Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Beach Read by Emily Henry

708 reviews

emotional medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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emotional funny hopeful fast-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

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lighthearted medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No

Not my favorite of her books. Like some of btw others, it feels like there were develop more of the characters and plot points. Enjoyable binge read nonetheless. 

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emotional lighthearted reflective 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

It does get very heavy at times with January dealing the grief of her dad’s death and complicated emotions along with it, as well as Gus’s abusive dad. But I loved their connection and slower build. 

But still, I hate a miscommunication/lack of communication, so that annoyed me a bit at the end. 

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing 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: Yes

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emotional lighthearted fast-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

The last book I read was a very heavy topic (HIV/AIDS). So I was looking forward to something lighthearted and "dumb" (something requiring little thought). Well, I got what I wanted, but it was a little toooo dumb for me. 

Emily Henry is hit or miss for me, and this one was a big miss. The author admits she had writer's block at the time she wrote it and that she decided to write a book about writer's block. No wonder the book fizzled for me. That's like me sitting at work and deciding to write a report about why I don't know how to write the report.

Rounding up to 2 (yeah, that's how little I liked it - not even a full two stars).

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I always say it's a cop-out for writers to write about writers (or editors, or publishers, or librarians - anybody bookish). Everyone knows the adage "write what you know," so I think it's only natural for writers to try it out, but it can get a bit monotonous. And, being a writer and language arts buff myself, such narratives don't feed my escapist hunger quite as well as books about chemical engineers or nurses or computer programers.

That being said, it's always a little impressive when an author manages to write writers while avoiding banality and too much self-indulgence. I think Emily Henry achieves as much with this book, at least more so than Book Lovers, which I read first. It's about writers, but it's also about family, grief, secrets, pining, and the ugly parts of love. This novel wasn't as gratifying as other romance novels, not because it's less romantic or the ending is less happy, but because there are parts of it that were sad and, like in life, could not be resolved.
I have a soft spot for "I've always loved you, you just didn't notice" type romances.

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-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

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emotional hopeful reflective relaxing 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: Complicated

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