Read this and other book reviews at www.travelthroughfiction.com!

In Beach Read by Emily Henry, we cozy up in a beach home in North Bear Shores, MI with January and Gus as they challenge each other in a genre-swap writing challenge. Don’t forget to pack a swimsuit.

Bite-Sized Summary

Beach Read is a romantic contemporary, told from the perspective of a hopeless romantic gone rogue. Life hit her hard and fast with her father passing away and a long-term relationship ending, leaving her floundering as a romance author. Her next book is due soon and she can’t force herself to write about a topic that she’s lost faith in: romance. January is forced to move to her Dad’s beach house due to her being broke and unmotivated to write. On her first night at the beach house, she meets her new neighbor for the second time, Augustus Everett. He challenges her to write a literary fiction piece to break out of her writer’s block, while he tries to take on the romance genre to break out of his.

Going In Expectations

Emily Henry’s latest masterpiece has hit BookTube and BookTwitter by storm, which is why I wanted to read it. It was definitely a hype read, but I loved the premise because I’m a writer. I love reading books about writers. Plus, it’s a romance and I was in the mood for one. It seemed like a perfect summer read.

Raves & Critiques

I can’t find anything that I didn’t like. This book is not what I expected, but in the best way possible. I was expecting a lighthearted romance read to enjoy on the beach. This was not it.

Beach Read hits hard for a romance. I’m not one for adult books, much less adult romance, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. When January and Gus trade places in genre, they both realize that there’s value in the genre they’re attempting to write. January realizes that life sucks and she is allowed to put that into her writing. Gus realizes that love is possible and that happy endings are subjective.

If you’re a writer, please read this. It will make you want to write. Every other chapter, I was itching to put down the book and zoom over to my laptop. The writer’s life that Henry describes is fitting for anyone who writes, published or otherwise. The writer’s block is real. The way writers find their motivation is well represented, as well as the methodology behind drafting.

One vocabulary word had me laughing my ass off because it’s so true: the Drafting Diet is real. When you’re hammering out a draft, your diet changes. What’s your drafting diet (leave in comments below!)? Mine consists of gummy candy of all kinds, crap-tons of coffee, iced tea, and microwave meals. The lifestyle of an author is what I loved reading about most in this novel, even though there was a lot of love.

The relationship between January and Gus was authentic. You could feel the heat (yes, it gets steamy in a few scenes) and you can feel the distress of a legit adult relationship. The supporting characters were great, the setting was well developed, and the plot was amazing. I feel as though January and Gus are part of my life now. I will be re-reading Beach Read during the summers to come, just to visit them and say hi.

Reason for Rating ~ Should You Read It?

I would recommend Beach Read for anyone who loves contemporary romance stories, writers of any genre, and anyone in the mood for a summer read. Just keep in mind, that even though this is perfect for summer… this book is drenched in reality and will hit all of the feels.