Format: Book of the Month Hardback
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Page Length: 384 pages
Publisher: Berkley (May 19, 2020)
Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Mr. Darcy‘s Rating: “You have bewitched me, body and soul.”
A Chasing Mr. Darcy Review
I chose Beach Read by Emily Henry as my Book of the Month choice in May, and I was so excited to read it. This book came highly recommended by bookstagram, and it did not disappoint!
Here’s a summary from GoodReads: A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever afters. 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.
There are so many things I liked about Beach Read that I almost don't know where to start. I initially started out comparing this book to People We Meet on Vacation because I read it first, but truly, it has no comparison. Not anything against PWMOV (because that was a total 5 star read for me too), Beach Read offers a depth of emotion and connection that is really hard to find in contemporary romance novels. January and Gus are two characters I will root for until the bitter end; both characters brought both frailty and strength to the page in unparalleled ways.
January is struggling with the sudden death of her dad. More than that, though, she is struggling with the secret life her dad had that no one knew about, the repercussions to her relationship with her mother, and her own grief over losing her biggest champion. She's living in his secret home, getting rid of his secret things, while trying to salvage what's left of her writing career. She's under deadline, under pressure, and she has to dig herself out from under a huge hole. She's all on her own, and then she realizes her next door neighbor is none other than her college crush Gus. Truth be told, January almost broke me in this book. Her struggle with grief was so real to me I identified with her deeply; she would be my best book friend in real life. The chapters in which she read the letters from her dad were some of the best contemporary romance writing I've ever read.
Gus was the one January wanted in college, but couldn't admit it, act on it, or get his attention. She wanted his approval so badly as a writer, and one time, they almost got together...until they didn't. Little does she know Gus has carried a torch for her throughout the years too, even if he does have a funny way of showing it. When they reunite years later, the sparks fly. Both come with a unique set of baggage, and I loved the way Gus' baggage was unveiled in layers. As readers, we know he's a complicated character...that's clear from the beginning. What we don't know is why. As we slowly get to know Gus and the weight he carries with him every day, we get to know a person who is as real as flesh and bone. Gus is relatable while also being a dark and twisty character that Meredith Grey would also love. January brings balance to Gus, and I loved watching them fumble through their relationship.
I think what I loved most about this book was Gus and January. I can't say that I finished this book thinking Gus was my new book boyfriend, because I didn't. Did I finish the book a little bit in love with him? Yes. Why is he not my book boyfriend, then, you might ask? Because he belongs to January in a way that I cannot compete with even in a fictional world. That's how powerful their relationship is in this story. I don't even want to compete with January (albeit, fictionally) because she and Gus are so perfectly imperfect for each other I don't want to think about a world in which they are not together. They bring the light and the dark to each other, and they bring balance to each other just like we all hope to have in our own relationships. They are couple goals in the purest form, and I'm so glad I read this story.
Read Beach Read. I'll say it again. Read Beach Read. You won't be sorry. In fact, I'll go a step further and say read everything Emily Henry writes.
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