Review: Beach Read

I read Emily Henry's 'A Million Junes' when it came out and was blown away by her writing style and the uniqueness of the story. So, when I saw she had a contemporary rom-com-type book coming out it piqued my interest. How would this author, whom I had built up to an almost ethereal status in my mind, handle a rom-com? I then set out to find the answer. 

The answer, of course, is that she wrote to bleakly dark characters, brought them together during some of their darkest moments, and managed to make it all somehow work. I loved January from the very first chapter. 

She's a total mess and yet not quite ready to give up on herself, or love, yet. Augustus was a harder sell for me, and yet as you learn more about him, you can't help but come to love the guy. And these two together are the best. 

 I grinned like an idiot through many parts of this book while cheering on these two writers as they fought their way back from the brink of despair and toward each other.   

ABOUT THE BOOK

Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.

They’re polar opposites.

In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they’re living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer’s block.

Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he’ll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no-one will fall in love. Really.