Review: Book Lovers by Emily Henry

 

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. ~ Goodreads

Source: libro.fm ALC (advanced listening copy) in exchange for an honest review

Review: I seem to be hitting romance gold only about once a year these days (last year it was The Love Hypothesis) and I guess 2022 is Book Lovers. 

Books Lovers is like a Hallmark movie with a twist. A typical Hallmark movie is about a cut throat business guy who goes on a business trip to a small town, falls for the charming local girl and embarks on his true calling - an artisanal cheese maker, gets married in a barn with twinkle lights and has 10 kids. This story is about the cool, icy blonde city girlfriend who doesn't know how to love or have fun, who was left behind. More than once. 

Nora, a literary agent known as "The Shark" is forced to work with her nemesis (they had one bad business meeting years ago) Charlie, a book editor, on her star clients latest book. It's an uneasy truce at first but, over texts, they slowly reveal a softer, more vulnerable side of themselves and understand each other in ways no one else does.

There's another, maybe even bigger, relationship in Book Lovers though. The one between Nora and her younger sister Libby. Nora has been Libby's defacto mother since her death - and maybe even before. Nora's whole life revolves around making sure Libby is happy and well taken care of. Even though Libby is now a full grown adult, married, with another baby on the way - Nora makes her choices based on securing Libby's financial and emotional well-being. 

Libby begs Nora to finally take a break from work and take a vacation to the small town of Sunshine Falls, the location of Libby's favorite romance novel. She presents Nora with a check-list - because Nora can NEVER resist a check-list - of small town/Hallmark like things to do. Like save a small business, go out on a date with a local, get a makeover... Nora relents and off they go to Nora's idea of hell. 

The trip is supposed to bring the sisters closer together but Nora can feel the usually free-spirited and open Libby drifting away. Nora feels helpless not knowing what the problem she needs to fix is. 

And, of course, Charlie just happens to show up in Sunshine Falls with his own surprising connection to the place.   

Not quite a rom-com - although I laughed out loud many times, and not quite enemies to lovers - great witty banter but it's clear their irritation with each other is foreplay - Book Lovers was an absolute delight with a great balance of romance, tropey goodness (with a twist!) and meaningful relationships.

If I had one gripe (I always have at least one lol) was that Libby didn't want to be treated like a child but she acted like one. She also didn't like Nora coming in to fix everything - fair enough - but didn't open up the way she was trying force Nora to. It took me a while to empathize with Libby like I did Nora. She didn't have to accommodate or apologize in the way that Nora had to. But that's probably a POV thing. We only hear from Nora, so of course, that's who I rooted for. 

The romance is A+++ I adored the way Nora and Charlie really saw each & respected other - flaws and all. They had these beautiful, tender moments of solace with each other.

I really liked People We Meet on Vacation by Henry but I LOVED this one even more. I rarely like romance on audio but Julia Whelan's narration was sheer perfection. She got the voices and nuance of all the characters down perfectly. The heart and humor had me emotionally invested the whole time.