Beach Read by Emily Henry

Genre: Romance
Length: 384 pages
Audiobook Length: 10 hours
First Published: 2020

Rachael’s Review

When her father’s unexpected death reveals that he had a long-running affair, January Andrews can’t seem to get back to her happy self. After her boyfriend dumps her, January is forced to move into her Dad’s secret second house in Michigan, desperately trying to finish her contracted novel. Of course her next-door neighbor is her college nemesis, Augustus Everett whose literary fiction was released to great acclaim. When they discover they both have writer’s block, they make a deal. He will write a happily-ever-after story while she pens a serious piece of literature.

Emily Henry’s bestseller Beach Read stole the summer in 2020 and Henry has become a staple of the summer beach reads ever since. This sweet enemies-to-lovers story has the kind of romance that tugs at the heart. You can’t help but feel for January and Gus as they each deal with family issues and deep emotional pain. But their silly challenge leads them to motivate each other and their great chemistry makes for a just plain fun summer read.

Publisher’s Description

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.