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Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Beach Read by Emily Henry

716 reviews

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense 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
🌶️🌶️.5/5

“I’ve never met someone who is so perfectly my favourite person”

Every time I read this book I fall in love with it all over again. Through her characters Emily Henry challenges the stigma surrounding romance writers and female authors, and their works, in general. I am awed by the sensitivity with which Henry has woven together the complex and traumatic backgrounds (and present lives) of these MCs, actively avoiding any pre-packaged ‘Happily Ever After’ which would require either character to compromise their needs, or gloss over heavy issues to skip to the end. This novel balances humour with deeper issues, which are handled with care. Secondary characters bring an extra layer of life to the story, with found and unconventional family whose support - and meddling - is unwavering. Beach Read had me audibly snort-laughing from the second page, and after reading it four times I can safely say it does not get old. Forever on my Comfort Read list. ✨

“I wanted to know whether you could ever fully know someone. If knowing how they were—how they moved and spoke and the faces they made and the things they tried not to look at—amounted to knowing them. Or if knowing things about them—where they’d been born, all the people they’d been, who they’d loved, the worlds they’d come from—added up to anything.”

📚 First person POV (January)
📚 Enemies-to-Lovers
📚 Rival authors; this novel explores the stigma surrounding romance writers and treatment of female authors, and their works, in general. 😍
📚 Forced proximity
📚 BANTER! 🙌🏻
📚 Meddling family
📚 Feminist read
📚 Well established secondary characters; Shadi is my spirit animal and I want to keep her forever.
📚 Growth in the MCs; plot explores childhood traumas and family secrets impacting the characters’ self worth and relationships.
📚 On my comfort read list. Emily Henry’s books are always must-reads for me.

Gus:
“In college, I’d thought he was lazy about everything except writing. Now I wondered if he was simply tired, if life had beaten him into a permanent slouch, folded him over himself so no one could get at that soft center,”

January:
“somehow by being a woman who writes about women, I’ve eliminated half the Earth’s population from my potential readers, and you know what? I don’t feel ashamed of that. I feel pissed.”


⚠️ Parent with cancer, death of a parent, grief, infidelity (parent), child/domestic abuse (in the past), cult (investigated for a book), vomit,  toxic relationship, mental illness & going to therapy.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

What the fuck?? Like in a good way??? Like wow!!!! I read People We Meet On Vacation first, which I loved, but this??  So different!!! I love the dynamic between the main love interests. I’m not really an enemies to lovers type of feel but I liked that it wasn’t quite like that. I found January to be incredibly relatable, and she kept breaking my heart. I feel like, this was what it means to really start the healing process. I see it in January.  Gus is just the perfect balance, where they are not the same person trying to be together but they are also not two completely different people where Emily Henry is trying to convince NO THEY REALLY DO WORK TOGETHER!! This was, these are two people who have waited so long for something like this, and they’re both scared in their own ways, but they need to see it to the end. Whether that be January dealing with this shit that rocked her world, or Gus dealing with the shit that rocked his world. I just found these characters true. Also!! Asking about condoms is hot friends, make it hot in your smutty little steamy little sex scenes!!

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous funny fast-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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging emotional funny hopeful lighthearted tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

This book took me two tries to get through but I  glad I made it to the end.  Although the overall arc is romance there was A Lot to unpack.  The fathers in fidelity and how that affected how she interacted with Gus. I loved her growth throughout the books.  I reall enjoyed the messiness of the relationship.   Over all goodread.  

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny hopeful medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This had more chemistry than my actual 8th grade chemistry book

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny mysterious 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings