Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Beach Read by Emily Henry

10 reviews

laedyred's review

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

2.5

Cute moments, but Gus just doesn't sit well with me. He's a playboy with no redeeming qualities other than a sense of humor. Why would you want someone who acts like women are objects? He treats January badly several times, as seen when
he takes a full day to consider whether to leave her for his ex-wife. He ignores January, doesn't consider her feelings, and has the audacity to feel like he has a right to "decide if she's worth it".
  In my eyes, he's not a good man. It ruined his character for me, I didn't want them to be together, I wanted her to tell him to fuck off after his final "decision". The story seemed cookie-cutter to me after reading Henry's other works. I know this was her first novel, but it to closely followed the standard formula. It felt cheap when I compared it to Book Lovers or People We Meet on Vacation. I add half a star for January's character, who is relatable while still having her own personality. She is a good female lead, although not groundbreaking. 
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saeruh's review

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emotional funny reflective sad

5.0

   This book was made for the girlies with dead dads. Such beautiful writing. I loved this book and yet at times I absolutely hated it because I understood the main character, January, so well. Had me sobbing in the middle of a work day so be prepared that while this is a romance novel and deals with two people falling in love, it also deals heavily with grief, abusive situations and the trauma that leaves, how good people end up in bad situations, and the simple factors of life and emotions. This book can be represented well musically by phoebe bridgers’ album Punisher and specifically the song “Kyoto” off of it. 
   My biggest problems were that I felt like January was never really described so I never knew how to picture her in my head and also Gus and his continual closed-off-ness made me annoyed at him during parts. But any book that makes me cry like this deserves 5 stars.
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joeypriestley's review

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emotional lighthearted reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

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jadyn_renee62's review

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emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

i love this book so much it has that romcom feeling that i just love. it has a lot of great characters and side characters, which you get to learn a lot about, so it makes it 10 times better. it makes you feel like you’re really there with them and friends with all of them.
i love the fact that he fell for her first and how she always thought he thought poorly of her but really he was basically in love with her the whole time and i think the timing that he told her was just perfect and it didn’t feel forced at all
 over all i loved this book it’s definitely one of my favs and i love her writing style
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urmominmybed69's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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lucielockettreads's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Emily Henry just knows how to write banter without it sounding really cringe. 
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leleldalmeida's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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jessicax941's review

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funny hopeful lighthearted 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

3.75

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jojo_'s review against another edition

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emotional funny sad 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

4.0

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bookswithsoumi's review against another edition

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

2.0

Review: 
Check out this review and more on Books With Soumi

Beach Read was chosen for the Book of the Month for April 2020 and was listed several times as one of the best romances of the year. Unfortunately, Beach Read did not live up to the hype for me. I tried so hard to love the book like everybody else on the internet. I was even reading it with my best friend, who had also been wanting to read this romance for a few months. 

I either do not care for the enemies-to-lovers trope (unlikely since I do love Pride and Prejudice), or the emotional chemistry between the two characters, January and Gus, was not developed enough for me to connect with the characters. 

The secondary characters were flat as well, mostly appearing in backstories like January’s family or in text messages like Shadi, January’s best friend. Pete and Maggie, the bookstore owners in the town January moved to, make rare appearances but do not help bring out the character traits of any of the main characters. 

I did not give the book one star and instead gave two because the feminist messaging did resonate with me. I liked that January was proud of writing women’s fiction. I especially loved the passage where January explains that even by calling her novels “women’s fiction,” some of the population is turned off, demonstrating the double standard that when people (usually men) write men-centered fiction, the book is just fiction and not “men’s fiction.” However, these remarks are made due to Gus’ misogynistic comments against women’s fiction. I was instantly turned off, and I tried to empathize and connect with Gus as the author intended, but I could not. 

Overall, I was disappointed with the book. I will have to make a more conscious effort to read books with an intentionally diverse set of characters, instead of just Shadi, who rarely makes an appearance, or Sonya, the woman that January’s father had an affair with before he died. Sonya is not technically the villain of the story, but it is interesting that out of the seven characters that appear in real-time in the story, the one making the most detrimental and questionable moral and ethical decisions had to be a woman of color. 

Time to read: 10 hours over 15 days

Tl;dr: I felt like I still stuck in COVID-19 quarantine with the lack of character interaction and growth in this book. 

Who might enjoy this book?: fans of the enemies-to-lovers trope and books about writers. 
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