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

Nostalgic and inspiring: Written from the Heart by Trisha Ashley

Title: Written from the Heart
Author: Trisha Ashley
Publisher: Penguin Random House UK, Black Swan
Date: February 7th, 2019
Pages: 304
Format: eARC
Source: from Publisher for a review

Review:

First of all, can we all take some time to admire this beautiful cover?!
I swear, Trisha Ashley has the most beautiful covers out there. I mean, every book written by her looks gorgeous!
Honestly, tell me, if you saw this novel in a book store, would you be able to resist? Would you just walk away?? I don’t think so (at least I wouldn’t)!

Written from the Heart was previously published by other name: Happy Endings.
So make sure to check if you already have that book on your bookshelf before buying yourself a duplicate (and then buy a book for a friend, if you already have it).

It was edited little, but since it was written many years ago (I’m not sure exactly when, but somewhere around time when Microsoft Vista was a new thing), it is outdated in a way, but it is also very interesting because of the same reason, for it shows us how much things and lifestyle have changed with new technology.

I think this book came to my life in time when I needed it.
Lately, I like to read about writing and writers’ lives, so this book gave me a glimpse of that.
Since the author herself is a very successful writer, I suppose she got an inspiration for this novel from many aspects of her own life.

The story follows Tina Devino who is a published author. Her books do sell, but they are far from being bestsellers, so she makes her living by giving other aspiring authors editing service trough her agency.
She is in relationship with famous ballet dancer Sergei, but although they are together for many years, they do not live together because that is what works best for them.
She spends most of her time writing her books, editing others’ manuscripts and hanging out with her best friend Linny.

Reading this book was like going back in time when Sex and the City was on going tv show.
Tina’s voice reminded me so much of Carrie’s, in parts when she’s (Carrie) narrating the story.
The writing style also reminded me of dairy, only without dates.
What I noticed, and it took me by surprise, is how much Trisha’s own voice changed through the years. I feel like books she publishes today sound different then this one. I have to admit, it was pretty fascinating to me to notice that.

Even though I enjoyed reading this book, I have to admit that I didn’t enjoy the way it ended. I feel like Tine like character didn’t develop at all. We left the same woman we met at the beginning of the book, without any significant change in her personality or her personal life (and there was plenty of room for change, if you ask me!).

I really appreciate every little writing advice the writer gave us through Tina’s voice. I think this book would be appealing to aspiring authors out there too.

I would recommend this book to everyone who likes to read old school chick lit, and who enjoyed the tv show Sex and the City and would like to know more about one writer’s life (but fictional writer, keep in mind!).