Beach Read: your next must-read summer book!

     What do you get when you cross two writers who need to finish their novels, weird field trips, and undeniable attraction? You get Emily Henry’s new novel, Beach Read! Best known for her young adult books, like the co-authored Hello Girls, Henry has now ventured into the genre of adult romance and started off on the right foot! Although it doesn’t come out until May 19th, Book of the Month readers got a sneak peek of the book as an April pick and it has been getting rave reviews all across social media!
     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.
      I don’t think there’s anything I can say about this book that hasn’t already been said but here goes: this book is just absolutely amazing! Henry creates not just a wonderful story, but also weaves in January and Gus’s other fictional novels in making this plot have books within a book. 
      The idea of this romance author losing her faith in HEAs and trying to make sense of her perception of love is ironic, yet so interesting to read about. And Gus’s cynicism is also a perfectly added dynamic to the plot! The idea of not worrying about forever and being satisfied with “happy-for-nows” is something I think a lot of us can learn to live with and Henry does a beautiful job of showing how readers can focus on the now.
     On top of all of this depth, Henry throws in the hilarity and steaminess that readers love in a good romance book! The way this novel balances out hope, love, family, grief, and forgiveness is beautifully done and makes this romantic story into a fully developed novel anyone would enjoy.
     Again, I don’t think I can sing enough praise about this book, so trust me when I say you need to grab Beach Read and make it a priority read for the summer! It’s flirty, it’s funny, it’s heartbreaking, and just encompasses everything a reader could want in a summer rom-com!

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