Reviews - Beach Read | The StoryGraph

75.4k reviews for:

Beach Read

Emily Henry

4.07 AVERAGE

marwal's review against another edition

4.0

hopeful lighthearted reflective 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

havenm's review against another edition

5.0

hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

So cute. I loved the little subplots and extra story lines, and the romance wasn’t too much.

ashparas's review against another edition

5.0

For this being my first official contemporary romance I absolutely loved it. I always shied away from romance but this book gave me such a good feeling reading it! If this is what most contemporary romances are like sign me up for more! Gus and January’s banter is witty and playful and very much like my own sense of humor so I related to their conversations in a way where I was able to say, “that’s how I would have answered that”. Just amazing!

amalielaeser's review against another edition

3.25

hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

liizabee's review against another edition

4.5

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad 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: Yes

Really really enjoyed this book! This is my first time reading Emily Henry & I understand the hype now.

Beach Read felt like a Sarah Dessen book but all grown up.

I like that it wasn't just a fluffy romance. She dived into heavier topics like death, grief, childhood trauma and abandonment issues. The cult storyline/subplot(?) was really interesting and I liked how it tied into

Gus's

story.

I'm happy we got actual details about the book January was writing instead of a vague sentence or two. It felt like I got to read 3 books (

Beach Read, Janie's book, and the cult interviews (Gus's book)

) in one and I absolutely loved it. I guess the changes in tone and setting was great for my ADHD brain. But it also didn't feel like too much was happening at once.

I enjoyed the slow-ish burn between January and

Gus

. Although this is a romance book, I genuinely wasn't sure if they'd end up together in the end.

At some point, I would have been happy to see her (literally) sailing off into the sunset all by herself.

I would have liked to see more sexually intimate scenes or at least make the existing ones a bit more explicit, but that's just me (a girly who grew up reading smutty fanfics 👀🤭).

I have daddy issues so some of this book wrecked me. Looking at you, chapter

!! I was bawling my eyes out, tears and snot rushing down my face and onto my ereader. But imma be real, that just made me love the book even more lol.

Though I read this book in summer, I didn't have the privilege of reading it on the beach, but I think it would be a perfect beach read. ☀️🏖📖💛 Can't wait for the movie!

Content Warnings