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A review by river24
Beach Read by Emily Henry
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
4.25
4.25/5
I am not a romance reader, I have great respect for the genre, but often find myself disliking romance books. However, I saw a lot of my mutuals reading this and enjoying it, people who normally only read sci-fi and fantasy. I've seen so much praise for Emily Henry and so I thought, why not just give it a go? And I am so glad that I did!
I think the main reason why I loved this book is because it's a character story first. So many romances or romance subplots get this wrong; characters are people first, not just vehicles for a romance you want to write. This is what Henry is so adept at, at making her characters so real and emotional and complicated. They're fully fleshed out and have many moving objects in their lives so that they feel real. We see many of their other relationships and all the different ways in which these are difficult to navigate. The romance stems from who the characters are as people, an inevitability that feels satisfying as it grows and comes to fruition, rather than something forced upon them (and us) that feels unnatural or doesn't quite fit. Henry is skilled at writing a very natural evolution of the main characters' relationship.
I also love books that talk about books, I loved the exploration of genres, and the misconceptions and prejudices against romance and other genres primarily consumed by women. I really just loved the entire concept of the book. I think it was a great set up to explore these characters and their budding relationship.
This was such a fun read that I kept coming back to whenever I felt like something light and easy. It felt like the very best kind of fanfiction (the happy kind of great fanfics, not the gut-wrenching kind) because of the way it treated its characters. I'll definitely be reading more Emily Henry in the future!
I am not a romance reader, I have great respect for the genre, but often find myself disliking romance books. However, I saw a lot of my mutuals reading this and enjoying it, people who normally only read sci-fi and fantasy. I've seen so much praise for Emily Henry and so I thought, why not just give it a go? And I am so glad that I did!
I think the main reason why I loved this book is because it's a character story first. So many romances or romance subplots get this wrong; characters are people first, not just vehicles for a romance you want to write. This is what Henry is so adept at, at making her characters so real and emotional and complicated. They're fully fleshed out and have many moving objects in their lives so that they feel real. We see many of their other relationships and all the different ways in which these are difficult to navigate. The romance stems from who the characters are as people, an inevitability that feels satisfying as it grows and comes to fruition, rather than something forced upon them (and us) that feels unnatural or doesn't quite fit. Henry is skilled at writing a very natural evolution of the main characters' relationship.
I also love books that talk about books, I loved the exploration of genres, and the misconceptions and prejudices against romance and other genres primarily consumed by women. I really just loved the entire concept of the book. I think it was a great set up to explore these characters and their budding relationship.
This was such a fun read that I kept coming back to whenever I felt like something light and easy. It felt like the very best kind of fanfiction (the happy kind of great fanfics, not the gut-wrenching kind) because of the way it treated its characters. I'll definitely be reading more Emily Henry in the future!