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emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual content, Death of parent
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Grief
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
A truly spectacular romance book, "Beach Read" gets my five-star rating for the following reasons:
1. Despite being a romance book, it doesn't feel like eating pure sugar. By including Gus's character, Henry creates a world that is, at times, truly awful -- and yet the characters manage to earn their happy ending anyway.
2. A spectacularly creative premise, grounded in realistic experience
3. The wonderful emotional hurt/comfort scenes that hit all the notes
1. Despite being a romance book, it doesn't feel like eating pure sugar. By including Gus's character, Henry creates a world that is, at times, truly awful -- and yet the characters manage to earn their happy ending anyway.
2. A spectacularly creative premise, grounded in realistic experience
3. The wonderful emotional hurt/comfort scenes that hit all the notes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit, Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Suicide, Torture
Minor: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse
The premise of the book starts with the death of a major character's parent, and one major character arc is on reconciling that character's adultery. Main characters discuss a parent's previous battle with cancer, but the cancer remains in remission throughout the entire book timeline and said character only shows up a couple of times.
A side plot on the book focuses on investigating a suicide cult; multiple side characters interview with the main characters, describing specifics (though not graphically) and at one point the main characters visit the site of the cult. Physically and emotionally abusive practices of the cult are discussed, though again, not graphically.
A major character has a backstory of emotional and physical abuse from a parent which largely forms their character arc. The abuse itself is never depicted, but is discussed and consequences are clear in the character's actions. Said major character admits to having a mental health disorder, taking medication and being in therapy; it's a one-off line, and the specifics of this and diagnosis in question are never discussed.
A major character vomits in the carnival scene, prompting the other major character to admit they are emotophobic. Said emetophobia is brought up a couple more times (sometimes in a teasing fashion), but usually handled respectfully. If a reader skips a few lines, they can get past the part of the vomit scene that is potentially triggering.
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
soooo cute. read all but the last 50 pages in one day. 🥺
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, Infidelity, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent
Minor: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Vomit
emotional
funny
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Grief, Death of parent
Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse
emotional
hopeful
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:
No
Oh. My. Goodness. This book. I absolutely loved this story. When books can make you feel every single emotion, you know that the author has done something amazing. I giggled and laughed, felt all the warm fuzzies, but also sobbed my eyes out and grieved with January.
The romance in this book was fantastic. I was invested in Gus and January from the very beginning. I felt that their relationship developed so naturally. The tension, the banter, the chemistry, they had it all. I also love how the recognized each other's faults, but fully embraced them in one another. I rooted for them constantly and loved watching them fall in love with one another.
The grief aspect of this book was so well done. The things that January felt and expressed made me feel seen. Grief does change who you are, and you have no idea how to deal with this new person you become. I thought this was handled with great care and respect by the author.
I did this as an audiobook and the narrator was absolutely fantastic. She put so much feeling with her narration and it really just made the story for me.
So so so good, highly recommend this book.
The romance in this book was fantastic. I was invested in Gus and January from the very beginning. I felt that their relationship developed so naturally. The tension, the banter, the chemistry, they had it all. I also love how the recognized each other's faults, but fully embraced them in one another. I rooted for them constantly and loved watching them fall in love with one another.
The grief aspect of this book was so well done. The things that January felt and expressed made me feel seen. Grief does change who you are, and you have no idea how to deal with this new person you become. I thought this was handled with great care and respect by the author.
I did this as an audiobook and the narrator was absolutely fantastic. She put so much feeling with her narration and it really just made the story for me.
So so so good, highly recommend this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Vomit
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent
Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder
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
Sweet, funny, relatable, and while a little dramatic at times, what good love story isn't? The characters are delightfully nuanced. Of course, there'd be little story if the protagonists would just have an adult conversation or two, but their lapse is forgivable.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent
Minor: Child death, Drug use, Physical abuse
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
For my full review of this book and more, visit my blog at: https://leahs-books.com/2021/01/07/beach-read/
Let me start out by saying that this is my first time writing an official review on my blog for an audiobook, and this is a whole different animal. So please don’t get mad that I didn’t include any quotes — it’s super hard to get verbatim quotes while listening to an audiobook.
I have no idea why I was so resistant to reading this book initially, because it’s absolutely amazing! What isn’t to like — two authors with writer’s block living next door to each other, in a writing competition against each other, where they’re guaranteed not to fall in love. What could possibly go wrong?
The narrator was cast perfectly. Her voice was exactly as I’d have pictured January’s to be in my head, and it made her character feel so much more real to me. Also, for some reason, I’ve noticed that the funny parts sound so much funnier when they’re read out loud for some reason. And there were a lot of funny parts!
Even with all of the funny parts, there was also a lot of angst involved in the story as well. Both January and Augustus have their own challenges, but we don’t learn about his until much later in the book. January has lost her faith in romance after her father’s death and what she learned about him. How can she continue writing the romances that she’s known for? No wonder she’s got writer’s block! So when she and Gus strike a deal to swap genres, I knew this was going to be great.
They start going on weekly research outings. Gus takes January on dark and twisty field trips, and she brings him out on sweet and romantic ones. But part of the deal involves them not falling in love with each other. I think it’s pretty obvious what is going to happen. There’s plenty of pining, and this was not anything close to the fluffy read that I was expecting. It was so much more than I could have hoped for.
Along the way, we meet some awesome supporting characters. I especially loved Pete and Shadi, who added depth and personality to the story. They’re hilarious, and Shadi is the perfect example of a true ride-or-die friend. You know, the kind who can make you laugh even when you don’t want to, the one who knows exactly what to say or do no matter what is going on, and the one who will drop everything and come running when you need them. She’s the friend that every woman needs. Pete is the no-nonsense aunt who tells it like it is, even if she has no idea how terrible her drinks are. And the one quote that sticks out to me is the book club that January jokingly refers to as:
“…spies and liquefied pies.”
That one made me laugh out loud. But that certainly wasn’t the only funny line in the story. I loved everything about this book. I went from laughing at some points, to feeling the pain and frustration that these characters were experiencing, and crying (both happy and sad tears) multiple times throughout the story. This is absolutely a book not to miss, and it’s definitely worth all the hype. Just in case I’m not the last person in the bookish world to read it, and you haven’t read it yet, go pick it up!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Infidelity, Grief
Moderate: Death
Minor: Alcoholism, Physical abuse
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I feel like I shouldn’t have to preface this, buuuuut I’m quite a newb to the adult contemporary romance genre as I am still a baby adult. And I’m not really sure why this one grabbed my attention out of all the adult romances that are gaining popularity at lightning speed, but it was probably Jenna Clare
I really loved the premise of two writers stuck in this small beach town and both struggling with their novels. Obviously, the ideal time to read this book would be in the summer, preferably read on a beach, but I only recently acquired this book, and so I used it to help cure my seasonal depression and hatred of winter. I do wish the beach setting had been used more in the story and it could have been more vivid.
Something I really like about this particular romance storyline is that, on the surface, it seems very tropey, but it’s really not. There’s a little bit of second chance romance, enemies to lovers, and slow burn, but it isn’t cliche at all. It takes the basic elements of those tropes and uses them totally differently. January and Gus used to know each other, but not really romantically, the author halts their attempts to be enemies, and instead of feeling the pain of a slow burn, it actually felt a bit normal. Maybe I’m the only one who expects relationships to progress at least a little bit slowly, instead of just one date, and instant hookups, but idk. January and Gus are both really struggling with a lot of things: their writing careers, past relationships, old family drama, and certain fear of starting new relationships. Their relationship with each other slowly develops into something that they each cling to, a bit of hope and a glimpse of happiness I think. A beacon of light. They had lots of flirty banter, but equally as many (if not more) heavy, but tender and graciously handled discussions about grief, getting older, family, and forgiveness. For some reason, I’ve been (accidentally) reading a lot of books lately that are about family relationships and family secrets. I loved that this book balanced the heartwarming romance with the tough conversations.
After a whole book discussing the merits of happy endings, Emily Henry actually had me questioning whether she would deliver one for Gus and January or not.
One weird thing I had with this book is the breaking of the fourth wall. Maybe it comes with having writers as protagonists, but there was several comments like, “if this were a book I was writing, it would happen like this…” It was just a little weird at times. I really would love to read both the books that Gus and January wrote. Maybe the adult version of Fangirl turned Carry On.
This book could have been a 5 star read for me if I had related to the characters a bit more. I think it’s also something I might enjoy even more a second go around, or possibly several years into the future when I’m older.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Infidelity, Physical abuse