Traveling With T purchased this book for listening while walking.

Beach Read

Summary: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.

 

Traveling With T’s Thoughts:

Ok, I was seeing this book everywhere because it was a BOTM pick and I was intrigued by the cover- but was kinda unsure on the romance-y angle (I like romances from time to time- but I don’t always LOVE them like others because call me cynical; but when you haven’t been on a date in a decade and you are *thisclose* to hitting a mile stone birthday- sometimes that insta-love does not work for me.)

BUT….

Beach Read is COMPLETELY different.

First, you know how in a romance you know the book is going to end in a HEA and the  couple generally has S-E-X fairly quickly in the book? This one- nope, nope, nope. In fact, I was like “Please book gods let these 2 have S-E-X. The chemistry between them is UN-FREAKING-BELIEVABLY hot.”

Second, THE BANTER. I love a good back and forth between a couple. Some flirty, teasing tension- BUT I really like them to laugh and enjoy each other. And January and August had that down to a science.

And Emily Henry should be thanking the book gods because Julia Whelan narrated the HELL outta this book. I would be listening while walking and sometimes would have to stop because I was laughing so hard at something one of them said.

 

What I Liked:

The cover. SO cute!

January and Augustus. I don’t know if romance readers would consider Beach Read to be a true slow burn or not- but I’m calling it that. And I loved it.

The ending. ❤

 

Bottom line: This was the romance I didn’t know I needed in my life. Loved it, loved it, loved it! I was on a such good feeling book high for days after reading this!

 

*Traveling With T purchased this book to listen to while she walked. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.*

 

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*Have you added Beach Read to your TBR list?*

 

Happy Reading and Bookishly Yours,

T @ Traveling With T