Jillions of Book Reviews

Review: Beach Read

I read Emily Henry’s ‘A Million Junes’ when it came out and was blown away by her writing style and the uniqueness of the story. So, when I saw she had a contemporary rom-com-type book coming out it piqued my interest. How would this author, whom I had built up to an almost ethereal status in my mind, handle a rom-com?

I then set out to find the answer. The answer, of course, is that she wrote to bleakly dark characters, brought them together during some of their darkest moments, and managed to make it all somehow work.

I loved January from the very first chapter. She’s a total mess and yet not quite ready to give up on herself, or love, yet. Augustus was a harder sell for me, and yet as you learn more about him, you can’t help but come to love the guy. And these two together are the best.

I grinned like an idiot through many parts of this book while cheering on these two writers as they fought their way back from the brink of despair and toward each other.

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

An estranged husband and wife in Regency England feign accidents and illness in an attempt to gain attention—and maybe just win each other back in the process.

Five years ago, Lady Violet Grey and Lord James Audley met, fell in love, and got married. Four years ago, they had a fight to end all fights, and have barely spoken since.

Their once-passionate love match has been reduced to one of cold, detached politeness. But when Violet receives a letter that James has been thrown from his horse and rendered unconscious at their country estate, she races to be by his side—only to discover him alive and well at a tavern, and completely unaware of her concern. She’s outraged. He’s confused. And the distance between them has never been more apparent.

Wanting to teach her estranged husband a lesson, Violet decides to feign an illness of her own. James quickly sees through it, but he decides to play along in an ever-escalating game of manipulation, featuring actors masquerading as doctors, threats of Swiss sanitariums, faux mistresses—and a lot of flirtation between a husband and wife who might not hate each other as much as they thought. Will the two be able to overcome four years of hurt or will they continue to deny the spark between them?

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