Review: Beach Read (by Emily Henry)

My Rating: 3.5 stars

I’m not much of a romance reader and I tend to get really picky when it comes to love stories, so under normal circumstances, I probably would not have chosen to read a book that is billed as a “romantic comedy” (which is where Emily Henry’s latest work Beach Read falls into), especially when I have a boatload of other books I need to read.  But with everything that has been going on the past few days – both here in the U.S. as well as around the world (plus the pandemic situation) – I wanted a departure from all the “heavy” books I’ve read lately and instead, read something uplifting, positive, and that wouldn’t require me to think too hard.  Coincidentally, my library hold came through a few days ago and since I already had this book on my list of “to reads” from the Summer Reading Guide for one of the book clubs I belong to, I decided to set everything else aside and read this one first.  It turns out that this book was just what I needed during this time – a fun, light-hearted read with characters who were realistically flawed (and also living “messed up” lives) but were still likable and relatable.  January and Gus were characters written in a way that made me automatically want to root for them, even though I already knew full well that no matter what obstacles they may face, they will likely still end up together as most couples in romantic comedies do.  But actually, this was not the typical “rom-com”, nor was it a “fluffy beach read” as most people may expect after seeing the title (pretty sure the irony behind the title was deliberate on the part of the author) – rather, the story had substance in that it dealt with ome difficult subjects in ways that didn’t make light of them, but also weren’t heavy-handed.  There was a good balance of biting humor versus serious reflection that permeated January and Gus’s story consistently from beginning to end, which for me, made them as characters more accessible and the story itself heartfelt as well as emotionally resonant.

With all that said, one complaint I had about the story is that I wish there had been a little more focus on the “bookish” part of the story line.  The premise of having 2 authors switch genres is an interesting one and while we do get glimpses of the book that January tries to write as part of the “bet,” we don’t hear much about Gus’s book outside of a brief mention near the end.  But then again, perhaps that’s asking for too much, since the point of the story wasn’t really the 2 books, but rather the romance that blossomed as a result of it.

Overall, this is a well-written romance that is also clever, smart, and funny, yet at the same time, had a raw, down-to-earth element to it that made the story and characters easy to connect with (at least for me).  I definitely enjoyed this one and even though it didn’t change much for me in terms of reading romances (I’m still not much of a reader of this genre and remain picky on which ones to read), it did make me want to explore this author’s backlist and try a few of her other books when I have time.  If you’re thinking about picking this one up, I heartily recommend it, though a word of caution that there are some racy scenes in here that might be uncomfortable to read for some (especially those who don’t read contemporary romance too often) – though fortunately, those scenes are brief enough to skim without affecting the rest of the story much.