kiracanread
Written on Jun 16, 2020
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for an honest review.
FROM THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION AND BOOK LOVERS!
A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever afters.
Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.
They’re polar opposites.
In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they're living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer's block.
Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he’ll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really.
- ISBN10 1984806734
- ISBN13 9781984806734
- Publish Date 19 May 2020 (first published 18 May 2020)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Berkley
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 400
- Language English
- URL https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781984806734
Reviews
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for an honest review.
alindstadtcorbeax
Written on Jun 9, 2020
Pure joy in paperback form!!
RTC
leahrosereads
Written on May 4, 2020
Also, I loved all the additional storytelling since the characters were both authors. It added a really clever element that I really wanted more of.
Sam@WLABB
Written on Mar 31, 2020
Every romance January has ever written was based on her parents. She thought they were the embodiment of the HEA, but she learns a hard truth after her father's death, and it shatters her world. Looking to recapture her writing magic, she moves into the beach house, her father's OTHER home. Once there, she finds her neighbor to be none other than her college rival, Gus. Challenges are made, and sparks fly, as these two try to untangle their personal issues, and hope to overcome them.
Wow! This book really hit me in the feels. I couldn't imagine being in January's shoes, being forced to deal with so much loss at one time. It wasn't just the loss of people and tangible things, but the loss of things she believed in, which once served as her foundation. This was quite a moving journey, and I am happy to say, it culminated in so many wonderful things.
The Premise
I loved the idea of January's neighbor being someone from her past. And, not only some rando from her past, but someone who had motivated her to be her best, and was also a romantic "almost". That bit of history was utilized so well by Henry. Their competitive nature led to the challenge, that they would write a book in the other's genre. Ha! Easy peasy. Or, so they thought.
Multiple delights resulted from this challenge. I loved learning about their process, and getting peeks at their works in progress. Being inside the mind of a writer was quite interesting and enlightening, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I won't lie, the weekend research excursions were some of my favorite parts. The rom-com trips were pretty much pure fun, and though the literary fiction outings often had a bit more serious tone, I was impressed with how they fit with the overall themes of this story.
The Characters
I was captivated by both January and Gus. They were complex and complicated. They were so layered, and I loved discovering each new facet of their being. Both were suffering some serious wounds. They were sort of down, but not out. Needless to say, the exchanges between these two was stupendous. Nothing like two celebrated authors bantering with each other. The whip smart dialog between these two made me forget time even existed, and also made me sad every time it ended. I just wanted to sit out on the porch, and listen to them all day.
The Romance
I did classify this as women's fiction, because for me, January's life and her issues seemed to dominate the story. But, make no mistake, there was a strong romantic element in this book. I am a sucker for seeing people getting their second chance at love. With these two, it was a missed opportunity, and now, they were both sort of jaded, when it came to love. Seeing them become friends, and expose their hurts to one another was quite beautiful, but it was even better to see them give in to their attraction. Lots of fun and cute romantic moments were shared between them, which left me elated, and yeah, they were pretty much fire together, as well.
The Ending
Seriously! Can we get a standing ovation for that ending
There were emotional moments for me throughout this book, but from the 87% mark on, I was shedding some sort of tears. Happy, sad, joyful - name the tears, I probably shed them. I was so taken by the beauty of the times Henry shared, and her approach to this part of the story was brilliant. Shoot! I'm crying right now, as I relive reading those pages. By the very end, I was on my feet applauding the magnificence of that ending. My heart may have actually exploded as my face cracked in half from the HUGE smile I was wearing. In a word, it was PERFECTION.
Overall, I absolutely loved Henry's adult debut. She has dazzled me with her YA stories, and now again, with this fantastic book.
*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.
BLOG | INSTAGRAM |TWITTER | BLOGLOVIN | FRIEND ME ON GOODREADS
Leigha
Written on Feb 3, 2020
Romance writer January Winters and literary fiction darling Augustus Everett trade genres in this entertaining adult contemporary romance.
The cutesy cover pulled me into requesting this book on NetGalley. While the cover gives off hardcore rom-com vibes, it has a bit more drama than I anticipated. It’s not bad, but the cover and synopsis are a little misleading.
Much of the novel is January coming to terms with the grief at her father’s passing. A damning secret of his comes out after his death, completely wrecking January. I’m lucky to have never lost a parent, but the emotions she experiences seemed genuine. More time spent with her interacting with her mother would have been rewarding. Augusta is also working through some emotional issues, which made the book feel evenly balanced between the two main protagonist.
January and Augusta have a super delicious slow burn romance. It’s built methodically piece by piece to make for a satisfying relationship. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the catalyst pushing forward their DTR (determine the relationship) moment. Listen, if my or my husband’s ex had appeared after we started our romance, we would have pointed them to the door faster than you can say bye. It felt unnecessary and cheesy, despite its foreshadowing.
tl;dr A dramady with compelling characters, a delicious slow-burn romance, and a cutesy cover make this a must-read.
Read more reviews at Shelfleigh.