Beach Read by Emily Henry - HIGH

Beach Read by Emily Henry, 361 pages. Berkley, 2020. $16 

Language: R (128 swears, 15 ‘f’); Mature Content: R (unfaithfulness, explicit sex, alcohol); Violence: PG (fire mentioned) 

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH 

January's life has been a fairytale. A romance author, she believes that love can conquer all, including two times beating her mom's cancer and giving her the most gorgeous boyfriend. However, all of that is quickly turned on its head when her father dies suddenly from a stroke and January finds herself spending her summer in the mysterious lake-house once shared by her father and his other lover. To make things even better, her next door neighbor is the moody Gus, her college nemesis and whose stories are dark, philosophical contemplations in comparison to January's "Happily Ever After's." Unable to bring herself to write, January and Gus make a bet: Gus will write the romance, and January will write in Gus's normal style, and the winner of this will settle the case of the collage competition once and for all. 

I picked up this TikTok-recommended novel with a bit of apprehension, but was pleasantly surprised! The writing is thoroughly enjoyable to read as it is creative, funny, and poetic all at the same time. Not only is this story a romance, it is an exploration of grief and betrayal. The characters are all very lovable and realistic, so you're not experiencing unbearable second-hand embarrassment for them! The reader must be aware, however, of the couple sex scenes in the book that do not fade to black and are rather explicit. 

 Reviewer: Sierra