Notes from the Shelf

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Beach Read by Emily Henry takes place off the coast of Lake Michigan in the fictional town of North Bear Shores. It follows January Andrews and Augustus Everett as they navigate grief and writer’s block. January, a bestselling romance author who typically writes happily ever afters, no longer believes in love, and Augustus, an acclaimed literary fiction author who typically kills off his entire cast, is stuck in a rut. They’re total opposites, with the only things in common being broke, plagued by writer’s block, and living in neighboring beach houses for the summer.

They end up striking a deal to rid them both of writer’s block: January will write a literary fiction novel and Augustus will write a romance. She takes him on field trips to get into the rom-com spirit, and he takes her to interview surviving members of a backwoods cult, naturally.

This is the first of Emily Henry’s books I read, and I really enjoyed reading it. I found the sunshine/grumpy pairing to be cute, which I never had particularly liked that trope before this book. It also has great character development, which isn’t always the case in a romance novel. However, this book does have some darker elements, mostly dealing with grief from January’s dad passing and subsequently finding out his “work trips” were weekend getaways to cheat on his wife.

These types of elements are atypical for romance books, but I enjoyed the story having more realistic elements. I find sometimes romances totally gloss over real-world problems, so for me it wasn’t a detriment that this was in the story, although I could see it being a negative to some readers. Also, the vibe from the cover and title make it seem very lighthearted and easy to read, which at times it definitely was fun and flirtatious, but it wasn’t always easy breezy like the cover would suggest.

Overall, I give Beach Read a 4 out of 5 stars.

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