Beach Read by Emily Henry: a review

Rating: 3.5/5

Review By: Riya

Hellllloo summer romance on a beach house! The book is cute, it is laugh out loud funny at times and at other times it handles serious issues in a very sensitive manner. Featuring cute bookshops, a quirky book club and sexy beach houses, this book is the perfect read for a day out at the beach or simply a summery evening.

The protagonists of the book are January and Gus, 2 writers with seemingly opposite outlooks to life and their books reflect these outlooks - January's books have happy endings while Gus' books are dark and complex. January moves to a beach house left to her by her recently deceased father whose secret has broken her belief in happy endings and turned her sunshine and rainbows world upside down. To her surprise, her long time college rival Gus is her neighbour. As they get to know each other, they make a bet to write a book is the other's style and end up healing from past hurts and falling in love with each other in the process.

I love this book mainly because it gives you a peek into the entire process of writing a book. It shows how authors do their research and the lengths they sometimes have to go to get the details that comprise a well-written book.

There are, of course, the odd little details that they have to keep in mind too like:

"Writing in a different era presented a completely new challenge. I was leaving a lot of notes to myself like Find out what drinks were popular then or Insert historically accurate insult."

And readers, don't feel left behind!!

That was what I'd always loved about reading, what had driven me to write in the first place. That feeling that a new world was being spun like a spiderweb around you and you couldn't move until the whole thing had revealed itself to you.

The author has also touched upon the complex topic of the working of suicide cults as part of Gus and January's research for their books and has shown how such cults affect the lives of their family members in a deeply sensitive manner.

"But sometimes when life throws a wrench in your plans...I don't know how to explain it, my husband was clinging to whatever he could grab hold of. Like being right mattered less than being......okay. I just needed to be okay, and I could do the wrong thing if it had the right end."

As far as the romance goes, I really appreciate that the book never focusses on the looks of the characters and there is no insecurity about not being gorgeous enough for the guy being thrown at the reader every 15 pages. January and Gus share a romance which is teenager-like in the urgency but mature in the way they identify their boundaries and support each other in overcoming their issues.

I would definitely recommend this book either as a pick-me-up for those days when you are feeling blue and just want a light, breezy read!