Beach Read
From the moment I read the description on the back of the book, I knew that I was going to enjoy Emily Henry’s Beach Read. A story about two authors - and long time rivals - suffering bouts of writer’s block, Augustus and January are dismayed to find that they will be forced to be beach house neighbors for the entire summer, and they eventually make a bet with each other that they can’t write a book in each person’s respective genre, much less see eye to eye with one another in regards to the world.
A hopeless romantic meets a die-hard cynic as Augustus and January’s worlds collide, and I thoroughly enjoyed their first meeting. The banter is always entertaining as January wrestles with her old college-day memories of Augustus, and Augustus always takes January’s quirks and jabs in stride. I belly laughed out loud at a particular part in chapter six centered around the labradors, but that hilarious nugget is best discovered on your own.
A part of me has always been a hopeless romantic, but there are other parts of me that are ever the realist, and in those respects I feel like I have some things in common with both characters. Augustus described his world view best when he said:
“Life is pretty much a series of good and bad moments right up until the moment you die…Which is arguably a bad one. Love doesn’t change that. I have a hard time suspending my disbelief. Besides, can you think of a single real-life romance that actually ended like Bridget [f—ing] Jones?”
And in the face of this incessant pessimism, January is always steadfast in her belief in love and happiness, and I enjoy how each of them balances each other out.
I like how Augustus and January communicate via handwritten notes that they hold up through their windows as they try to write, and how it’s always something witty. I love the “not date” at the carnival, and the drive-in movie scene, and I laughed out loud at the line dancing scene. I also loved the unexpected moment that they shared a secret hand hold under the table. It’s the subtle things that add up to the satisfying ending. And this particular book has no shortage of steamy moments too that add extra surprise and excitement throughout. The mental dialogue is just as intense as the actual dialogue at times.
Somehow Emily Henry always weaves and touches on very real and gripping subject matter in the midst of laughter and romance, and I enjoy the complexity of that in this book. Both characters are both struggling with deep rooted things from their past, and it makes them both so human, so vulnerable and relatable as they tiptoe around their secrets and their secret knowledge of the truth as they get to know one another. I definitely remember crying at the end of this one.
The book is also relatable due to the sole fact that I’m an aspiring author myself, who hopes to one day have the luxury of getting writer’s block after writing a handful of books and making a name for myself. It also takes a self-aware writer to be able to write a book about a writer struggling to write, which I appreciate and enjoy. Once again, Emily Henry’s real life love and relationships shine through and I had an amazing time laughing, falling and soaring with her not-really-that-different characters.
Reference
Henry, Emily. Beach Read. Jove, 2020.