Author : Emily Henry
Published on : May 19, 2020
Publisher : Berkley
Genre : Fiction, Romance, Adult Contemporary
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*Huge thanks to Berkley and PRH International for my free copy.
This did not affect my overall opinion of the book.

„Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.

They’re polar opposites.

In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they’re living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer’s block.

Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he’ll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really.“

“That was what I’d always loved about reading, what had driven me to write in the first place. That feeling that a new world was being spun like a spiderweb around you and you couldn’t move until the whole thing had revealed itself to you.”

We have January Andrews and Augustus Everett. They’re both successful writers. January writes romance and Gus writes literary fiction. They are both having writer’s block so Gus has come up with a deal and January agrees. She will write a bleak literary fiction and he will write a romance novel.

I was so sure in the beginning that I was going to give this book a 5-star rating but boy I was wrong. First things first. I was expecting a light, fluffy, and breezy rom-com read because the cover and title scream „summer“! I don’t read book synopsis so imagine my surprise when I got into the middle part of this book. It was my fault for assuming. Don’t get me wrong. There were parts that I genuinely enjoyed and loved like the setting of the story! I also liked the idea of January and Gus switching genres. It was interesting to read their writing process and inspirations behind their stories.

One of my favorites was how January stood up and defended her books and women’s fiction in general. Whether we like it or not, there are book snobs out there. I enjoyed their witty banter and writing of notes „You Belong With Me“ style. But something has changed when they started „spending time“ together. The second half of the book felt so slow for me. I didn’t want to dnf it because a small part of me was still curious on how the story will end and after almost a month, I finished it. I’m obviously part of the minority here so if you’re planning on reading this book, please do.

My Rating : ★★★☆☆