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adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-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
I'm gonna be honest for like the first 50-60 pages I was struggling to get through this book. I was deeply afraid I wasn't gonna like it especially considering I had a pre-conceived notion about Emily Henry's books. I didn't think they were my cup of tea. But boy am I glad I kept reading cuz after like the first 60 pages it picked up and I LOVED IT! I loved every character (minus S. but she was complicated). Gus and January's banter was elite. And I also admired how multi-faceted these characters were. The book felt long but in a good way. Just alot happened.
And speaking of that this book deals with some heavy subjects that I wasn't expecting. Whenever this book was recommended to me no one seemed to mention how heavy this book could get so I'm personally warning whoever reads this review that there are some heavy details in this book.
I'd also like to add to the reason why I love this book so much. The characters honestly felt like real people especially Gus. He was probably the closest depiction of unemotional available men that I've ever seen. And Emily Henry captured this element of unemotional available guys perfectly. And she also did so without making the main character seem stupid everytime she wanted to pursue something with them (Gus). I'm not sure if this is a spoiler but Emily does a great job of making you see that Gus isn't purposefully hurting January and that he's aware of how he is. And that his intent was never to pursue her into false promises. Honestly this book felt too real at times if you catch my drift. I felt attacked sometimes.😅 It was obvious that both parties were smitten over one another and I admired how Emily dealt with the idea that you can strongly like/want something yet self-sabotage yourself into feeling like you don't deserve it. I likes how Gus isn't content on remaining stagnant with how he is. And I'm glad he learns how to love again. Gus and January worked so well together (romantically and platonically). And I also loved the father-daughter love in this book as well. This book really surprised me and it would've been a 10/10 read if I wasn't so iffy about how I started it, but I'm so happy I ended up enjoying it and would gladly read it again.
And speaking of that this book deals with some heavy subjects that I wasn't expecting. Whenever this book was recommended to me no one seemed to mention how heavy this book could get so I'm personally warning whoever reads this review that there are some heavy details in this book.
I'd also like to add to the reason why I love this book so much. The characters honestly felt like real people especially Gus. He was probably the closest depiction of unemotional available men that I've ever seen. And Emily Henry captured this element of unemotional available guys perfectly. And she also did so without making the main character seem stupid everytime she wanted to pursue something with them (Gus). I'm not sure if this is a spoiler but Emily does a great job of making you see that Gus isn't purposefully hurting January and that he's aware of how he is. And that his intent was never to pursue her into false promises. Honestly this book felt too real at times if you catch my drift. I felt attacked sometimes.😅 It was obvious that both parties were smitten over one another and I admired how Emily dealt with the idea that you can strongly like/want something yet self-sabotage yourself into feeling like you don't deserve it. I likes how Gus isn't content on remaining stagnant with how he is. And I'm glad he learns how to love again. Gus and January worked so well together (romantically and platonically). And I also loved the father-daughter love in this book as well. This book really surprised me and it would've been a 10/10 read if I wasn't so iffy about how I started it, but I'm so happy I ended up enjoying it and would gladly read it again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death of parent
Moderate: Child abuse, Infidelity, Grief
Minor: Cursing, Vomit
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-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:
Complicated
I LOVED this book. I read this book shortly after reading Emily Henry's "Book Lovers" and loved this one almost as much. This one was a little harder for me to get into at first, because I felt like the chapters were a little longer than Book Lovers' but once I got into it, I could NOT put it down. I loved Gus so much. I think January was very relatable (a fellow struggling writer lol). I loved the diversity of the cast. Everything about this book was mwah. I highly recommend if you're looking for something with the rivals to lovers trope (one of my personal favorites).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, Religious bigotry, Alcohol
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Infidelity, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol
Minor: Physical abuse, Excrement, Vomit, Murder
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol
Moderate: Cancer, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Vomit, Car accident
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol
Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Vomit
Minor: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-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
I really like the main characters. I love good revitalization between them and their going out to form their normal comfort zone. Love the enemies to lovers trope here. It's a good book. It also shows how hard is to go through the death of the parent and how much secrets and miss communication can really damage relationships.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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
i have to admit, i didn’t expect to fall in love with this book. i read book lovers, and i loved it, but somehow i didn’t have high hopes for this book. the basic information i had on it didn’t quite grip me as much, but i wanted to have a lovely romance read as a goodbye to summer.
the reality is that i fell irrevocably in love with this book within the first few pages. the blurbs that are given on this book don’t do justice to the characters: the way they hurt, and love and breathe. i felt like i was thrown into a world as real and beautiful and painful as the real one and i am so so grateful for it.
gus is just a beautifully constructed character, and i was so happy when i noticed that i had subconsciously grown to love his character instead of just seeing him as the love interest. he didn’t lack in depth in any way that i might’ve expected and he is one of my favorite „book boyfriends“ now.
january has been catapulted to one of my favorite main characters with ease. a lot of it comes from feeling understood by many of her struggles, but i just adore the way she kept fighting to see the world in its beauty and not just see the darkness and the pain.
which brings me to probably my favorite part of this book, the heartache it gave me. the way emily henry describes the pain that comes from losing a parent hit a bit to close to home, but she wrote it in such a beautiful and complete way that it just all made sense to me. i also prefer the way that pain was handled to book lovers but that’s a different story and probably comes from my own experiences rather than anything else.
throughout the entire book i was hooked, i found myself reading for much longer than i ever intended and it was hard to put it down to take care of mundane things (like sleeping lol).
long story short: beach read is right at the top of my favorite books of the year and has confirmed my love for emily henry’s books!
that’s it.
the reality is that i fell irrevocably in love with this book within the first few pages. the blurbs that are given on this book don’t do justice to the characters: the way they hurt, and love and breathe. i felt like i was thrown into a world as real and beautiful and painful as the real one and i am so so grateful for it.
gus is just a beautifully constructed character, and i was so happy when i noticed that i had subconsciously grown to love his character instead of just seeing him as the love interest. he didn’t lack in depth in any way that i might’ve expected and he is one of my favorite „book boyfriends“ now.
january has been catapulted to one of my favorite main characters with ease. a lot of it comes from feeling understood by many of her struggles, but i just adore the way she kept fighting to see the world in its beauty and not just see the darkness and the pain.
which brings me to probably my favorite part of this book, the heartache it gave me. the way emily henry describes the pain that comes from losing a parent hit a bit to close to home, but she wrote it in such a beautiful and complete way that it just all made sense to me. i also prefer the way that pain was handled to book lovers but that’s a different story and probably comes from my own experiences rather than anything else.
throughout the entire book i was hooked, i found myself reading for much longer than i ever intended and it was hard to put it down to take care of mundane things (like sleeping lol).
long story short: beach read is right at the top of my favorite books of the year and has confirmed my love for emily henry’s books!
that’s it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
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
This book was really good. And I say it like that because, once again, this is not my go-to genre. But, once again, was a suggestion from my monthly reading group and I decided to give it a chance.
This is not a typical romance in a sense that are some really dark and heavy topics represented: domestic abuse, a cult, death... the kind of themes that are not associated when you ear the genre romance.
I really enjoyed this book. I like how dark and mysterious Gus is and how fragile and hurt January feels. And I like the way both of them decide to give each other a chance (although, sometimes, January frustrated me a lot). The best part about this book is that it shows that two people with completely opposite visions of the world can find common ground.
I really liked this book and will look for more books by Emily Henry.
This is not a typical romance in a sense that are some really dark and heavy topics represented: domestic abuse, a cult, death... the kind of themes that are not associated when you ear the genre romance.
I really enjoyed this book. I like how dark and mysterious Gus is and how fragile and hurt January feels. And I like the way both of them decide to give each other a chance (although, sometimes, January frustrated me a lot). The best part about this book is that it shows that two people with completely opposite visions of the world can find common ground.
I really liked this book and will look for more books by Emily Henry.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Cursing, Car accident, Alcohol
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Addiction, Cursing
Minor: Alcoholism, Misogyny