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A review by literarypenguin
Beach Read by Emily Henry
emotional
funny
inspiring
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
5.0
I spent the month of August reading all of Emily Henry's summertime romances, this was one of my first ones that I picked up for the month. This one is easily in the top three of my favorite Emily Henry novels to date!
Beach Read featured a beautiful summertime setting with North Bear Shores, a fictional lakeside town in Michigan. It was so lovely and the town was so full of life with it's buildings and cast of characters. Gus's aunt and her wife were two of my favorites in this town, her steadfast attitude mixed with her deep care and love for Gus was so sweet to see. For Gus to have someone in his corner throughout his whole life. I could imagine the shorelines and the beach houses lining them, I wish that this place existed and I could see the inspiration from the actual places in Michigan.
The two main characters of Augustus & January and their romance was heartwarming, sweet, and had all the spice you could want in a romance novel. Them as separate characters were equally as interesting and compelling! January, a romance writer who has a crisis of her firm beliefs in love and relationships was a relatable and sympathetic character. Her trying to find her self after loosing everything including her father. The part I really enjoyed was her journey to grieve and forgive her father after learning some harsh and unfortunate truths about him and his marriage to her mother. The same marriage that inspired her to become a romance writer in the first place. Having her confront those truths only to come out better on the other side was heartwarming and inspiring to see in the book. Towards the end one part with her father made me tear up reading it. Augustus or Gus as he likes to be called for heartbreaking reasons you find out later on in the book, his journey to write his next novel about actual grisly events and letting January in past his well constructed walls was cool to. Learning about his hard upbringing and why he was so cold in the first place, his view on love and why he didn't believe in.
The romance itself was sweet, spicy, and so so lovely! I loved the setup of them challenging each other to write a book in each other's genres was perfect for a romance to bloom among writers. Seeing how they went from being annoyed with each other to falling head over heels for each other felt organic and real. Them also coming together sharing traumas from their past and working through them together also made it even more wholesome. There was a good mix of sweet and sexy scenes and the romance flowed really well throughout the book.
I am so glad I gave this book a chance and am getting to read more of Emily Henry's works! Beach read is for sure going up there as one of my favorite of hers!
Beach Read featured a beautiful summertime setting with North Bear Shores, a fictional lakeside town in Michigan. It was so lovely and the town was so full of life with it's buildings and cast of characters. Gus's aunt and her wife were two of my favorites in this town, her steadfast attitude mixed with her deep care and love for Gus was so sweet to see. For Gus to have someone in his corner throughout his whole life. I could imagine the shorelines and the beach houses lining them, I wish that this place existed and I could see the inspiration from the actual places in Michigan.
The two main characters of Augustus & January and their romance was heartwarming, sweet, and had all the spice you could want in a romance novel. Them as separate characters were equally as interesting and compelling! January, a romance writer who has a crisis of her firm beliefs in love and relationships was a relatable and sympathetic character. Her trying to find her self after loosing everything including her father. The part I really enjoyed was her journey to grieve and forgive her father after learning some harsh and unfortunate truths about him and his marriage to her mother. The same marriage that inspired her to become a romance writer in the first place. Having her confront those truths only to come out better on the other side was heartwarming and inspiring to see in the book. Towards the end one part with her father made me tear up reading it. Augustus or Gus as he likes to be called for heartbreaking reasons you find out later on in the book, his journey to write his next novel about actual grisly events and letting January in past his well constructed walls was cool to. Learning about his hard upbringing and why he was so cold in the first place, his view on love and why he didn't believe in.
The romance itself was sweet, spicy, and so so lovely! I loved the setup of them challenging each other to write a book in each other's genres was perfect for a romance to bloom among writers. Seeing how they went from being annoyed with each other to falling head over heels for each other felt organic and real. Them also coming together sharing traumas from their past and working through them together also made it even more wholesome. There was a good mix of sweet and sexy scenes and the romance flowed really well throughout the book.
I am so glad I gave this book a chance and am getting to read more of Emily Henry's works! Beach read is for sure going up there as one of my favorite of hers!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Infidelity
Minor: Domestic abuse, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury