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bandherbooks 's review for:
Beach Read
by Emily Henry
First of all, if you can take the time to listen to Julia Whelan's narration of this story, I HIGHLY recommend it. She is one of my favorite narrators and Beach Read let all of her talents shine.
Secondly, the marketing for this women's fiction book with heavy topics and also a central romance, is terrible. I saw some early CWs so avoided it (Cancer is something I tread very lightly with, so please never hesitate to tell me if you are reading something with surprise cancer in it). The blurb, cover, and title do not accurately reflect the content which is a disservice to both the reader and the story.
Both January and Gus are dealing with some heavy stuff (I recommend Leigh Kramer's review for a list list of CWs), and the thrust of the story is January coming to term's with her father's death, his infidelity, and her learning to accept perhaps "happily ever after" isn't the aim in life, but a series of "happily for nows." This focus is what tips this book, albeit romance heavy as it is, into the women's fiction realm for me. January is also not a romance writer, she's a self-professed women's fiction writer, so not sure why the back copy says otherwise.
That said, wow my god the FEELINGS between Gus and January are written so well, the emotion just thrums off the page (or in my ears I guess), making me both squirmy and breathless to read what would happen next between these two. The reader is firmly in January's POV throughout the story, making Gus appear to be a very complicated jacka**, but one I couldn't help but also fall in love with. Very horny and hot in a lot of parts, although there's a lot of focus on kissing of collarbones as opposed to more spicy body parts most of the time. I haven't heard "collarbone" used so much since the last steamy YA book I read.
Anyway, I really enjoyed my listen and if heavy romantic fiction (with an HEA) is what you're looking for, you'll definitely enjoy this one!
Thank you to the publisher for the ARC AND I received the audio as a complementary review copy from LibroFM's librarian first listen program.
Secondly, the marketing for this women's fiction book with heavy topics and also a central romance, is terrible. I saw some early CWs so avoided it (Cancer is something I tread very lightly with, so please never hesitate to tell me if you are reading something with surprise cancer in it). The blurb, cover, and title do not accurately reflect the content which is a disservice to both the reader and the story.
Both January and Gus are dealing with some heavy stuff (I recommend Leigh Kramer's review for a list list of CWs), and the thrust of the story is January coming to term's with her father's death, his infidelity, and her learning to accept perhaps "happily ever after" isn't the aim in life, but a series of "happily for nows." This focus is what tips this book, albeit romance heavy as it is, into the women's fiction realm for me. January is also not a romance writer, she's a self-professed women's fiction writer, so not sure why the back copy says otherwise.
That said, wow my god the FEELINGS between Gus and January are written so well, the emotion just thrums off the page (or in my ears I guess), making me both squirmy and breathless to read what would happen next between these two. The reader is firmly in January's POV throughout the story, making Gus appear to be a very complicated jacka**, but one I couldn't help but also fall in love with. Very horny and hot in a lot of parts, although there's a lot of focus on kissing of collarbones as opposed to more spicy body parts most of the time. I haven't heard "collarbone" used so much since the last steamy YA book I read.
Anyway, I really enjoyed my listen and if heavy romantic fiction (with an HEA) is what you're looking for, you'll definitely enjoy this one!
Thank you to the publisher for the ARC AND I received the audio as a complementary review copy from LibroFM's librarian first listen program.