Oh, how I loved this book. It’s not an innovative story-line, but it sure does the trick! Polar opposites strike up a challenge and fall in love in the process. Swoooon! While the concept is as old as time, author Emily Henry makes it fresh with modern background details that bring the characters and setting to life. When I read a good romance, I can feel it throughout my body. The words pulse through my bones. I carry the characters with me for days after. That is what happened with this book.
When college classmates, Augustus “Gus” Everett and January Andrews, find out they’re living in neighboring beach houses with upcoming book deadlines, they strike a deal to force them out of their respective writing slumps. January, a best-selling romance novelist, must write a masterpiece worthy of the Pulitzer Prize. Gus, an acclaimed author of literary fiction that tends to be moody and dense, must write something uplifting and fluffy. In order to spark ideas, January will take Gus on field trips worthy of a rom-com montage, while Gus takes January with him to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult.
The romance between Gus and January builds at the perfect pace (Their chemistry sizzles!) and, of course, hits its conflict at JUST the right time to cause the reader terrific heartbreak. Can love withstand their competitive natures? Will they successfully complete their challenge? Do I really have to get up to go to the bathroom, or can I just keep reading?
Also, can they make a film adaptation already?