Beach Read by Emily Henry
Blurb
Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.
They’re polar opposites.
In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they're living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer's block.
Until, one hazy evening, 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.
Rating and Review
Overall Rating: 3.5-3.75/5 stars
Review
Background
This was my first time reading an Emily Henry novel. I've seen her everywhere on social media, and some of my favourite "BookTubers" praise her writing and work. A few months ago, I finally bought one of her books. I chose Beach Read because it's the reason Ms. Henry became so popular online. I thought I'd go to the source and understand why she went so viral.
What I Didn't Like:
- I wish we got Gus’s point of view, but I understand that’s more of a personal thing. I prefer dual POV in romance novels.
- January and Gus got back together in the second to last chapter.
- There was SO MUCH miscommunication when January and Gus were younger. When we got the part of the story where Gus admitted he’s actually liked January since they “met” in college, I was like, “WHAT?” And then he said he always thought January hated him, but she thought the same thing—that he hated her in college. I was so confused. I literally said, out loud, to myself, "Wait... So, you’re telling me if y’all fucking talked to each other, you could’ve been together so long ago?? Like, y’all had that dance in the basement of that frat party! Y’all could’ve admitted feelings then!” Then they got together, I think, 5 or 6 years later, present time of the book. Ugh, I was so mad.
What I Did Like:
- January and Gus. I liked their romance. The romance was, by far, the best part of this book.
- January and Gus as characters. I think the way they were written was very realistic, and I also loved the character development January had.
- The setting
- This book, although funny because it’s a rom com, was a lot more emotional than I thought it would be. I remember seeing in another person’s review that this book was quite sad, and I agree. The things the characters were going through were very intense. I loved that element of the story.
- This book felt like a mix between Literary Fiction and romance. (This isn’t meant to be a joke about the characters, by the way.) I like to read about characters working through real-life problems. Hell, that’s the type of romance I write, so I was presently surprised this book would be the same way.
- The cover
- The discussions of grief (or how to grieve someone you didn’t truly know), divorcing someone you thought you loved, being apprehensive but ultimately finding new love
- The sex scenes were well written, although I had zero idea they would be here. I saw someone’s review for People We Meet on Vacation, and they said there weren’t any smut scenes. Due to that, I assumed Emily Henry didn’t write smut, but when we got the smut in this book, I was like, "Oh, ok! Why not?” Smut isn’t a requirement for me, so my review likely would’ve stayed the same even if this book didn’t have smut.
- The timeline. I like that this book took place in 3 months (excluding the last chapter which was 9 months later)
Final Thoughts
I liked this book. I thought it was great, and I can see why other people like it. I like that it was kind of a mix between Romance and Literary Fiction. As I said, those are the kinds of books I like to write and read. I liked the way Emily Henry took the concept. I couldn’t see myself giving this book more than a 4-star rating because I didn’t have any strong feelings toward the book. Don’t get me wrong, it was good! I thought it was very good, and I’d definitely recommend it. But I wasn’t in love with the characters, the romance, or any other parts of the book like I usually am with 4 or 5-star books. For what it was, it was good. I don’t have any problems with it.
Comments
Post a Comment