“Yes, the romance gods would be proud - again.” I was always a fan of Emily Henry’s books, although I found them to be a little overrated. This one blew everything out of the water! A real career-best, bordering on possibly my favourite contemporary romance of all time. Every second of this book was an utter delight, it made me laugh and it made me cry. The characters were real and yet incredibly sexy. “I spot Charlie Lastra near the back, dressed in all black like publishing’s own metropolitan vampire” and he tells me, “If you’re the villain in someone else’s love story, then I’d the devil.” A real homage to book lovers everywhere, it made me feel seen like never before and reminded me why I love to read so much. “Sometimes, even when you start with the last page and you think you know everything a book finds a way to surprise you.” ps. “You’re in books. Of course you don’t have a life. None of us do. There’s always something too good to read.” *** I received an early complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own

Funny, refreshing yet moving and thought-provoking, Emily Henry revitalises classic romance tropes in this story where the big-city “villainess” gets her happily ever after. I read People We Meet on Vacation last year, and didn’t vibe with it as much as I would have liked. After hearing many good things about our girlie Emily Henry, I wanted to give her another go. I can hardly believe this is the same person who wrote that. Aside from the witty and lively descriptions Henry always writes that had me genuinely beaming and chuckling (even more so than last time thanks to Nora and Charlie’s amazing banter), Book Lovers and its concept and its characters are so well-defined with a great deal more depth to them. We only get one time jump and it’s at the beginning. I have to say I love the subtlety of both Nora and Charlie reaching for the book Curmudgeon by January Andrews firstly because the author is the character from Beach Read so it links the two. The title itself means a bad-tempered or surly person, therefore about a grumpy protagonist – ergo extremely fitting for this very story where the main character is exactly that! Henry addresses realistic issues women have. And the sibling jokes resonate with me because they are the sort of things I would say/do with my sister. Arguably, I am more Libby and my sister is Nora and that’s probably because it is the same dynamic: she’s the older one. And they remember their childhood differently: Nora sees her mother through rose-tinted lenses whereas Libby remembers her mother being a not-so-good parent, adding a significant contrast. The feeling Nora has when she realises she and Libby are drifting apart? I’ve been there, though more with my friends when we outgrow each other. It’s so heartbreaking, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. I love that she looks at all this! This book is full of so many unconventional things in the best possible way. The grumpy meets grumpy trope is considerably rarer to be covered. The small-town romance where the small town isn’t the perfect little place, and it isn’t where the protagonist finds a simpler life as Nora constantly stresses about her future in New York and fears being alone back there. The main character of Nora challenges the other woman archetype, making her the main focus instead, and she is also a tall woman which isn’t so conventional – and she explores the issues surrounding this height when it comes to dating. Instead of the main character falling for a man from the town, she falls for a man from the city (who only happens to originate from the town). The typical small-town man is Charlie’s cousin Shepherd, a side character. There is the exploration of love not only when it comes to a relationship but a sibling too, which doesn’t always happen in stories. Sometimes, the sibling serves as a smaller plot device, to provide comedy or to push the main character into doing things. Here, it is much deeper than that. They’re drifting apart, at different stages in life (Libby has a husband and children; Nora is a content workaholic) but this holiday is something they haven’t done in years and is a chance for them to bring them together and get to know each other again (though, Libby had some ulterior motives behind this). Things come to a head as they don’t understand each other and then when things are resolved and they communicate, things are for the better. Negatives: Some of the relationship development felt rushed. Nora opens up to Charlie a lot quicker than I’d have liked, for someone who does tend to keep to herself. A kiss a third of the way in, too. There were unrealistic reactions from characters. Like, what do you mean they make out, regret it, say they shouldn’t do it again, then encounter each other the next day and there isn’t a trace of awkwardness to be seen?? I know it’s fiction and the interaction was amusing – but really now! I also wanted Nora to confront Libby after she talked about her in a condescending way to Sally and upset her. I wouldn’t have let that slide one bit.

Nora Stephens, in the book industry also known as “shark”, is a successful New York agent whose life is dedicated to her job. Accordingly, relationships have not been that successful so far, but that’s ok for her. When her sister Libby asks her for a four-week stay in Sunshine Falls, North Carolina, the place where one of her best-selling books is located, Nora is reluctant, she cannot stay away from work so long; yet, Libby is pregnant and Nora does not want to refuse her sister’s greatest wish, she is the only family she has. Nora knows all the stories about New Yorkers coming to small towns and falling in love, she has read them all, even published some of them, therefore, she can only ironically comment the fact that on her first day, she runs into Charlie Lastra – her biggest nemesis. Admittedly, I am not really a fan of rom-coms, no matter if they come in form of books or movies. However, I really enjoyed Emily Henry’s “Beach Read” and as there was so much talk about “Book Lovers”, I was looking forward to reading it. Of course, the bestselling author did not disappoint, quite the contrary, I thoroughly enjoyed how she does not take the genre too seriously but lets her characters comment on it mockingly again and again throughout the novel. “We know how this ends.” Libby squeezes my arm. “You don’t know. You can’t until you try.” “This isn’t a movie, Libby,” I say. You do not need to find the typical tropes, Nora will find them for you and Emily Henry does not leave out a single one: the big city girl who looks down in small town life, the sister who mysteriously vanishes during daytime and does not tell what is doing or where she is going, the incidental meeting with the one man she does not want to see far away from home, the charming bookshop, cringeworthy small town activities, another attractive man – who does not like the first, of course – you name it. Even though there are no big surprises, I totally enjoyed diving into the story and seeing all the clichés unfold. As a book lover, it was easy to fall for this one, a lot of references and hints to the industry offer the perfect setting for the two protagonists to fight their feelings which, needless to say, they cannot admit at first. Another perfect summer read by Emily Henry.

I read this book in less that a day - I literally could not put it down. Emily Henry has cemented herself as potentially my favourite author, and Books Lovers might be my favourite book of hers (it is already my favourite read of 2022 so far, and will be tough to beat). This made me laugh, sob, scream and giggle out loud. It might be Henry's best. I adore Nora and Charlie, I adore this book and I adore Emily - I could not recommend this more!

Book Lovers is Emily Henry’s best adult romance book yet. This is not hyperbole or exaggeration. If I had to rank her three adult books so far, this would top Beach Read just about and People We Meet on Vacation comfortably. It’s a disservice to this book that it’s somehow being called rivals to lovers. Charlie and Nora aren’t rivals—I would even say it’s barely hate to love. It’s more that they get off on the wrong foot initially, that being around each other brings out the snarky, occasionally impolite, side of each of them. But. That’s a dynamic that Emily Henry does so well. Let’s make this my first point then: I loved the banter in this book. I think realistic and fun banter is a clear sign that two characters have chemistry, that the author knows how to write chemistry, and that was definitely the case here. I spent the whole book on tenterhooks for Nora and Charlie’s next scene together because of it. (Not to say that the other scenes, with Nora and her sister, or Nora and other people, weren’t great too, but they just didn’t have the same certain quality as Nora and Charlie.) This is also a book that subverts the small town romance trope in that neither protagonist nor love interest actually likes the small town. As Nora says at the start, she isn’t the woman the protagonist falls for, she’s the woman who’s left behind in the city. But I think this is part of why this book is so fun—it’s cognisant of the tropes it’s playing on and it lets you know it. Not in an obnoxious way, but in a way that makes you smile along. I think it’s a sign of a good book that, not only are you unable to put it down, but then you spend the next few days only able to think about the book. That you, perhaps (and not saying I did haha), end up rereading it only days after you first finished it. That’s what Book Lovers is, really. It’s an absorbing and addictive book, that you sit down to read, just to start, and before you know it, you’re halfway through and don’t want to stop. It’s the kind of book that just writing the review makes you desperate to reread it (again). And I can’t promise I won’t go and do just that.