Een leuk boek, maar zonder ' beach read' vibes

" He tasted like the outdoors, like pine and dew and cinnamon and himself."

I keep trying Emily Henry’s books, but they never quite amaze me. Beach Read had some things I liked, and some things I didn’t.

The premise really drew me in, because books about writers are always on my TBR. I definitely enjoyed the ‘swapping genres’ challenge in this story! It was fun, and the writing scenes themselves were also really enjoyable. Give me a cute beach house and I’d want to write a book there too!

The main characters are January and Augustus (Gus). Something that bugged me, because calling one character a month is fine, but both? Why? Also, at the beginning they agree not to fall in love, yet they immediately do everything that makes you fall in love with someone. In most books with this theme, characters at least try to resist, but here they didn’t even make an effort.

I’m not a big fan of the grumpy x sunshine trope, and since Gus is the typical grumpy male lead, I didn’t connect with him as much as I wanted. Their banter was fun, and I loved the ‘writing notes to each other’ scenes, though sometimes they felt a little forced. January was okay, I felt for her, especially her storyline with her father.

The part I struggled with most was the ‘cult’ storyline. In general, there’s nothing wrong with it, but it didn’t add something to the story and took up way too much time. It felt like the author wasn’t sure whether this book was meant to be a fun, warm beach read or a darker, emotional story. For me, the beach read vibe got lost.

Overall: the start hooked me, the middle dragged, and the ending felt cliché. A fun, okay read, but lacking a clear tone and definitely not a classic beach read.