A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever afters.
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.
Release Date: May 19, 2020
Heat Level: Hot
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley
Price: $9.99
January Andrews believes in love. It is always what kept her going. When tragedy struck her time and time again it was the magic of love that sustained her. This time, she is learning that love isn’t pretty, it isn’t perfect, and it may not even be real. She packs up and heads to a small beach house her father leaves her to figure out her next romance novel and what love really is.
She never expected to see her arch-nemesis, Augustus Everett. But sure enough, he is her neighbor and he is still the grumpy male she has always known him to be. Joining the local book club, January expects to get her mojo back. Instead, she finds herself thrown back into the path of Augustus and he challenges her as he did in college. He will write a happily ever after story and she will write step into the literary arena.
I went into this book thinking it was going to give me one thing but it gave me EVERYTHING! I was literally twenty percent into the book and immediately went to read the blurb again. Did I make a mistake? This book is heavy. It is real. I can relate but where is the romance? The saying is ‘patience is a virtue’ for a reason. I kept right on reading and next thing I knew it was 2 a.m. and that tug in my gut that I get when I read a really good love story hit me.
This is the unexpected. The book that doesn’t just give you what you think it should, it gives you what you need. This is not just a romance. This is a story about love, life, loss, betrayal, and friendship. Summer isn’t here yet but is it safe to say that this is my favorite summer read? Is that even fair?
The story is told from January’s perspective but I got a full understanding of Gus without having his voice. Gus is such a broken character and though he is hard to read when the penetrable walls start to break he gives so much. His character’s transformation as he opens up is breathtaking.
For January to be a romance author and believing in her perfect story, I found it interesting she didn’t know how to just fall in love. She rushed into her past relationship and built the perfect image but with Gus she finds the perfect romance.
The chemistry is on point. The humor hits just when it is suppose to hit. The side characters are endearing. The feels are all there. Despite some of the cheesiness, I. Loved. Every. Single. Word.
~ Samantha
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