🎧 Reviewed by LD | Rating: 4/5 | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥 | Standalone
⚠️ This is a full spoiler review. If you haven’t read Beach Read yet — go read it first. We’ll be here when you’re done.
The Opening
January Andrews has spent her whole life turning everything into something beautiful. That started when her mom had cancer and her dad made the decision to just go dance, go have fun, make it magical, and it worked. It became her entire blueprint. Romanticize everything. Make life sparkly and perfect.
And then her dad died suddenly from a stroke, and at his funeral, a woman named Sonia approached her looking completely broken. Said she was a friend of her father’s. Thick as thieves. Mentioned a letter and a key to a house on Lake Michigan. And then January’s mom walked out of the bathroom, saw Sonia, and the look on her face confirmed everything.
Her dad had a whole second life. A secret beach house. A woman who was more than a friend. And her mom knew.
So January shows up at that beach house completely unraveling. Her doctor boyfriend Jacques dumped her in a hot tub on a family vacation with his family, telling her she just wasn’t herself anymore. She’s not writing. She might be broke. And romanticizing her life is not working for her right now.
The one thing she has is a neighbour who makes it very clear, without even turning around to look at her, that he wants nothing to do with her. Unless his house is on fire, in which case listen for sirens first.
She has no idea that neighbour is Augustus Everett. Literary fiction darling. And her rival from college.
The Full Story — Spoilers Included
The Foot Job Incident
January arrives at the beach house and calls her best friend Shoddy. They are chatting on the deck about something involving a good old-fashioned foot job, and it turns out her neighbour has been sitting right there on his deck reading a book the whole time. She finishes the call, tries to introduce herself, and he does not even turn around. The energy he gives off is: please never speak to me again. She is both embarrassed and annoyed, because the least he could do is acknowledge that she exists.
1 AM and Music That Will Not Stop
That night January is trying to drink herself to sleep, and at 12:30 in the morning music starts blasting from next door. She yells out the window. Nothing. She goes and knocks on his door. Nothing. She gives it until 1am, goes outside to wait it out, and that is when she discovers the grumpy neighbour sitting in the dark. He scares her so badly she screams. He is immediately annoyed, she unloads about the music, and he tells her it is a Saturday night, get your head out of your own behind. And then she just deflates. Says she is exhausted. And that of all things is what cracks him enough to go kick everyone out. He did not have to do all of that, but he did.
Pete’s Bookshop
January’s publicist always tells her to stop into small-town bookshops and offer to sign any copies of her books. She pops into the local shop run by Pete, who also somehow runs the coffee shop next door at the same time. Pete looks her up and there are zero copies of January’s books in the store, but she invites her to the book club. January heads for the door, turns around, and nearly walks directly into a display of books by one Augustus Everett. She is putting the pieces together when Gus walks through the door and it all clicks. Her antisocial neighbour is her college rival.
Pete is thrilled. Two writers in town! January is cornered.
Gus tells Pete they are neighbours. Does not mention college. Does not acknowledge their history at all.
Book Club and the Gut Punch
January shows up to book club assuming she has been invited as a guest author of some kind. Then Gus walks in and she figures it must be his book. Also no. It is just a regular book club featuring two equally humiliated authors whose books are not being discussed despite having two published writers right there in the room.
The gut punch of the evening is Sonia being a book club member. She sees January and makes an excuse to leave.
Pete, it comes out later, is Gus’s aunt. January’s mind is completely blown.
Donuts, Coffee, and a Deal
After book club January lies about an Uber coming, there is not. Gus offers her a ride, she declines, says the Uber is almost here, it is not, he waits, she eventually gets in the car. He takes her for donuts and coffee instead of going straight home and they actually start talking. She asks if he thought they were reading his book. He has lived in the same town as Pete for over five years and had never once been invited to book club before this, so obviously he assumed it was his book. They were both equally blindsided.
He finally admits he remembers her from college. There was a party, both of them in their feelings, they ended up dancing together, and something probably would have happened except Shoddy showed up at exactly the wrong moment. They both knew what it would have been.
And then he proposes the deal: they switch genres since they are both in a slump, she writes dark literary fiction, he writes a happily ever after romance. Whoever sells their book first wins bragging rights, and the loser has to promote the winner’s book. Weekdays are for writing, weekends are for research. She agrees. Partly because she needs this to shake herself out of her creative block, and partly because she is very entertained by the idea of Gus, who genuinely hates romance novels or even romance, being forced to write one.
Notes Through the Window
Their windows face each other and at some point during the writing week they start leaving notes back and forth. It starts as something funny and light and slowly becomes one of the threads that pulls them closer. It is a small detail and I loved it.
Research Days
These are genuinely some of the best parts of the book. His first research day is interviewing a woman whose sister joined a cult. Hers is a carnival. Then they have a night where they are supposed to meet Dave, a guy who grew up in a cult but got out, and Dave does not show up. They end up just sitting there ordering some blue fruity drink, and at some point their hands find each other under the table. They are not rivals anymore, so it seems. They are something else entirely.
For her research night they go to a Meg Ryan marathon at a drive-in theatre. She hits her head, he pulls her into his lap to check on her, and it turns into a pretty heated makeout session until the owner comes over to inform them this is a family establishment and asks them to leave. On the way home Gus tells her it will not happen again. And then he disappears for days.
He Was Married
While Gus is MIA January runs into Pete, who casually mentions that she understands why Gus did not make the best first impression the night January arrived, because it was his birthday and his wife left him on his birthday. Wife… January had been opening up to him about everything, her dad, the affair, her whole shattered picture of a perfect life, and he has shared absolutely none of this with her.
He eventually reappears and tries to act like everything is fine, which it is not. She is closed off and mad, avoiding him at all costs. He shows up at her door when Dave finally drives into town out of nowhere wanting to talk, she goes, but keeps her guard up.
For her research night she takes him line dancing, which is his personal version of absolute hell. They do some shots. In the middle of it all something in January snaps and she just needs to leave. He will not let her go until they have sobered up, so she retreats to the car and he follows her and pushes to find out what is wrong. She snaps that they barely even know each other. And then it comes out: she knows he was married. He completely goes off, they have it out right there, and he finally tells her. He was married for two years. His wife left him for the best man at their own wedding, his college roommate.
The next day they spend lounging on her deck, nursing their hangover and something shifts. He tells her she can ask him anything. She asks about the tattoo, the solid black circle on his arm. It used to be a Mobius strip, matching with his ex-wife. He just wanted it gone, so he just covered it with a blacked out circle. She finally tells him the full story about her dad, the secret second life, all of it. She starts sobbing. He comforts her and they start making out. And then the food delivery arrives. Impeccable timing, of course.
One and Done
They eventually sleep together, and the second it is over his phone rings. He sees the caller, shuts down immediately, and tells her to head back to her place and he will meet her there. Which is honestly the absolute last thing you want to do immediately after sleeping with someone for the first time. She goes. It takes a while before he shows up, and when he does, he says nothing about the call.
For context, Gus in college had a 31-day maximum with anyone. As an adult, it is one and done. So January’s head is not in a good place.
He stays off after that. Distant at the Fourth of July party. Deflecting. She finally pushes him to just tell her what is going on, and it comes out: his lawyer called. His ex had not filed for divorce, so he had finally filed himself, after January had arrived — make of that what you will, he thought everything was settled, and then she wanted to discuss things. He was spiraling and did not know how to handle it.
They eventually work their way into the master bedroom together, which January had been avoiding. They find a safe, but she doesn’t know the combination. She is not ready to deal with it all yet.
Around this time there is a book event at Pete’s shop and a woman named Naomi shows up and just stands there staring at Gus. Pete tries to get her to leave, but she refuses. It is Gus’s ex-wife and Gus says he needs to find out why she is there so he leaves with her. January walks home and finds Sonia sitting on her front porch.
Sonia
January had reached out to Sonia at some point about the porch furniture at the beach house. Sonia’s response was: I cannot buy it, but I will take it if you are giving it away, and also can we talk? And I have to say, I am completely on January’s side here. Sonia knowingly had an affair with a married man who had a wife and a daughter. There is no version of that story that is forgivable. The audacity to want things from January, to just show up at her home and sit on her porch and need things from her, is a lot. There is no redemption arc for Sonia. I do not care.
Sonia has written everything down that she wants to say and just starts reading. She starts telling January the story: when she and January’s dad first got together, her parents were actually separated at the time. They ended things when the parents reconciled. When the dad died, his attorney gave Sonia the letter and the key to pass along to January, because he did not trust that January’s mother would do it. And then Sonia says: but you have the letters, I have nothing. January says no, she has one letter. Sonia is confused. You did not read the first one?
She reads the first letter. Her dad gives her the combination to the safe. Inside are stacks of birthday letters, one from every single year of her life. And an address for a boat. Named January.
He wrote to her every year, tracking her milestones, telling her how proud he was, how much he loved her. He admits in those letters that he cheated on her mother. That her mother knew. January reads all of it alone that night and spirals hard.
Shady Finally Shows Up
After all of that, Gus has gone completely silent. No call, no text. January texts Shoddy and says she needs her now. Shoddy comes. The next day Gus calls twice, does not leave a voicemail or a text when she does not answer. That night he shows up at her door, she freezes, and by the time she unfreezes he is already gone. She runs after him in the pouring rain, realizes his car is already gone, and then the music starts blasting again, just like the very first night. He comes outside completely unsurprised to see her standing there. Says he did not really plan this out very well. He thought they would dance. He said once that he would learn.
Naomi came to tell him she wants to get back together. He felt like he needed to think about it. So he went home and sat with it for a day. And decided he wants January. For forever.
The Ending
They both sell their books. January sells hers three weeks before Gus but he gets more money. They both decide to drop their pen names and release under their real names, even though it is outside their usual genres, because they are proud of what they made. Her regular publisher did not pick the book up, but they’ll be publishing her next book. She sells the beach house and moves into a downtown apartment.
The ending takes place on Gus’s birthday, exactly one year after they first ran into each other again at the beach house. He proposes.
Best Part of This Book
The letters. I did not see that coming at all. The idea that her dad had been writing to her every single year on her birthday, tracking her life, telling her how proud he was, how much he loved her, while she has been sitting in that house feeling like her entire life was built on a lie. And then the boat named January at the end of it. That whole sequence completely undid me. It reframed everything in a way that only made the grief harder and softer at the same time.
Worst Part of This Book
Shoddy cancelling her visit to go meet her boyfriend’s family when she and January already had plans. I know it is a side plot but that kind of thing gets me every time. January is going through one of the most devastating things a person can go through, Shoddy had already committed to coming, and she bails because the boyfriend invited her to meet his family. Those plans could have been rescheduled on his end. The friendship has always been there. Very disappointed in Shoddy for that one.
The Steam Rating Breakdown
🔥🔥🔥 — Some spice, present later in the book, not the main focus of the story. The chemistry builds slowly and the emotional connection does most of the heavy lifting. When it gets there it is good, but this one is much more about the feelings than anything else.
The Ending Explained — Satisfied or Disappointed?
Satisfied. After everything these two went through getting there, landing on his birthday, one year to the day after they found each other again at the beach house, felt exactly right.
Would I Relisten to It?
No. It was a great first listen and I devoured it in two days, but I already know where it goes and I do not think I would go back to it.
Where to Get
📚 Physical Book
Amazon US | Amazon CA | Bookshop.org
🎧 Audiobook
Audible US | Audible CA | Libro.fm
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Plot Twisted. 🔥
🎧 | Standalone | Genre: Contemporary Romance | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
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