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Vicenza Book Club

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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 ReviewEntertainment WeeklyOprah Magazine ∙ Betches ∙ Shondaland ∙ Good Morning America ∙ The New York PostGood 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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Published May 19, 2020

400 pages

Average rating: 7.57

1,982 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

jess.withbooks
Jun 05, 2025
10/10 stars
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.
kylie_fitz
May 26, 2025
10/10 stars
Super easy, fun read! Not your typical rom-com/chick-lit. I didn’t expect to like this book as much as I did.
AbbeyLileTaylor
Aug 29, 2023
8/10 stars
Solid 4.5 Stars!
CrochetLady
Jul 03, 2025
7/10 stars
I loved the humor in the beginning. I was disappointed the humor didn't continue throughout.
Anonymous
Jul 01, 2025
8/10 stars
4 ⭐️ 2 spice

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