Beach read is about two writers, January a romance writing and Augustus a writer of literary fiction, starting a bet with each other after becoming neighbours. The bet is write a book within the others genre. The reason this bet comes around it because they are both struggling with personal issues leaving them with writers block.

This book was super cute romance. This book is told only from January's point of view. I felt this worked well as it means like the protagonist you cannot be sure what the love interest is thinking or feeling and can discover this as she does.

Overall an enjoyable read.

As readers the phrase never judge a book by its cover is one we hear very often, but then as humans, we still do it. Between the title and the gorgeous cover I thought this book would be exactly that: A compelling, light, fun read. The kinda of book you go into to relax and dream of summertime. I enjoy those books quite a lot and they are exactly what you need in certain times (global pandemic might apply as one of those times). But this book? It was a completely different animal.

This book is a book you go back to time and time again.
This book has these imperfectly real characters which you can relate with in so many ways.
This book is about a girl and her grief, and her relationship with her dad, and how her world view shifts violently and how she cant get herself to do the one thing that she used to be able to fall into: write.

I highlighted a good portion of this book. Sometimes because it was funny, sometimes because she was mentioning my favorite series (I'm looking at you VMars), sometimes because it made me contemplate a personal belief from a different point of view. Sometimes because it just made common sense to want to keep little pieces of this story with me.

This book is also about writers, and how people can be considered writers and bring entirely different things to the table. I guess it makes sense considering we always bring what we are to whatever we do.

Gus was so mysterious so closed off for so much of this, and then when the reasons starting showing up little by little it just made me love him more. Love them more. There's no greater love story that one where imperfect beings come together to be a better version of who they were before they met. Also who doesn't want to read the story of a cynic falling for a hopeless romantic? That's one of the solid foundations of romance as we know it.

All give 5 easy stars to this heartfelt and multi dimensional story, that reminded me that you can miss, hate and love people for all the different things that they are. That conflicting feelings are simply a portion of the human experience. And a love story that was refreshing and perfectly what I needed to read.

"Its June in January because I'm in love"

I'm sorry I just could not click with this book. I read as far as 41%, but I had no interest in reading on. From what I did read, the characters were fun but I just couldn't connect or feel attached to them. It may just have been the wrong book for me at this moment in time, and I might enjoy it more at a future date.

The story begins when January meets up again with Gus, whom she had known at college. Both are novelists, suffering writers block, and there is sizzling chemistry between them, although many arguments and disagreements at first.

January has moved to the beach house, which had been left to her by her father when he passed away. Unknown to her, her father had been living at the house with another woman while married to her mother. This has devastated January who had not known about the affair.

January’s editor is pushing for her next book, yet in order to win a bet with Gus, she takes time to attempt to write a novel in a genre of which she is unfamiliar. Which seems inconceivable to me, surely she would want to get started on a book she knows will sell?

Although there is a humorous tone to the book and characters, the humour is over-the-top, with too much swearing and American phrases I am unfamiliar with. There is little depth to the characters, who seemed stereotyped, and I found it difficult to empathise with them or the story. A character such as January – who loved her father, would not want to spend time in the house he had been sharing with another woman. It didn’t ring true.

Gus’s difficult past is the main focus of the story, but January’s past is only fully explored in the final chapters of the book. I found the book to be slow and drawn out, and not enjoyable.

A lovely light read about two authors who end up living next to each other for the summer and decide to see if they can each write in the style of the other. A perfect read, dare I say, for the beach?

Dealing with the death of her father and the new knowledge of an affair, published author January, moves into the beach house he has left to her, deciding she must clear it and sell it at the same time as trying to complete her next novel to which the deadline is drawing closer. Her neighbour is an old college nearly flame and so ensues a passionate, emotional acquaintance.

January is having a hard time coming to terms with the death of her father and moves to the beach house he left her to try and write her next novel. Augustus, a fellow author, has been January’s competition since college and is now her next door neighbour. The pair make a bet to try and beat their writers block, they will swap genres and see who sells a book first. Oh, and they promise they definitely won’t fall in love...
If I could have written my perfect romance book then this would have been it. I genuinely couldn’t have asked for anything more. I laughed, I cried, I rolled my eyes. I fell hard for these characters who try to prove that they’re polar opposites only to realise they might be the same after all. Watching them get to know each other through their writing and work through problems in their past was so great. January is smart-mouthed, emotional and fiesty whereas Augustus is moody, closed-off with a dry sense of humour.
I’m fighting the urge to go and read this again straight away. The best romance I’ve read this year and one I won’t be forgetting for a long time.
✨Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the eARC ✨

I didn't enjoy this book. The characters didn't grab me, the storyline was weak, and I was really just skimming the pages to see what happened. It may be a good holiday read (it is certainly very undemanding) but it really wasn't for me.

Well, I must admit it took me a little time to get into the book but once I did I was so interested in the history of the reationship between Gus and January. Once into it, I devoured the rest of the book. On/off romance between them, hampered by Gus's estranged wife and January's disappointment in her father.

Stick with the story, you will enjoy it! I give it 5 stars and wait for Emily's next book.

I really enjoyed this book, it was such a lovely read. It was a debut novel which always interests me as I love to read new authors as they have worked so hard to write a book and I feel I must give them a chance by reading their work.
This was a pleasure so I found I read it extremely quickly also having more time on my hands due to the situation at the moment I find I’m reading more and finding lots of enjoyable books to read to escape the misery of not seeing families except by video calls.
I do hope that this author writes more like this as I will be interested to read what she writes.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Really disappointing, I'm afraid. I thought this was gonna be a 5* read for sure but it fell quite flat. The tone of the book never really made sense and I didn't like the love interest, so I wasn't invested in their romance (not good for ... a romance novel). For a book about writers swapping genres, there was very little writing, and a lot more angst and miscommunication and flat secondary characters.

I have nothing to say about this book except that I loved every page. The setting, the characters, the romance, the banter, the steam – all of it was perfect. I loved the growth from both of these characters. It really bugs me when, in order for a contemporary romance to reach its resolution, the author throws in a conflict that doesn’t really fit with the characters, or which could so easily be overcome if they would just TALK TO EACH OTHER. But Henry does it so, so well in this book. The conflict felt right, the journey the characters take to overcome their various setbacks was so genuine and the resolution between them at the end is oh so worth it. It was emotional and heartfelt and had me laughing and swooning and left me with a big sappy grin on my face. I LOVED it.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review – thanks as always to Netgalley for sending this to me.

Beach Read is a book which caught me completely by surprise. Reading the blurb, I already saw a lot of myself in this story. As someone who’s just finishing up her BA in English Lit and Creative Writing and has spent the last three years writing literary fiction only to discover that my real calling is romance, I already felt a connection with these characters from the onset. I had no idea how much I was going to connect with this story.

Beach Read follows January, a disillusioned romance writer who has just discovered that her parents’ idyllic marriage was a lie, and Gus, a cynic lit fic writer who never really believed in romance in the first place. These characters have a long history, and when they reunite in a small town and challenge one another to essentially swap genres, sparks begin to fly.

It’s hard to describe how much I adored this. We meet these characters at such a vulnerable time in their lives, when both are struggling and too proud to admit it. There was such a wonderful connection between them. Sometimes when reading a romance, you know that in the real world there’s no way the couple would stay together – this wasn’t one of those. I felt like I could see their future mapped out for years to come. It was filled with tender moments that took my breath away. And their communication! Oh, it was glorious. Miscommunication is the enemy in many romances, and it can be so frustrating to see characters refusing to just TALK to one another, so in this book, watching these characters have frank and open conversations about their issues was just… *chef’s kiss.* Iconic. We love to see it.

This book was fun, fluffy and sweet, the perfect diversion from real life. I adored Gus and January, and I’m so happy that this story exists.

January Andrews is a romance author, but what happens if she doesn’t believe in Happy Ever After’s anymore?

Augustus Everett is a serious literary author, but does life always have to be so serious?

January and Augustus are not going to get along, but they might have more in common than they think. Both are struggling with writers block, and both need to have completed best sellers by the end of the summer.

So, ensues a bet. To swap genres, and see who can get their book published first.

Is one summer long enough to learn how to write, and live, a little differently?

This is the first title I have read by Emily Henry, I requested it on NetGalley on a bit of a whim thinking it would be a fluffy romance, the perfect escapism. But what I got was a little more than the usual light heartedness I was expecting.

There was a great connection between the main characters, their conversations were full of quick witted banter which quite often made me laugh out loud. I really enjoyed the dry sarcasm the author used to convey the attraction between January and Gus.

I loved the setting of the house and American lakeside town, Henry described the surroundings so well it was an ease to imagine the beautiful and quaint Hallmark-esque location.

This story is quite different to most in the rom-com genre, it addresses some difficult themes such as grief, mistrust and physical abuse. I felt the author dealt with these sensitive subjects very delicately, they were given the gravitas they deserved with a subtlety that meant the overall story wasn’t weighed down by them and the carefree feeling lost.

I will definitely be looking at reading more from Emily Henry in the future.

This is one of the most dullest boringest books I've ever read. Beach read it was not! It took so long to get to anything vaguely "interesting" and I wouldn't recommend this book. Perhaps Americans like this sort of book but not for us over the pond. January dominated the entire book with her writer's block and she only got her act together after reconnecting with Gus with whom she'd had a sordid date at college. Gus's character could have been much more elaborated upon, but did little to inspire me. Students may connect with this book, but I wouldn't recommend anyone spending any time delving into finding out about this story as there wasn't anything that really stood out. The only character who provided some light relief was Pete (a lady) and Shadi, January's best friend.

Beach read.
I picked this book thinking it would be a light hearted rom com...I don’t think it is.
It is a romance but with lots of angst and emotion.
It was a good love story and it’s well written however I didn’t find it a comedy as the blurb suggests.
Easy to read and a good story

This book follows two writers, January and Augustus who are stuck in a writing rut and decide to switch genres for their next book. It follows their story in getting to know each other and in them getting to learn about themselves.

I loved the chemistry between the two of them. I also really loved January’s character and also her feelings and complex relationship towards her father. This was really heart breaking and this story is just a great mixture of romance, loss and self discovery.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Review also posted to Goodreads.

This is a clever title for a summer book and based on an attractive conceit. A mixed up woman writer who is too sad to write happy love stories inherits a beach house and finds herself next door to a mixed up writer of, allegedly, more literary fiction. There's plenty of opportunities to play around with genre here and after some preliminary exchanges - naturally it turns out that they met before at college and almost had a fling - they agree to swap genres and set themselves a challenge to finish their books over the summer.

It's a good idea but the delivery gets a little bit confused. The female lead, January Andrews, is carrying a lot of baggage from her dead father and realising that her happy family memories are not exactly what she thought they were. Then, it turns out that the male protagonist, Augustus or Gus Everett, is also dealing with his own demons. As they come to build a relationship both of them have difficulties with truth, trust and commitment. At times, these result in misunderstandings but often they involve arguments and stomping off into the night and not talking for several days.

That's where the novel flags slightly. After a while, you stop feeling sorry for these two people and would just like to bang their heads together! Then, things improve but not for long! Gus has an ex-wife and dad's old flame also lives in the same town so, gradually, a real pile of issues accumulate. There's some nice minor characters floating around to give a little diversion but this part of the novel was quite hard work. January seems to be very good at seeing what is wrong with Gus but not so good at analysing what is wrong with her. Of course, as ever, the answer is in front of her nose and everything turns out for the best.

Emily Henry has a nice easy writing style which will appeal to readers and I suppose there are women who melt at the sight of a nicely turned arm with just the right amount of curly hair and are then so turned on they then have to say something nasty to sabotage the moment! January often seems to do the opposite of what she's thinking and Gus does his best to avoid articulating his thoughts altogether.

However, in the end, it makes for an entertaining read as you see how January slowly sorts herself out. At times, I felt a bit sorry for Gus being on the receiving end of this process but then I'm a man and women might see it differently! There's plenty in this novel to make you think about that kind of thing and that's what's good about it. Take it to the beach and you won't be disappointed but if, peeping over the top of your kindle, you see some attractive man admiring your oiled body just give him a nice smile and try not to scowl. It will make life flow more easily!

I finished this book early hours of this morning after devouring it in 2 days, perfect lockdown escapism.

From the start of the story I knew where it was heading and how it would (hopefully) end, but I really enjoyed the journey there.
All the characters are likeable and I loved the quick wit and banter between January and Gus.

Thank you netgalley and penguin books uk for this readers copy in return for my honest review.

I wanted to love this book: rivals to lovers, romance author and literary fiction author swap genres and compete to see who sells their book first. It just sounded like so much fun.

And it was fun, for the most part. And the book packed quite the emotional punch as well. But I started getting a little bored pretty early on, and that didn't really fade for the remainder of the book. The thing is, I just feel like this book was a lot longer than necessary and it felt quite long-winded because of that. There were parts that felt less relevant to the storyline and parts that I felt didn't get all the attention they deserved in favour of less interesting aspects. I would have preferred if the book had been more structured and more condensed, so it could really focus on the main storyline and the character's development.

Because the character development felt a little like it was secondary to the story at times. Don't get me wrong, there was quite a lot of it, but the execution of it left me wanting. We have a love interest who goes through a lot of development, but that means his personality pretty much makes a 180 turn, and he's almost unrecognizable towards the end of the book. And we have a main character whose main struggle's resolution is left to the very ending of the book, which made it feel rushed.