Author: Emily Henry
Printed Edition, Jove
January is not in a good space: her longtime boyfriend broke up with her, her beloved dad has passed away (and she finds out he had cheated on her mom – which totally led to her to believe that true love is a lie) and the deadline to send out her draft for latest romance novel, which is nowhere near ready, is upon her. Broke, with nowhere to live, she goes to the beach house left to her by her dad. A beach house she had no idea existed. The place where he lived his extramarital affair. Fun, right? Well, it gets a little worse because Gus, her college nemesis, who is now a renowned literary fiction writer, is her next door neighbor.
Soon they find out that they are both in a rut, wallowing in the despair of the dreaded writer’s block. They strike up a sort of deal/bet – they will exchange genres, write a novel in that genre and, whoever sells it first. wins.
They set out to teach each other the tricks of the trade, so to speak…and the universe works its magic to bring them together.
You know that book you need to suggest to your friend who doesn’t want to give romance novels a try? This is it. Though it very much reads as a romance, it’s written through the perspective of January, and the arc of the character develops pretty much like women’s fiction. Plus, the humor in this book had me laughing out loud in a few moments. Mind you, this is NOT a funny book – to be honest, the last third of the book gets a little intense, but the humor permeates the whole story.
I loved January, the romance writer. I love Gus, the writer of “serious”stuff. I loved their romance. I loved how one of them had been pining for the other since forever and the other was oblivious to it.
The title may mislead you, it’s not a “beach read” per se, but it’s a gem of a book!
