Beach Read

by Emily Henry

[scarr]

I remember the first time I saw the title of this book . . . I thought, "hmm, I bet it's a light and fun romance taking on the whole we read light and fun books at the beach (if you go to the beach, which I do not as a goth babe)". I was partially correct: the book is an interesting take on romantic beach reads. But this book is not light and fun and fluffy. This book is a slow-burning romance that deals with a lot of big, complicated feels. Not really enemies-to-lovers or friends-to-lovers, not exactly second-chance-romance or insta-love, this book is deep af. The characters are complicated and so are their histories.

When I think about the Romance genre, I think about all the ways Romance is underrated or overlooked often because it's considered "for women" thus weak sappy shit. Everyone who thinks that is wrong and their literary criticisms cannot be trusted. It is ok to prefer one genre over the other, HOWEVER Romance is as worthy as any, "coldly horny, Hemmingway circle jerk" book by whatever guy the media is fawning over.

This book is, for me and along with many other books, a perfect example of what Romance can ben or what any great book can be.