Review: The Beach Reads Book Club

Title: The Beach Reads Book Club

Author: Kathryn Freeman

Publisher: 30th June 2021 by HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter

Pages: 400 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: romance, contemporary, chick lit, women’s fiction

My Rating: 5 cups

Synopsis:

Welcome to the Beach Reads Book Club…where love is just a page away…

When Lottie Watt is unceremoniously booted out of her uptight book club for not following the rules, she decides to throw the rulebook out the window and start her own club – one where conversation, gin and cake take precedent over actually having read the book!

The Beach Reads Book Club soon finds a home for its meetings at Books by the Bay, a charming bookshop and café owned by gorgeous, brooding Matthew Steele, and as the book club picks heat up, so too does the attraction between Matt and Lottie.

If there’s anything Lottie has learned from the romances she’s been reading, it’s that the greatest loves are the ones hardest earned.

A love letter to chicklit, romance, romcoms, whatever you want to call them!

My Thoughts

‘Five people whose lives she hoped would all be improved, just a little, by the combination of a good book, a mug of tea and the company of like-minded readers.’

Let’s make a tally of all things fun and bookish:

• book about books - tick

• books and tea - tick 

• takes place in a bookshop - tick

• centres around a fun book club - tick 

• book club has some fun reads I have read and can relate to - tick

• there is a fun romance with a dashing hero and strong woman - tick

I could go on …. but I think my fellow book lovers appreciate where I am going with this … MUST. READ.

‘The Beach Reads Book Club’ contains everything one looks for in this genre - it’s easy to read yet has serious undertones, it’s light and funny but has a deeper level of significance, it’s romantic and just simply what I was after. I loved it!

‘What you mean to tell me you were alone in the dark with this town’s answer to Mr Darcy, and you didn’t take advantage of it?’

This is the kind of book club I would want to join with super fun members and just the right amount of romantic escapism that had me smiling and feeling all gooey inside (#newbookcrush). There is the promise of not only book talk but real life talk washed down with cake and tea or pizza and gin! Lottie and Matt are the perfect ‘opposites attract’ - so sweet and steamy - and challenge each other to step outside their comfort zone. The members of the Beach Reads Book Club are awesome! A group of women who are both fun and funny in their love of literature and life.

‘Seeing the look on their faces, the excitement, the delight when they’d only been talking about books… it had made her wonder if she’d been missing out. Then she’d read one of their recommendations. After that, she’d been hooked, going on to devour all the books she could get her hands on.’

This leads me to two key points. One, I stand and applaud the theme of ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ - literally! Beach reads, chick lit … call it what you will, however, these books, seemingly light and frivolous, often contain so much more …

‘Real guys don’t walk around with roses between their teeth,’ her brother had mocked. ‘And life isn’t full of sappy endings.’ ‘If you think that’s what romance books are all about, you’ve clearly never read one,’ her mum had countered.‘They’re about hope, about joy. About handling adversity and coming through the other side stronger. Yes, they’re also about love, the most powerful emotion you’ll ever experience.’

Secondly, I also wish to highlight the books read at the club and how these titles often reflected and coincided with the events of the story itself. A clever way to highlight a theme but also to note once more, how these ‘beach reads’ often have more substance than at first glance. 

‘… books that take us on holiday.’ Gira, the quieter of the two women, looked at them both. ‘I don’t mean they have to be about beaches, but they take you out of your head. Transport you to another world for a while.’

This was such a fun rom-com with a cast of lovable characters and a gorgeous love story! For some heartwarming escapism you really cannot pass it up. 

‘To the Beach Reads Book Club and all who join it … it’s about bringing the joy of books to all readers, no matter what their tastes.’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.