Book Lovers by Emily Henry

source: purchased
title: Book Lovers
author: Emily Henry
published: May 3, 2022
pages 377:
length: 11h 23m
narrated by: Julia Whelan
first line: When books are your life, or in my case your job, you get pretty good at guessing where a story is going.
rated: 3 out of 5

about:

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.

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my thoughts:

I’ve seen Book Lovers around often and I know it’s popular so I chose this as a palate cleanser after listening to nothing but crime thrillers lately. I went in blind, I didn’t read the blurb and assumed from the title alone this was a bookish related romance.

Nora Stephens is a successful literary agent, known for being cold and all business. Her work nemesis is book editor Charlie Lastra. The two don’t seem to be able to get along or agree on things. Charlie bashes one of Nora’s client’s books and he just rubs Nora the wrong way in general.
Nora’s pregnant younger sister Libby books a month-long sister trip for them to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina. Libby wants Nora to relax and have a small-town romance novel experience while on vacation. Libby comes up with a to-do list of 10 things such as “sleep under the stars”, “attend a town function” and “save a local business”. While in a bookstore in town, Nora runs into Charlie of all people and the story takes off from there as a series of coincidences continue to bring these two together. Also added to the plot is the relationship between Nora and Libby as some things are revealed that Nora wasn’t aware of.

Book Lovers is a enemies to lovers contemporary romance revolving around books but it’s also a story about sisters with a dash of humor sprinkled in. I both liked and disliked this book. I enjoyed author Emily Henry’s writing style and the dialogue throughout was entertaining and clever, I laughed out loud a few times while listening along. One qualm I had with this one was I couldn’t relate to any of these characters and I didn’t particularly like any of them. Nora was so tit for tat with regards to Charlie. She was petty, always wanting to one up him and have the last word. As the story flows, you learn more about Nora and Charlie’s personal lives and as they let their guards down, they start to fall for each other. I liked this part of the story and I enjoyed the slow burn romance. There’s alot of stolen kisses and flirty texts as they decide whether or not to pursue things further. The author adds a second possible love interest in the mix, whose name I can’t remember, and this seemed unnecessary and there wasn’t enough build up to make it important.

“He looks like a Swiss Army knife. A man with six different means to undo me.-Book Lovers by Emily Henry

I was surprised to find out this was a book about sisters as much as it was about romance. Nora being the eldest mothered Libby alot. It got annoying and seemed over the top as the book progressed. It got to the point that Nora didn’t want Libby to live her own life. Literally the arguments and conflict between these two sisters could have easily been seen as romantic tension if they weren’t sisters. Nora says this about Libby at one point: “I’m not convinced, but she’s happy and Libby’s happiness has always been my drug of choice.” This goes on and on throughout the story as Nora’s life is really centered around Libby. Libby is married and pregnant with her third child by the way.

I may be being nitpicky now, but I don’t care because I have to also mention I didn’t like the way a day in NYC was described. I tried to google if the author was from NYC and couldn’t find it. A day in the city for Libby and Nora who supposedly already lived there was described so touristy it got under my skin. I didn’t bookmark those parts and I’m not going back now to find them to share a quote, but I was rolling my eyes as they had to go to Bethesda fountain then get food at their favorite spot, then go to some other touristy spot, then The Strand, I just can’t. An NYC native most likely won’t do all that in one day. Nora also tells Libby that the millions of people in the city are “family”.

So, while I had some issues with this one, including that the story went on for way too long, I liked the funny parts and all the bookish references. I just wish that the sisters part of the plot had been more realistic. Also a list of 10 things to do on vacation is too long, 5 things would have been enough. Towards the last 2 hours or so of the story I was about done with it, I almost DNF’d. I will say the narrator did a good job at verbalizing Nora’s cold and stand-offish demeanor.

I read some of the reviews after I was done listening and I was surprised at some of what I was reading and at the high ratings. Colleen Hoover said she wishes she had written this book first. Okey dokey then. Note to self don’t trust Colleen Hoover’s book recs lol.

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Disclaimer: This review is my honest opinion. I did not receive any kind of compensation for reading and reviewing this book. I am under no obligation to write a positive review.