Beach Read: The feel-good, grumpy sunshine rom com from the Sunday Times bestselling romance author

**spoilers ahead loves!** I was not planning to read this book anytime soon, but I am so glad I did! I loved how the story revolved around losing a loved one and living with grief. It is such a complex thing. There are no simple answers. January was so relatable in that sense, all the emotions she was grappling with while trying to deal with her dad's death, and so was Augustus with the way he perceived the world to be due to his experiences. Ironically, that was the kind of book I was trying to avoid. But I needed it this month, and this book gave me exactly that. I loved how they swapped genres through a bet! That was honestly so exciting, and I was more invested in those moments of them trying to write a book in each other's genres (that was such a creative and clever idea!) than the romance bits that involved a lot of touching. (I am not complaining about that. 😂😭) Nevertheless, Emily Henry never fails to amaze me. She writes so beautifully! I love her writing style. This wins!

This is a very pleasant summer read, but I can't help but feel it wasn't quite what I was expecting; it is a bit over-hyped for my liking. January and Gus find themselves living next-door to each other. Both writers, both struggling with their next novel, they agree to swap genres and see who get published first. As they are thrown together, we find out all about them, both together and separately; what will the summer bring? There is no doubt that this is a well-written and entertaining novel - and one I thoroughly enjoyed. However, due to the huge number of quotes attributed to it, I expected something with more of a 'wow' factor. I generally get caught up in novels very easily but the laugh-out-loud and tearful moments sort of passed me by with this one. It's a lovely read - and I wouldn't like to put anyone off reading - but for me it just lacked that something extra. Having said all that, I'm sure others will love it (I'm often out of step) and I'm very happy to give it four stars.

What happens when a romance writer challenges a 'serious' writer to swap genres? January Andrews is a fairly successful writer of women's fiction, but ever since the death of her father she has been lost in a sea of grief and anger, especially when she discovers he had a secret life. A year ago she had a perfect life: sexy boyfriend; happily married parents; and a successful career. Now none of those exist except in her memories and she has come to her father's secret beach house love nest to write her overdue fifth novel. Unbeknownst to her, January's beach house is next door to Augustus (Gus) Everett, a writer of dark highbrow novels and also her college rival, formerly known as Sexy, Evil Gus or SEG for short. Thrown together in a small town January and Gus snipe at each other, he thinks she's all rainbows, unicorns and happy endings whereas she thinks he churns our dark and dreary worthy novels. Both of them are suffering writer's block so January challenges Gus to a bet, who can write the more successful novel in the other's genre? I've read this plot device before, or seen it as a Hallmark movie, but this is nothing like those stories. January is struggling to come to terms with her father's secret life, Gus has his own demons. Gus is researching for a book about a cult which involves interviewing relatives of people in suicide cults and survivors of a fire which destroyed another cult. It's deep, and grown-up, and funny, and sad, and sweet, and small-town, and a wonderful opposites attract romance. I loved every second of this rollercoaster novel and January and Gus were such vivid, rounded characters it was a pleasure to see them reframe their teen years and events closer to home over the course of the novel. My first novel by Emily Henry and I loved it, look forward to reading more by this author. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.