There’s a ton of exploration into the two main characters’ past, loss, and their college history. Early on in the story, it’s revealed that January’s grumpy neighbor is none other than Augustus, a best-selling literary fiction author AND January’s college rival.

January decides to spend the summer at the beach, packing up the house and writing her novel. January is struggling to cope with his death, his hidden past, and the manuscript of her latest romance novel that is due to the publisher by the end of the summer. After the death of her father, January is left with his beach house in Michigan. I don’t want to include too many spoilers, but both January and Gus have experienced some hardship and loss. But Beach Read goes beyond this competition. Beach Read does meet its synopsis: Augustus, a literary fiction writer, and January, a romance writer, are both in writing ruts and decide to challenge each other by writing a book in the other’s genre.

It’s much more complex than the title & official synopsis suggests. Since there have been a ton of Beach Read reviews floating around the book blogosphere, I’ve decided to forgo my usual review style to explain why you need to actually pick up this must-read beach read of summer 2020. So many of my bookish friends have loved this contemporary romance, myself included! Really.īeach Read has deservedly found it way into nearly every corner of the book blogging community. Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. 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). 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. 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. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction.

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