Beach Read

by Emily Henry

[Sam@WLABB]

Rating: 4.5 Stars

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.

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