Book Review: Beach Read by Emily Henry

GOODREADS SUMMARY:

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.

Until, 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.

TEE"S REVIEW:

I will admit, I am a huge beach book reader, they are usually fun fast reads, and Beach Read was exactly that.  This was a book I needed after reading a long stretch of serious books, it was refreshing.

January, who is a romance writer has given up on love, she no longer believes in what she writes. Her love life has gone sour and she finds out that her now-dead father has had an affair for several years. So she runs off to North Bear Shores to the lake cottage she has inherited from her father. The cottage that was his and the other woman’s place. There she will spend the next three months writing a book she needs to write, to get her publisher off her back, and because she is broke.

Next door is literary writer Augustus Everett, who is in his own writer's rut. Recently divorced, he has bought the cottage next door. One beer-filled night after arguing about their writing styles they strike up a deal that will hopefully get them out of their writer's block. They will swap genres, Augustus will write a romance, and January will write a book that does not end with a happy ending.

The characters know how to get under each other's skin, and they each have a few unresolved feelings about the other that go back to when they had some classes together in college. I liked both January and Gus, they each have great personalities despite their problems. They also felt real, and sometimes that is hard for an author to accomplish in a book. Their conversations were funny and witty, but there are times that the comedy is put aside and serious topics were tackled between the two.

This book proves shows that opposites do attract, that you can have second chances. It is heartfelt and funny, and Emily Henry keeps you on your toes with the relationships in the book. You will laugh, and you will cry, you will love Beach Reads.