“Beach Read,” Henry’s first foray into romance, is also my favorite.
As a book lover, no pun intended, the premise of two dueling authors challenging each other to swap genres is a fun one. People may think romance is easy to write. But it’s far too easy to give readers the ick, veer into melodrama territory, or make your romance just too unbelievable (in too-good-to-be-true or toxic ways).
That’s why I think Henry’s ode to the romance writer resonates with me. I’ve read plenty of bad ones, but I bet January Andrews (our depressed heroine), writes amazing ones, even if she’s going through a crisis of confidence at the beginning of the book.
When she discovers that her neighbor, at her father’s secret lake house (long story), is none other than Augustus “Gus” Everett, a literary wunderkind and her former college classmate, January is inspired to begin writing again, even if it’s not the contractually obligated romance she’s supposed to be working on.
January and Gus bring out the best in each other. Gus makes January take herself seriously, and January lightens Gus up. They have great chemistry, believable issues that they work through, and a hard-won happily ever after.
“Beach Read” is set to be adapted into a film directed by Yulin Kuang, the author of “How to End a Love Story,” another favorite of mine, so I hope that Gus and January are in good hands.
The film’s already caused a bit of controversy, though — while fans were generally happy about “Bridgerton’s” Phoebe Dynevor being cast as January, the choice of Patrick Schwarzenegger as Gus has been met with, let’s say, less enthusiasm.
I can’t see a book topping “Beach Read,” but who knows! As long as Henry’s writing romances, I’m reading them.
