Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book.

DNF at around 30 %.

Personally, I prefer my love interests not to be misogynistic authors with an inflated ego who want to profit off a genre that is typically beloved by women when he doesn't even enjoy said genre.

I had to look up if this book was written by a man because I could not believe a female romance author would write a male main character like that.
Mild spoilers ahead.
Alexis, the MMC, is an author who has published two novellas that were critically acclaimed but not a commercial success. But he wants to be an author, so he decides to write a romance novel, basically because of how successful Bridgerton is, despite it being bad in his eyes. He says he doesn't understand the appeal of mass market romance books, that Bridgerton is historically inaccurate but sighs that "you can never talk women out of it".
He then proceeds to explain that he has not yet conducted any research, but his novel has already been sold based on the first three chapters. Oh, and then he says that he wants to write something that makes women want to sleep with their husbands because that is what made Fifty Shades so successful.

So, to recap, this man is not interested in the romance genre, he doesn't get it, but of course, he is very interested in the money the genre generates. He has not yet done any research but is sure he can be the next big thing. Talk about inflated male ego.
I obviously do not know if he later has some big revelation about how maybe you shouldn't only write a book in a genre you don't like because it might make you money, but I also did not care to find out.
I have no interest in reading a romance novel with a love interest like that, it's gross and problematic.

Women still get ridiculed for their love of romance novels, the genre is seen as less sophisticated and all those sexist prejudices about romance and romance readers, and here we have a romance novel with a love interest that seems to think the same but still wants to write a book. Because, you know, we are all only waiting for a romance book written by a man whose heart is not even in it.
As someone who enjoys the romance genre, I honestly found this book insulting to read.

There were also other issues apart from the blatant misogyny and ignorance portrayed by the male main character.
Early in the book, the FMC's colleague is drooling over the MMC in a way that felt completely inappropriate, almost objectifying him. Regardless of my feelings toward him later on, I really didn't like the way they talked about him, if a man was talking about a woman this way, people would call him a gross creep.

The book is set in Newquay, a place I visited and loved, and usually when I read a book that is set somewhere I know, I get a nice sense of nostalgia. But in this case, the setting did nothing for me. It felt like a generic surfer town that could be anywhere in the world, the charm of Newquay is not to be found on paper, which was really disappointing.

And lastly, I have to say that I am a bit confused by the title and cover choice. Going in, I fully expected this to be a straight-up Emily Henry rip-off because the title is so similar to Beach Read, the cover style is similar to EH's covers, and the little blurb on the cover is very reminiscent of the one that is on Book Lovers. I don't think I would have ever paid money for this if I saw it in a bookstore or online, simply because I don't want to read plagiarized works and this book almost looks like it is a plagiarized version of Beach Read and Book Lovers.

I wish I could say something positive about this book but I genuinely cannot. I am sorry for leaving such a bad ARC review, but in its current form, I would not recommend it to anyone.

This book really confused me. I don't know why it's called 'Holiday Read' because the characters weren't on a holiday or vacation in the book. I think that the book description is deceptive because it doesn't really have a lot to do with the beach. The main character, Candice, does run a surf school, but it's a minor plot point in the story. Candice moves to the town that she was born in, but she doesn't remember much about the town. She moved away when she was very young, and she mostly grew up in Hawaii. She moves to the town of Newquay in England.

Candice tries to start over again after her marriage falls apart. While at her work as a waitress at a cafe, she meets a handsome stranger named Alexis. She feels a spark with him, but things don't turn out as she planned them too. She finds out that he is writing a book and he's using Candice for inspiration. Candice also has a spark with Alexis' literary agent, Daniel. What will happen with them? Will she get another chance at love?

This book had a lot of different plots going on, and I found it difficult to focus on them. The ending of the story felt so rushed. Much of the book was drawn out and i was looking forward to the ending. When I got to the ending, I felt like I was missing pages in the story. I was confused by how abrupt things happened at the end of the book, and the story felt unresolved.

Thanks to NetGalley and Aria for an ARC of this book.

I loved the concept and the character interaction! I also adored the nerdy references! I loved the character chemistry! Will definitely read another books by the author!

This book is too similar to Emily Henry’s Beach Read book. Also trying to pull in demogorons and some nerdy stuff that I don’t think a lot of romance readers really know about. Unless they watch stranger things. I don’t know what audience this book wanted to appeal to but I felt like romance was the wrong one possibly.

Romance reader Candice met romance writer Alexis. She thought that she was in love until she realized that he was using her as inspiration for the book he was struggling to write.

Love Candice and Alexis. The agent Daniel is terrific as well. Great chemistry altogether. A great plot for anyone who loves to read- especially terrific for romance book lover.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.