Emily Henry's Beach Read Book Review

There’s just something so fun about a Summer romance, both in romantic comedies and also in fiction.

Beach Read by Emily Henry is a fantastic enemies to lovers romance about literary rivals who find themselves spending the Summer in beach houses next door to each other. This is my second time reading this sweet story and I just love these characters and their witty banter.

In fact, that’s something that all Emily Henry books have in common. She writes smart romances with main characters who have complicated lives and interesting backstories. Her books have interesting tidbits, fun best friend characters, and happy endings. It’s everything I look for in my romance books that I read.

So let’s discuss Beach Read because January is such a fan character and well, so is Gus. He may start out as an annoying next door neighbor but I think he redeemed himself pretty quickly.

If you enjoyed today’s review, you may also be interested in these posts.

What is Beach Read by Emily Henry about?

FROM THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION AND BOOK LOVERS!

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. (from Amazon.com)

My Thoughts

I love reading about writers so when I first purchased Beach Read, I knew it was going to be right up my alley. It’s very interesting because January is a writer who owes her publisher a new book, but she’s have trouble writing romance at the moment. She’s got a case of writer’s block.

Meanwhile her next-door neighbor Gus is also working on a new book. It’s fun to read about the writing process and there are scenes where they are doing research for their projects that are so cute and funny. Maybe not in a “haha” kind of way, but I found it very funny when Gus had to explain to January why he was doing research on suicide cults.

Their summer activities for each other certainly took them out of their comfort zones, and sometimes that’s just what you need.

I also really liked the lecture that January gave to Gus when she was explaining why her books were referred to as women’s fiction, where if she was a man her books would just be categorized as fiction. And that is so true! A romance novel can be for anyone and a book that features romance can be for anyone. It’s so silly to call books women’s fiction because then you’re cutting off half of the world population from reading your books and it’s like, why?

Relationships Aren’t Easy

And one of my favorite things is that she writes about relationships in such a realistic way. A big topic in Beach Read is fidelity. January grew up thinking her parents were happy but after her dad passes away, she realizes that there were things she didn’t know. It’s a difficult thing to come to terms with and I think a lot of readers will feel less alone by reading about the hard time January is going through.

There’s Nothing Like an Emily Henry Book

Like I mentioned earlier, Emily’s writing style is so witty. Some of the scenes are just so funny, like when January and Gus get tricked into coming to a book club meeting. Or when the two of them are writing in their separate houses and decide that a better option for communicating is holding up signs with messages for each other. Or even their first meeting in the local bookshop.

In Conclusion

I really enjoyed reading Beach Read because it’s a story about romance and true love, but it also covers heavier topics. It discusses writing and books and personally, I have so much fun reading these kinds of stories.

Emily Henry has really perfected her romantic comedy fiction. Emily Henry’s beach read is a great book about real people with real life experiences. And I think that anyone who reads this book will be entertained as well as maybe see themselves in the characters.

Plus who doesn’t love reading about happy ever afters? There’s something very satisfying about Emily Henry’s writing style and in my opinion, her books keep getting better and better. If you haven’t read any of her books yet and are looking for a book to read as your first time, Beach Read is a great place to start!