This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s spring editorial intern Alexandrea Ciardella. Find her on Instagram at @a6ysma1. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
Have you read Beach Read, by Emily Henry? If so, what ending did you get? It may be surprising to discover, but the novel actually has two different endings; Beach Read UK version ending, and Beach Read US version ending are a bit different from each other. It may be strange for one novel to have two different endings for two different countries, and it begs the question as to why. Let’s find out.
To give a bit of background, Beach Read centers on January Andrews, a successful romance novelist who finds herself struggling with writer’s block while creating her next novel. After the death of her father, January briefly moves into his beach house on Lake Michigan to prepare to sell it. She meets with her neighbor, who turns out to be her old college rival, literary fiction author Augustus (Gus) Everett, who is also struggling with writer’s block. The two help each other by writing in each other’s genres and slowly fall in love.
Now, if this type of novel interests you, I would recommend to stop reading this article right away and go pick up the book. After all, this article will be spoiling the (two) ending(s) of the novel, so be warned.
The novel ends in the typical romance fashion, with both of the characters ending up in a relationship. However, fans have noticed online that some copies of the novel end differently. In one version of Beach Read, the novel ends with January and Gus celebrating Gus’ birthday by reading on the beach. The two characters are in a happy relationship and the novel ends. This is considered the “UK” version, as it is most commonly found throughout copies printed by Penguin Random House UK and distributed in that region. The second version has the first scene, plus what is considered the “epilogue” of the novel. January and Gus continue to celebrate his birthday, but at the end of the day, Gus decides to propose to January. Even though the book is published by Penguin Random House, both the UK and the US have slightly different endings.
Now it might seem strange that a novel can have multiple endings, but this isn’t as foreign a concept as it may seem. Books, movies, sometimes even television shows may have different endings. It depends on where the media is released, as the US and UK have different perspectives of storytelling and what makes a story enjoyable. Both versions end with the same overall tone, with the characters in a happy relationship either way.
Fans online were quick to debate which version of the ending was better. Many reviewers argued that the US version felt pushed and that Gus and January’s relationship was still relatively new before Gus should have proposed. Though the consensus was that the UK version seemed better suited for the novel, there were still some fans who enjoyed the US version.
Did you read the Beach Read UK version ending or the US version ending? Which one was better? Let us know in the comments below!
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