A review by sonygaystation
Beach Read, by Emily Henry
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
3.50/3.75 because I can’t tell how I feel. Woman with problems eerily similar to my own with whom I share a birthday was not a good mix for me. Being in her head with first-person PoV as she deals with a lot of difficult, personal stuff was overwhelming. Bad time in my life to read this, needless to say. Idk maybe others can enjoy this as a romance or romantic comedy novel but I sorta never wanna read it again?
Tonally this book blindsided me. I like to go into books solely on the recommendation of someone I know without actually reading the blurb, but sometimes that does me really dirty. 2020 has been cruel (as I’m sure it has for many) and I think if I had read about these problems last year when I couldn’t literally personally identify with them, or maybe in a couple years when I’ve had time to settle with them, it might not have put me off as much. But here we are. I enjoyed the development but I’m glad to be done. Idk, it’s not even a bad novel. Just absolutely was NOT a comfort read for me, which is what I want when I choose to read romance/romantic comedies/HEAs.
All of this being said, I loved Gus. He carried the entire novel. He was so funny and also he broke my heart (“no one had chosen Gus” *literally* made me emotional) so naturally he is my favourite. I would devour a thousand more Gus-es. January though? Not so much. She is sarcastic and aggressive, oblivious and yet bonkers judgmental, and also the world’s most infuriatingly unreliable narrator. I disliked the first 120 pages of this book so much because of her and her unbelievable inability to let go of opinions that have little to no basis in any exemplified truth (re: all of Gus’s actions this entire novel) that I almost returned it to the library, but Gus had me holding on. I’m glad I did because he makes this book extremely worth it. I sympathized a lot with him and I think January needed to cut him a little more slack than she did for nearly the whole book. I just loved him!!!!
Aside from the super shifting tone/plot and January’s infuriating personality, I think what kept me from loving this book was the writing style. Here is a list of things Gus’s eyes did in this book that I, swear to god, am not making up: flashed, leapt, flinched (what does this mean?), bounced, displayed the illusion of flames. To change up the uncomfortably descriptive adjective-noun pairings, at one point Gus’s mouth “judders” and imagining the physics of that stressed me out so much I put my kindle down for a moment. Sometimes I wish desperately to be everyone’s copy editor because mechanics like that make me itchy and also, I want to remind authors to not have their characters scratching fresh tattoos, especially when said tattoo is a giant inked in ball. That is my villain origin story.
But, and I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this enough already, I loved Gus a LOT. Like one of my favourite characters I’ve read this year. I would own this book specifically for him. He deserves all good things happening to him and I owe him several important chunks of my brain that lit up a little too much during the emotional beats of this book.
Tonally this book blindsided me. I like to go into books solely on the recommendation of someone I know without actually reading the blurb, but sometimes that does me really dirty. 2020 has been cruel (as I’m sure it has for many) and I think if I had read about these problems last year when I couldn’t literally personally identify with them, or maybe in a couple years when I’ve had time to settle with them, it might not have put me off as much. But here we are. I enjoyed the development but I’m glad to be done. Idk, it’s not even a bad novel. Just absolutely was NOT a comfort read for me, which is what I want when I choose to read romance/romantic comedies/HEAs.
All of this being said, I loved Gus. He carried the entire novel. He was so funny and also he broke my heart (“no one had chosen Gus” *literally* made me emotional) so naturally he is my favourite. I would devour a thousand more Gus-es. January though? Not so much. She is sarcastic and aggressive, oblivious and yet bonkers judgmental, and also the world’s most infuriatingly unreliable narrator. I disliked the first 120 pages of this book so much because of her and her unbelievable inability to let go of opinions that have little to no basis in any exemplified truth (re: all of Gus’s actions this entire novel) that I almost returned it to the library, but Gus had me holding on. I’m glad I did because he makes this book extremely worth it. I sympathized a lot with him and I think January needed to cut him a little more slack than she did for nearly the whole book. I just loved him!!!!
Aside from the super shifting tone/plot and January’s infuriating personality, I think what kept me from loving this book was the writing style. Here is a list of things Gus’s eyes did in this book that I, swear to god, am not making up: flashed, leapt, flinched (what does this mean?), bounced, displayed the illusion of flames. To change up the uncomfortably descriptive adjective-noun pairings, at one point Gus’s mouth “judders” and imagining the physics of that stressed me out so much I put my kindle down for a moment. Sometimes I wish desperately to be everyone’s copy editor because mechanics like that make me itchy and also, I want to remind authors to not have their characters scratching fresh tattoos, especially when said tattoo is a giant inked in ball. That is my villain origin story.
But, and I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this enough already, I loved Gus a LOT. Like one of my favourite characters I’ve read this year. I would own this book specifically for him. He deserves all good things happening to him and I owe him several important chunks of my brain that lit up a little too much during the emotional beats of this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Cancer, Child abuse, Sexual content, and Vomit
Moderate: Cursing and Infidelity
Minor: Medical content