Book Lovers by Emily Henry

“One of my favorite authors.”—Colleen Hoover

An insightful, delightful, instant #1 New York Times bestseller from the author of Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation.

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2022 by Oprah Daily ∙ Today ∙ Parade ∙ Marie Claire ∙ Bustle ∙ PopSugar ∙ Katie Couric Media ∙ Book Bub ∙ SheReads ∙ Medium ∙ The Washington Post ∙ and more!

One summer. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn't see coming...

Nora Stephens' life is books—she’s read them all—and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby.

Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters’ trip away—with visions of a small town transformation for Nora, who she’s convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute.

If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again—in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow—what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.

A solid 4.5 that I’m tentatively rounding up as a nod to how well crafted this novel is. The dialogue between the various characters is snappy and the back and forth snark between Nora and Charlie is amazing (while also giving me uncanny valley to how I talk and respond at times). What I love about Book Lovers is it’s realist satirical tone poking fun at the common romance book tropes delivered via Nora’s first-hand expertise as a literary book agent; it’s so refreshing to read how it throws in a common trope and then runs with it as a self-aware joke. While it’s not categorized as a comedy per say, I often found myself chuckling thanks to the witty dialogue and smart humor (+some purposefully cringy business pun names).

The last plot sequence in the last 70 pages or so is where the narrative started to stray from my personal taste. I was fully sold for majority of the story but I found Nora’s perspective and character to be a little off-putting. This is entirely a me thing; her character development and internal growth is excellent and relatable for many but is not something I connect or empathize with personally (this guy is cold and shark like Nora’s public exterior but without any of her sentimental and family-focused priorities). However I’m inclined to bump it up instead of down due to its execution and objective quality, Book Lovers as a whole is solid and it helps that Charlie is probably one of my favorite and more distinctive love interest characters in recent reads.