Book Lovers by Emily Henry
Blurb
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.
Rating and Review
Overall Rating: 2.25/5 stars
What I Didn't Like:
- the romance between Nora and Charlie. I liked them as individual characters, but as a couple, I didn’t really buy them together or understand why were so horny for the other person. Yes, I said horny. These fuckers were horny for each other, not in love, in my opinion. The page where this started was 106. 106! Out of a 373 page book! 😠Once they did, I was so confused. Then they said it was a mistake and Charlie isn’t exactly available, so I was thinking, “Wait…do y’all like each other or something??? Already?!?!? Why the fuck am I even here then???” Then they kissed before the halfway mark again, and they said the same thing—that he’s unavailable and this was a mistake. You don’t understand how upset I was and still am. I’m someone who personally prefers a slow burn, and based on how slow the romance was in Funny Story, I thought this book would be the same way. But no, it felt like they liked each other soooooo quickly. You know what, the scene where they have sex for the first time, if that was the first time they’d ever kissed or realized they liked/wanted each other, I would’ve LOVED it. That’s the time I feel like it’s appropriate to start feeling and doing things. But they’d been kissing and feeling somethings way before then, so I didn’t care when they got “together” for the first time. Being that this is a romance novel, I’m upset that I didn’t care for the romance aspect of it, which is why the rating is so low
- The Shepherd subplot or whatever that was
- The epilogue. I was so unbelievably confused, and it was definitely a jarring way to end the bookðŸ˜
What I Did Like:
- the twist on the archetype of the woman that’s usually left in the city by the man who finds love in a small town. I like that we got to see that woman in the city’s story
- i really really like Emily Henry’s writing. she’s a big inspiration for me as a writer, because she has such a way with words and her banter is very fun
- the beginning was really fun up until page 106
- the cover
- the sisterly relationship between Nora and Libby. i like how that was a driving force of the story and not just the romance
Final Thoughts
I don’t dislike this book. Not by any means. I just don’t like some aspects of it—the romance being the main thing. I just really didn’t understand how these two went from being “literary enemies” to kissing on her door around page 100 of almost 400-page book!! Like, it was so unbelievable fast that I didn’t care about their romance for the rest of the book. When I’m reading a romance, whether fantasy or contemporary, I need to understand why the love interests like each other. And to do that, I need to see their development, see their attraction grow over time. These two just instantly liked each other, and it really removed me from the experience of reading it. I didn’t feel anything for them, as much as I may have wanted to. But I still gave this book 2.25⭐ because I did enjoy some aspects of it, like the writing and the sisterly relationship. 2 stars for me is like: it’s okay. And that’s what this book was: okay. I hope I enjoy People We Meet On Vacation and Happy Place, because Book Lovers wasn’t for me, unfortunately. So far, my ranking is: Funny Story(4/5), Beach Read(3.5/5), then Book Lovers(2.25/5).
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