Review: Beach Read

I'm sure you've been seeing Beach Read by Emily Henry everywhere. I sure have. I first heard about it well before it's publication date (which was this past May) when a few bloggers I know in the US got advance copies. They were raving about it and, since I trust their opinions when it comes to contemporary titles, I knew I had to get my hands on it. Plus, just look at that cover! These days, an illustrated cover like that almost always contains a story I absolutely adore. And, luckily for me, the recommendations and cover did not let me down. I really, really enjoyed this book.

Here's the synopsis:

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.

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.

One of the things I liked best about this book was how deep it went. I'm sure most people expected a typical "beach read" with it's title (more on that later) but Gus and January's lives were not all sunshine, rainbows, and beach days. There's bantering and flirting - two of my favourite things to read about - but there's also really serious family issues and professional problems too. Waiting for January and Gus to figure out that they're in love and totally belong together is only a small part of the story (a really fun part, don't get me wrong) and that's part of what made this book stick with me.

Let's get into the whole beach read thing here for a second. Because I like to take every opportunity I have to remind people that All. Books. Are. Beach. Books. Everyone has different tastes. That's why there are countless books published every year. So to call a story like Henry's a "beach book" because it isn't literary or written by a man is insulting to Henry and all other authors like her. I totally get that people want stories that are maybe slightly less taxing/emotionally difficult and contain more humour when they're on vacation but I think the nuances in books like Beach Read get lost in the label of vacay/pool/beach book. Long rant short: read whatever you want, whenever you want, wherever you want. 

Back to the story! I really liked the writer's block/author aspect of Henry's novel. Well, reading about writers in novels in general is one of my favourites so it's really no surprise this one thrilled me. I also really liked the writing "journey" (if we want to be cliched and call it such) January goes on. She loves her romances - loves writing them, loves reading them, loves talking about them - and has no shame in it (see above rant for why I especially loved that). But she feels stuck. And I think that's totally fair. I imagine when you're a writer, or in any creative profession, you don't want to be doing the same thing that's expected all the time. (I mean, it's fine if you do. To each their own, etc.) And to feel like you're not allowed to write something a little different? Frustrating. So I liked that January pushed herself and realized how she could take her love of romance and add a little something extra to it. 

I wasn't completely sold on Gus. Or maybe it's more that I didn't feel like I got to know quite enough about him. The reader does get some of his backstory and I really did like him as a person (and as a partner for January) but he didn't pop off the page as much as January did. 

I had fun the entire time I was reading Beach Read. (Except, perhaps, when January was dealing with the issues with her dad and when they were researching the cult.) I loved reading as January and Gus wrote notes and held them up to each other (talk about swoon). I loved their writing "dates" (they wouldn't call them dates to start but we all know that's what they were). I loved that it was a little bit of a second chance romance (I'm a sucker for that trope even when they didn't technically date in the past). It was just all so great and exactly what I needed to be reading at the time. 

Emily Henry has written a novel that's so thoroughly enjoyable. Beach Read is clever, with wicked smart and funny main characters, and it doesn't shy away from the tough issues either. It'll make you laugh and think and probably desperately wish you were at a beach house of your own instead of dealing with a pandemic. Just me? But seriously, friends, read this one. I think you'll love it too!

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Penguin Random House Canada, via Edelweiss in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*