Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - Beach Read

Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Beach Read by Emily Henry

314 reviews

nataliapassos's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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

ahrensnug's review against another edition

Too much death cult, not enough fun beach times. The main characters are both so serious. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood to read it, but when I see a poppy, bright cover on a "lighthearted beach read" book, I assume it's going to be lighthearted and fun time. This was my second Emily Henry book after reading People we Meet on Vacation - which I thought was okay. But I'm not sure about giving their books a third try. I guess I'll go look for a light, fluffy book to fill this hole.

Content Warnings

xennial_reader's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Content Warnings

sami_leigh's review against another edition

5.0

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.

Content Warnings

beckyremillard's review against another edition

4.0

emotional hopeful 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

January inherits a house when her dad passes away, but unfortunately it’s the house he shared with his mistress.. Add to that, her next door neighbor is her rival from college, Gus.

It’s supposed to be enemies to lovers, but I didn’t get the vibes that they really hated each other at first. Seems more like competitive classmates to friends to lovers.

There’s definitely a lot that happens in the book between January’s family problems, Gus’ family problems, their friendship/relationship, and each of them writing their respective books. It didn’t feel like too much and it was interesting to get the story of January’s book within the book.

I’d rate this book as between slow and medium pace. It was a bit slower than my liking at first but picked up a bit later on.

Really random, but the sexual scenes in the basement and near the burned site of New Eden was cringe to me, solely due to location.

Content Warnings

b_carlson's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

After seeing this blow up on TikTok I got myself a copy. It has sat on my shelf for quite some time now until I picked it up a few days ago when I was looking for a cute, quick, romance to pull me back from the brink of a reading slump. I certainly got all of that but my goodness did I get so much more. This book somehow packs in processing grief, romance, a feminist critique on the book industry, cults, scandal and more without ever once feeling like it was too much. The dialogue in this book particularly stood out to me, it is rare that I actually physically laugh out loud while reading, usually I just think to myself "oh that was funny", but I can tell you I burst out laughing in this book. I laughed, I cried, I swooned, I drooled over the more spicy scenes (I wouldn't say this is a smutty book but it has some spice to it) and I got so much more than I ever expected with this one. It is proudly taking its place on my favourites shelf and I cannot wait to get into Emily Henry's next book.

Content Warnings

melanieolmo's review against another edition

4.5

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

Content Warnings

bookishkale's review against another edition

5.0

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!!

Content Warnings