Book Review: Beach Read by Emily Henry

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Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a Happily Ever After, he kills off his entire cast. They're polar opposites. In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months they're living in neighboring beach houses, broke and bogged down with writer's block. Then one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She'll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he'll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really. ~~~~ I loved this story. I loved that it was about writers. I loved that it was about writers with writers block. I loved that it was a friends to lovers trope as well as a second chance trope. I agree with one person who said they didn't really think it was a "beach" or "summer" read. But I enjoyed it nonetheless. When these two writers meet they both have writers block. They decide to switch genres and write the type of novel the other writes. January shows Gus about dating and romance. Gus shows January how to research real stories. It's during these outings they become close. In the background is something January is dealing with. After her father passes away she finds how that he had another lover, another home, another life. And she is dealing with that. That was an interesting plot line and added to the "just romance" story. I also feel there was a little secret matchmaking going on by the woman who owns the coffee shop/bookstore. Another great read by Emily Henry.