I'm normally a mystery/thriller gal, but I heard so many great things about this book. I'm sure glad I gave this book a try-it didn't disappoint. The characters Augustus (Gus) and January have an undeniable chemistry since they became rivals in college. Emily Henry's writing is so well done. Her writing style is so 21st century and it made me laugh. The dialogue between the characters was hilarious and heart-wrenching.

Delightful! Absorbing, fast-paced, and satisfying. A great little RomCom that could be enjoyed by either committed or new readers of the romance genre.

Nice, cute romance that is well-written and fun to read. Engaging story with great, likeable characters that will keep you turning pages long after you've left the beach.

This is probably more of a 3.5.... I am very upset! I enjoyed the romance but I also wasn’t emotionally prepared for the stuff with the character’s dad and to be frank, the letters broke me.

“Sometimes life is very hard. Sometimes it demands so much of you that you start losing pieces of yourself as you stretch out to give what the world wants to take.”

I was bound to give Beach Read 3 stars until January and Gus pulled those romantic and intimate moments in the last two chapters of the book. 🥰 My heart is filled with emotions. I thought the love they had for each other was deeper but before they got together, they deal with their issues individually.

Our protagonists are both best-selling authors who are having a writer's block. January Andrews is a romance writer while Augustus Everett is literary fiction novelist. These two were sort of rivals back in college since their writing styles and views in life differ from each other. They became neighbors when January's father passed away and moved into his beach house. To overcome their writer's block, they challenged themselves to shift genres -- January writes literary fiction and August writes romance. This way, they learned from each other and it also changed their outlooks in life.

It's true not to judge the book by its cover and Beach Read is a primary example.
The book itself has a grim undertone mixed with romance. It weaves through the beauty and ugliness of life. It's imperfect but we can find solace and happiness. The story is beautiful, romantic and emotional at the same time. I love January and Gus. Both as a couple and as individuals.❤️ Their characters wonderfully developed and handled their issues greatly.

Though it's more of contemporary fiction, I enjoyed the story and it lived up to its hype. I recommend it.

ARC kindly provided by Penguin Random House International in exchange for an honest review. Thank you PRH International!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it's a quick read. The chemistry and banter between the main characters was everything. I needed this to get me out of my reading funk. There was everything, laughter, tears, heavy and light topics, loads of wit and some steamy bits. I will definitely be picking up more books by Emily Henry in the future!

The buzz around this book was so large that I had to get my hands on a copy of the novel. Beach read is so much more than to be treated. It’s a couch read it’s a vacation read it’s a break from work read it’s an audiobook on the way home from work read it’s a read if you’d like to read read what a fun little story.!

FROM GOODREADS:

I wish I can say I loved this book with all my heart, that I'd gladly sacrifice a piece of my soul for this book, that this book to me was the epitome of love and romance, but it wasn't.

And to this book I want to say, it's not you, it's (most definitely) me.

The truth is, I'm not reacting to romance of any genre like I used to a few years ago. Maybe this is due to the fact that my mental health had taken a hit recently, or because love doesn't do it for me anymore. I no longer find a thrill in romance like I used to, and this is disturbing as it is painful.

I miss romance. I miss love. I miss getting excited at the prospect of our two leads meeting. Of the two leads falling in love. Falling apart. And falling in love all over again. I miss the quirky moments that make it romantic. The painful moments that cement love's transience and impermanence. I miss all of that, and I love it, yet I don't.

I miss the thrill in general. And every day that passes by only further increases the pain and worry I deal at never being able to feel this way again. This is not this book's fault. I'm only sorry it was this book that reinforced this notion within me and made it all more real.

Emily Henry can tell a story though, and I loved January’s personal development throughout the story, and I LOVED how this novel tackled the typical tropes of the romance genre and how it swerved its way around them, and how January’s and Gus’s story is as exceptional as it is gorgeous.

I would like to thank NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion. This was a fun and fast-read novel. A story of opposite attracts and Augustus and January couldn't be any more different. Definitely an all-time favorite for me. If you are looking for your next romance novel, then this is it. From beginning to end, you may think you know how it will end, but Emily Henry definitely knows how to get you glued to these pages to get you wanting more of the story. A must-read for anyone on the edge.

Absolutely fantastic. I loved the premise, and I thought the characters were interesting. The writing style is engrossing - sometimes with contemporary romance I find the writing too simple and it doesn't hold my attention, but this made me want to sit and read it from beginning to end.

I was being a big curmudgeon about this book once I heard that its title is sort of misleading. I started it last year and was not in a place where I wanted to read about a character processing grief. In a panny? No thank you! HOWEVER- I am so glad I trusted all of the glowing reviews and went back to it, because it is a really excellent story. January Andrews is a romance author who's stuck in a rut. Hell, after finding out her parents' love story is not as perfect as she thought it was, she's not sure she believes in romance at all anymore. She does inherit her father's beach house, and meets her surly neighbor Augustus- an accomplished author in his own right. Problem is, they are old college rivals, and it looks like this small town is going to keep throwing them into the other's path, like it or not.

This was CUTE. But it had depth. There was a ton of snappy dialogue (almost to the point where it was a defense mechanism) and I loved learning about the process of writing a book. It's a really clever concept. There was some nice reveals and I loved the exploration about being a serious writer vs commercial, being a female author vs a male and how books get categorized. Satisfying ending- I'd definitely try Emily Henry as an author again!

Romance is NOT usually my jam but this was delightful!!! It was witty, had some depth, and wasn’t heavy on the ridiculous and most enraging romance trope...the lack of communication. A surprise treat!

This was so great! Reading it after a year of not traveling anywhere, not even small road trips to see family because of COVID, was strange and good. It reignited the urge to get back to seeing the world. The characters are memorable, their friendship relatable, and the places are described with precision.

Fabulous humor and romance! I loved the trajectory of Gus and January and their up and down romance.
I think the real life challenges made me route for both of them. They earned their romance. The novel was slow to start but it became more suspenseful as you kept reading. I loved the ending. The snarky banter was wonderful. I was thrilled to find them end up together.

I could not figure out what type of book this was supposed to be. They were enemies... but they immediately spent time together. There was a complicated family story, a romance and it was supposed to also be funny? I couldn't relax into the story until I figured out the point.

Oh my gosh, this book is exactly what I'm always searching for in a romcom! Romance with soul. Lovely, lovely book.

It starts off slow and kind of dense, but once the action begins, it's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. It reads as a true epic, one that makes you feel the world really has been reshaped as you read it. Would recommend.

Not your typical Rom-Com! The characters are endearing and the story moves along at a good pace. I liked that it is about two writers and their rivalry and romance.

It was not cheesy and like the title , I would recommend it as a good Beach Read!

“𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘥𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵-𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘣𝘰𝘳. 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘧.”⁣⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I'd like to start by saying that we do not have enough writer book boyfriends in books. I find them so freaking interesting and alluring! Like their brains work differently than other men's. With that said, I love Gus.⁣⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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January and Gus were a perfect fit, not only because they are both writers, but because they were both down in the dumps of life and were able to bring each other up.⁣⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I loved their enemies to lovers story so much. I also loved how Emily Henry wove in all the characters in their lives, however big or small, to really mean something to the overall story.⁣⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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This is a book I plan to revisit often. That's a sign of a favorite for me.⁣⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝟱/𝟱

Well-written and compelling read about a woman dealing with grief. It was fun that it followed two writers. I wish the romance was stronger.