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Graphic: Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Alcohol
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Grief, Religious bigotry
Minor: Vomit
Author: Emily Henry
Genre: Romance
Rating: 3.25
Pub Date: May 19, 2020
T H R E E • W O R D S
Fun • Deep • Over-hyped
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Augustus, an acclaimed author of literary fiction and January, a bestselling romance novelist are polar opposites. Each struggling with writer's block and dealing with personal demons, they find themselves living next door to one another for the summer. One evening they strike up a deal: Gus will write something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel.
💭 T H O U G H T S
Emily Henry's Beach Read has been absolutely everywhere, and so I fell victim to the hype and finally dove in. An original and deep plot with a side of romance is typically how I like my romance books, yet for me January and Gus lacked chemistry and I was expecting so, so, so much more from this novel.
There's no denying Emily Henry does banter unlike anyone else. It adds a lightness to often heavy content. With this book, there is excellent individual character growth, but I wasn't invested in the romance at all. In fact, I was way more invested in the plot and them writing their books. I felt as thought it started out strong, but faded by the midway point and never really regained traction. A few of the things I really appreciated were the exploration of grief, the east coast setting, and the letters.
For me, Beach Read was simply an average read, one I'll soon forget, which has me thinking Emily Henry's adult romances may just not be my cup of tea. I appreciate the depth of the plots, but the romance and lack of communication just don't cut it. With that said, I'll probably continue to read her books with hopes of finding one I really love.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• fans of the grump/sunshine and/or enemies to lovers trope(s)
• readers who like depth in their rom-coms
• Emily Henry fans
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"Bad things don't dig down through your life until the pit's so deep that nothing good will ever be big enough to make you happy again. No matter how much shit, there will always be wildflowers."
"Because I know no matter how long I get to love you, it will be worth whatever comes after."
"It was okay to let a little ugliness into your story. That it would never rob you of all the beauty."
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol
Minor: Cursing, Suicide, Vomit, Car accident
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
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol
Moderate: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse
Minor: Mental illness
Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Vomit, Murder
besides that, i loved it and cried many times.
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol
I loved Gus so much and I am a sucker for the "I've had a crush on you all along" trope.
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse
Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual content, Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, Alcohol
Minor: Emotional abuse
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.
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
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death of parent