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jane_moriarty's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I explicitly saved this book for a holiday at the beach because I'm obsessed with reading the right book in the right location, but it seems like the timing wasn't right anyway. I wish this would have been more about the writing challenge and banter and rivalry and less drama and less January starting to cry as soon as Gus so much as mentions another woman. Of course it's still Emily Henry so it was enjoyable all in all.
Graphic: Grief and Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
amyisonline's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Sexual content and Alcohol
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Infidelity, Suicide, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Cursing, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury
page_not_found's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Grief and Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, Infidelity, Vomit, and Car accident
Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
cassidy_rain's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I’m finally caught up in the Emily Henry universe with this one! I will admit, I came into this with really high expectations because I know this is a lot of people’s faves. It didn’t beat out Funny Story for me, but it was cute.
Beach Read follows FMC January. She’s a romance author and following a bit of a rough patch in her life, moves out to her late dad’s lake house to finish her next book and empty out the house to sell. It also follows MMC, Augustus, who is January’s neighbor. He’s also an author, incredibly grumpy and sexy, and has a complicated past with January…
This did capture my attention from the beginning! The banter between characters early on is really good! I did find myself a bit bored and dragging through the middle of the story. A bit insta-lovey and miscommunication for my taste. But I will say, the characters do a good job of working through their miscommunication. I appreciated the real life issues and emotions from the side plots. Overall a cute love story! Just didn’t completely grip my attention from start to finish.
“Just tell me what you want for once. That's all I'm asking you to do.”
Graphic: Grief and Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer and Infidelity
Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury
sestout's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, Terminal illness, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury
cielosiluminado's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
And that was the moment I realized: when the world felt dark and scary, love could whisk you off to go dancing; laughter could take some of the pain away; beauty could punch holes in your fear. I decided then that my life would be full of all three.
january and gus were actually really cute and endearing. i really like how this was written and how their relationship progressed naturally. some things other (minor) characters did had me feeling meh, especially when those characters were given a type of redemption arc which i wasn’t about. but the book was still entertaining overall.
Graphic: Sexual content, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, and Infidelity
Minor: Domestic abuse, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury
showmethestars's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Cancer, Infidelity, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
sadiebugreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Cursing, Infidelity, Sexual content, Vomit, Medical content, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
emilyandthewhippet's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Some things of note:
-Bless her for
-The sarcastic banter. Top notch.
-You could cut the sexual tension with a knife.
-The part where
-
-Them finally
-The 'this can't get any worse, then the Labrador farted' bit 😂
- Further to this,
- Is it just me that found the ending really
- Mix that with
When I started the book, I hated it. It was the 'I'm a romance author and just luuuvv talking about my life in third person, oh what am I like!' but at the start that almost did me in but this was thankfully dropped almost immediately.
I almost stopped reading pretty quickly but I'm glad I kept on with it and ultimately, it was a really fun rom-com and exactly what I was in the mood for.
Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Moderate: Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Abandonment
Minor: Drug use
Cult, Suicide cult, Affairliterarypenguin's review against another edition
- 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
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!
Graphic: Sexual content, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, and Infidelity
Minor: Domestic abuse, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury