GIFTED / I am happy to bring you my review for Beach Read, a book I fell in love with, that took by the storm bookish community, well deserved.
I was lucky enough to be invited to be one of early readers of this novel. Thank you to Penguin Random House for giving me this chance.
Beach Read will be published in UK on July 9th 2020 and it is already published in US. It is 384 pages long.
About the book:
FROM GOODREADS / He doesn’t believe in happy endings.
She’s lost her faith that they exist.
But could they find one together?
January is a hopeless romantic who likes narrating her life as if she’s the heroine in a blockbuster movie.
Augustus is a serious literary type who thinks true love is a fairy-tale.
January and Augustus are not going to get on.
But they actually have more in common than you’d think:
They’re both broke.
They’ve got crippling writer’s block.
They need to write bestsellers before the end of the summer.
The result? A bet to see who can get their book published first.
The catch? They have to swap genres.
The risk? In telling each other’s stories, their worlds might be changed entirely…
Review:
I can not even find the words to tell you how happy, honoured I feel to have received an invitation to read and review Beach Read so early before it’s publication.
I already know that this book will be on my “best of 2020” list.
It is a perfect, relaxing beach read even though it can be devoured in any time, in every possible corner of the world, not only on beach. (đđ)(I mean, I read it during winter and still enjoyed it the most!)
The story is written in first person, following January (the name of our main character) who after loss of her father and revelation of his secret has hard time believing in happily ever afters, and suffers from the writing block, when she should finish her next romance novel.
Placing herself in the new house in a small town, she comes across her rival from Uni days, who is well respected, published author of literary fiction now.
They start spending more and more time together and January starts to develop feelings for him.
I enjoyed every page of this book.
Do you know that feeling when you read a good story and don’t want it to end, so you start to read it at slower pace only to have more time with it?
That’s what my experience was with Beach Read. I didn’t want it to end.
My favourite part of the story was the chemistry between Gus and January, and her own self aware of her feelings for him, and the complication of their situation.
I loved watching their relationship growth.
Beside that, I loved reading about their writing process and journeys.
Since I read an ARC, I am not sure if my copy was messed up or if it had two different ends to the story, and that is why I can’t give it full 5 stars. I guess I’ll have to wait for the finished copies to see what the case is.
If it is the case of two different endings, then I think the one with only January and Gus is the better one.
Overall, Beach Read was an amazing story and I would recommend it to romance, general fiction and women’s fiction lovers who are looking for a new, light hearted and relaxing read.