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Beach Read
FROM THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF FUNNY STORY!
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.
As featured in The New York Times Book Review ∙ Entertainment Weekly ∙ Oprah Magazine ∙ Betches ∙ Shondaland ∙ Good Morning America ∙ The New York Post ∙ Good Housekeeping ∙ CNN ∙ and more!
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.
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.
As featured in The New York Times Book Review ∙ Entertainment Weekly ∙ Oprah Magazine ∙ Betches ∙ Shondaland ∙ Good Morning America ∙ The New York Post ∙ Good Housekeeping ∙ CNN ∙ and more!
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.
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Community Reviews
No, this book is not full of unique and fresh literary concepts, thoughtful ideology, or iconic stories, but it is still an excellent work of fiction. And that is actually a part of the theme of the book. The idea that even the often retold romcom story can be done incredibly well and can be a simple work of art in itself. This is an example of that.
The story surrounds you and feels real. You are sucked in, interested and caring about the characters. It takes you away like a wave on the ocean on a journey through another life that is interesting and fun - just what you want from a light summer read. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
On the downside, the repetitive rehashing of her childhood gets to be a bit annoying/boring. Also her insistence that Gus is a bad guy and out to get her through all of the courting was painful- but actually not all that unfamiliar and unrealistic. Haven’t we all behaved this way at some point? Trying to play tough at the onset of a relationship? At any rate, despite the sometimes annoying and repetitive courtship, I really enjoyed the overall (purposefully predictable) ride the book took me on.
Yesterday I had the brilliant realization that “Happy Place” publishes in two months and I never posted about her other books here! So, in recognition of the impending release day, here’s the long overdue post for “Beach Read” ☀️
First and foremost…I never bought the title because I can’t categorize the location as an actual beach. I’m from Florida, so this opinion will never be changed! And I can lead with this criticism because everything else in the book worked *so well* for me.
I loved June and Gus and their chemistry, and their story is one of the first ones where I didn’t internally cringe throughout some of their interactions. Well, except for the camping scene during the cult research arc…but that reaction went far beyond cringe.
With that in mind, I guess my overall enjoyment for the holistic story overshadowed that scene, and romanticized my associations toward it. Kind of like the Starbucks pink drink, and how quick I am to forget that it makes me feel sick afterward (but it’s so cute and fun, so I order it on hot days anyway).
I also think that the timing of when you find books factors in heavily to how you interpret them. This is another one of my many lockdown reads from last year, and I needed a light-hearted book when I stumbled across it. And in that moment, it was the perfect book for me—and introduced me to the other Emily Henry books I’d also read and love.
First and foremost…I never bought the title because I can’t categorize the location as an actual beach. I’m from Florida, so this opinion will never be changed! And I can lead with this criticism because everything else in the book worked *so well* for me.
I loved June and Gus and their chemistry, and their story is one of the first ones where I didn’t internally cringe throughout some of their interactions. Well, except for the camping scene during the cult research arc…but that reaction went far beyond cringe.
With that in mind, I guess my overall enjoyment for the holistic story overshadowed that scene, and romanticized my associations toward it. Kind of like the Starbucks pink drink, and how quick I am to forget that it makes me feel sick afterward (but it’s so cute and fun, so I order it on hot days anyway).
I also think that the timing of when you find books factors in heavily to how you interpret them. This is another one of my many lockdown reads from last year, and I needed a light-hearted book when I stumbled across it. And in that moment, it was the perfect book for me—and introduced me to the other Emily Henry books I’d also read and love.
Super easy, fun read! Not your typical rom-com/chick-lit. I didn’t expect to like this book as much as I did.
A classic beach read of its own. The pages turn fast as the plot unfolds easily, with bits of unexpected wisdom.
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