Beach Read Book Review- Writer’s Block and Romance

Hello everyone! Today I’m bringing you a review for a funny, romantic book about the struggles of writing a book and falling in love.

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Unspoilery Blurb (Taken from Goodreads!)

A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever afters.

Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.

They’re polar opposites.

In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they’re living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer’s block.

Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he’ll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really.

Unspoilery Review

This book was super cute! I love the characterization in the story, and the dialogue was witty and beautiful. Both characters were entertaining and fun to watch interact with one another, and I had a great time reading the book. I loved the juxtaposition between January and Augustus’s writing styles, and it was incredibly fun to see them try to switch genres during their writing deal.

Taking place over summer and having a writing contest with the boy next door, this book was the perfect fun, summer read! I recommend this book to anyone looking for a story about grieving, believing in yourself, and smutty romance.

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Spoilery Review

I love the depth of January’s sweet, playful character. She was clearly such a bright light in the past, so it was interesting to learn about her dad‘s death and affair. January was clearly not in a good space at the beginning of the book, and it was nice to see a story about dealing with grief in this way. Her stupid boyfriend was also awful, and I’m glad she started opening up to her mom again even after all the pain. I really wanted her to work through her issues with life and romance, and I loved seeing her open up throughout the book.

Augustus was amusing, grumpy, and clearly had a past full of pain. I loved his dislike and disbelief in romance throughout the book, and it was funny to see him and January interacting. Augustus was so down to earth and realistic, but in a kind of a grumpy way. I liked the information about the books he wrote and why, and it was fun to see him come out of his shell. I felt so bad for his childhood and awful ex-wife, but I did adore his family in town- they were hilarious and a wonderful queer couple!!!

January and Augustus had an immediate connection and it was very exciting. I loved how they had a one-sided rivalry throughout college, and they were so sassy to one another. I loved their dialogue and story creation as they were walking around and seeing people in the world. My favorite scene was at the fair/carnival when they were talking about the lives of the people around them.

Ooo the romance. I was shipping them so hard when they finally got together, and it was beautiful. Their sex against the bookshelf was hot and hilarious. I loved how the two characters finally got together and their relationship grew as they became more open with one another. The writing challenge that they struck was a great way to work through their problems and become more attached to one another. I loved watching them create scenarios and working with each other on their writing and character/ plot development!

Overall this was an incredibly enjoyable book, and I had an amazing time reading it. It had serious parts to it, but it was mostly a lighthearted book that I would love to read on the beach. I’m so happy January and Augustus both wrote their novels, and I think they came a long way in this book.

Have you read this book? What did you think? Please share your thoughts!

Be safe stay strong and change the world!!! ❤️🏳️‍🌈✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼✊🏻🏳️‍🌈❤️

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