We're kicking this review off with a drink. I think January's favorite drink is a Gin and Tonic considering she showed up at her late father's beach house with a box filled with gin. Since I made Gin and Tonics not too long ago for The One, I decided to go in a different direction. I settled on White Russians because of the Red, White Russians, and Blue Book Club, where January and Pete are both under the impression that the book club is reviewing their books.
"'Oh, first round at book club's always White Russians, but January brought some wine, if that sounds better.' I balked both at the thought of starting a night with a White Russian and at the prospect of having to shamefully fish out my purse-wine for Gus."
White Russian recipes seem to be pretty standard, but here is the basic mixture for this tasty cocktail. I actually prefer a bit more Kahlua and a bit less vodka, but you can make yours to suit your taste! If you've never had one before, you are in for a treat.
After the awkward book club experience, Gus took January to a diner that served doughnuts to sober up. They ordered a dozen and sat in the diner picking through the box of doughnuts together so, of course, I had to take the opportunity to make some of my own doughnuts!
"To fit twelve into this box, they'd been compacted into one-box shaped mash of fried dough. I grabbed them and plopped into a booth."
I decided to try this Baked Doughnut recipe from Gemma's Bigger Bolder Baking. The baked doughnuts were good, but not as good as a fried doughnut. They were kind of pasty looking if I'm honest. A double dipping of icing and some sprinkles took care of the pastiness and I didn't splatter my kitchen with oil though so that's a win!
The descriptions of Emily Henry's books always intrigue me, but this is the second time (the first one was People We Meet on Vacation) that the book itself has fallen a bit short of my expectations. In this case I thought I was getting a fun, light, enemies-to-lovers romance that featured a bet between two writers of different genres. I mean the title is Beach Read, right?! It ended up having a lot more of a dramatic backstory- death, divorce, and affairs- that I was just not prepared for. I understand needing more meat for the plot, but spending so much time rehashing January's feelings about her late father depressed me and brought down the whole mood of the book. It also drove me nuts that she had a letter from him and refused to read it for nearly the entire book.
I will say that all of the Emily Henry books I've read so far have good banter between the main characters and are genuinely funny at times. I also really liked the setting and getting little glimpses of the authors working their way through their new books. I just wish there had been more of the lighthearted fun stuff and less of the drama.
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