Reviews with content warning for Death - Beach Read

"That’s the key to marriage. You have to keep falling in love with every new version of each other, and it’s the best feeling in the whole world."

It's a meh book. I'm not sure why it's a hype but in my opinion, it's overhyped. I'm writing this review after maybe a week after I finished reading the book but to be honest, nothing important came up. Sure Gus is the dark and mysterious boy that she calls her writer rival and January is this emotionally damaged girl that went from writing romance-happy ever after book from can't stop thinking her dad was a cheater. To be honest, it's a bit of miscommunication between the two love interest. They could have talked it out a bit more here and there so there wouldn't be any crying or misjudging or overthinking but nah, talking is meh apparently. I don't know what else to say aside from this book being an okay book but not something I'd recommend to someone or reach out in my bookshelf to reread.

Side note: It made me research a bit about cults (lol). Also, lesson learned: don't trust bookstagram as much...

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megelizabeth's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad

3.0

I've mostly seen very positive reviews for this book, but it was just okay for me. I thought that January and Gus did have good chemistry and I enjoyed their banter, and I liked the way their story ultimately ended, but I didn't feel overly connected to either of them, and found them both a bit irritating at times.

This is much more a serious story with a romance heading through it rather than a more lighthearted full-on romance - which I generally prefer, but it bugged me that this is marketed as a romcom when it's really not. It's funny in a few parts, but a lot of it is pretty depressing, and much of the focus is on both January and Gus dealing with their own traumas, and I just wish that that was how it had been advertised, especially as it does mostly do a good job of discussing trauma and healing and several dark topics.

Also, a lot of the story is also based around January coping with the fact that her father had been having an affair before he died, and I understand that that's a difficult thing to deal with, but I personally felt as if how difficult it was for January was so over-egged and just a bit unbelievable, especially due to the lacklustre way that part of that thread of the story ended up culminating.

I did like Emily Henry's writing, and as I've said, there are parts of the story that I did really like, but ultimately I just didn't love this book the way I wanted to.

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_minucelli's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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infjkiki's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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angelsfw's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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beccamarriner's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

As someone who almost exclusively read romance books as a teen, beach read really hit the spot. It made me feel warm inside like you get with couples that your root for but also kept it adult. It was like a proper development in my reading material and I loved it. Admittedly I pictured north bear shores perhaps a bit different to how the author intended but that’s just because I’ve grown up around Scottish lochs. I think both january and gus had their own perfect plot lines so it wasn’t just centred around their sexual tension. And unfortunately now I’d like you read their novels as described at the end of the book! My favourite thing about them was that they all felt real. I have no personal connection to cults, bookshop owners or affair partners and yet each character was their very own person that added to the book.

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sarahflanders's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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ktv's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I loved Julia Whelan as the narrator for this. She rly bought to life all of the characters. Her voice is also nice.
I liked the slow burn aspect and how the book centered around January and Gus’s problems. I thought it would be more grumpy x sunshine but I ended up liking it the way it was. I liked the second chance thing too.
-0.5 stars because the spicy scenes were significantly different than the ones in take a hint, Dani brown and it threw me off. Definitely a me problem, not an Emily Henry problem! The order u read books in matters, and I shoulda taken that into account before diving into this.

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