The one to fall in love with (on the beach): Beach Read by Emily Henry #BeachRead #Romance #BookLovers #Summer

Beach Read by Emily Henry book cover UK edition

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.

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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…

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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. (😜😎)(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.

rating 4,5 hearts

Beautiful Corfu in a shiny story: One Last Greek Summer by Mandy Baggot #SummerReading #OneLastGreekSummer #Greece

one last greek summer by mandy baggot book cover

Today I bring you my review for the latest book I read. It’s a sunny, relaxing story set in Greece, and I want more people to know about it. If I’m not mistaken, it is still on sale for only 0,99 pounds on Amazon, so grab it while you can.
I purchased this book via kindle when it first came out because I wanted to support the author. It was published on June 6th and it has 280 pages.

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About the book:

FROM GOODREADS / Beth Martin is 31, newly divorced and wondering just what life holds for her…

Best-friend, Heidi, is adamant that all the answers lie in Corfu – the island where the girls partied away their youth. So cue a trip to a sun-drenched Greek island, ouzo cocktails, a trip down memory lane… and Alex Hallas, the man Beth has never quite forgotten.

As they dance under the stars, the sand beneath their toes, old feelings begin to resurface and Beth might just have a chance to take back her life. If they can learn to love the people they’ve become…

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Review:

Mandy Baggot is one of authors I really like and love to support. I usually always go for her Christmas stories, because she always knows how to awoke Christmas Spirit (I liked her books One Christmas in Paris and One New York Christmas). This time I wanted to read one of her summer reads, since she has so many of them, and let me tell you: she didn’t disappoint!

One Last Greek Summer was exactly what I wanted to read on a beautiful sunny day. It was a relaxing and heart warming story set in wonderful Corfu.
Not only was it full of beautiful descriptions of the island, but it also talked about food and local people.
I was never in Greece myself (of course, I’d like to go there!), and to be honest, before I read this book, I didn’t know there were so many goats living there.
I always imagined Greece as some exotic place, perfect for tourists who love to relax on the beach and eat delicious food, but it never occurred to me to think about animals that live there. I am glad Mandy Baggot opened my eyes, because now Greece sounds even better!

At the end of the book there is a letter from the author in which she tells that she has cottage (or maybe it was house, I can’t remember for sure) in Corfu, so that is the reason why many of her novels are set there. It kind of explains why her descriptions of people and places are so well done, since she’s so familiar with them in the first place.

I loved this second chance romance and it’s characters. I liked almost all of them, with only one exception: Alex’ mother. I get why she acted the way she did, but it still does not make it right. But if I’m being honest, I think Alex has some blame for her behaviour too. In the end, it was his life, and he gave her control.

The only thing that bothered me was how our main characters were 31 and 30 years old, but they talked about their age like they were 45+. I mean, non of them had children or some kind of burden that would make them feel this way. The story is placed in our time, I mean, they were listening Dua Lipa for God sake!
In 2019 people in their thirties who have not started families yet act like people in their twenties acted in 90es. At least when they are on vacation. They don’t feel like all the youth is behind them.
Thirties are new twenties (and forties are new thirties)!
I don’t want to sound rude here, those are just my thoughts (and feelings as it shows).

Anyway, I liked everything else about this novel, and since Mandy Baggot has so many summer novels I will read another one  of her stories next month, and I am really looking forward to it!

I also can’t wait for her newest Christmas book One Christmas Star to come out later this year. I just love her festive stories!

If you haven’t, I recommend you to check one of her books, and One Last Greek Summer in an excellent choice!

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Summer Romance Giveaway Hop #Competition #Giveaway #Books #Win

Welcome to Summer Romance Giveaway Hop, hosted by The Captivating Quill and BookHounds.

In this giveaway, I am giving you a chance to win a romance book of choice worth 15 US$ or less, from The Book Depository.

The giveaway is international as long as TBD ships to your country.

After you enter this giveaway, don’t forget to visit other blogs for more giveaways.

You can enter here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway
https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

  • This giveaway is international as long as The Book Depository ships to your country.
  • You must be 18+ old to enter or have your parent’s permission to enter (because I’ll need to ask you to give me your address so I could send the book to you).
  • I am not responsible for the shipment, but am responsible to order a book on time (The Book Depository is responsible to deliver you a book on time and in a good condition).
  • Once chosen, winner will be emailed and will have 48 hours to reply, otherwise another person will be chosen as a winner
  • NO CHEATING! Cheaters will be disqualified

Good Luck!🙂

Click here to hop around:https://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=292644