Book Lovers By Emily Henry

This was the first book I got from this author, and I was keen to read it, as I heard great things. Now on the cover were multiple authors, some I find to be enjoyable and some I don’t. It reinforced my view that such statements can help consumers pick a book, but they can also definitely hinder it. But I gave it a go because I had already bought it at that point.

The Book in short
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.
Read more here.

My Thoughts
I heard absolutely everywhere that this is an enemies-to-lovers story, and it’s not really. They are work adversaries at best; they are very similar people, and there is a bit of friction, but they don’t know enough about each other for there to be any real animosity. The moment they get to know each other, they basically get on. Then again, enemies-to-lovers is a very difficult trope to get right.

It’s a small town romance but in the opposite way, and I love that. It’s so very cute, these people are New Yorkers, they love New York, and they are unapologetically big city people. Contrasting this with the big city girl going to a small town Hallmark vibe, I found it very refreshing. It made so much sense for them to go back to the big city because that is where they love to be, instead of staying in the small town where book and movie people usually stay for their happily ever after.

The writing style was nice. I set it down a hundred pages or so in, and I’m pretty sure this was because I didn’t have time. When I picked it back up again, I was in the story within four pages. I stayed up until it was finished. When I am reading it, I am genuinely laughing, thinking it’s very witty, but the book did not leave that impression with me until I picked it back up again.

I was really enjoying it while I was reading it, but it wouldn’t necessarily come to mind if anyone asks what my most recent favourite author was. Which is a bit of a shame because, as I said, I thought it was a solid read. It is, however, one of those authors you easily pick up, and as I have a few more books, I will definitely be reading more.

Details
Page Count: 377 pages