Beach Read by Emily Henry

2.5 Stars

Shelby and I appear to be the wrongreaders (*gasp never*) on this one because most of our friends really dug it and then there’s us . . . . .



This should have been a winner for me. I love rom coms. I love chick lit. I love cartoon covers. I love when the characters are authors or booknerds. So what happened? Well, January and Gus and their summer at their neighboring beach houses happened. This book kind of got lost in what it was trying to be and ended up being a mish-mash that simply fell short and by the time I let go of my issues with it, sadly it was just a little too late for a full redemption.

Things started off poorly for me due to the fact that for a goodly chunk of this book I couldn’t get these two assholes and their ridiculous internet feud out of my head . . . .



I pretty much avoid reading stuff by either of them because they come off as such twats and they don’t deserve my time (or especially my money). The fact that the leads in this book were pretty much clones of those two as the “great American novelist” for him and the “chick lit romance bestseller” for her did not aid in my enjoyment level whatsoever.

Then there were the dead daddy issues . . . .



Oh my word you broken record. We get it already. It’s not like you’re 12 so get some coping skills and it’s not like you were even close so how the hell could this possibly shatter you so much??? See a doctor, homey.

The romance (a/k/a smexytimes) was aiiiiiiiight so this 2.5 will get rounded up simply for not making me want to invest in a chastity belt or poke my own eyeballs out due to gross intercourse.

But like Shelby stated in her review, a serious level of irk was generated with the other broken record message that . . . .



First, you just got a G.D. beach house bequeathed to you so STFU – you’re not homeless. Second, if you are seriously a bestselling author you should have at least five dollars in the bank. And third, if you don’t???? GET. A. FUCKING. DAY. JOB. There is nothing that aggravates me more than “authors” who cry all over Goodreads and Go Fund Me and Patreon that it is our duty as readers/fans to pay their bills so they can “create” while we go grind it out at various not-dreamy 9 to 5s. Having this chick whine about her money issues made me want to lump her in the badly behaving author category like those people.

Obviously YMMV and you’ll probably love this like everyone else did.

ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.