I immediately warmed to the characters January and Gus both who have emotional baggage. January is a hopeless romantic but her equilibrium is completely unbalanced when she finds out a shocking secret about her father. She heads to the lakeside house to sort out his affairs and meets her neighbour Gus, she has met Gus before at College and both are now writers. January writes women’s fiction which Gus was quite scornful about as Gus writes serious literary fiction. Neither can write at this time due to their circumstances so they have a bet that they will write a book in each others genre and who ever sells it will endorse the others book. First though they have to do some research which is really funny and enlightening for them both. This book has everything it is sad, poignant, funny and entertaining, I loved watching the characters on their journey and there are some real laugh out loud moments. This book is perfect for this weather and lying in the sun with a cold drink. Bliss !

When I say I want to read romance, this is what I mean. This book. This exact book. Oh, that cover is a beautiful lie. It conjures feelings of a light flirty summer romance in which both main characters fall head of heels for each other and have a happily ever after. The story of January and Gus is not a light flirty summer romance. It is not a happily ever after. It is the book my heart always wanted to read but didn’t know until now. Both January and Augustus (Gus for anyone who knew him before his books were published) are flawed. They are both broken. The walls are pretty much crumbling around them. Their story started long before this book began. A decade ago in college. In the same creative writing programme. ‘Let me guess: everyone live happily ever after. Again’ Moving in to house she didn’t know existed until her fathers death, January is mostly shattered. Meeting a dismissive, grumpy neighbour in the early hours of the morning - sitting on his deck while a party raged inside his house - only to find out that he’s her college rival the next day, only heightens the emotions currently battling their way through her, Her life used to be a fairy tale. The parents who loved each other completely, faced trials and came out on top. They adored her and showed her that happy ends are real. She had the heart of a romantic which made each day seem to shine. Until it didn’t. This book delighted me. It was messy and slightly dark and everything i could ever want in a romance. Two people who are broken and hurting but managed to be a little bit less when they were with each other. A rivalry, which turned into not friends exactly, a mutual bet and then companions. An odd slop of getting to know someone in the now but not really their past or what has driven them to have changed so much. A beautiful unravelling. A happy for now.

Here I go again. This was an absolutely brilliant plot, my genres are murder, mystery, suspense and I don’t usually pick up romcom. However, after joining Netgalley and starting to review different genres I was fortunate enough to receive Beach Read to review. And thank goodness I did. I freakin loved it! I laughed, cried, got frustrated and just couldn’t put this down. I took pleasure in every word, the style of writing was so easy to read. A magnificent page turner. I could read this again and probably will. I never do that but this was such a great story. Can’t believe this is a debut novel. Well done Emily Henry. I applaud you! We all need to lose ourselves in a book, especially these days. The banter is so realistic, witty and incredibly sharp. Henry covers some emotional experiences including deceit, adultery, cancer, death and suicide, which she deals with sensitively. However overall there is a great good feel factor. Romance at its best. I loved all of the characters, two authors, both on a deadline with writer’s block. January moves in next door to Gus, into a house that she found out about after her father’s death, who you imagine is a tad handsome and fit, Gus not her father, would just like to point that out. She writes happy every after, he writes about the darker side and after a night following a few drinks they switched genre, hilarious. Having a bet to each write in the style of the other made it a lot more interesting. They knew each other from college and to be honest, I thought the attraction between them started back then. It was delightful working my way through the book, each chapter developing the romance between the two main characters. However, there’s more to it than a developing romance between these two, you’ll have to read it to find out what for yourselves. Great ending! I loved the ending and would wholeheartedly recommend Beach Read. Thank you to the author, Netgalley and Penguin Books UK this ARC provided in exchange for this unbiased review.

This book was frankly delightful. It had just the right balance of summery fun atmosphere and serious conversations around grief and trauma. The characters are well written and feel well developed. It was a very enjoyable, cute romance and fun to read. I think that there is a lot within this book that could resonate with a large variety of people. Honestly, just everything about this book- the characters, the setting, the book club, Pete, the cult, the Taylor Swift references- made for an incredible story. My only gripe with the book was that it slightly slowed down in the middle but that was remedied towards the end. It was also not as enemies-to-lovers as I was expecting- by no fault of the book's- because of how it was recommended by some people online so if that is what you are looking for, this may not be the book for you but I enjoyed it none the less. Trigger warning for this book include adultery, death of a parent, cancer, cults, grief

I’m going to preface this whole review by saying this was not the totally light read that I was expecting, with more serious tones to the story than I thought. BUT it was an easy reading experience with two characters that engaged the pages immediately and who had the most interesting yet heavy baggage. The idea of two authors writing in different genres was an enticing one and the context did not disappoint. The grudging friendship and buddy writing including exposure to one another’s processes enriched the story as they navigated their mutual emotional mess and writer’s block. I’ll take you through my research process. I’ll help you lean into your latent nihilism, and you’ll teach me how to sing like no one’s listening, dance like no one’s watching and love like I’ve never been hurt before. January’s family situation had me wanting some answers all the way through and Gus’ elusiveness about revealing himself also left me guessing. Some of reveals about Gus had me giddy with the feels. Why does this book deserve the hype it’s getting? The dialogue was a dream, I highlighted almost nonsensically as I read, loving how Gus and January interacted with one another through their friendship and journey to more. My favourite moments had to be some of the window notes. January in particular was the queen of the killer quip and I adored her sharp-shooting humour. BEACH READ seems to be the it-read of the summer season and I can’t argue with that. It wasn’t hard to pick up but it’s definitely hard to put down. I’m joining the crowd of people recommending you pick this one up.