Review: "Book Lovers" by Emily Henry ★★★★★

Review: Book Lovers by Emily Henry

📖 Buddy Read with the lovely hannah ೀ.ᐟ⭒ ☁️♡🪐༘⋆

Funny, refreshing yet moving and thought-provoking, this book lover absolutely LOVED this rivals-to-lovers forced proximity rom-com! Emily Henry revitalises classic romance tropes, where the big-city “villainess” gets her happily ever after. I vibed so much better with this book than People We Meet On Vacation.

For the first time in my life, I know what the hell Cathy was talking about when she said I am Heathcliff. Not just because Charlie and I are so similar, but because he’s right: we belong. In a way I don’t understand, he’s mine, and I’m his. It doesn’t matter what the last page says. That’s the truth. Here, now.

PLOT SUMMARY
32-year-old literary agent Nora Stephens considers herself not the usual heroine in a story but the city woman archetype the main male character leaves for a small-town girl, exacerbated by her string of short-term boyfriends who have done just that. She once dreamed of being an editor but after her single mother died, she played it safe so she could look after her younger sister Libby.

She meets with brooding Loggia editor Charlie Lastra for her client Dusty Fielding about her upcoming book Once in a Lifetime. He doesn’t like its story or its setting of Sunshine Falls, North Carolina and doesn’t want to work with her on the book.

Two years later, the book is a success with a film adaptation about to be released, making Nora rather smug. Libby has organised a trip with Nora away to none other than Sunshine Falls for a month to spend time together and cover a bucket list before Libby has her third child.

The small-town doesn’t quite match the vibes from Dusty’s book – and to make matters worse, she bumps into Charlie. Turns out he lives there! Dusty has turned in her manuscript for her next book called Frigid, its main character Nora realises has been inspired by her cold-hearted self. And, arguably worst of all, Dusty’s editor is on maternity leave, meaning Charlie will be working with Nora on this.

The gap between sisters widens and the distance between lovers narrows, as Libby mysteriously builds her walls up and Charlie’s walls swiftly come down. When things come to a head, Nora faces a crucial decision about what it is she wants in life.

Mom and Libby liked the love stories where everything turned out perfectly, wrapped in a bow, and I’ve always wondered why I gravitate toward something else. I used to think it was because people like me don’t get *those* endings. And asking for it, hoping for it, is a way to lose something you’ve never even had. The ones that speak to me are those whose final pages admit there is no going back. That every good thing must end. That every bad thing does too, that *everything does*. That is what I’m looking for every time I flip to the back of a book, compulsively checking for proof that in a life where so many things have gone wrong, there can be beauty too. That there is always hope, no matter what.

This is told from the first-person present-tense POV of Nora.

OVERALL OPINIONS
I read People We Meet on Vacation last year, and didn’t vibe with it as much as I would have liked. Hannah coincidentally had also only read that book and felt the same way, but after hearing many good things about our girlie Emily Henry, we wanted to give her another go. And here we are!

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!

ㅤ📚the writing📚
I can hardly believe this is the same person who wrote People We Meet on Vacation. 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 unlike PWMOV that was constantly shifting back and forth.

Did I mention descriptions? Of course I did. The descriptions are so beautiful and swoon-worthy. Look at this:

I read once that sunflowers always orient themselves to face the sun. That’s what being near Charlie Lastra is like for me. There could be a raging wildfire racing toward me from the west and I’d still be straining eastward toward his warmth.

The pacing of this was a lot quicker thanks to the narrative essentially being balanced between Nora’s time with Libby *and* Charlie. I prefer this (though I love a good slowburn usually, PWMOV was too slow).

ㅤ📚reality and relatability📚
Among this fiction, there were facts: a lot of unfiltered thoughts and relatable moments. By this I mean that Henry particularly addresses realistic issues women have. If you don’t show feelings, you are soulless; if you do, you’re overemotional and overreacting (like Nora’s mother, I come under the latter category as I am very sensitive). Men can be sour towards others and nobody bats an eye but will if you are a woman.

That’s the thing about women. There’s no good way to be one. Wear your emotions on your sleeve and you’re hysterical. Keep them tucked away where your boyfriend doesn’t have to tend to them and you’re a heartless bitch.

“You can afford to be all surly and sharp and people will admire you for it. The rules are different for women. You have to strike this perfect balance to be taken seriously but not seen as bitchy. It’s a constant effort. People don’t want to work with sharky women"

Don’t get me started on the double-standards addressed here thanks to Blake who is offended she hadn’t stated her height in her bio but had lied about being 6ft 1.

There is also the scary reality for some women who unfortunately “in relationships make compromise after compromise, shrinking into themselves until they were nothing but a piece of a whole” to the extent they lose individuality and then their “career aspirations, their friends, and their apartments were replaced by *our* aspirations, *our* friends, *our* apartment. Half lives that could be taken from them without any warning.” – here Emily Henry paints the scene where women’s lives are consumed by their relationships which sadly means they lose their own ambitions, with this threat hanging overhead that if something goes wrong with the relationship it all instantly goes away. This poignantly illustrates Nora’s personal fears of the sacrifices that people make for love, and you can really get amazing insight into Nora’s character here. She wants stability, she wants security, she relies on herself for this because men have constantly disappointed her and her mother. Incredible and powerful moment.

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.

There is even the issue addressed about small bookstores being replaced and rivalled by the likes of Amazon.

She covers aspects of loneliness and the fact it is okay not to be okay and not anything needs fixed. I love that she looks at all this!

ㅤ📚challenging the conventional📚
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.

You can take the city person out of the city, but the city will always be in them. I think it’s the same for sisters. Anywhere we go, we won’t leave each other. We couldn’t even if we wanted to. And we don’t. We never will.

<< Positives >>
🠚 The cover – very summer holiday-coded with striking colours
🠚 The title being Book Lovers because it covers not only her love of reading but her bond with her sister, growing up and living above the bookstore and writing recommendations about books in the store
🠚 Emily Henry’s beloved witty and lively writing style is better than before
🠚 The pacing was quick, thanks to Nora’s interactions with Charlie and Libby
🠚 Conventional roles within tropes are changed or reversed, which is exceptionally creative
🠚 Despite the humour, serious issues about women in society are addressed and challenged
🠚 The exploration of Nora’s relationship with her sister was relatable and beautiful. I went through times where I hated Libby to loving her so much. I completely get both sides of their problems because Nora wants to and tries to protect her but Libby doesn’t want this because she’s not a child anymore, with her own family to raise, and she doesn’t want to feel like she is stifling Nora after everything that happened to them because of their mother. I love that Libby gets the bookshop at the end.
🠚 Even side-characters like Shepherd are sweet and have their own contributions to the story. I like that he gives Nora a knowing smile realising she likes Charlie and not him, and that he and Charlie finally get along. And then Nora and Charlie’s father Clint having that one eye-opening scene where they open up and bond and change each other’s views about a situation – this was so good and some writers would leave this sort of thing out because there’s not enough room or something so I’m glad she did this.
🠚 Third-act breakup was not there for long!
🠚 Some plot twists in there I didn’t see coming, followed by extra twists
🠚 The last few chapters were so sweet and moving, I was incredibly emotional when I finished.
🠚Some great references to films/books
🠚 Auntie Nono as a title that Libby’s kids call her is so funny considering her strict reputation.
🠚 The Reader’s Guide and Nora and Libby’s Ultimate Reading List at the back of the book is respectively thought-provoking and useful

<< 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.
🠚 Unrealistic reactions from characters. 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!
🠚 Nora felt a little too petty at the start when she sends those emails to Charlie for someone over 30, and is a professional. I get it’s to show that Charlie instantly brings out a different side to her.
🠚 I 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.
🠚 The one moment I wasn’t so keen on Charlie is when Nora says she should get back to Libby to make sure she’s okay and he’s like “So no time for that beer.” I don’t know, I just felt that’s not fair that he says that when Nora is looking out for her pregnant sister. He should have been more soothing rather than challenging, like “I’m sure she’s okay and would let you know otherwise. How about that beer?”
🠚 The obsession with Charlie’s eyebrows? I don’t know
🠚 It might have been nice if there had been a moment where Nora decides to spend time away from her phone/laptop instead of having a working holiday
🠚 One section from the blurb is a bit misleading: “It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute.” – I had therefore expected several meetings between their first meeting two years ago and the one in the bar at Sunshine Falls.
CHARACTERS
-ˋˏ ꒰ Nora꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ She is an incredibly complex character. I really liked her! She has so much love and care to give people, and deserves so much love and care back.
🠚I like that her weighing up of pros and cons happens throughout the book, even in the final chapter.
🠚I’m a vegetarian too! While mosquitoes aren’t so common here, I find that midges bite me too and my sister is Libby – they don’t bother about her. Jealous!

I had standards and a life, and I wasn’t about to let some man destroy it like it was merely the paper banner he was meant to crash through as he entered the field.

-ˋˏ ꒰ Charlie꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ This man!! Oh my word, THIS. MAN! Absolutely LOVE him. The fact that he likes tall girls, constantly supports and comforts Nora at EVERY turn. The way he can read her like a book because she is just like him: the archetype people don’t look for in books, relating to her responsibilities because he has a sibling too, likes to fix things, just like Nora.
🠚The fact that the first name Nora properly cries HE is HOLDING HER!!! Gosh!!
🠚And the fact he surprises her at the end AHHH!
🠚He has so SO much depth to him too: his backstory, living in a town where everyone knows you and how they think about you, having this rift with his father, his cousin Shepherd being the golden child and perfect guy.

“Stephens,” he says, tone dry once more, “if you’re the villain in someone else’s story, then I’m the devil.”

FAV QUOTES
• I do not like him. If I’m the archetypical City Person, he is the Dour, Unappeasable Stick-in-the-Mud. He’s the Growly Misanthrope, Oscar the Grouch, second-act Heathcliff, the worst parts of Mr. Knightley.
• Over the years, I’ve developed a finely tuned filter—with pretty much everyone except Libby—but Charlie always manages to disarm it, to press the exact right button to open the gate and let my thoughts charge out like velociraptors.
• “When I want something, Nora,” he says, “I don’t give up easily.” Externally, I’m unaffected. Internally, my heart lurches against my collarbone from his closeness or his voice or maybe what he just said.
• “A good bookstore,” Charlie says, “is like an airport where you don’t have to take your shoes off.”
• Charlie kisses like no one I’ve ever been with. Like someone who takes the time to figure out how things work. Every tilt of my hips, arch of my spine, shallow breath guides him, landmarks on a map he’s making of my body.
• Another “universal truth” Austen could’ve started Pride and Prejudice with: When you tell yourself not to think about something, it will be all that you can think about.
• Another apartment. Mine. The squashy floral couch, the endless stacks of books, my favorite Jo Malone candle burning on the mantel. Me lounging in an antique robe and a sheet mask with a shiny new manuscript, and on the far side of the couch, a man with a furrowed brow, mouth in a knot, book in hand.
• The block of ice in my chest cracks. “How do you do that?” | His brow furrows. “Do what?” | “Say the right thing.” | The corner of his mouth quirks. “No one thinks that.” “I do.” His lashes splay across his cheeks as his gaze drops. “Maybe I just say the right thing for you.”
• “Until you got here,” he rasps, “all this place had ever been was a reminder of the ways I was a disappointment, and now you’re here, and—I don’t know. I feel like I’m okay. So if you’re the ‘wrong kind of woman,’ then I’m the wrong kind of man.”
• Sometimes, even when you start with the last page and you think you know everything, a book finds a way to surprise you.
• Now that I’m here, so close to the end of this book, this edit, this trip, a not-small part of me wants to turn and run. But then he catches sight of me, and his mouth splits into a full, sensual Charlie smile, and my fear blows away, like dust swept from a book jacket.
• I read once that not everyone thinks in words. I was shocked, imagining these other people who don’t use language to make sense of everyone and everything, who don’t automatically organize the world into chapters, pages, sentences. Looking into Charlie’s face, I understand it. The way a crush of feeling and feathery impressions can move through your body, bypassing your mind. How a person can know there’s something worth saying but have no concept of what exactly that is.
• “For what it’s worth,” he says, “I doubt I will ever like anyone else in the world as much as I like you.”
• Somehow, it never occurred to me that this was an option: that two people, in the same hug, could both be allowed to fall apart. That maybe it’s neither of our jobs to keep a steel spine. That we can both survive this pain without the other shouldering it.
• I still feel like a city person, through and through, but maybe it’s possible to have more than one home. Maybe it’s possible to belong in a hundred different ways to a hundred different people and places.
• That’s life. You’re always making decisions, taking paths that lead you away from the rest before you can see where they end. Maybe that’s why we as a species love stories so much. All those chances for do-overs, opportunities to live the lives we’ll never have.
• I love you too.” I don’t have to force it past a knot or through the vise of a tight throat. It’s simply the truth, and it breathes out of me, a wisp of smoke, a sigh, another floating blossom on a current carrying billions of them. | “I know,” he says. “I can read you like a book.”