Beach Read Kindle Edition

2.5 stars. I feel like a bit of a jerk right now because I was so sure I was going to love this book. I mean, that title! That cover! That premise! Early reviews did mention that there was some emotional depth to an otherwise fluffy romance, but like, I think there was too much emotional depth and not enough fluffy romance?? The entire book had a thick layer of Sad that tampered my enjoyment because my expectation going into the story was “feel-good summer romance.” Which it wasn’t. Not very feel-good, and I didn’t think it was funny, either. I also didn’t vibe with the chemistry between January and Augustus. Okay, I’m done being grumpy. Ugh. I realize I’m in the minority here, so I’m glad there are people who were pleasantly surprised by what this book turned out to be! Unfortunately, I am not one of them.

This book had a promising start but quickly devolved into too many different threads and lost its identity. The chemistry between Gus and the heroine was well done and kept me reading but the story was all over the map. It was as if the author had too many stories to tell and awkwardly packed them all into one:-- The writing process thread was interesting but frankly I quickly lost interest in the whole cult thing and as for the clown story: yikes! Definitely not my thing at all.-- The grief thread was also something I should have been able to empathize with but the heroine was a spoilt brat and was creepily obsessed with her father's infidelity: so much so that she acted like SHE was the wife.-- The romance thread got lost in the other two but showed signs of promise. There was definitely good chemistry between H/h and it was the promise of this thread that kept me reading.The writing was good but there was lots of repetition (so many references to crooked almost smiles and to the heroines hips) and a good editor should have caught that.In all, this book was a bit of a mess and I recommend giving it a miss. That said, I will look for Ms Henry's next book cause this one showed promise -- hence 2 stars.

January Andrews once believed in romance so much that she wrote books about it. That was before her boyfriend dumped her, her father died suddenly and everything she thought she knew about happiness turned out to be an illusion.Now she left with nothing but an old house on the lake and a rapidly approaching deadline to deliver her next book, she packs up her entire life and heads to wilds of Michigan. She mistakenly thought she was buying herself time to come to terms with who her father truly was. The very last thing she needs is to discover that she’s now living right next door to her infuriatingly handsome college nemesis.January remembered Augustus Everett as Gus or Sexy, Evil Gus depending on her mood. Even back then, his writing was lauded by staff and students alike. Their artistic clash fueled both her imagination and her passion. Until the night when she almost (but not quite) surrendered to his charms. Saved from diving headlong into a sea of humiliation by her best friend, she could never forget the chemistry that sizzled between them.When their old rivalry sparks a bet that will have both stepping out of their comfort zones, the result will either culminate in the salvation of her writing career or the breaking of her heart. And the odds aren’t in her favor.Beach Read isn’t the light summer romance that it appears to be at first glance. It’s a story that’s far deeper and more profound. With characters that light up the page, Emily Henry fashions each one with a rare combination of sharp wit and vulnerability. They made me laugh out loud, fight back tears and revealed a strength that was inspiring beyond words.With everything from purse-wine to farting Labradors and one of the best arguments against the term “Women’s Fiction” that I’ve ever encountered - Beach Read is that special kind of perfection that the world could use a lot more of.

I really wish Amazon allowed 1/2 stars for their reviews but since they don’t, you’ll just have to pretend to see the half star. Apart from being the closest thing I’ve read recently to a believable contemporary romance, this is just a good story of two mature adults with “baggage” that they both must work through in order to find refuge in each other. Their baggage is essentially the same, broken hearts, even if the context is a bit different. For January, the female protagonist, her broken heart is coupled with jarring, recent, doubly heartbreaking disillusionment and for Gus, his broken heart is confirmation of the disillusionment he’s known most his life.I won’t go into plot details, but there are a few things I’d like to point out. One, the story’s small cast of secondary characters is fleshed out enough to make them expansive additions to the story rather than just filler. Two, the “other woman” in the story delivers an interesting surprise element in the story line. Three, the author writes a good enough story making it easy for the reader to hang in there as the relationship “percolates” between January and Gus. It would have been so easy to make a quick trip to the bedroom early on as the attraction was certainly there but the author waited, knowing that the ultimate union would have much more impact. I thank her for that.So, why the half star deduction? The romance novel tropes began to fly fast and furious in the last 50 pages or so and I found them distracting. However, that is a fairly minor complaint from a reader who normally can’t finish a contemporary romance without gagging.Bottom line: this is a wonderful Beach Read.

This book is readable, but it’s not anything to do with the beach. The jacket is misleading. They are at a lake house, but don’t go to the lake. Suicide cult? Really? The plot is contrived, with some weird (and sometimes silly) episodes.

As the blurb states this story features two authors who are both on a deadline but struggling with writers block. January has made a name for herself writing stories that focus on happy ever afters, whereas the same cannot be said for the type of stories that Gus writes as his stories normally focus on the darker side of human nature. Their paths cross when January moves next door into the beach house that she discovered her dad owned after his death.Both January and Gus were interesting characters and it's only as we scratch beneath the surface do we discover that both have been holding onto their fair share of emotional baggage that is preventing them from moving forward. Will they be able to open up and to one another and help each other heal? I have to confess that personally I much preferred January as a character to Gus, there was just that little something about him that prevented me from warming to him wholly.What I loved most about this book was the exploration of genres, the concept of questioning why a book written by a male is typically classified as fiction and can be read by both men and women whereas a book written by a female is typically classified as women's fiction and deemed to appeal to women only. One night after a few drinks a bet is made for them both to try and write something outside of their normal style, Gus to write a Happily Ever After story and January to explore something a little darker.The whole bet storyline was hilarious and I really enjoyed the intellectual sparring between the two of them when talking about their books and current writing progress. As for their research days, these certainly provided some interesting topics for discussion as well as some hilarious comedic moments and compromising situations. I loved their witty banter and the interactions between them although I was a little concerned that it might have been vering towards the corny at times but the author managed to cleverly avoid it going down that road.My only minor gripe about this book was the title itself as it didn't really work for me, yes they both live in beachfront houses but other than that it didn't really fit with the whole concept/theme of the story that unfolds.Overall I found Beach Read to be a heartwarming read that dealt with some emotional and sensitive topics such as relationship breakdowns, grief and infidelity.

It's hard to picture what you could want from a romcom that this book doesn't deliver. I have great love for this genre, that gets such a hard time but can be of such use if you let it. A book like this is perfect escapism when life is easy and you're on a beach with someone you like, and is necessary escapism when you're running away from the dark and being confronted with the harsher sides of humanity loses its appeal. Beach Read knows this, leans into it and makes some great jokes about it. Everything from the setup to the chemistry and secondary characters is enjoyable beginning to end, and I was rooting so hard for the leads I was practically bouncing up and down. If I have some *minor* qualms, they have to do with a little relationship pacing and feeling we should get a little more of a few characters, or at least earlier (Shadi, mom). However, that's easily forgiven when Henry easily tackles any worries I'm having about tropes just as they're popping up, and feels so often effortless, warm and funny. I loved living in her book for a few hours, and I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't.

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 loved this book! I have been reading A LOT during lockdown and was craving something a bit different.I instantly warmed to this book and loved the two main characters. It has angst, love, insight and keeps things ticking along at a cracking pace! Will definitely re-read this!

This could have been so good and ended up being so bad. I read, probably like you, the book description and thought well, this is an interesting premise, let's check it out. I was expecting a feel good (I mean it's called beach read), funny, endearing story. And I received a mildly depressing, eye rolling, annoying book. Who wants to be depressed on the beach?Admittedly, my expectations of this being fun probably made the reading experience worse than it would have been. However, the characters were just annoying with their dramas that seemed exaggerated to me. January's dad died an year ago and she still can't get over the fact that he wasn't the mean she thought he'd be and that's fair game, some things shock you and you don't get over them. But do you think about it constantly every other day and how hard it is for you to live everyday life? If you say yes, you might enjoy this book, but it's a hard no for me.Then, there's Augustus, who is so mysterious, so bad boy, so "can't tie me down" that it's such a cliche from a 90s teenager show (and he's in his 30s, not his teens). I just couldn't empathise or like him based on this.There's also how she sees his smile, talks to him, looks at his hair and is turned into jelly that I can't stomach. Plus, their stories that came out of the exchange seem like total crap - I wouldn't want to read those books or I'd be tricked by a title such as "Beach Read" and I'd then leave a bad review on Amazon to prevent others from being tricked by it.