This book was well reviewed by NY Times recently, as well as being featured in the Modern Mrs. Darcy Summer Reading Guide - two very different sources I’ll admit, but ones I tend to pay attention to. I was happy to see an advance copy available in Netgalley and moved it up my TBR list! Unfortunately I will have to disagree with the reviews and say this was absolutely a beach read and a pretty lightweight romance. I thought at times that the author was mocking the romance genre then realized that is how she writes. The premise of the book - that 2 authors reconnect one summer and decide to write each other’s genre - sounded interesting but absolutely was lost in the overwrought dialog and descriptions of their sexual encounters which seemed like something from a bodice ripper. I was thoroughly annoyed by the main character’s whiny neediness and wallowing in a perceived betray by Daddy. Do yourself a favor and find a real beach read by Elin Hildebrand instead!!!

This book captures the feeling of falling in love so perfectly it felt really magical to me. I loved the enemies to lovers trope in this plot-it was done very believably, as was the storyline following January’s dad. It was nuanced and believable.

I loved the meta aspects of this book - a book about authors trying to write books of a different genre, all while dissecting what makes those genres appealing. Oh, and a sweet love story with a fun supporting cast. This one definitely lives up to it's name.

I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH! I think I saw someone tweeting about it a couple of weeks ago, so I grabbed it and plugged it into my review schedule. Thank goodness for Twitter, because Gus and January were amazing.

I don’t think this is strictly a contemporary romance, more like a WF/Romance mix. January goes through a deep and satisfying emotional journey and it was just as enjoyable for me as the lovely romance between her and Gus.

If I’m quickly summarizing, I would say this book is about a romance writer at loose ends and falling into a depression after discovering some hard truths about her father after his death. She finds herself living next door to her college nemesis (who also happens to be a Very Serious literary fiction author) and after some back and forth ribbing and sly banter, accepts a dare to switch genres with him.

But this summary doesn’t do this book justice. Beach Read is told entirely from January’s POV and she is wickedly smart and funny. I positively adored her comebacks and the delicious wordplay between her and Gus. As a couple, they worked for me in every way. They have a slow burn romance that is incredibly lush and sexy. I never knew what was going on in Gus’s head and it lent a bit of tension to this love story.

There were some weighty themes and topics discussed and while I believe they are balanced very well with the more lighthearted and comedic aspects of this book, I do think the cover might mislead some readers. I wouldn’t say this is a romantic comedy, but I do think it‘s romantic and emotionally satisfying.

Highly recommend.

BEACH READ is an absolute delight. January and Gus have an amazing chemistry that is evident in their whip-smart, flirtatious dialogue; their back-and-forth alone will make you root for their relationship. Emily Henry has written a novel that should be treasured in the romantic comedy genre.

I would love to be able to escape to this Michigan beach house right now. After her Dad dies and she breaks up with her boyfriend, January ends up at her Dad's secret lake house on the lake in Michigan. She finds herself living to her writing nemesis from college, while also trying to complete her manuscript that's due at the end of the summer. She finds that maybe her nemesis isn't so bad, while also discovering the holes in the story about her Dad's life. Overall, this was a nice escapist beach read (like the title) with a bit of family drama thrown in.

Review at: http://www.everydayiwritethebookblog.com/2020/06/beach-read-by-emily-henry/

I am pretty new to the romance genre. I read a few of them last year – both Sally Thorne books (The Hating Game and 99 Percent Mine), which I enjoyed. I just read a third – Beach Read by Emily Henry – and the ones I’ve read have followed a pattern: 1) take a pair who have historically hated each other or had some other impediment to a civil relationship; 2) throw them into a situation requiring sustained contact; 3) reveal her to be stubbornly protective yet emotionally vulnerable and him to be quiet but deeply passionate; 4) build up the physical tension until it snaps; 5) give them a week or two of bliss; 6) throw a major wrench into the budding relationship; then 7) quickly remove the wrench and allow them to move on happily ever after. It’s a fun pattern, but definitely a pattern (at least gleaned from my admittedly small sample size).

Why I picked it up: Beach Read was an April 2020 Book Of The Month pick and got good buzz when it came out, so when I was invited by Berkley to join a blog tour for it, I thought I’d take a chance on another romance.

January Andrews is a romance novelist who finds herself broken and jaded about love after her father dies, leaving behind a secret mistress and a heretofore unknown beach house in Lake Michigan. January retreats to the beach house to try to finish her latest book, due to her publisher in a few months, and try to get over the loss of both her father and her trust in him. At the house, she discovers that her next door neighbor is her college rival Gus Everett, a literary fiction writer who is also plagued with writer’s block after his own emotional trauma. Gus and January were not exactly friends in college, so finding him living in the house next door is not a welcome discovery.

The two writers eventually learn that they are in the same predicament, and challenge each other to swap genres and see who produces the better work. Meanwhile, January will force Gus to take romantic outings with her on Saturday nights – all for the sake of research, of course – while Gus will bring January along on interviews he is conducting about mass deaths at a remote cult camp in order to expose her to grittier fodder for her literary fiction novel. (See steps 3-7 for the rest.)

Beach Read is a fun, light read that will likely please most romance fans. Henry does a nice job with the physical buildup between the Gus and January and simultaneous breakdown of the protective walls they’ve each erected. Despite (or perhaps because of) the incongruity between its subject and tone and the reality happening on TV and literally one mile from my house, I flew through this book. I don’t think I will ever become a romance fan – I like my books to surprise me more – but Beach Read provided a nice respite this month. The genre swap subplot felt a little forced at times and I’m not sure that either writer was truly pushed into unfamiliar ground, but it provided a nice pretext for put these two into some interesting situations. The banter between Gus and January was also sexy, smart and funny.

well hot dang - this was a fabulous read! Gus and January’s story was absolutely perfect and it was one of the best romances I’ve read all year 😍 the banter, the back story, the steam 👀 if you need a story to absolutely devour, I’d highly recommend Beach Read! I couldn’t put this one down!⁣⁣

I feel like all my recent reviews have been saying some variation of "this is such a great pandemic read! It really takes your mind off everything!"
But really, this is a great pandemic read that takes your mind off everything going on in the world.
The dialog was whip smart, Gus was satisfyingly hot, and I was really rooting for January. I had a good time reading it and would definitely recommend it to patrons!

Beach Read by Emily Henry is a great book. We would all be happier if we remembered to cherish our "happy-for-nows" instead of searching for happiness every minute. Good advice Emily Henry.

I absolutely loved this book. I read it in one night it was so good. The characters are well rounded and not perfect human beings which I appreciate in a book. The sexual tension between the two characters was so well written that it was palpable. I also loved the premise of the book about two writers who are suffering from writers block that they decide to switch genres.
A five star read for sure and Emily Henry needs to write for adult romcoms please. It would be an automatic buy from me.
Thank you to Netgalley and Berkeley Publishing for this arc.

Beach Read will be my recommended romance read of the summer! This one features some typical romance tropes, like enemies to lovers, but it brings something fresh, interesting, and more heartfelt than almost any other romance I've read so far this year.

This is the first book I’ve read by Emily Henry, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I read it on a rainy day but the beach would be perfect too!

Charming and witty. Two authors meet again after their lives have brought them heartache. Together they learn to find themselves and their words to write again.

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This is not a light and airy rom-com read, there are many serious aspects to this story. Relationships and lives can be very messy and I like how the author integrated that into her romance novel. No one is perfect! The strong bond between January and her father definitely made me shed a few tears throughout the book. Father and daughter relationships in books get me every time. 😢⠀
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At the same time, there are a lot of laugh out loud moments and January and Gus's sarcastic banter is top-notch. 😉 The notes are my absolute favourite part of this book. 😍🥰⠀
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I highly recommend this book! ⠀
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CW: adultery, cults, death of a parent, cancer

January Andrews, a romance writer, believes in love. Augustus Everett, a moody writer, is her next door neighbor. January is getting over the death of her father as many family secrets are revealed throughout the book. A bet, steamy love scenes , and realizations all make this book a great read with some laugh out loud moments.

A romance writer who no longer believes in happily ever afters moves into her deceased father's love shack, and runs into her college nemesis—the super genius of literary fiction. Both suffering from writer's block and on deadline, they agree to swap places: January is going to write the Great American Novel, and Gus is going to write a romance novel. Can they do it? And will these two enemies succumb to their feelings?

What's it like writing Hemingway circle-jerk fan fiction?

Holy batgiggles, this was hysterical and deeply moving at the same time. The banter between January and Gus was fan-fucking-tastic, and their chemistry was off the charts.

Grin and birth it. I suspected it'd be easier to deliver a fully formed human baby out of my uterus at the end of this summer than to write and sell a new book.

However, despite it being billed as a ~romance~, this was primarily a book about writer's block, and as someone who needs to write a sequel um, fairly quickly and uh, has very few words on screen, lemme just say that I was here for this book.

The characters, the feelings, the emotions. The thrill of researching history, building new worlds and imagining new people who only exist in your mind is fascinating, enthralling, and far more enjoyable than actually sitting down to write the damn thing. You mean you can't just reach into my mind to get the story? I have to write it for you? What?

At this point, it honestly might be easier for me to pack it on the upbeat women's fiction and hop aboard the Bleak Literary Fiction train. At least it would give me an excuse to describe boobs in some horrifying new way. Like bulbous succulents of flesh and sinew.

This was an homage to writing, to writer's block and the process, to marketing your story and getting out of your comfort zone, and to Michigan. I loved the tiny town this was set in, and how the locals and the out of towners interacted (or not).

I also liked how January and Gus processed their trauma. January had buried down some really traumatic experiences with optimism and partying, while Gus was a pessimist and filled with a cynical view of the world—both of which tied into their writing styles. And because January wrote upbeat, happily ever afters to go into the world and only ever received criticism from Gus, she felt that he was continuously bashing her genre of choice and saying it was Not Worthy. Since most men who read Literary Fiction (and many others) poo-poo women's fiction, this isn't an unreasonable assumption.

January also has to process her grief for her father—after her worldview of him was shattered. Her father had cheated on her mother with a long-term mistress, to the point where he bought a beach house near his home town and lied to them about it for years. It wasn't until his sudden death (unexpected and tragic, particularly as her mother had survived two bouts of cancer) that this was revealed, and the rose-colored glasses January had worn throughout her life were stripped away. Plus heartbreak from a perfect romance that ended, being broke and everything else, and January was entering the book at her lowest low, with all of her coping tools invalidated by her father's philandering. It was a heavy way to start the book.

Anywho, this is definitely worth the read, even if there was a line about how Gus tasted and it was just as horrific as anything (was it a joke? Was it serious? Was the editor asleep that day? Who knows) I could have imagined from a young adult novel (which are always weirdly obsessed with how the male love interest tastes and smells and it's always something weird or musky or sandalwoody.

Come for the banter, stay for the insightful comments on writing and women's fiction vs literary fiction.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review

I knew I wanted to read this from the title alone. And then I saw the cover and that furthered my thoughts. And then I started seeing all the reviews come in and I knew this was a me book. And sure enough, there were some things I thought could have been different, but for the most part, I loved this.
Putting together a romance writer who doesn't believe in happy endings anymore and a literary fiction writer who has writer's block seems like it will be a pair that results in fights and more. But although they have differing ideas, they have become friends and started a fun bet that ends with them swapping genres. Nothing can go wrong with that right?
Just like with Emily Henry's YA novels, I LOVED the writing style. I laughed out loud and I wrote so many passages down. It was good to see her personality shining through her writing. I think that was what it so easily read-able for me. It felt comfortable, like a warm blanket and I slipped easily under it each time I sat down to read.
But, even though I loved it, I did feel like the plot was a bit slow. Just a tiny bit. Like some of the big events that kept me drawn to the story were few and far between and that made me feel like it drug a bit. Don't get me wrong, the whole book wasn't like that, but I did feel it in some places.
The romance and the bookish aspect of this were my favorite parts of this book. And the time when the two collided at the bookshelf scene?! I easily fell more in love with this book. Anytime there's a bookish aspect in a book, I know immediately I will be reading it and the romance was so well written. I loved seeing the two of them fall in love. Adding the bookish aspect and them finding each other over writing..... EASILY brings them together.
Unfortunately I didn't feel as attached to everyone else to January. I'm not sure what it was about her character, but for some reason I didn't really connect with her. I knew it when I didn't even get teary eyed after the events toward the end. Normally I cry like a baby with books like these, but for some reason I just didn't with this one. I didn't even get teary. I'm thinking it was my connection with her. I felt more of a connection with Gus. I would have liked to see inside his head a bit.
And of course, there was the setting. MY FAVORITE PART! For those who don't know, I was born and raised on a city with a beach, and always feel at home when I'm reading a book featuring one. I liked how Henry bought the beach to life by mentioning the small community, the tourists, the thunderstorms, reading on the beach, and so much more. I do wish they had utilized it more, but that was just me wanting to see more of the beach. I know that might not have been an issue for most other readers who aren't as into world building and beaches as I am.
This novel will make you think its light and fluffy from the bright cover and the title alone, but this novel does hit some pretty heavy topics. And yet, it's still one of my favorite rom coms this year. Definitely a book I will recommend to others. I mean it was so good I read the acknowledgements, the author's note on writer's block, and the discussion questions. I couldn't stop reading Henry's words. I hope others are as caught up in this book as I was!

Meet January Andrews, a bestselling romance writer that is currently spending her unromantic summer trying to write her next novel. How do you write a story of love and happiness when you are currently stuck in a rut, feeling hopeless? Aiming to find some inspiration, and to start over, January moves to her father’s summer home to write.

Meet Augustus Everett, an acclaimed novelist known for dark, page turning thrillers. Having had a thrilling past himself, August too struggles to find inspiration regardless of previous experiences.

Though these two individuals could not be more opposite, a friendship blossoms out of their shared experience of writer's block. One night, in the hope of creating a book by the end of the summer, they strike a deal to write in each other's genres. Can January write the next great, literary novel? Is Augustus even able to pen a happy ending for his characters? Embark on the sweet journey of two characters as they explore each other’s modes of writing, from visiting circuses to interviewing ex-cult members, and maybe even the possibility of romance.

A feel good book about new love and starting over, “The Beach Read” is bound to leave you smiling. Perfect for this summer, I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to relax, take it easy, and remember how amazing the little things can be.

This story was all kinds of wonderful!
Perfect balance between heartwrenching and feel-good writing. The characters were very well developed and their lives wonderfully described. Felt for them both and rooted for them such as much.
All in all, such a heartwarming and lovely summer read!