“Every single person on the planet had to take turns hurting. Sometimes all you could do was hold on to each other tight until the dark spat you back out.”
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Based on the premise, I went in thinking that it would just be a fun classic enemies-to-lover / opposites-attract story that would make me fall in love with the character’s bickering and cuteness. However, Beach Read is so much deeper than that.
Beach Read is not just the summer romance that its title & blurb will let you believe. It’s a profound story that explores deep subjects like the meaning of love, betrayal, forgiveness, and moving forward. Emily Henry’s book offers not only a beautiful romance between the two main leads, but also manages to create incredibly relatable characters. January & Gus’ charm, vulnerability and wit is developed so perfectly that the reader can’t help but want to cheer for them to succeed. The author did such an incredible job bringing them to life that by the end of the book they felt like friends. Furthermore, Emily Henry also does an amazing job creating secondary characters that are interesting and well-developed. Some of them we don’t even get to meet until the end of the story or at all, and yet, Henry did such an amazing job writing them through January’s eyes that they never felt out of place in the story.
At its core, this book is about a beautiful lie and how much it can hurt a person no matter if they ever discover the truth or not. I loved how the author managed the consequences of the “beautiful lie” in this book. The conflict in question is often used as a plot device & has almost become a “cliché” in the romance genre. However, Emily Henry does not resorts to this. Beach Read offers one of the most realistic & objective’s take on that theme that I’ve ever seen in any type of media. And I was extremely grateful for that, especially since I have personal experiences related to it and know that a lot of people also do.
Additionaly, I would like to briefly show my appreciation for the author using that the main character is a writer to portray the inequality women face in the industry, especially romance writers. Her argument against “Women’s Fiction” was incredible and made me wish she decides to write an essay on the subject.
Overall, with Beach Read, Emily Henry wrote a beautiful story that’s not only an amazing romance, but also an incredible journey on life and the many ways it can beat you down. And I LOVED it!
I recommend Beach Read to anyone looking for a romance that will “give you the feels” while also being grounded in reality. If you are a fan of romance, you’ll enjoy this book. If your are a fan of books grounded in reality, you’ll love this book. It’s the perfect combination of both, and the closest book to a “realistic contemporary romance” that I’ve read.
A More In Depth Review
***SPOILER ALERT***
I believe that Emily Henry did a fantastic job portraying the different conflicts the characters in this book, especially January & Gus, are trying to surpass.
One of the main themes of the story, infidelity, was explored so beautifully that it made me feel at peace with some of my own life experiences. In Beach Read, Emily Henry manages to fully explore the different consequences of being unfaithful by exploring how it affected each of the characters involved: January, her parents and even the mistress, Sonya.
Since the book is written from her point of view, January’s perspective is the one we explore the most. And she’s heartbroken. January represents every person that, in order to survive a difficult childhood, clings to an idea of a perfect world in which every bad thing will eventually conclude in a “happy-ending”.
“The night before Dad moved out, I’d cracked my bedroom door and listened to their voices carrying up from the kitchen…I’d believed life as I knew it was over. Then, suddenly, Dad was back in the house: proof that nothing was unfixable! That love could conquer any challenge, that life would always, always work out. So when he and Mom sat me down to tell me about her diagnosis, and everything else in our lives changed, I knew it wouldn’t be permanent. This was just another plot twist in our story.”
With this world view, January proceeded to travel through life in rose-colored glasses. However, since her idea of happy-endings was based on the impression that her parents had the perfect marriage, it crumbled once she discovers that her father had a mistress AND that her mother knew about it. Once the foundation of her way of life is disproven, her world falls apart and she’s left both, yearning to believe once more in happy endings and ashamed that she ever did. However, throughout this book, January learns that the world is not as black and white as she used to believe. That good people, good parents, can do bad things and it doesn’t make them bad people. And that she is still allowed to love, miss, and even forgive her father despite the mistakes he made. Once she realizes this, she starts to heal and understand that a happy ending might be overrated if the journey to get there wasn’t a collection of happy-for-now’s.
Furthermore, we also get to briefly explore different perspectives on the impact of infidelity via Walt, Sonya and January’s mother. The perspective of January’s mother was the most interesting to me. Due to personal experiences, I am a person that values the truth & loyalty above almost anything. Therefore, I’ve always found it incomprehensible how a person could forgive their unfaithful partner. However, this book helped me understand a little how forgiveness may come about. It’s evident that, even though she forgave her husband, January’s mother still carries a lot of pain and even shame over Walt’s actions. She loved her husband, and thus it’s probably incredibly difficult for her that some part of her still resents him. And, like many people who are cheated on, she finds herself unable to acknowledge that the affair even happened, thus carrying a heavier burden. Thankfully, by the end of this book, January understands this and thus will be able to silently support her mother until she’s ready to talk about it, if she ever is.
It was also interesting to see Sonya’s perspective. In most pieces of media, the lover is an evil home-wrecker who the audience is supposed to hate. However, in this book, a more realistic approach is portrayed. Sonya is not evil, and she may even be considered a good person. Like January herself, she fell in love with a married separated man who then left her to reunite with his wife. However, unlike January, she knowingly becomes his mistress afterwards. Does that make her evil? Afterall, SHE didn’t have a sick wife or a daughter to go back home to. Is she a victim then? I don’t think either is correct. Sonya is neither evil nor a victim. She’s simply a human being who made mistakes and now has to find a way to live with them. Even though her character had few appearances, the author used her perfectly to demonstrate to the reader that most people are neither good nor bad. The world can’t be viewed in a black & white dichotomy. People come in all shades. Good people can do bad things and bad people can do good things. Nobody will ever be all good.
Lastly, the man himself, Walt. Walt, of course, is the main force that drives this book. Without him and his horrible mistakes, this book wouldn’t exist. And Emily Henry portrayed him brilliantly through the eyes of our main character January. At the beginning of the story, the reader, like January, does not know what to think about Walt. How could a man who danced with his wife in the middle of the living room and took their daughter on random surprise trips have a long-lasting affair? The Walt of January’s memories and the one who cheated on her mother seem like completely different people. Therefore, the reader is led to believe that Walt is a sociopath who managed to con January and her mother into believing a lie. That the Walt that raised January never existed and her mother knew about it and helped him hide it. Consequently, we feel as betrayed as January and with little hope for happy-endings. However, as the story progresses, we start to realize that the author’s intention is to make us understand how such a great husband and parent can also be a cheater and a liar. Like with Sonya’s character, Walt represents the “good” person that makes a mistake. Humans are not perfect and even the most “perfect” among us will eventually screw up. But more than demonstrating that good people can still be good even if they do bad things, Walt’s purpose in the story is to show January and the reader that it’s ok to love someone who is not all good. That she can still love her father even if she hates what he did to her mother and their family. That she can still miss her father even if he was not perfect.
The story also “explores the reasons people stay, no matter the cost”. Whether it be infidelity, abuse or a cult, a lot of people in this world find it easier to forgive than escape “bad situations”. And the reasons why they stay might range from something as pure as love to something as dark as fear. And, in Beach Read, Emily Henry explores both.
In the case of January’s mother, the reader is led to believe that she stayed with Walt because she forgave him. Because she loved him. On the other hand, we are also made to assume that Gus’ mother did the exact same thing and stayed with her husband, but not out of love but because of fear. Emily Henry masterfully creates two main characters who are so similar yet so different. Both January and Gus had mothers who stayed with their fathers despite their wrong doings. However, January was allowed to grow believing her parent’s matrimony was perfect and infallible proof of the existence of happy-endings, while the relationship of Gus’ parents made him believe the exact opposite. But even though they were raised differently, both were negatively affected by the method in which their parents handled the situation.
January grew caring way too much about finding the perfect life that her parents led her believe existed. Therefore, she wasted years of her life “chasing the love” she thought she needed to be happy, instead of focusing on what she wanted. As she says,
“He (Jacques) fit so perfectly into the love story I’d imagined for myself that I mistook him for the love of my life.”
“Breaking up still sucked in every conceivable way...Not because I missed him (Jacques) but because I felt bad for wasting so much of his time - and mine - trying to be his dream girl.”
Once she discovered that her parent’s marriage wasn’t as perfect as she was led to believe, her world collapsed. And now, she believes she’s “incapable of the love she’d spend her life chasing” or that “that loves simply didn’t exist”.
Eventually, January learns that no matter how pretty, secrets and lies are not worth the trouble.
“A smile and a flutter weren't enough for me (January). I was done with secrets and lies, no matter how pretty.”
Despite all the hurt the truth caused Gus and how much it affected his life, I believe that it’s better to live a life that it’s yours fully, than one that it’s a lie. Believing in happy-endings based on lies is easy, but it will never truly result in you obtaining a true happy-ending. However, believing and fighting for them despite the ugliness in this world is what will make it rewarding when you finally find it. Like Gus says,
“I think it’s brave to believe in love. I mean, the lasting kind. To try for that, even knowing it can hurt you.”
On the other hand, Gus grew with a view on life and relationships way too pessimistic. And thus, he wasted years of his life being closed off and keeping himself afar from everybody. Once he does manage to be brave enough to grow close with someone, Naomi & Parker, they betray him. Therefore, all his fears were proven true, and his walls slammed back up. He once believed that his mother would eventually leave his father and she didn’t, which made him feel ridiculous and stupid for having hope. And then, he managed to believe in someone again, and they squashed that hope.
Also, a lot of his pain comes from the fact that he feels ashamed of the fact that his wife left him when his mother never left his abusive father and people like January’s mother never leave their cheating husbands.
“…your (January) mom didn’t leave when your dad cheated on her, and my (Gus) mom didn’t leave my dad when he broke my fucking arm, and yet I couldn’t do anything to make my wife stay.”
He’s embarrassed by what it could mean that people stay with “horrible” partners all the time, but his wife left him despite him being “good”. Thoughts like him being worse than his abusive father probably crowd his mind making him feel even worse about himself and his life.
Thankfully, with January, his family and his friends’ help, Gus starts to realize that his wife cheating and leaving him does not define who he is. He is not defined by the decisions of those around him, but his own. And he is not less deserving of happiness because others have treated him like that’s the case. He also deserves a happy-ending…or at least, a collection of happy-for-now’s.
Besides the development of the main conflicts of the books, I also enjoyed the romance between January and Gus. At the beginning of the book, they seem like very different people. Their life view and, consequently, writing approach is VERY different. However, as the book progresses, the reader realizes that they are more alike than they know. January has recently discovered that her “perfect” family was a façade and thus, has become unable to believe and therefore, write, happy-endings. Her world view has become more like Gus’, bitter and pragmatic. But, unlike Gus, January keeps fighting to rediscover happy endings. Gus finds this admirable and, one of the main reasons why he falls in love with her.
“It’s not about what’s happened. It’s about how you cope with things, who you are. You’ve (January) always been this fierce fucking light and even when you’re at your worst, when you feel angry and broken, you still know how to be a person. How to tell people you - you love them.”
And even though Gus’ does not find happy endings realistic, he craves to believe in them. He craves answers. He wants to know what makes people stay in the hopes of finding someone that will stay for him. And yet, even though he craves it, he also does not believe he deserves it.
“It doesn’t mean I (Gus) don’t want you, January. I’ve always wanted you. It just means I also want you to be happy, and I'm scared I could never be the person who will give you that.”
By the end of this book, they both help each other find the courage to pursue finding their happy-endings. And Gus, bleak and pessimistic Gus, is the one that, inspired by his love and admiration for January, convinces her that it will be worth it. Throughout this book, they don’t only help each other confront their pasts, but also the future. And that’s why I loved it. Their love was not about taking but sharing with each other every ounce of happiness in order to collect as much happy-for-now’s as they could until they reached their happy-ending.
I also loved how that even though January was convinced that Gus didn’t respect her or her writing, he’s actually a huge fan of her work and her ability to write happy-endings. He truly believes that her work is important to the world and helps make it a little brighter. As he says,
“When you love someone, you want to make this world look different for them. To give all the ugly stuff meaning, and amplify the good. That's what you (January) do. For your readers. For me. You make beautiful things, because you love the world, and maybe the world doesn't always look how it does in your books, but...I think putting them out there, that changes the world a little bit. And the world can’t afford to lose that. I have always admired that. The way your writing always makes the world seem brighter, and the people in it a little braver.”
At the time the bet is made, January still believes that Gus doesn’t see her as a “true” writer. But, as the book progresses, the reader realizes that Gus does respect her and her work. And therefore, it’s incredibly sweet and cute when he, finally, tells her how much he does admire her work and never wants to see her adopt his world view and writing style. One of my favorite romantic moments of this book, is when Gus tells January that he never had the intention of making January give up on writing “happy-endings”.
“I never wanted you (January) to see the world like I (Gus) see it…The bet was your idea…I just thought maybe if you tried to write what I write…I hoped you’d realize it wasn’t right for you…Not because you’re not capable! But because it’s not you. The way you think about things, it’s not like that. I always thought the way you saw the world was...incredible…I never wanted to see you lose that.”
Finally, I would like to briefly discuss the clever way in which Emily Henry included the importance of writing in this book. By making both of our main characters writers, the author demonstrated how cathartic expressing yourself via fictional characters can be. By writing her book inspired on her father’s affair, January manages to understand more the actions of everyone involved. She understood better why her mother kept it secret from her and how her father was both a good person and an imperfect human being. Writing helped her find peace with her family and their misgivings. And it helped her become more open once again to the possibilities of finding love and happiness. Writing her book healed her so much that, by the end of it, she was once again able to picture and give it the possibility of a happy ending.
“Eleanor wondered where she was going next, and what the flowers would look like there.”
In conclusion, like I said in the non-spoiler section of this review, I loved this book. Beach Read wasn’t what I expected, but something I needed even though I didn’t know it. I can’t wait to read more from this author. If you think you’d enjoy a realistic contemporary romance, then I highly recommend that you read Beach Read. You won’t regret it!
ps. Here’ a quote that made lol!!!
“That’s what I (Gus) love about you…Well, one thing. It seemed too crass to invite you to my aunts’ house and then bring up your ass.”
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