:INFO
The Romance Novel That Cured My Genre Snobbery
I read Beach Read expecting to confirm what I thought I knew about romance novels. Emily Henry's book about two writers, January and Gus, who swap genres for the summer is not what I expected. The emotional intelligence of this novel, the specificity of the grief underneath it, and the genuine wit in the dialogue made me sit with my assumptions about the genre for a long time after I finished. I was wrong about romance and this was the book that showed me I was wrong.


:NOW
Trying to identify what Henry does in every book that works this reliably

:QUOTE [quotetype:plain, subtitle:Emily Henry]
A good book deserves to be read. The genre is not what makes it deserve that.


:JOURNEY
Reading Beach Read
5 Meta-commentary lands
5 Real emotional depth
4 Earns his space
4 Honestly earned

:POLL
Did a romance novel ever change how you felt about the genre as a whole?
Yes, one book shifted something in how I thought about it
Somewhat, I came around gradually rather than through one book
Not really, I always liked romance and never needed convincing
No, I still find myself skeptical of the genre