Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Beach Read

Cute moments, but Gus just doesn't sit well with me. He's a playboy with no redeeming qualities other than a sense of humor. Why would you want someone who acts like women are objects? He treats January badly several times, as seen when

he takes a full day to consider whether to leave her for his ex-wife. He ignores January, doesn't consider her feelings, and has the audacity to feel like he has a right to "decide if she's worth it".

In my eyes, he's not a good man. It ruined his character for me, I didn't want them to be together, I wanted her to tell him to fuck off after his final "decision". The story seemed cookie-cutter to me after reading Henry's other works. I know this was her first novel, but it to closely followed the standard formula. It felt cheap when I compared it to Book Lovers or People We Meet on Vacation. I add half a star for January's character, who is relatable while still having her own personality. She is a good female lead, although not groundbreaking.

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saeruh's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective sad

5.0

This book was made for the girlies with dead dads. Such beautiful writing. I loved this book and yet at times I absolutely hated it because I understood the main character, January, so well. Had me sobbing in the middle of a work day so be prepared that while this is a romance novel and deals with two people falling in love, it also deals heavily with grief, abusive situations and the trauma that leaves, how good people end up in bad situations, and the simple factors of life and emotions. This book can be represented well musically by phoebe bridgers’ album Punisher and specifically the song “Kyoto” off of it.
My biggest problems were that I felt like January was never really described so I never knew how to picture her in my head and also Gus and his continual closed-off-ness made me annoyed at him during parts. But any book that makes me cry like this deserves 5 stars.

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joeypriestley's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

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jadyn_renee62's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted 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? It's complicated

5.0

i love this book so much it has that romcom feeling that i just love. it has a lot of great characters and side characters, which you get to learn a lot about, so it makes it 10 times better. it makes you feel like you’re really there with them and friends with all of them.

i love the fact that he fell for her first and how she always thought he thought poorly of her but really he was basically in love with her the whole time and i think the timing that he told her was just perfect and it didn’t feel forced at all

over all i loved this book it’s definitely one of my favs and i love her writing style

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