Review: BEACH READ by Emily Henry
Beach Read by Emily Henry Also by this author: Book Lovers
Published by BERKLEY on May 19, 2020
Genres: Women's Fiction, Romance, Fiction
Pages: 384
Source: Netgalley
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository
Goodreads
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Emily Henry’s new novel, Beach Read, is a book you don’t want to judge by its cover. The cover is adorable of course and I love it, but it definitely gives off a vibe that this is going to be a fun, fluffy read to enjoy while you’re lounging in the sand. Beach Read is so much more than that though – it’s a beautifully written, multi-layered story with realistic and complex characters that will tug at your heartstrings the entire time you’re reading. I love a book that takes me on an emotional journey, and Beach Read made me laugh, it made me cry, and just ultimately had me fully invested in these characters and their lives from start to finish.
One of my favorite parts about Beach Read is that both protagonists are writers. January Andrews is a romance writer and is an ace at writing novels where true love wins and they all live happily ever after. Her belief system when it comes to love and romance is driven by her parents, but when her father dies, she learns something about him that shatters her view of him and of love and romance. Not only is it devastating to her personally, but it has given her a wicked case of writer’s block. With a book deadline looming and an agent hounding her relentlessly, January retreats to her father’s second home, a beach house located in a remote but charming small town. It is here that she runs into our second protagonist, Augustus (Gus) Everett, who is living in the beach house next door and who coincidentally is also a writer whose specialty is literary fiction. And if that’s not enough to entice you, he also just happens to be January’s main rival from her college writing program. January is not a fan of Gus’s at all and can’t imagine anything worse than having to live next door to him all summer while trying desperately to make her deadline.
I was sympathetic to January right away. She’s going through so much because of the losses she has suffered and now she has to deal with the tension with Gus on top of it. But, boy do these two have chemistry! It’s off the charts honestly and I love how much the actual writing process plays a role in how their relationship evolves from rivals/enemies to friends and maybe more. At first they’re just trading witty, sarcastic barbs, often about each other’s preferred fictional genre, but then they kick it up a notch and revisit their old rivalry with the ultimate challenge: January has to write a book that doesn’t end happily ever after, while Gus has to write a romance novel. Bring it!
I don’t want to say much more because I don’t want to spoil anything but the story takes a more emotional turn as Gus and January both get out of their comfort zones and write something so different and challenging. It becomes a way for both of them to work through their pain and struggles, because it’s not just January who is dealing with loss. Gus is as well. It’s these painful and personal journeys that add all of those wonderfully complex layers that took Beach Read well beyond the fluffy fun I was expecting.
Beach Read is, without a doubt, one of the most wonderful and heartwarming books I’ve read so far this year. The writing is gorgeous, the story just so easy to get immersed in, and the characters are unforgettable. This was my first time reading Emily Henry but it definitely won’t be the last!
About Emily Henry
Emily Henry writes stories about love and family for both teens and adults. She studied creative writing at Hope College and the now-defunct New York Center for Art & Media Studies. Find her on Instagram @EmilyHenryWrites.
Top Ten Tuesday – The Last Ten Books I Abandoned
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!
This week’s TTT topic is The Last Ten Books I Abandoned (this could be books you DNFed, books you decided you were no longer interested in, etc.). I used to struggle with DNFing books and would make myself finish them even if I wasn’t enjoying the experience at all. I’ve been getting better about abandoning books that aren’t working for me, but I admit the temptation to keep going is always there. Below are some of the most recent books I’ve given up on and why.
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The Last Ten Books I Abandoned
1. CURSED by Thomas Wheeler
I loved the idea of a King Arthur retelling that focuses on the Lady of the Lake, but just couldn’t get into the book at all. I didn’t feel any connection to the characters and thus didn’t feel invested in their story at all so I quit the book. It’s supposed to be made into a Netflix series so I may give it a second look then. We’ll see.
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2. THE BOY AND GIRL WHO BROKE THE WORLD by Amy Reed
I thought I would enjoy this story of two outcasts who become friends, but I just couldn’t get into it at all. While I liked the two main characters, Billy and Lydia, Billy came across as way younger than Lydia and they felt sort of mismatched to me, so much so that it kept pulling me out of the story until I finally gave up on it.
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3. PLEASE SEND HELP by Gaby Dunn
I don’t know that there was necessarily anything bad about this book but when I originally requested it from Netgalley, I had no idea that it was a sequel. I tried to read it anyway but wasn’t a fan of the text and email format. Sometimes that works for me, but here it wasn’t, perhaps because I didn’t know enough about the two main characters not having read the first book. I wasn’t invested enough to go back and get the first one, so I chose to DNF.
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4. LIFE AND LIMB by Jennifer Roberson
When I read the blurb for this, I thought it sounded like such an original premise: “A biker and a cowboy must stop the apocalypse in the first book of the Blood and Bone modern western fantasy series.” Actually, even reading that now, it still sounds amazing. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t settle into the story at all so I gave up. The only notes I made about it were “OMG, get on with it already.” and another scribble about the characters just saying the same thing over and over again.
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5. NAMELESS QUEEN by Rebecca McLaughlin
I didn’t connect with the main character at all in this one. I went into the story hoping for an underdog I could really root for, but instead, Coin was one of those too good to be true protagonists, who just knows how to do everything and do it well, which I just found annoying. I was also in the middle of a big fantasy slump so that probably didn’t help matters.
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6. THE DOLL FACTORY by Elizabeth Macneal
I knew going in that this was a dark tale of obsession, but I found it very slow moving at the beginning and dark and twisted in a way that made me very uncomfortable. I was not a fan of the taxidermy angle at all, so I quit the book.
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7. SONG OF THE ABYSS by Makiia Lucier
I DNF’ed this one because I didn’t realize it was the second book in a series when I requested it from Netgalley and didn’t have time to go back and read the first. They both actually have quite high marks on Goodreads though so I’ll probably read this series at some point.
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8. THE VANISHED BIRDS by Simon Jimenez
I was unfortunately in the midst of a big fantasy slump when I tried to read this book. It’s another that has high marks on Goodreads so I may actually revisit it at some point and give it a fair shake since I’m pretty sure the problem was me and not the book.
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9. AMERICAN GODS by Neil Gaiman
I don’t know what it is about this book but I’ve tried to read it twice and DNF’ed both times.
I’ve loved many of his other titles but just can’t seem to get into this one at all.
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10. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
I think this book is probably amazing based on Murakami’s other books but I honestly just got lazy and decided I didn’t want to read a 925 page story of magical realism. Maybe someday I’ll revisit it.
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Question: Have you read any of these?
Review: BIG SUMMER by Jennifer Weiner
Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner Also by this author: Mrs. Everything, The Summer Place
Published by Atria Books on May 5, 2020
Genres: Fiction, Women's Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 368
Source: Netgalley
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository
Goodreads
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Wow, what a read. There’s so much to love about Jennifer Weiner’s latest novel, Big Summer, that I hardly know where to even begin. It has everything I’ve come to love and expect from a Jennifer Weiner novel, but then so much more!
The protagonist, Daphne Berg, is such a wonderful character and I loved her from the moment we meet her. She’s smart, resourceful, warm and witty, big-hearted, and she also has a great relationship with her parents, especially her dad, which is always lovely to see. Daphne has had a life-long struggle with her weight and with her self-image. She has had to contend with bullying, fat shaming, and learning the very hard lesson that sometimes people who you think are your friends really aren’t. Instead of letting these bad experiences crush her, Daphne takes control of her life and spins those negatives into a very successful business venture for herself as a plus size social media influencer. Her Instagram account has gained thousands of followers who tune in to watch Daphne embrace her body as it is and encourage others to do the same. I just loved Daphne’s resiliency in this situation and that she creates this community that’s not only a career for herself, but it also helps others who are struggling to love themselves and their bodies.
Something else I really enjoyed about Big Summer is Weiner’s exploration of what I think is such a relevant theme and that’s forgiveness. One of the story’s many layers focuses on Daphne’s relationship with childhood best friend, rich girl Drue Cavanaugh. Drue was spoiled and a quintessential mean girl, best known for befriending kids and then promptly discarding them once she lost interest. She left a trail of hurt and embarrassed classmates in her wake, including Daphne. No matter how cruel Drue is to Daphne, she keeps coming back for more, until they finally have a huge falling out. That fall out is what ultimately led to Daphne’s social media career and she has never looked back…until years later when Drue unexpectedly shows up, apologizing profusely and begging for forgiveness and for Daphne to be in her wedding. Daphne is torn – there’s a part of her that wants to tell Drue off all over again because she’s so toxic, but then there’s the other part of her that remembers the good times they had and who wants to believe Drue has changed. Weiner does an incredible job of exploring the complexities of their relationship and especially of letting us inside Daphne’s head to see just how conflicted she is. It all felt authentic and their relationship is one I could see many people finding very relatable.
The wonderful characters and the relationship complexities were definitely what I was expecting when I started reading Big Summer. What I didn’t expect and what really took the story to a whole new level was a huge plot twist that happens about the halfway point of the novel. I can’t even talk about it without spoilers, but it had me running back to the synopsis to see if I had missed something because it threw me for such a loop. That’s not a criticism though because as much as I loved learning about Daphne and her relationship with Drue, the surprise plot twist added a layer of mystery to the story that had me flying through the second half of Big Summer. I was desperate to find out what exactly happened and who was responsible.
I’m going to leave it at that, but suffice it to say, I absolutely loved Big Summer. It’s Jennifer Weiner at her best with wonderful characters and relationships, but also with a mystery twist that makes it unlike any of Weiner’s books I’ve read so far. If you’re a Jennifer Weiner fan, you’re going to love it and I also think you’ll love it if you’re a fan of mysteries.
About Jennifer Weiner
Jennifer Weiner is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of seventeen books, including Good in Bed, In Her Shoes, and, most recently, Mrs. Everything. Her new novel, Big Summer, debuted May 5, 2020. A graduate of Princeton University and contributor to the New York Times Opinion section, she lives with her family in Philadelphia. Visit her online at JenniferWeiner.com.