Book Review: Beach Read
Author: Emily Henry
Genre: Romance
Publisher: Berkley
Publish Date: May 19, 2020
Format: Hardcover
★★★★★
This book is perfect for those that like: Brooding Book Boyfriends, Confessions, and Purse Wine.
You might not like this book if you aren’t into: Family Secrets, Suicide Talk, or Death of Parent Storylines.
Purchase: Bookshop / IndieBound / Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Audible
From Goodreads: 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.
Oh god. I’m about to start this review in the most cliched way possible but at least I’m warning you? So here it goes…
Never judge a book by its cover.
See?? CLICHEEEEE.
In this case though, it’s so very true.
The cover for Beach Read is bright and fun and screams READ ME OUTSIDE WHILE SIPPING FRUITY DRINKS AND LETTING THE SUN WARM YOUR FACE. This is not what you get in this book. Not to say that Beach Read isn’t romantic or have its swoony moments, but it’s not the light-hearted Fruity Drink read I initially thought it would be. And that’s okay! In all honesty, I would have been fine with a Fruity Drink Read because I love Fruity Drink Reads but I’m also a fan of Messy People Who Fall in Love too. And that’s what this very much is and it's not afraid to go to some dark places.
I LOVE this book for that.
A few years ago I would NOT have loved this book for that. I used to get really irritated at books that didn’t go where I thought they should go. Like HOW could the author do this to me when it’s obvious that the book should be this way. I finally realized that this was no way to read a book because duh, I’m not the author and this isn’t my story to tell. I’m here to read the story THEY wrote. So I learned to lean into wherever the stories took me, even if I vehemently didn’t want it to go to certain places. I learned to stay and push myself and I usually came out the better for it on the other side.
Beach Read is one of those stories. You think you know what it’s going to be about and what path you’re about to go on, but it jerks left and you find yourself at a crossroads. Force yourself to stay “right” and give up on this book or take the left and go where the author is leading you. I promise that in this case, you’re in good hands. You NEED to go left and find yourself on the other side.
I wish I could give you more details concerning why I loved this book so much, such as the characters (who were all messy in the best way), the pacing (which was perfection), the twists and turns (which made me both gasp and ache deliciously), but then I would reveal too much and this is a book that needs to unfold on you.
Take the left. It’s worth it.