This book really surprised me! (In a good way) Looking at the cover, title, and the synopsis I was expecting it to be light and breezy, however, that wasn't the case. Instead what I got was a swoon-worthy romance between two very complex people with an equally compelling backstory.

I read it in a day! Emily Henry's writing is absolutely fantastic and I loved how the build-up of the story was done. I loved the banter between the two MCs and really liked the progression of their relationship. Clearly, both of them were going through their own difficult stuffs but it was wonderful to see them overcome these difficulties together. Themes related to grief, and pain was handled quite brilliantly as well.

My only qualm is that the ending fell a little short, it was good but wasn't as good as the rest of the book! Overall, though, it was a great read!!!

I don’t really know where to start with this one! I had seen so much hype and so many rave reviews I was worried that it wouldn’t live up to the hype.⁣
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Fortunately I was wrong and l enjoyed this book a great deal! It is really well written and for me it was one of those books where I couldn’t stop reading once I had started.⁣
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When January’s life seemingly crashes around her, she heads to her father’s second house and crosses paths with her former college enemy - Gus, a famous author and next-door neighbour. Gus and January are both suffering from writers block and make a bet concerning their next novel. What follows though is more than just a romance between them and is written in such a way that it shows how people can be complicated and are not all optimist or pessimist. Both January and Gus are interesting characters with their own stories and I was definitely invested in them.⁣
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I liked how Emily Henry told both of their stories and also her writing style in general. I will definitely read more of her novels in the future!⁣
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Beach Read is already available in ebook format and will be out in paperback on 20th August.⁣
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Thank you to Penguin Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange of an honest review.⁣

The story began on an excellent note, the writing style was fresh. I found the concept of story within a story very interesting. But as it progressed the love interest of the protagonist became to predictable, after few chapters it became a little repititive and confusing.
There were way to many pop culture and other references which not every reader can understand. I enjoyed the starting but as it went by I did not enjoy beach reads. It was like the book was written for a selective audience. Not everyone will be able to understand and enjoy it.

I went into the book completely blind as part of a buddy read, without reading the blurb or knowing the author.

I was drawn in very quickly by the characters back stories and the plot line. The book is written entirely in one POV, which on this occasion I thought worked very well.

The story line was witty, with the idea of fiction romance threaded right from the start. There were other elements such as the father daughter relationship, work balance and friendship which really made this book a great all rounder.

Pleasantly surprised.

Beach Read is not your typical 'beach read', unless you what to mimic some character's actions and cry on the beach. It has all the important ingredients of my favourite guilty-pleasure romantic comedy binge-reads:

a) An 'Enemies to Lovers' relationship all fans of 'The Hating Game' will appreciate
b) What's that? Is he a familiar nemesis and enemy from a past-life? Even better.
c) They are artsy, creative types. In these case writers- this book was made for me no-shame rom com, art loving self.
d) It is written well, like actually really well. Like the different creative passages from the respective authors shows the breadth of Emily Henry's talent. The book also proves to myself and all other naysayers that any genre, or any lens we view the world is valid.

So, what is it about?

January Andrews writes romance novels, though the inspiration and motivation is off (me!), while Augustus Everett, or Gus, takes at least five-years to create an award-winning, blood-curdling masterpiece (I too am on the five-year mark on my book, though, with none of the success of Gus...). They are neighbours in a beach-side town and decide to swap genres for a bit.

What? That's it?!

No, there's plenty more. Plenty more I do not care to spoil. All I can say that this book deals with self-destructive behaviour, coming to terms with lies told and learning to at least accept people as they are, the way trauma exists and manifests in different ways for these characters. This is all I can say, but prepare to be bowled over by a book that goes far beyond it's genre.

Rating:

I usually don't rate rom coms highly because I'm a terrible snob, but this was truly superb, The purpose of a perfect rating is to say- 'This book challenged me, made me cry, made me feeeel'. This book certainly did that.
Final Rating: Five stars. No irony. No shame

This is part a light Summer read and also deals with problems that January and Gus had in their lives. Not the best romantic book I've read at all.Found it very difficult to get into.Left it for a while, then went back to read the rest of it.
Thanks to Netgalley for an A.R.C.

Oh my heart. This was just wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. It's a cute and swoony romance novel, but it also explores complicated relationship dynamics. It's a story about grief, and forgiveness. It's also a story about adult children coming to terms with their parents' decisions and mistakes. It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me absolutely furious. I have just finished reading it, and I already want to read it again. And again.

January is a romance author who moves into the beach house her recently deceased father bought for his secret mistress, and discovers her neighbour is none other than Augustus Everett, her nemesis from university. Gus is also an author, of literary fiction. They don't get along, they have nothing in common except for writer's block. Until one evening they make a deal: they'll switch genres for one book. January has to write A Serious Book, and Gus has to write a happy ending for once instead of killing off all his characters. She takes him on field trips for Romance 101 lessons, he takes her along on interviews with people connected to a local cult. By the end of summer, they'll both have a book and nobody will have fallen in love. Perfect.

The first half was so cute, with both of them being grumpy and constantly bantering. The second half was more serious, once we started getting more backstory for both of them. January and Gus are dealing with trauma from their past, and they're navigating their pain and grief whilst trying to have a relationship with each other.

This was a smart and self-aware romance novel. Early on, there's a conversation between January and Gus about how women's fiction isn't thought of as serious because it's written by and for women, which is a conversation that should be happening in the real world too. And while this is a very swoony and romantic read, it also doesn't shy away from hard topics.

The cover and blurb made me think this was going to be a frothy book to read on a summer holiday (remember those?!) but that was fine with me.   But it was so much more than that - and much darker and deeper than I expected. 

When I read the first couple of pages I have to say my heart sank - I thought this is going to be a twee American coming of age story - but I decided to persevere - and I am so very, very glad I did! 

After the initial back story setting, the storyline follows January and Gus who are now next door neighbours - although in a slight  'suspend your belief for a bit' actually knew each other back in college.  Both reasonably successful writers - but in totally different genres - and they decide to swap!

As part of the genre swapping they each arrange a weekly trip out (not a date, totally, definitely not a date!) - Gus takes January to interview escaped members of a local death cult (he writes high brow serious literature) and then January arranges a trip to the fair or to go line dancing in true rom com style!

The tension builds as the story twists and turns in a brilliantly clever way - and the sexual tension builds at the same time! There are some really well written sex scenes - not graphic - but incorporate the tension that has built up amazingly well, they were perfect. 

Whilst the thread of 'will they / won't they' runs through the book - there's also some other serious stuff dealt with too - grief for the loss of a parent - and a relationship, finding out secrets about family members you didn't know, marriage break ups, parental relationships etc - so I would say it falls in between January and Gus's genres perfectly!! 

I loved both January and Gus and their friendship / relationship - and I also really liked the other characters - January's best friend, and Gus's Aunt and her wife were brilliantly written and brought new dynamics to the book. 

Throughout the book I was desperate to know what was going to happen next - and it was one of those books where you end up going to bed late as you just read that little bit more each time!

I'm not 100% sure why it's even called 'Beach Read' - although books are read on the beach near the end as their houses are on the shores of Lake Michigan - but it's definitely not a frothy, summer, beach read in my opinion - it's much better than that.  I will be recommending this to friends far and wide when it is published later in the summer in the UK. 

Thanks so much to the publishers and NetGalley for my ARC.

The Beach Read was a great read. You will laugh, cry and root for January and Gus, January and Gus are both authors who Couldn’t be more different in their writing styles. Both have writers block. They knew each other in college. Both thought that they didn’t like each other , which was further from the truth. They live in beach houses right next door to each other in Michigan. Both have a lot of issues to work thru. The chemistry and witty banter was so much fun to read. Not your typical beach romance.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Books (UK) for the ARC. This is my own opinion.

Wow! I absolutely fell in love with this book, which was completely unexpected as I started it a couple of months ago & put it down again after only the first chapter. Not because there was anything wrong with it - just because the mixture of hope and sadness was immediately obvious & I couldn’t cope with even a hint of sorrow at that time given what was(is) going on in the world. It just goes to show how much my experience of a book is coloured by my frame of mind, because when I picked it up the again it was completely and utterly the perfect time. I read it in under 48 hours. As a romance writer myself, who is struggling with my less than optimistic feelings of late, whilst I try to write a novel, January and I are on a similar journey. This novel has left me feeling realistically hopeful and inspired to dig deep. I’m so thankful I chose to pick it up again. If you are a romance novel fan, I’m sure you will love it’s clever meta plot, and also, of course, the romance is perfect; full of laughter but also fear, yearning and sexiness. If you are a fan of Mhairi McFarlane or The Hating Game, I think you’ll love it.

I was given an advance copy of this novel by NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I have seen this one bouncing around Bookstagram for the last month or so, as ARC were being sent out and publish dates in certainly countries began to happen.

I felt it was a book I needed to get my hands on, and boy was I so glad I did.

This book certainly gave the hype justice, a wonderful love story between January and Gus and not the stereotypical chick-lit I was expecting when I read the blurb it was so much more than that.

This book gave me all the feels, it hit all the emotions and left me thinking about it long after I finished it.

Everyone needs this book on their shelves!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Books (UK) for advancing me a copy to read and review!

Beach Read is one of those books that everyone is talking about at the moment, and it's not hard to see why. Set during the summer break, two writer's swap genres in an attempt to break their writer's block and (possibly) their own personal rivalry. It's a book that is the perfect summer read - potentially on the beach (if that's your thing) - and will keep you hooked from start to finish.

January, a hopeless romantic romance writer, whose faith in 'love conquers all' has been challenged, is trying to find her writing mojo again in a cottage by the sea that used to belong to her late father. All she wants is time to write and find herself. What she doesn't want is her college writing enemy, Augustus, living next door to her. He writes literary fiction and looks down on romance writer's (or does he?) and the two banter back and forth until they come up with a summer dare to get them both out of their writing slumps - they'll each try to write a book in the other's genre, and the first to have it published, wins. What follows is a delightful story of writing research (from serious outings interviewing cult survivors to romantic day trips to inspire romance) and romance blossoming from the most unlikely places.

There's a certain comfort in romance books - yes, there's the guaranteed HEA/HFN component, but there's also the journey. Romance is about relationships and how people can grow and change, and we see that in both January and Augustus throughout Beach Read. They have a wonderful back and forth banter that challenges the other, while also showing a certain growing respect and understanding for the work the other does.

I also adored the 'research' trips they take. Both the research for literary fiction and romance pushes January and Augustus out of their comfort zones and really sets up some interesting conversations between the two, while helping them to unpack more about the other person.

What probably isn't mentioned a lot in reviews (the ones I've seen so far) is the emotional journey January is on, dealing with the death of her father before the start of the novel. She's found out things about her parent's relationship she'd rather not have known, especially about her father, and it's thrown her for a loop, and forces her to question her own ideals. It also has an impact on the supporting characters she meets in the small town where she's chosen to hide away for the summer.

While Beach Read might be publicised as a romantic comedy, it's far more than that. It deals with facing unwelcome truths and life and relationships that aren't always like those in books. I absolutely adored it and ordered my physical copy as soon as I was done reading.

I loved this book. Wasn’t the typical rom com even though it was so romantic and had laugh out loud moments. The chemistry between January and Gus was incredible. They were both well developed characters and I wanted both of them to succeed.
The subplot about January’s father was heartbreaking.

Beach Read has so many of the elements I’d expect of a light summer read, but there’s a glimpse of darkness within that actually makes this so much more engaging than you might expect it to be.
Our main character, January, has always felt like someone who believes in love and its power to transform us. She writes romance and has always looked for her happy ending. But when we see her things aren’t going quite to plan. She is struggling to write, she is grieving her father and yet trying to reconcile herself to the discovery that her father had a secret second life.
Upon arriving at his second hideaway home, January is nervous about what she’ll find. Nothing could prepare her for the discovery that her new neighbour is an old college acquaintance, Gus.
Like January Gus is a writer. But we quickly see that, like January, things in his life aren’t quite going to plan.
What follows is quite obvious - they slowly form a new bond, breaking down the barriers each had in place and eventually starting a relationship each has secretly harboured dreams of since they first met.
The interaction between these two was great fun. Seeing two such different outlooks and the little bet to each write a book in the style of the other gave it an interesting twist. Not everything runs smoothly, but it always feels like we’ll end up where we hope.
A huge thank you to NetGalley for granting me access to this prior to publication. I loved it!

I really enjoyed the writing of this book, the way it layers witty banter with romance and sadness. It felt like real life, in that not everything works out the way that you planned it but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

I loved this book! I really enjoyed both January and Gus and how their relationship developed. A quick, easy and enjoyable read!

January’s world is falling apart, her Father has dies, she has split up with her long term boyfriend and she is struggling with writers block.

Moving to North Bear Shore to live in the house her father had stayed in with his mistress is heartbreaking for January and the strange next door neighbour is unsettling her.

Eventually life settles and she meets Gus her next door neighbour and old college nemesis. Striking up a deal that they will each write the others genre for their next books helps January to write again.

A lovely story of moving on and finding hope when you believe everything has been lost.

We are in the midst of a rom-com wave right now and I’m welcoming it with wide open arms. Some of my American friends have been raving about this cute new release for a while and curiosity got the better of me, so I dived in headfirst with a splash.

Romance writer January discovered an earth-shattering secret about her father at his funeral and apparently her mother had known all along. With a looming deadline and her agent on her back, she escapes to her dad’s beach house to try and hash out the rest of her book. Then she unexpectedly bumps into Gus Everett, an old college rival, also struggling with his next literary novel. In an unexpected twist of fate, they challenge each other to write a novel in the other’s genre mostly to prove that they can and to force each other out of their mutual creative rut. At the end of the summer, two books will be finished and absolutely no one will be in love…

In spite of her own recent break-up and revelations about her dad, January is a typical soft, hopeless romantic. Romance novels got her through some of the toughest parts of her childhood and the fact that she wants to be that therapy for other people makes me love her so much. I was wary of her venturing into a romantic relationship with Gus at first and was worried he’d hurt her (a fear that Gus himself actually shares). However when their friendship started to develop, I started to see how they could be good for each other.

Just as January is what you’d expect a romance writer to be, Gus is what you’d expect from a literary fiction author. He’s brooding, slightly aloof and has more than a few common literary snobberies. Around halfway through the book, we learn about his childhood and his recent troubles and his character begins to make sense. He holds himself to a very high standard and I think this is why he is reluctant to let his guard down, even when he begins to realise his feelings for January. I saw him as a bit of a Mr Darcy figure, who I knew would melt eventually.

Emily Henry writes romance beautifully. Gus and January’s feelings are so slow-burning on both sides and there’s an air of suspense about watching it unfold. They have a lot of snarky banter, as they both embark on each other’s research trips and slowly become immersed in the other’s version of writing. Writing is something that is so personal, which is something that every writer on the planet understands. Allowing someone else into that world and trusting them to write within it is possibly one of the most romantic, intimate things that a writer can do, so as soon as they both agreed to do exactly that, romance was inevitable.

Beach Read also addresses sexism and gender discrimination within publishing as well as common misconceptions about the romance genre. Romance is chiefly written by women writing female protagonists and happy endings. This leaves it wide open to ridicule and dismissal by many writers and readers (predominantly men) of ‘serious’ literature, who feel that romance writers don’t produce anything of ‘substance’. I’ve never read a novel that tackles these very real issues so explicitly, challenging any potential readers who may hold these attitudes. It reads almost as a call-to-arms to end these outdated and wrong assumptions about a whole genre, to which Beach Read belongs.

Some paragraphs reminded me of my own experience of falling deeply in love and tears actually formed in my eyes. Although I could relate to that feeling fully, I don’t think I could ever have put it into words in quite such a beautiful way. It really made me sit back and a sudden understanding of what it really is to fall head over heels for someone dawned on me. As regular readers of this blog will know, I’ve been separated from my boyfriend for eight weeks due to the lockdown, so this realisation struck a nerve (in my tear ducts!) in a really timely poignant way. Stock up on tissues if you think you may react in a similar way!

Beach Read has all of the regular ingredients of a classic rom-com; a damaged hero with a touch of the Byronic about him, a soft idealistic heroine and plenty of awkward but cute incidents. There is the added extra of the tension-filled hate-to-love trope, which has been become pretty popular in both YA and women’s fiction titles. Yes it’s predictable and you may occasionally roll your eyes but if you’re looking for something to fly through and cheer you up, you need look no further.

What a perfect summer read! Two authors who are both broke, both need to write books by the end of the summer and both disillusioned with love find themselves living next door to each other on the beach. A romantic, sexy, story with ups and downs just like real life and with a satisfying ending. What more can you ask for?

Very clever romance about two writers. This is filled with the will they/won’t they moments that are a familiar device in this genre. Great holiday read, much smarter than many similar books.