Beach Read

This was just the right book at the right time, which is ironic because the blurb annoyed the hell out of me. The fact that the dichotomy between the two MCs' writing style is described as “something happy” vs “The Great American Novel” made me want to hop on my soapbox and start pontificating about the injustice of a world where books that win prizes are always tragic, while romance novels are considered women's trifle. But fortunately I started reading and it wasn't long before I realized that author Emily Henry was already making my case for me. It starts when our hero Gus casually tells our heroine January that he sees no reason for a full genre that's just books for women.

I scoffed. Here it was, that always-ready anger rising like it had been waiting for an excuse. “Yeah, well, you're not the only one who doesn't understand it,” I said. “I know how to tell a story, Gus, and I know how to string a sentence together. If you swapped out all of my Jessicas for Johns, do you know what you'd get? Fiction. Just fiction. Ready and willing to be read by anyone, but somehow by being a woman who writes about women, I've eliminated half the Earth's population from my potential readers, and you know what? I don't feel ashamed of that. I feel pissed that people like you will assume my books couldn't possibly be worth your time, while meanwhile you could shart on live TV and the New York Times would praise your bold display of humanity.”

Sometimes thinking about someone else's (shit) is almost a relief...maybe he thought someone had to bear witness to the dark, or maybe he hoped that if he stared into the pitch-black long enough, his eyes would adjust and he'd see answers hiding in it. This is why bad things happen, the dark would say. This is how it all makes sense.

In my own story, I didn't want to be the heroine who let some silly miscommunication derail something obviously good, but in my real life, I felt like I'd rather risk that and keep my dignity than keep laying everything out for Gus until he finally came right out and admitted he didn't want me the way I wanted him.

Beach Read