Book Review - Beach Read
16.04.2020
I haven’t written here for a few days while I try to keep up to speed with this whole new way of living. In the meantime I was craving a bit of escapism through reading and when this one popped up on Netgalley I was immediately keen.
It was a great call on my part. Beach Read was a perfect antidote to the everyday stress of living in quarantine, which we’re all experiencing at the moment. It was fluffy and fun but also dug that little bit deeper to explore grief, love and loss. The romance aspect of the book worked perfectly, the sex scenes were very well-written and the explorations into love and longer lasting relationships added an extra layer of will they-won't they. I was hooked from the beginning, as January arrived at her late father's beach house and started to explore the wild mix of emotions that had been dogging her since his death including the bombshell of discovering Sonya, a woman he'd been cheating on her mother with, at his funeral. Henry manages to keep the book easily readable while digging into January's emotional state and the circumstances that created it. I thought the depictions of young January were extremely relatable and were at such odds with the protagonist as she now is.
The story follows January and (sexy evil) Gus as they try to beat writer's block by taking on the other's genre. As a writer there were parts of the descriptions of January's process that made me stop to take notes and I think any book lover will adore reading how an autobiographical story can become fiction, how research can be spun into narrative - a little peek into the experience of writing a novel! Both characters are well drawn and complex and the evolution of their relationship is realistically and satisfyingly paced. The format of each of them trying to ‘teach’ the other their genre in the way of research missions was cute, particularly as it allowed them to go on a variety of interesting ‘dates’.
I would have liked to see a little more of the other characters, particularly Shadi and Pete, and there were moments where I felt that I couldn't quite follow January and Gus' decisions and motivations. Particularly near to the end I felt that we began rushing a little bit and that there were a few interesting experiences that never quite got fully unpacked. That said, I thought this was a wonderful read and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. I’m excited for the next Emily Henry novel!
I received a free copy of the novel from Netgalley in return for an honest review. My only issue was that the formatting at the end of the Netgalley Kindle document was incorrect so it was extremely difficult to properly read the ending of the novel. I think I read it in the right order in the end though!
UK Publication Date: 09/07/2020 | Thank you to NetGalley for an advance digital copy