Beach Read by Emily Henry is a genuine emotional masterpiece of this generation. With my teenage experience in the realm of romance novels, nothing has balanced raw emotion and layered love like Beach Read has.

The story begins when January Andrews, a struggling romance novelist, arrives in a small beach town inheriting not only a house but a lot of emotional baggage. From there, she encounters her next-door neighbor and former college rival, Augustus Everette (Gus), who also happens to be a struggling author. After overcoming their rival days, they strike up a deal to help each other get over this rut and write their novels.

The book is written from January’s point of view. She is witty, passionate, and a genuine joy to read about throughout the story. Something that I loved about this book was the way the author made January and Gus confront their grief. It had minimal character development which is so beautiful because it highlights the theme that when your hardships blossom, they don’t have to create something new.

It was hard to identify one trope to sum up the complexities of this love story, but I would probably choose forced proximity. Some may say the theme of enemies to lovers is evident, but I really don’t think January and Gus were ever enemies. They were in awe of each other and the talent that they displayed. Forced proximity is more appropriate as a theme because January went to the house expecting to have the rest of the summer to write alone but ended up in a bet with her neighbor that she could not escape.

Beach Read goes down on the list of books that I will forever recommend. A staple in my library, and what should be a staple in yours.