own. Also, the writer in me loves that the characters are authors. Any story with a bookish thread is a win.

This was a great read and revitalizes the romance novel trope. Very excited to read future books by this author.

This was a great read, perfect for the beach...although I read it every morning while drying my hair...

Generally, I don't compare authors, but this one couldn't help but make me think of Christina Lauren in all the best ways. The dialogue was snappy and wonderful. The characters were flawed and lovable. The story had many moments that had me laughing aloud and then holding my breath waiting for the proverbial shoe to drop. It was a wonderful read and my patrons will love it.

This was my favorite romance of Sumer 2020! There were more surprises than you would think in a book that tells you the characters don't fall in love! (And, even if you do believe that there are enough other surprises to make you forget it!)

Augustus and January are intelligent, interesting, and as frustrating as you can imagine. Once they get past the initial hate meet (the opposite of a meet cute), we find ourselves rooting for these two to put it all out there and give each other a chance. Even their style of writing notes to each other and putting them in the windows favcing each other's houses is adorable and we can see that these two may be just what the other needs- even if it is not what they are looking for.

The outcome of their agreement to write something outside of their comfort zone is story enough to keep any reader interested, It may seem obvious, but Beach Read is one you will not want to miss putting on your summer TBR list!

Perfect title for a perfectly fun book. Once i started it, I couldn't put it down. Loved the characters. Loved the story. I would love to see a follow up on these characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book.

I'm a fan of Emily Henry, I really like her magical realism YA books, and I've read them all. Her first outside of this genre, Beach Read, was a rom-com with grit. January and Gus are both broken and jaded in their own way. They're "enemies", but really not, and as their friendship develops into an imperfect relationship, it's not all rainbows and butterflies. There's darkness, sadness, anger, hurt, and I liked that. It was realistic. Made it not overly cute, but still kept some rom-com tropes. I will definitely read her next book.

I will admit that it took me a couple tries to get into this one but once I was in I loved it. I loved that they both addressed their personal darkness through writing, albeit in vastly different ways, and the swapping really allowed them to know one another and themselves better. I feel like this book definitely maintained a good balance of levity and heaviness that let it be more than a typical Rom-Com. I was expecting something completely different based on the title and cover but still enjoyed the read.

January Andrews is a best-selling romance author who is facing the very thing that all authors dread, writers-block. She hasn't been able to write anything since her father died unexpectantly and she discovered at his funeral that he had been having an affair. Her father's mistress had approached her at the funeral with a letter and keys to a mystery beach house. She goes to the beach house to get it ready to sell and hopefully break through her writer's block. But how is a romance author supposed to write romantic novels when she believes that romance is dead?

Augustus Everrett has been living at the beach for years when January Andrews moves in next door. He remembers her from their college days at the University of Michigan but hasn't seen her since until one night she yells at him for an excessively loud party. After that, they slowly work their way into each other's lives and come up with an unusual plan to break through the writer's block that has been plaguing the both of them. While their friendship blossoms into something more the fact remains, they are both keeping secrets as to the reason why they have writer's block. Will they be able to be honest with each other and themselves in time to meet their deadlines?

Beach Read was a really cute book about two writers with one thing in common. The inability to get a story down on paper. Their genres are about as opposite as two things could be - January is a romance writer and Gus is an acclaimed literary star. I loved their banter and the playful way they behaved, but I didn't like how they kept things from each other, their respective insecurities keeping them quiet. Of course it is all revealed in the end, but they wasted a lot of time by keeping those secrets. I will say that Gus's Aunt Pete was one of my favorite things about the book. She was a good influence on both of their lives.

Bottom Line - Beach Read is exactly what you think - a feel-good rom-com. But don't mistake that for a fluffy read. Gus and January are more than just tropes, they are deep, textured characters and you will fall in love with both of them as you devour this book at a beach near you.

Details:
Beach Read by Emily Henry
On Instagram
Pages: 384
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: 5/19/2020
Buy it Here!
Thank you to NetGalley for the book in exchange for an honest review.

In a year where reading was difficult to focus on, this novel gave me a really perfect novel to process feelings of grief and inadequacy while still giving me the happy ending I needed. I have been happily handselling it in my bookstore since reading. Looking forward to more from Henry.

I think this book has an identity crisis. It was trying to be a romance novel. But also a literary fiction novel. A study in grief. Possibly erotica? Those sex scenes came out of NOWHERE. But the whole study in grief... I don't know, this story was all over the place and I did not care for it.

This is an enemies to lover romance and in my opinion it was executed perfectly! It definitely lived up to the hype for me. The story addresses some heavier topics in a beautiful way and I couldn’t get enough of it. The premise of two authors writing their books was fascinating to me.

One of the things I loved about the couple in the book is that they actually talked to each other! I don’t like it when the main plot of a romance is that the characters have poor communication skills. I loved that they expressed their feelings to each other and not only the woman but also the man. Gus was a complex character and I loved that.

I really enjoyed the banter and pop culture references throughout the book. She mentioned Taylor Swift early on so she had me at that! I laughed out loud at certain parts and I think that’s an indication of a good romantic comedy.

I had a copy of the audio book (thanks to libro.fm!) so I listened to a few chapters in audio and I recommend that format. Julie Whelan, who is my favorite audio book narrator, narrates the book and as always is amazing.

This book was delicious. I did not and could not put it down. When it comes to contemporary romance, books need something special to make them stand out from the pack. Beach Read has it that slick, quick and witty sense of inevitability that makes you not want to stop reading.

An author writing a book about authors writing books? Count me in! I love when books have an inception feel, and this one was so hard to put down! The characters are witty and rude and stressed and emotional and I love how January is such a strange and unique name, yet it fits so well.

Beach Read by Emily Henry was at the very top of my list of books I wanted to read this summer. I am all about summer books, (even though summer is probably my least favorite season), and I am always on the lookout for new summer-themed books. As soon as I saw the cover for Beach Read, I knew I would have to check it out!

Let me start this by saying that I went into this expecting a cute, romantic, beach read, and that’s… not exactly what this book is. While the book did have a lot of cutesy moments, it definitely had a lot of darker moments as well. (i.e., death, cults, etc.) And while the setting was at the beach, there was not the type of beach reading that I was expecting. This did not put me off of reading the book, but it definitely wasn’t what I had anticipated going into this book, so I just wanted to put that out there for someone else that I may go into the books with similar expectations.

That being said, I did really enjoy this book. January and Gus were adorable, and I enjoyed watching their relationship grow over the course of the book. (Enemies-to-lovers trope here, which happens to be my fave!) Also, there were a lot of fun secondary characters as well. The storyline was interesting, with lots of cutesy moments and steamy romance. (I probably could have done without the cult parts of the book, but I get while they were in there.) And I loved the setting for the book. I am a sucker for books set at the beach. So fun!

Overall; Beach Read was not at all what I expected, but was an interesting read none-the-less. It’s the second book I have read so far by Emily Henry, but I am definitely curious to check out some of her other books soon!

Happy Reading!

This is worth all the hype that I’ve heard from friends!!! I ADORED THIS!!! A beachy enemies to lovers writing romance is my cup of tea. This idea and concept is so unique and I was so blown away with how I literally could not put this book down. It was the perfect escape!!! January and Gus are perfect and I already miss them so much! I loved January and my heart reached out to her so many times in this book. It had so many incredibly swoony moments that I was squealing while rereading some parts!! I’ve already been rereading all my favorite scenes because I love these two so much!!! Ahhh I can’t wait to read what’s next for Emily Henry!!!!

I really loved reading this book. From the beginning, I was immediately drawn into Emily Henry's world that she has created for these characters. I really am happy that I picked this book up. For a while I have been in a romance mood and this definitely fit the bill as you fall in love with each of the characters and connect with them. In some ways I connected with January as we both lost our father's and how loss can really affect us emotionally. Emily did a great job with it all.

Even after finishing the book, I had such a book hangover that I had to reread it again! While you expect from the title that it will be a beach read, light, rom-com about two authors who write the opposite of what they are used to, but the entire premise was perfect. I loved January and Augustus immediately and enjoyed all the humour and how their relationship grew from friends to more. Beach Read is officially one of my favourite books of the year and the writing was captivating from the beginning to end. I already wish I had her next book! I really enjoyed getting to see that these characters are so relatable. The book overall is a must read! Plus you will also fall in love with Gus :)

If you are looking for a great read, you need to pick this up at the bookstore immediately! I will definitely be recommending this book to my friends and at the bookstore! It was absolutely amazing and a bit heartbreaking, but you will not regret this book!

What a delightful book! I ended up listening to this one on audio, and Julia Whelan was fantastic as always. Yes, it is a fun contemporary romance (though I could also see this book being shelved as "general women's fiction," as discussed and berated in the novel--you know I loved that part! ha), but I really think this book was a love letter to writing. My favorite parts were when the characters were discussing their writing process or how to define genres or what it's like to put a book in the world (not that I know anything about that, but I feel like I know more now!).

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/

2.5 Stars

This should have been a winner for me. I love rom coms. I love chick lit. I love cartoon covers. I love when the characters are authors or booknerds. So what happened? Well, January and Gus and their summer at their neighboring beach houses happened. This book kind of got lost in what it was trying to be and ended up being a mish-mash that simply fell short and by the time I let go of my issues with it, sadly it was just a little too late for a full redemption.

Things started off poorly for me due to the fact that for a goodly chunk of this book I couldn’t get the ridiculous internet feud between Jennifer Weiner and Jonathan Franzen. I pretty much avoid reading stuff by either of them because they come off as such twats and they don’t deserve my time (or especially my money). The fact that the leads in this book were pretty much clones of those two as the “great American novelist” for him and the “chick lit romance bestseller” for her did not aid in my enjoyment level whatsoever.

Then there were the dead daddy issues . . . .

Oh my word you broken record. We get it already. It’s not like you’re 12 so get some coping skills and it’s not like you were even close so how the hell could this possibly shatter you so much??? See a doctor, homey.

The romance (a/k/a smexytimes) was aiiiiiiiight so this 2.5 will get rounded up simply for not making me want to invest in a chastity belt or poke my own eyeballs out due to gross intercourse.

But a serious level of irk was generated with the other broken record message of how poooooooor the leading lady was. First, you just got a G.D. beach house bequeathed to you so STFU – you’re not homeless. Second, if you are seriously a bestselling author you should have at least five dollars in the bank. And third, if you don’t???? GET. A. FREAKING. DAY. JOB. There is nothing that aggravates me more than “authors” who cry all over Goodreads and Go Fund Me and Patreon that it is our duty as readers/fans to pay their bills so they can “create” while we go grind it out at various not-dreamy 9 to 5s. Having this chick whine about her money issues made me want to lump her in the badly behaving author category like those people.

Obviously YMMV and you’ll probably love this like everyone else did.

ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This smart and sparkling romance follows two writers—a cynical romance novelist and a literary fiction author—who live in neighboring houses and are both struggling to overcome a serious case of writer’s block. In an effort to find inspiration, the pair soon strike a deal, agreeing to make changes that will force themselves out of their rut. Set in a small lake town in Michigan, this book offers a fresh and engrossing look at second chances and learning to love again.