BLURB

A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever afters.

Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes best-selling 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.

MY THOUGHTS:

I would’ve loved the book cover to show January and Gus just chilling on their decks, reading, with a view of the beach in the background. Or maybe January and Gus goofing around through their windows. Either one would’ve been a cool cover to see. I almost gave up on this book ’cause it felt really long. It took me a week to really get through it, which is rare for me. But hey, I’m actually glad I stuck with it. It’s a charming and rich read. It’s a real slow burn, and it’s not exactly a beach read like the title suggests. So, you really can’t judge a book by its cover. For it to be almost 400 pages, it didn’t need to be THAT SLOW. I felt like Emily Henry held back on the SMUT. She could have gave us more than what she did BUT if I hadn’t finished the book, I would’ve missed out on that second chance at love vibe, and I wouldn’t have read all those heartfelt letters from January’s dad. Being a parent, I now get that our parents are human too. His letters to January really hit home. I’m so glad her dad decided to write to her, and that January finally found the strength to read them. In my opinion, Beach Read is way more than just a romance book. It’s about putting your life back together, dealing with your stuff, learning to move forward, handling the unexpected, and finding your way back home. I rooted for Gus and January since the beginning. Overall, I’d give this book three stars. I hope you get the chance to read it too.

Happy Reading Folks!