Romance Books for Book Clubs

Beach Read

Emily Henry

★★★★4.0

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January Andrews thought she had her life figured out until everything fell apart in spectacular fashion. Her father's death revealed devastating secrets, her relationship crumbled, and worst of all for a romance writer, she's lost all faith in love and happily-ever-afters. Desperate to finish her overdue book, she retreats to her father's beach house, only to discover her nemesis from college writing program, Augustus Everett, living next door. Gus writes serious literary fiction and has always looked down on January's genre, but now he's struggling with writer's block on his sophomore novel. In a moment of desperation and wine-fueled bravado, they make a deal: January will write the next great literary novel while Gus attempts a happily-ever-after, and whoever finishes first wins. What starts as a competition becomes a journey of rediscovering not just their writing voices, but themselves. As they research each other's genres together—January dragging Gus to rom-com worthy dates while he takes her to explore the darker corners of their small lakeside town—the line between research and reality begins to blur. Emily Henry crafts a story that's both a love letter to writers and readers, and a tender exploration of how we rebuild ourselves after life doesn't go according to plan.