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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
Yesterday I had the brilliant realization that âHappy Placeâ publishes in two months and I never posted about her other books here! So, in recognition of the impending release day, hereâs the long overdue post for âBeach Readâ âï¸
First and foremostâ¦I never bought the title because I canât categorize the location as an actual beach. Iâm 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 didnât internally cringe throughout some of their interactions. Well, except for the camping scene during the cult research arcâ¦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 itâs 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 meâand introduced me to the other Emily Henry books Iâd also read and love.
First and foremostâ¦I never bought the title because I canât categorize the location as an actual beach. Iâm 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 didnât internally cringe throughout some of their interactions. Well, except for the camping scene during the cult research arcâ¦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 itâs 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 meâand introduced me to the other Emily Henry books Iâd also read and love.
Super easy, fun read! Not your typical rom-com/chick-lit. I didnât expect to like this book as much as I did.
Beach Read was a delightful read that fueled my daydreams of moving to Michigan and hours of looking up lake houses on Zillow. Again I am impressed with Henry's care for her characters, attention to detail, and of course, tasteful Taylor Swift references. My criticisms are minor; my biggest gripe being that January's habit of overthinking and misreading situations was an irritating plot device (insert that meme that says "I'm in this photo and I don't like it." here). Combined with a hasty ending, some arbitrary loose ends that haunt me (the house gets taken care of but what happens to the boat?????????), and an almost-uncomfortable proclivity for big physical scenes that happen immediately on the heels of heavy discussions on trauma, I feel obligated to knock some points off. An entertaining read nonetheless.
This one falls victim to Goodreads's nonsensical whole-star rating system. I'd clock it in at a hearty 4.5 if I could.
This one falls victim to Goodreads's nonsensical whole-star rating system. I'd clock it in at a hearty 4.5 if I could.
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