“Falling’s the part that takes your breath away. It’s the part when you can’t believe the person standing in front of you both exists and happened to wander into your path. It’s supposed to make you feel lucky to be alive, exactly when and where you are.”
Beach Read – Emily Henry
My Rating
In Summary of Beach Read
January Andrews and Augustus Everett are extreme opposites, yet share the love of writing. Although they attended college together, they do not know much about each other, except January knows that she hates Augustus for his cockiness and success. When they end up as beach house neighbors many years later, they strike a bet to see if the other can successfully write the others’ genre; Augustus will attempt to write romance, and January will attempt to write literary fiction. In this attempt to overcome writer’s block, January and Augustus spend time together in ways that challenge their previous judgments of the other, as well as their notions about love.
Warning: alcoholism, death of family member, cancer, infidelity
| Positives | Negatives |
|---|---|
| Strong chemistry between main characters | Slow in parts; focused sometimes too much on the past to focus on the present |
| Well-developed troubled pasts of characters | Not as uplifting and lighthearted as I expected; much more sentimental and serious than advertised |
| One perspective (January’s) doesn’t give too much away |
“Love, after all, was often made not of shiny things but practical ones. Ones that grew old and rusted only to be repaired and polished.”
READ IF YOU LIKE: rom-coms, books about books and authors, enemies-to-lovers trope, opposites attract stories
The Review
Looking for an intro-to-romance novel? Here’s your gal (or guy – whatever makes you happy).
This is one of those super hyped books that I just had to read at some point because peer pressure is real in the reading world, so here we are.
Was it the most amazing book I have ever read? No. Did I enjoy it? Yes.
This particular romance is less cutesy and more serious, which is a great transition into romance if you are a literary or contemporary fiction reader. Perhaps this is why it resonated well with me, but I will admit that the synopsis on the book and Goodreads is a bit misleading; this is advertised as being much more lighthearted than it is. This doesn’t mean it’s not a good book, but be aware that the contents of the package may be a bit different than the wrapping.
As I mentioned before, this is a great intro to romance if you are looking for one. It is certainly steamy in areas, but that’s not the entirety of the book. Readers are taken on an emotional rollercoaster of January’s issues with her father, who kept secrets from her that she does not discover until after his death. Watching her grapple with her family’s reality brings her struggle with love alive. Augustus’ background is a bit more discreet since we are not reading through his perspective, thus he is a bit more mysterious. It is sweet to see how they complement each other throughout their emotional journeys.
Beach Read by Emily Henry is certainly worth a read if you are looking for a story about meaningful romantic relationships that tie in family background and literature.
Beach Read Book Information
- Published: 2020
- Publisher: Berkley
- ISBN: 9781984806734
- Format: Paperback
- Length: 361 pages
Archetypes & Anecdotes 
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