Beach Read

Written by Emily Henry

Narrated by Julia Whelan

FROM THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF FUNNY STORY!

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.

As featured in The New York Times Book Review ∙ Entertainment Weekly ∙ Oprah Magazine ∙ Betches ∙ Shondaland ∙ Good Morning America ∙ The New York Post ∙ Good Housekeeping ∙ CNN ∙ and more!

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Audio
• Release date: May 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9780593214213

Emily Henry

Dopo gli studi all’Hope College, si è specializzata in scrittura creativa al New York Center for Art & Media Studies. Adesso vive a Cincinnati, Ohio. Scrittrice bestseller del New York Times, per HarperCollins ha pubblicato Beach read. Romanzo D’estate e Book lovers. Un amore tra i libri.

Reviews for Beach Read

[bs8312 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book! I spend too much time debating on whether a book is worth a credit (or $15.00). But this book is definitely worth it. If you’re on the fence about buying it…..just do it. You won’t be disappointed.
I am usually more of a Romantasy fan but this book has convinced me to read more of Emily Henry’s books.

[wmembreno011 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Loved it!! Had me laughing, tearing up, and just kept me engaged throughout the whole book. It’s a good one, I recommend it.

[Adrielle Bollin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great characters, great storyline and great banter ? A perfect break from some of the heavier reads I've been steeped in for too long lol. I loved it!

[Payton Reagan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow this was just fantastic, it was exactly what I needed and i can’t wait to read more

[shearhappy86 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed my first Emily Henry book. It was a great fluffy rom com and I will definitely read another Emily Henry book

[bdsxt9xhh5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The absolute best book I have read in a while- I needed this refresher so badly

[kennabear08 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book was interesting. Not what I thought it would be. The author is a good writer and I liked the characters but it gets deep and thoughtful, a little bit depressing at times but it was a nice read.

[carmenksmith23 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was a good/decent romance book! Very cutesy. I would from this author.

[India Holloman · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Nothing is really ever perfect but this feels close enough. The characters felt real, their issues, their thoughts, their banter, their miscommunication and jumping to conclusions at times, their love. This is my favorite type of romance. REALISTIC with a sprinkle of movie romance. There wasn’t a moment I cringed, or wanted to put the book down. I finished in two days and felt very satisfied by the end. Even if we know how romances will end the journey there is always fun. This was a great light read!

[2wondery_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A romance, and also an exploration of writer’s block. It adequately addressed both.

[mercef_9 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Chick-lit romance if you need escapism.

[mickyfine · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

January Andrews is broke, heartbroken after her father's death and the family drama that came to light in the wake of that event, and suddenly finds herself no longer able to write the romance novels for which she's so well-known. In an effort to try and churn out the book she's contracted to write, she retreats to the lake cabin she recently discovered her father owned only to find herself living next door to Augustus Everett, who she knew and kind of hated in college. Augustus is also a bestselling author although he wouldn't know a happy ending if it hit him in the face and he's also struggling with writer's block. Through a confluence of events January and Augustus make a bet, she'll write a book in his style and he'll try to write a romance and to help inform that process they'll each take the other on weekly outings for research. Romance plot ensues.

I really enjoyed this novel and thought Henry did a great job of dealing with the baggage both January and Augustus bring with them, while also crafting a super cute romance. And that's saying something when some of Augustus's research trips involve digging into a suicide cult from the area. I'm starting to run out of backlist for Henry and I'm sad about it.

[lycomayflower · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was funnier, more substantive, and better than I expected. Not that I was expecting dreary, shallow, or bad, it was just all around *more* than I had anticipated. And one small section made me cry! Really glad that I finally got around to trying an Emily Henry.

[zach0rigo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fun read, not as invigorating as the last romance book I read, but still good and deep characters. Happy ending which was nice. I liked the part where January reads all the birthday letters her dad wrote her but only gave to her after he died. Overall good book, happy to have read it, but not good enough to want to read again

[wvlibrarydude · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this book for my book club the Random Readers. The assignment was to read a romance for February. I have read many a classic romance book, but other than Outlander, I would say I haven't really tried a romance. After going through reviews and lists, I found this book. I am glad I picked it in the end.
Beach Read focuses on January. She had a picture perfect life up to a year ago. As a child, her mother was diagnosed with cancer (doesn't sound beautiful does it?), and when her father finds out he whisks his wife and daughter up and takes them to a steak house for dinner and dancing. January remembrs that evening as a sign of her parent's deep love and she starts building a life to reflect that perfect love. Years later she is a successful romcom writer (hit 15 on bestseller list), has a serious boyfriend named Jacques and lives in New York City. Life crashes then when her father dies of a sudden heart attack. At the funeral, her father's mistress appears with a letter for January from her father and a key to a secret beach house in Michigan on Lake Michigan. Jacques leaves her, and on top of all of this she gets writer's block.
The summer after his death, January goes to the beach house to ready to sell it for the needed money and to hopefully write a book in three months. Lo and behold, January finds next door her old love interest and nemesis from creative writing school at U of M (Gus), who went on to write two literary bestsellers.
Quick finish up here.... The two get to talking and decide to challenge each other to write the style the other writes. Fridays and Saturdays are for research. Gus takes her to interviews and research a death cult, while January plans the perfect romance hookup spots. You can guess where the romance is going. The serious literary side will be January coming to grips with her father and his mistakes. Gus will have to face a broken marriage.
Two things I really enjoyed about this book. The first was the witty banter between Gus and January. It was comical and fun. The second interest was that I was reading about a romance writer talking about writing a romcom. What a funny twist.
Serious lit? No. Fun. Definitely.

[neckromancers · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was my introduction to romance books, and I am so happy it was. Emily Henry's writing is quick-witted, fun, and engaging. Even though you know exactly where the story is going and will end up, it's still so fun to go on the journey.

[jillhannah-910468 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another fun book by this author (my favorite so far is still People We Meet on Vacation) and if you've read both of these and her book Book Lovers, make sure to read the deleted epilogue for Beach Read on the author's website. It's a fun short follow-up on these three stories.
Again, I love the narrator of these books!

[sedodge-608996 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Yeah. It works. A fun, quick little read. Don't feel like the title is reflective of what the book actually is. I get the reference, but it just doesn't feel justified. The spice was good, and I liked the touch of "thriller" like material in there. That was fun. But overall it was just kinda meh. STill a good read that i would recommend, but it didn't get me jazzed

[jenniferforjoy · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Recommended: sure
for a different style of romance, for complex family betrayal and love, for a comforting quick read

Thoughts:
First things first: I don't think I'd consider this a beach read. Those are usually fluffier and light with the main issue the old trope where the characters just don't talk to each other and misunderstand something stupid. This book is not that. In fact, I was delighted that, for the most part, when they were hurt or angry or confused they did address it and talk to each other instead of letting idiocy fester. THANK YOU, EMILY HENRY.

This book is more balanced than that. There's pain and darkness in many forms. In the obvious ways, like investigating a cult and the deaths connected to it. In January's pain over her father's death as well as his newly-discovered infidelity. And there's pain in more complex ways, in Gus's search for what it is about him that makes people leave, and even in the way The Mistress has been forced into January's life. It's messy, and that makes it feel believable. It allowed me to feel for the characters as they struggled with their emotions. Can you both love and hate someone? Absolutely. That's something Futurama taught me long ago (#27).

An accomplishment in this story is making every character feel known. From aunts Pete and Maggie all the way to the mistress of January's father, I came away feeling like I had a good sense of who they were and their stances on the world.

You might be thinking, so why three stars if all I have to say are good things? Don't get me wrong: three stars means I enjoyed this book, and I thought it was well done! It just didn't have anything so remarkably new to me to blow me away. I teared up a bit, but not enough for it to really tie into my emotions. Ask me in a few months and I probably won't remember the details of this book so much; but I still enjoyed reading it, and would recommend it to anyone who is interested after taking a look at it!

[rmarcin-630843 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

January Andrews is devastated to learn that her dad was leading a double life. After his death, she inherits his beach house, and goes there to spend time contemplating how to write her next romance novel. But, she no longer believes that love is possible. She meets her grumpy next-door neighbor, Augustus (Gus) Everett, and realizes that he is her college nemesis. He always commented on her "happily ever after" endings, while he wrote more gritty stories. They strike an unlikely truce, that they will each learn and write the other's genre, taking each other on weekend trips to solidify the research. But, no one is allowed to fall in love.
Sweet story about second chances, and discovering what makes us happy.

[sublunarie · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

It's not a bad book, it's just not for me.

[kalliegrace · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Cute, not painful to get through for someone who doesn't particularly like romance...I appreciated that there weren't any huge misunderstandings. I wasn't swept away in this one though, so not a new favorite.

[geauxgetlit · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this Romcom about two writers who met in college and after her fathers death they are now next door neighbors. I liked hearing about writers block and how it can affect everything you do. The audio was fabulous for this and I listened in one sitting.

[abiiharrisonn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

[4.5] excuse me, miss henry, the BANTER between gus and january? perfection. this book was so beautifully written, and as a result it was so much more than a rom-com type romance, it read more like a contemporary fiction which really worked well for this book. dare i say i thought a small number of scenes were a little unnecessary but overall - amazing. no one does it like emily henry!! ?

[lcovaro · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Another popcorn novel to read over a weekend or during a reading slump. I must say I read two in a row by this author, and perhaps that's why this one, which was the second, didn't appeal to me as much (I usually try to space out these types of readings, especially if they are by the same writer, because I get bored).

It fulfills the purpose of entertaining but not much more. "People We Meet on Vacation," which is the other book I read by this writer, I liked much more (perhaps because I prefer the friend to lovers formula over the enemies to lovers, maybe because within the romance genre it feels more believable to me).

The best: It's funny and easy to read.
The worst: I didn't quite connect with the protagonists.
My rating ⭐️ ⭐️✨️

"January Andrews is a romance novelist and a hopeless dreamer. Augustus Everett writes serious novels and believes that true love is just a myth. But January and Gus have much more in common than they think: They are both broke. They are both blocked. And they both need to write a bestseller before summer ends." (Translated from Spanish)

[khristall · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I started this book on a summer trip with old and new friends. I think I always fear making new friends; I feel like they won't last beyond those few days of togetherness (as I have experienced before). The same happens to me when writing; I fear starting something from scratch and then not knowing what to write in the middle. But this book made me stop thinking of writer's block as something definitive. It's temporary.
Not long ago, I wanted to read something about a female writer, from a female perspective. Where she not only had problems in her life, those very dramatic ones, but also some that felt real and showed us that sad side of those who write novels with happy endings. This gift gave me what I was looking for. It's funny, it has sad moments, but they are realistic; the characters have so much to share and resolve that I thought the pages wouldn't be enough to explain or tell everything. I was wrong; I underestimated it. I loved the journey and the background of the protagonists; obviously, the romance enchanted me. It's simply a dream to read things that provoke so many emotions; I cried during moments that touched me, and the truth is that there are no words to describe what so many pages made me feel.
I just know that when I finished it, I thought:
- Wow, it's a great book. (Translated from Spanish)

[Laiveto Books (Youtube e Instagram) · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Light reading to pass the time. Lately, I haven't found any book in this genre that I really loved; perhaps the little romanticism I had has dissipated, or maybe there comes a point when all novels of this type (contemporary romance) seem the same to me.

January is a romance writer who is not in her best life moment: her father has passed away; she discovers he has been cheating on her mother; she suffers from writer's block and doesn't know how to face it; her boyfriend has broken up with her; and, on top of that, she has to move into the house her father shared with his lover to prepare it for sale. The best part is that the love nest comes with a catch, none other than a bothersome neighbor.

January soon discovers that the grumpy neighbor is her arch-enemy from college (at no point did I get the impression they hated each other), who is also a writer. They end up making a bet: each will write a book in the other's genre, and the first one to sell it to a publisher wins.

As I said, it's entertaining, with dramatic but also humorous touches that are not bad at all if you have nothing better to read. (Translated from Spanish)

[spiritedstardust · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ok
So Emily Henry plus characters who are in the book business = a contemporary romance I actually enjoy

[charlot1410 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I chose this reading because I thought it would be more enjoyable, but I found it quite difficult to fully immerse myself in the story. Honestly, the chapters are so long that they felt really heavy to me, and in the end, they always ended up in the same place: unresolved sexual tension and bickering between the protagonists. The book started to appeal to me in the last chapters, which is when it became more interesting and things started to get resolved. (Translated from Spanish)

[mchwest · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was my first read for Emily Henry and I have a couple more to follow on my TBR shelf. Where it wasn't the fastest pace plot line it kept me interested. I love trying to figure out how people write books because it is something I would never be able to do! I think the ending was good but a little flat. That's the only reason I left off the last star. I'm looking forward to reading more by her.