Want to read a book called Beach Read? Surprise! It’s set at a lake house. 

That is only the start of the mistakes in the underwhelming and overhyped Emily Henry book. The characters lack personality, and the plot drags on for far too many pages. Booktok recommends this book to everybody, but don’t be fooled by the edits. Readers should not waste their time on this dreadful book. 

Beach Read starts with January at her dad’s funeral where she finds out he’s been having an affair. She believed that her parents’ love was magical, but he had been cheating on her mother. In her dad’s will he left her a beach house in Michigan. When moving there she realizes her neighbor is Augustus who is a famous author just like her.

The rest of the book is about Augustus and January having writer’s block and going on dates to try and find inspiration for their books. From then on, the story starts to repeat itself as January and Augustus keep doing the same things every single day.

The characters had almost no chemistry between them, and there would be no surprise if they got divorced after this book ended. Augustus and January are both very toxic  characters who refuse to communicate at all. There were many misunderstandings throughout the story that would have been resolved if Augustus and January talked it through.The main characters January and Augustus are dull people with nothing better to do than complain and drink their problems away.

There are parts in this book where things do not add up. Her parents’ affair felt unfinished and could have been written about more. The only interesting part of this book was when she found out her dad had cheated on her mom, but even then the author could have dived deeper into it and explained more parts of it. 

There were not many good things about this book. Some chapters are so long that it feels like it’s never going to end. If readers like boring stories with zero plot and characters who are bland then this book would be just for them!