Emily Henry

A by the book literary agent must decide if happily ever after is worth changing her whole life for in this insightful, delightful new novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation. 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.

Book Lovers

Julia Rutgers

No one will ever convince me that time moves at a steady pace. Sure, your clock follows some invisible command, but it feels like it's randomly spouting off minutes at whatever intervals suit it

This, I think, is what it is to dream, and I finally understand why Mom could never give it up, why my authors can't give it up, and I'm happy for them, because this wanting, it feels good, like a bruise you need to press on, a reminder that there are things in life so valuable that you must risk the pain of losing them for the joy of briefly having them.

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.

Oliver

She sends me a private email, its subject reading “But seriously” and the body reading “Can you just be my coeditor forever? im actually excited to get started. X”

I feel like a lit-up light bulb, all hot and glowy with pride. Charlie sends me another message, and all that heat tightens, like one of those snakes-in-a-can gag gifts being reset for another go.

“i think we might be good together, Stephens.”

"People are really into bouldering here." 

"Let me guess," I say. "That's when you stand at the top of a mountain and wait for one of your enemies to walk by, then push a rock over the ledge."

"Close," he says. "It's when you climb boulders."

[ . . . ] "Probably there's another boulder, and then you climb to the top of that one. Human beings are a mysterious species, Nora.

"That's really nice." It feels like not just an understatement, but a complete mistranslation for something vast and unruly.

Racquel Echeverria

Maybe it's possible to belong in a hundred different ways to a hundred different people and places.

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.

"You're in books. Of course don't have a life. None of us do. There's always something too good to read"

"You deserve to have some low-pressure fun, and frankly, I deserve to live wicariously through you."

Hanna 

„A good bookstore […] is like an airport where you don’t have to take your shoes off.“ 

Emily O'Masters

"Youre in books. Of course you don't have a life. None of us do. There's always something too good to read."

Emily braeckman 

that's what made me fall in love with reading: the instant floating sensation, the dissolution of real-world problems, every Worry suddenly safely on the other side of some metaphysical surface. 

Christina Farkona

“For anyone who wants it all,” she begins, “may you find something that is more than enough.”

His eyes go heavy as he smiles. “That,” he says, “might be my favorite thing. Be my shark, Stephens.”

“Already was,” I say. “Always have been.”

“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.”

I’m not sure it’s that simple. It’s not like I wouldn’t be happy if I were here with Libby. It’s more that it would feel like I was borrowing someone’s jeans. Or like I was taking a break from my own life, like this was a period of time when I’d sidestepped out of my own path for a while.

I’ve done that before, and I’ve never had regrets, exactly. There’ve always been things to be grateful for.

“No,” he says, “but I want to touch you, and it’s a good cover.”

there are things in life so valuable that you 

 risk the pain of losing them for the joy of briefly having them.

—and 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.

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.

I feel an improbable wave of nostalgia at the thought of running up or down the stairs to a train platform, hearing that metallic shriek, feeling the wind gust through the stairwell, and not knowing if I’ve arrived in the nick of time or if my train just went screaming past.

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. 

He cradles my face between his hands. “I’ll take you home whenever you want,” he says. “But if you want to stay, and you wake up screaming, it’s okay. I’ll make sure you’re okay. And if you want to stay, and then change your mind, I don’t mind driving you back at four a.m.”

 be more or less the same, but so what? That actually sounds kind of great.

Yes, you have lost something, but maybe, someday, you’ll find something too.

Melissa Palmer

Great

Great romantic comedy book. Engaging characters, lovely romance and a great small town setting... With a great bookstore. A great summer read especially.

honya

i gave this book a 3 stars! the characters were EVERYTHINGGG AGH I LOVE THEM SM but the book itself.. it mostly was about grief and idk what i expected, but it wasn’t that🧍🏽‍♀️ anyways CHARLIE AND NORA ARE ABSOLUTE SOULMATES

Lena Köninger

🐇

Cute but I stopped reading for so long and basically forgot everything so yeah 2.5 stars.

Kelsey Munson

I’m going to take a day to process my thoughts a bit before coming back and editing because I just finished reading this in one go at 2 in the morning and all my brain can come up with is “Shit. This was delightful.”

That and:

“If I had to pick one person to be in my corner, it would be you. Every time.”
 🥹

Katie 

This was insufferable to read. I hate when I can tell what the author is trying to get me to think about, rather than me just organically getting there from their words. Nora was unbearably whiny and reading about her sister was so annoying. I found it ironic that it opened up by pretentiously discussing how overdone and boring book tropes are, then proceeded to use some of the most bland and dry tropes itself. This book just was not for me at all. 

Sarah

debre

I love the main character and love interest. I love how she stayed true to herself and he never expected anything different from her. I love how she stayed in the city she loved with the life she loved and he never tried to convince her anyway. I love how healthy and beautiful their love was. I hated Libby at first but I figured out I just misunderstood her. This was a nice, cozy and sweet read. I highly recommend it.

Athena

omg this book was so good! i loved the plot idea and how nora makes fun of the small town love story trope. nora's character development throughout this book as well as the growth between her and her sister was just beautiful.

Hannah Williams

minor spoilers

omg this book was so good! i loved the plot idea and how nora makes fun of the small town love story trope. nora's character development throughout this book as well as the growth between her and her sister was just beautiful.

i went from the first chapter to the last in 3 days. I couldn’t set it down it was so good.

Sighhh. Turns out Emily Henry is not for me and I’m low key devastated by that. This was very similar style and plot devices to PWMV, which I wasn’t a major fan of. 

More specifically on Book Lovers- the first 100 pages or so I was really feeling 4-5 star vibes but then the story stalled. It didn’t help that I didn’t really like any of the characters which under different circumstances is fine, I don’t need to like them but also the romantically involved characters had no chemistry either. Under different circumstances I can deal with no chemistry, but the lit fic side of things offered me very little in character development (it was the same problems ruminated repeatedly, the inner monologue was tiring). 

Not sure why this is referenced as a rom com as the main character is pretty much constantly stressed and miserable from inner and outer turmoil, not in an angsty way in a more existential way. This story was also self described as a tongue in cheek meta look at book/romance tropes but seems to forget that frequently. Some parts were really cute like when mmc Charlie says everyone wants to cinnamon roll hero! But then things would happen like the classic microtrope of “important scene or moment interrupted by a buzzing phone call/text” and wasn’t even acknowledged by the literal book lover (including romance) fmc for happening TWICE and being so trope-y. Not sure if that was an intentional miss or overlooked. 

Overall, Emily Henry is such a talented writer. I just wish I liked the actual content more.

Abigail

Sighhh. Turns out Emily Henry is not for me and I’m low key devastated by that. This was very similar style and plot devices to PWMV, which I wasn’t a major fan of. 

More specifically on Book Lovers- the first 100 pages or so I was really feeling 4-5 star vibes but then the story stalled. It didn’t help that I didn’t really like any of the characters which under different circumstances is fine, I don’t need to like them but also the romantically involved characters had no chemistry either. Under different circumstances I can deal with no chemistry, but the lit fic side of things offered me very little in character development (it was the same problems ruminated repeatedly, the inner monologue was tiring). 

Not sure why this is referenced as a rom com as the main character is pretty much constantly stressed and miserable from inner and outer turmoil, not in an angsty way in a more existential way. This story was also self described as a tongue in cheek meta look at book/romance tropes but seems to forget that frequently. Some parts were really cute like when mmc Charlie says everyone wants to cinnamon roll hero! But then things would happen like the classic microtrope of “important scene or moment interrupted by a buzzing phone call/text” and wasn’t even acknowledged by the literal book lover (including romance) fmc for happening TWICE and being so trope-y. Not sure if that was an intentional miss or overlooked. 

Overall, Emily Henry is such a talented writer. I just wish I liked the actual content more.

it was a cute little small town vibe romance. I did enjoy reading this one but wasn't super eager to finish it when starting. It was very Hallmark and very predictable. Unpopular opinion: I don't think it's worth the hype and there isn't anything special.

Patricia Nelson

For three summers in a row, I've read an Emily Henry book, and they are perfect summer reading! This story had me laughing out loud more than once, and there is a lot of wit in the conversations between the characters. The relationship between Nora and Charlie starts out as one would expect, with them really disliking one another, and over time they realize they really like each other, but the author kept the story realistic, with people dealing with all of their 'stuff' and everything not being all perfectly tied up in a bow right away. Really enjoyed it!

Pooja Mahesh

My absolute favourite book by Emily Henry. A book for book lovers, for older sisters who are so insane (as an older sister I’m legally allowed to say so), for those who find humour in the twisty, for those who struggle to feel their feelings, for those with younger siblings who are their sun and for everyone in between. What an entirely delightful book that both brought me to tears and made me laugh. There is something so uniquely endearing about the way EH writes her characters. A must read!

Book Lovers by Emily Henry is the rom-com full of book nerds that I needed in my life.

Nora Stephens is a literary agent, and she's the Miranda Priestly type. Her little sister Libby convinces her they need to go on a trip to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina - a setting in one of books Nora helped make super famous. While there, Nora continually runs into Charlie, one of the editors she's seen around New York. They keep bumping into each other more and more, and like any typical rom-com... we know how this one is gonna end.

This romance book is sugary sweet and a complete delight. Book nerds in a rom com makes it even better! It very much felt like a Hallmark movie in book form but so much better. The relationships between the characters feel real, you can understand the turmoil and chaos the characters feel, and honestly... all of the book felt so based in reality but you also knew it was a fictional tale. So wonderful. So lively. What a gem!

I need more books like this in my life. I will definitely be picking up more books by Emily Henry ASAP!

Briar's Reviews

Book Lovers by Emily Henry is the rom-com full of book nerds that I needed in my life.

Nora Stephens is a literary agent, and she's the Miranda Priestly type. Her little sister Libby convinces her they need to go on a trip to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina - a setting in one of books Nora helped make super famous. While there, Nora continually runs into Charlie, one of the editors she's seen around New York. They keep bumping into each other more and more, and like any typical rom-com... we know how this one is gonna end.

This romance book is sugary sweet and a complete delight. Book nerds in a rom com makes it even better! It very much felt like a Hallmark movie in book form but so much better. The relationships between the characters feel real, you can understand the turmoil and chaos the characters feel, and honestly... all of the book felt so based in reality but you also knew it was a fictional tale. So wonderful. So lively. What a gem!

I need more books like this in my life. I will definitely be picking up more books by Emily Henry ASAP!

Five out of five stars.

A cute romance story that held more depth in the fmc’s sisterly relationship which was a nice change of pace. Not my fave Emily Henry but sweet nonetheless and definitely left feel good vibes. 

This is actually fucking great, did not expect it, the person who told me to read it is right. 

Denisse Garcia Ramírez 

Cindy McKee

Book lovers

I loved this book for so many reasons. 1) I’m a sucker for banter and Nora, Libby, and Charlie are all masters of it here. 2) I love any character who sees New York as a magical place to be. Nora’s (and Charlie’s) love for the Big Apple , faults and all, see it as a wonderland where anything is possible. 3) The tropes of so many of those Hallmark movies and many many romance novels get thoroughly mocked and revered in equal measure here. 4) Enjoying old movies , especially one of my absolute favorites, The Philadelphia Story, makes me extremely happy. And 4) I thoroughly loved Charlie and Nora. As much as I liked Beach Reads, I never completely connected with the characters
and kinda felt indifferent about the ending. But I was invested from page one in Nora and later Charlie in Book Lover’s. Loved this!

Lost in Tome 

"No matter where we go, our love will stretch out to hold us..."
.......................
Oh Emily Henry, your beautiful mind has done it again! This novel was so much more than I was expecting.

Nora Stephens is not the leading lady in those cheesy small-town romances. She's the other one. You know, the uptight, peloton riding, workaholic, city woman; that always whines up dumped by the end of the story. Her baby sister Libby is the only person she is willing to put above her job and her happiness. Which is how she finds herself in Sunshine Fall; a one stoplight kind of town in the middle of No Where, North Carolina. Libby, being the hopeless romantic that she is, is completely convinced this sisters trip will be just the thing Nora needs to turn herself into the leading lady in her own small-town romance story. Enter in (again) Charlie Lastra, who is pretty much a carbon copy of Nora but in man form. As you can imagine, witty banter and tension-filled hate stares ensue.
......................
I went into this expecting another one of Emily Henrys summer romance reads. What I got was so much better. Yes, you will still get Henrys phenomenal angst and her perfectly written comical, sarcastic banter. But the part that resonated with me more than the typical romance tropes, was the sister relationship between Libby and Nora. I kept marking parts in the book that reminded me of conversations I had with my own sisters, or similar thoughts and emotions that I shared with Nora regarding her protectiveness towards her youngest. Having this relationship as a strong part in the story gave our main character more layers. Being inside Nora’s head while you watched the ups and downs play out between the sisters, gave her a different kind of vulnerability than what we are used to reading in Henrys books. It made me feel more than angst, I felt a connection, a kindred spirit of sorts.
Don’t get me wrong Emily still brought the spice! The dynamic between Charlie and Nora was entertaining right from the beginning, Right from there first anti-meet cute, you just new this was gonna be a fun ride. And of course, Emily Henry did not disappoint. The sarcasm, and with witty repartee was just…*chefs kiss*. Emily Henry is still in my top three of feisty banter writers.
I highly recommend this one if you are looking for a feel-good pallet cleanser, that might tug at your gooey insides and make you drop a tear or two. Or just pick it up and read it just cause you can; I really don’t think you’ll regret it.

Levena Banda

Clever and hilarious! Literally could not put it down. Their chemistry is unmatched. A truly satisfying read

This book touches on sisterhood, romance, and dreams! 10/10 a sweet read with crushing themes that make you think 

Sabrina Beguiristain

I received this book as a gift, and I’m not a big fan of stereotypical romance novels, however, I unironically loved this book. This is one of the few books that has made me laugh aloud from funny events in the book. The only things I didn’t like about the book is that ‘The List’ really didn’t seem that important to the story, and the ending seemed a bit rushed. However, the character development made this so much better than some cliche romance novel.

Charlotte Squire

Linn jäverfelt 

I loved this book so much. Nora and Charlie's relationship is the best and I love them. I'm so sad that this book is over.

Book Lovers

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