Reading has always been very important to me, hence why I was always known as the “weird book girl.” Similar to my favorite Disney princess, Belle, I was always lost in a book; Books were always more my friends than people. People have always asked me why I like to read when reading is so boring. Books like Beach Read are what remind me why I love to read.
Beach Read is my favorite book; it sits on my color-coded bookshelf, the one shelf with books that I have finished. The pages are worn, and there is a white crease from when I read it for the first time. I wanted to say that this was the first book that made me feel something special or that it was the first romance I had fallen in love with, but rather I would say those titles go to other books I read long before Beach Read. Instead, Beach Read is the book that was there for me freshman year when no one was.
There are so many ways a story can go, but often it is either a sad or a happy ending, but as most know, life is not so simple. There is not just one event that dooms you to misery forever; life moves on, there is not a love story or an event that happens, and then it is happily ever after. When I was a freshman, happy endings seemed stupid, idiotic even, reading a book like Beach Read made no sense for me at the time, but in the end, it was the best decision I had ever made.
Growing up, life was not easy; my father was not kind, and more often than not, my time with him ended in tears. When you are dealt a bad hand of cards and have to admit to yourself that your father was physically and mentally abusing you all along, it can ruin your idea of happy endings and make you feel as if nothing would ever look up.
Beach Read is a romance, but it is not; everyone is happy all the time and has never seen a day of trauma in their lives. Beach Read is a book that embraces the sad and angry moments of life and still shows you that life can have happy endings.
The main character, January Andrews, is an optimist who faces the challenge of her father’s death and finding out that he had been cheating on her mother. Andrews meets Augustus Everett, the love interest, who is a true pessimist after the trauma he faced in his life. Throughout the book, both characters face their own struggles but slowly start to rediscover themselves and find happiness in their lives again.
“I still feel sick and worried and angry, but at moments, I’m also happy,” said Author Emily Henry.
Life is full of sickening events: abuse, rape, world hunger, and so much more. All of this could bring us down, make us never get back up again, but consistently, we keep getting back up again.
“There will always be wildflowers,” said Henry.
During my freshman year of high school, the abuse I had faced from my father had reached an all-time high, making life feel hopeless, but I realized life was not, and while I still suffer from the aftermath of the trauma from my father and other life events, I can still be happy.
“Because you’re the bright light,” said Henry.
There will be a billion sad and happy endings. Life may kick you down again and again, but in the end, you are the bright light. You are the one who gets to choose to keep on loving and keep going. When life gets hard, do not give up, keep going, and show the world your light and love.
“Beauty could punch holes in your fear,” said Henry.
When I decided to reread Beach Read, it was on a whim. Rereading this book has made me remember not only why I loved this book so much, but also to see the positives in life and remember that there are still happy endings. Senior year has brought on a lot of fears and pain that I did not think it would, but ending this year has made me also see that I am going to be okay, that we will all be okay. Life is going to throw a lot at you, but you have to remember that there is still an abundance of beauty in the world, and to get back up and keep going.
