Beach Read

Description

The sensational, groundbreaking global bestseller from Emily Henry, the undisputed queen of modern contemporary romance and #1 New York Times bestselling author of Book Lovers and Happy Place! Beach Read is a brilliantly written, fast-paced, and intensely atmospheric literary masterpiece that perfectly flips the script on traditional romantic tropes. Brimming with razor-sharp witty banter, deep emotional vulnerability, and undeniable chemistry, this unputdownable book delivers a spectacular, multi-layered story about grief, truth, and the terrifying beauty of opening your heart.

Augustus Everett is an acclaimed, highly cynical author of serious literary fiction. January Andrews is a hopeless romantic who writes bestselling contemporary romance novels. Their artistic worldviews couldn’t be further apart: when she happily pens a perfect happily-ever-after, he ruthlessly kills off his entire cast of characters. They are the ultimate, textbook polar opposites. In fact, the only structural thing they currently have in common is that for the next three months, they are trapped living in neighboring lakefront beach houses, completely broke, and deeply bogged down with severe, career-threatening writer’s block.

Until, one hazy, wine-fueled summer evening, their competitive banter sparks a high-stakes deal engineered to force them both out of their creative ruts. Augustus makes a pact to spend the summer writing a book with a happy ending, while January resolves to pen the next heavy, complex Great American Novel. To make the experiment work, they structure a high-performance exchange program: she will take him on field trips worthy of a classic rom-com montage, and he will take her along to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult. The rules of their unscripted summer challenge are perfectly simple: everyone must finish a manuscript, and absolutely no one is allowed to fall in love. Really.

But as the sun-drenched days blur into intense, late-night writing sessions in close quarters, the rigid boundaries of their professional rivalry begin to combust. Forced to confront the ghosts of their pasts and their own shifting paradigms, January and Augustus discover that their individual stories are far more intertwined than they ever anticipated. Their casual arrangement rapidly transforms into a passionate, emotional combustion, forcing them to re-evaluate everything they think they know about love and happily ever afters.

Masterfully executing the rivals-to-lovers, forced proximity, grumpy-meets-sunshine, workplace/creative competition, and small-town/lake-house tropes, Beach Read delivers a beautifully structured and emotionally satisfying narrative. Packed with Emily Henry’s signature psychological depth, unforgettable dialogue, and protective devotion, this premium Penguin Books paperback edition is a mandatory masterpiece for every contemporary romance enthusiast’s personal collection.