Book Lovers
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4.3 • 393 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
An insightful, delightful, instant #1 New York Times bestseller from the author of Funny Story.
“One of my favorite authors.”—Colleen Hoover
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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Nora, the heroine of this adorable and fun rom-com, knows all the tropes of the romance genre. After all, she’s a literary agent. While on vacation from the city in a quaint North Carolina town, Nora runs into her archenemy, Charlie Lastra, the editor who rudely trashed her client’s new book. Nora’s aware that, according to the rules of a romance novel, their hate should turn to love—and the crazy part is that it does. We love how Emily Henry puts a self-aware twist on the witty will-they-won’t-they romance genre. If there’s room in your heart for an inventive love story, Book Lovers is for you.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A summer trip spurs unexpected self-discovery in bestseller Henry's latest rom-com (after People We Meet on Vacation), a moving examination of love, belonging, and family. Since childhood, literary agent Nora Stephens has structured her life around taking care of her sister, Libby, four years her junior, so when an exhausted and—Nora fears—increasingly distant Libby suggests a monthlong trip to small-town Sunshine Falls, N.C., Nora eagerly agrees. As she wrestles with Libby's irritability and strives to make her happy while trying to find her own equilibrium—including making a surprising connection with her professional nemesis, editor Charlie Lastra, a Sunshine Falls native—Nora must turn fresh eyes on old problems. Meanwhile, things heat up between Charlie and Nora, but the demands of their professional lives may keep them apart. Henry expertly captures the complexities of close but unbalanced familial relationships along with the distance between the dreams of youth and the realities of adulthood. As usual, her sharp eye for detail in establishing setting and creating empathetic characters engages the reader, and Nora's well-shaded emotional struggles complement the steamy enemies-to-lovers plot and lovely scenery. This introspective romance is sure to please.
Customer Reviews
Such a great read!
Great story. Well told.
Sweet and hopeful
Loved this book. It’s one that has ups and downs
But very realistic
Charlie, You Deserved Better
Okay, so here’s the thing: Book Lovers is fun. It’s quick, it’s banter-heavy, and Charlie is absolutely the backbone of this novel. I loved him, steady, sharp, quietly hot. Honestly, I would’ve happily read 350 pages of just Charlie walking around being himself.
But Nora? She’s introduced as this cutthroat shark of publishing, and then… the book spends most of its time sanding down her edges until she’s palatable. Instead of letting her stay sharp, messy, and complicated, we get a lot of explanations and softened beats. It feels like the novel is afraid to let her be unlikeable for more than five seconds.
And the emotional depth, I kept waiting for it to arrive, like a train delayed three hours. Some lines hit, but others felt like someone underlining their own prose saying, “Look, this is the Important Part.” I wanted subtlety. I wanted ache. I wanted moments that landed without needing a neon sign.
Charlie and Nora have chemistry, but it’s mostly quippy foreplay. The intimacy never goes feral, never gets under the skin. It’s comfortable, not devastating. Which is fine, but I crave devastation.
So yes, this book is a delight for many readers, and I get it. It’s witty, it’s polished, it’s safe. But for me, it felt like an almost. I kept wanting more precision, more risk, more space for silence and rawness. Charlie could’ve carried that weight. The book just didn’t let him.