Book Review: “Beach Read” by Emily Henry
Håfa adai! Welcome to my spoiler-free review of Beach Read, by Emily Henry.
This book review consists of two parts: a brief plot summary and my thoughts of the story. There may be some lightweight spoilers—such as how characters interact with each other and the world around them—but I will not give away any major plot twists or endings. I want to share my opinion of the book and encourage you to purchase a copy of your own.
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Spoiler-Free Plot Summary
January Andrews is a bestselling romance writer with writer’s block. After four back-to-back publications, she is in a time crunch to complete the manuscript for her fifth novel. But writing about romance is not exactly easy when you are not sure if you even believe in love anymore. The trials of January’s childhood pushed her towards a love of romance storytelling, yet the events of the past year seem to be pushing her away from the beloved genre. So January decides to live in isolation in a beach house in an attempt to reset her writing motivation while cleaning up the debris of recently surfaced family secrets. Well, she was supposed to be in isolation. Within minutes of arriving at what was supposed to be her cathartic retreat, she finds out that she is not alone. Of all the people in the world, the one occupying the beach house next door is her years-long professional nemesis: Augustus Everett. Now, January Andrews is forced to face her past and her family’s painful secrets while reimagining what she thought her future would be.
My Thoughts on Beach Read: 2.75 stars
Emily Henry’s Beach Read follows romance writer January Andrews’ journey from losing faith in love to rediscovering what it could look and feel like. This novel explores the pain and destruction caused by keeping secrets, the drama caused by holding on to entitlements and preconceived judgements, and the good things that could happen when someone lets go of those things. In Beach Read, Emily Henry uses entertaining banter to compose a book about book-writing and shine a light on the importance of the research process in crafting a dynamic story, regardless of the genre a writer creates in.
Among what I appreciated about Beach Read were a few aspects of the story I did not particularly care for: (1) the protagonist herself; (2) the drummed-up drama between the protagonist and her love interest; and (3) the way the romance plays out. I wanted to include that Beach Read utilizes the “don’t fall in love with me” romance storytelling trope that I do not care for but decided against it. To be fair, I am still a relative newcomer to the romance genre. I am now starting to understand the tropes commonly used in romances but have yet to find a set of tropes that I really gravitate towards. So the focus of my attention will remain on the three aspects I listed above.
First, I was annoyed with January Andrews throughout most of the story. January is going through a lot, sure. The past year or so of her life has not gone the way she thought it would go, I can empathize with that. But something that remains consistent from her own retellings of the past to her present-day self is her general unlikability. She has no real reason to dislike Augustus Everett to the point of considering him a rival, her reasons for criticizing his work are legitimate at first but then quickly cross the line into petty bullying, and her years-old mentality of “why should he be so successful” reeks of entitlement.
Second, the drama between January Andrews and Augustus Everett seems aggressively invented and unnatural. From the earliest moments of their association with each other, which takes place years before the main events of the book, there is a layer of resentment from January to Augustus and (seemingly) vice versa. In my opinion, there is no legitimate basis for this resentment. I understand that there must be some sort of drama between the protagonists in romance storytelling to push the story along, but there was already intense and believable drama going on around January. The drama between her and Augustus did not contribute to the overall story.
Third, the way the romance unfolds between January Andrews and Augustus Everett feels uncomfortably forced and even unbelievable. I cannot go into too much detail without giving away spoilers, so I will be intentionally vague. Their history before the present-day events of the story do not lend to a sense of unrequited love or repressed emotion. And while there could have been a sense of confronting prejudgments or misconceptions and that turning into a budding romance between the two, that was not exactly the direction that Emily Henry went. There was also a scene where January and Augustus became intimate in what I believed to be a really inappropriate context.
I give Beach Read 2.75 out of 5 stars. This romance novel from Emily Henry explores the destructive power of secrets, lies, and dishonesty as well as the possibilities that could arise after letting go of prejudices against those you do not know. I seem to have a soft spot for stories about storytelling, characters with witty fast-paced banter, and the unconditional love and support of genuine platonic friendships, which were aspects of Beach Read that made this book an enjoyable experience. The aspects of this book that I did not appreciate were enough for me not to revisit it in the future or to recommend it to others.
Dångkulo' na' saina ma'åse'! Thank you so much for reading my review of Beach Read by Emily Henry.
Rating Cheat Sheet
4.75 - 5.00 stars: Everyone should read this book! (If you’re into that sort of thing.)
4.00 - 4.50 stars: I appreciated many aspects of this book. I recommend it!
3.00 - 3.75 stars: I liked some aspects of this book. I won’t revisit it, but someone else might really like it.
2.00 - 2.75 stars: There were some things I appreciated about this book, but I do not recommend it.
0.25 - 1.75 stars: I do not recommend this book. I did not enjoy or appreciate the experience of it.
Post Date: 30 December 2024
Published: 19 May 2020
Publisher: Berkley
Audiobook Publisher: Penguin Audio
Performed by Julia Whelan
