Amy 
Lynnie
romance
Amy's Review:
January and Gus were college writing rivals who could not
get along. Then, in their late twenties,
they end up living in beach houses next to each other while trying to write
their new novels.
You know how Beach Read will turn out but it was a light
read which I needed. The thing that
irked me about it is that the main character is one of THOSE people. She has an unopened envelope containing a,
presumably, critically explanatory letter that she doesn’t have the guts/nerves
to open. She has inherited a house that
she can’t bother to investigate for fear of getting to know its former
inhabitants better than she is “ready” to know them. SERIOUSLY!!??? I do not like this literary
device of a character not taking advantage of critical information just to
string along the reader and force a mystery.
In real life, no one would ever not open a letter from someone they
loved for 7 months nor would they reside in a house without at least walking
through every room. Ridiculous. But I
forced myself to overlook this manipulation of reality and forged ahead.
It was a cute romance story by Emily Henry but it got a bit whiny. The characters were so insecure that it was
painful at times. On a good note, as a book about writers, I was glad that it
didn’t get stuffy and cerebral (which often happens) and its references to
real-life successful authors/novels were of popular, current ones. So, I
definitely didn’t think it was spectacular but it also allowed me to escape
reality for a while.
The audiobook was narrated by Julia Whelan and she did a
great job with different voices for different characters and believable voice
acting. I give her an A. I’ve heard
several other books she’s narrated and she always does a fine job.
Lynnie's Review:
Beach Read was not my favorite Emily Henry book,
nor was it my favorite book about book people this year. That said, it
was still a fun, breezy romance - predictable, sweet characters, happily
ever after, yada yada.
I enjoyed the story and the bet between Gus and January. At times their relationship was sweet, but MY GOSH, I have little patience for female characters who have low self-esteem and serious jealousy issues. Holy cow - can we normalize open communication, please?
When the characters were happy, this was a fun story, but I quickly got tired of January's fits of self-doubt and jealousy over Gus when, in my opinion, he had given her no reason to doubt him. Honestly, if I were Gus I would have told her to get over herself and call me when she's sorted through it. So, yey for Gus for his patience.
It wasn't a bad book, not at all. Mostly I was annoyed by January, despite her awesome name.
I both read the book & listened to the audiobook, narrated by the wonderful Julia Whelan - as always she did a wonderful job bringing the characters to life an differentiating their voices. She is always a joy to listen to and I give her narration an A.
I enjoyed the story and the bet between Gus and January. At times their relationship was sweet, but MY GOSH, I have little patience for female characters who have low self-esteem and serious jealousy issues. Holy cow - can we normalize open communication, please?
When the characters were happy, this was a fun story, but I quickly got tired of January's fits of self-doubt and jealousy over Gus when, in my opinion, he had given her no reason to doubt him. Honestly, if I were Gus I would have told her to get over herself and call me when she's sorted through it. So, yey for Gus for his patience.
It wasn't a bad book, not at all. Mostly I was annoyed by January, despite her awesome name.
I both read the book & listened to the audiobook, narrated by the wonderful Julia Whelan - as always she did a wonderful job bringing the characters to life an differentiating their voices. She is always a joy to listen to and I give her narration an A.
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