freemajo's review against another edition
4.0
Romance tropes: enemies to lovers, orphan, return to hometown
Content warning: death of parent
Dear lord these people are neurotic as hell! I’ve never read Emily Henry before, and I found the writing to be eager, witty, and intentional. The interpersonal relationships really shine, and Nora’s banter with Charlie was laugh out loud funny.
That said, there’s barely a plot here; the novel is really about people contemplating their traumas and trying to heal from their scars. It’s well-written, but I got impatient with yet another passage about Nora’s dead mom.
We spend so much time unpacking the past that I hesitate to call this a romance novel. The sex scene was nothing to write home about.
If you want to read a book that desperately wants you to feel something and is inner monologue intensive, this is the book for you.
Content warning: death of parent
Dear lord these people are neurotic as hell! I’ve never read Emily Henry before, and I found the writing to be eager, witty, and intentional. The interpersonal relationships really shine, and Nora’s banter with Charlie was laugh out loud funny.
That said, there’s barely a plot here; the novel is really about people contemplating their traumas and trying to heal from their scars. It’s well-written, but I got impatient with yet another passage about Nora’s dead mom.
We spend so much time unpacking the past that I hesitate to call this a romance novel. The sex scene was nothing to write home about.
If you want to read a book that desperately wants you to feel something and is inner monologue intensive, this is the book for you.
britb's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
readingindc's review against another edition
5.0
I am obsessed with this book and have maybe never related to a character more than Nora. I loved this so much, like red white and Royal blue levels of loved this book!!!
evaquetzalli's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
literarylover's review against another edition
5.0
nora and charlie. charlie and nora.
emily henry hits once again in the romcom genre and perfect summer read areas.
book lovers was everything and more than i expected, and was so, so beautiful. emily henry’s ability to explicitly describe minute details and scenarios is my favourite thing ever, re: “the sun’s melting into the horizon like peach ice cream, and the smell of roses drifts over the breeze. a few yards over, a half dozen kids run, shrieking and laughing, through a sprinkler” (324). idk about u but this brought back all of my childhood summer memories.
emily henry also hit me right in the feels with her words: “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” (354).
and she wrote yet again, another amazingly adorable couple that are both so similar and yet different, that they fit so perfectly well together in the city of new york, where both of their hearts truly belong.
“Of course I love you, Nora. If I loved you any less, I’d be trying to convince you that you could be happy here. You have no idea how badly I wish I could be enough.”
“If anyone could be enough, I think it might be you.”
Catch me sulking on my couch for the next year or so until Emily publishes another banger of a relatable book.
emily henry hits once again in the romcom genre and perfect summer read areas.
book lovers was everything and more than i expected, and was so, so beautiful. emily henry’s ability to explicitly describe minute details and scenarios is my favourite thing ever, re: “the sun’s melting into the horizon like peach ice cream, and the smell of roses drifts over the breeze. a few yards over, a half dozen kids run, shrieking and laughing, through a sprinkler” (324). idk about u but this brought back all of my childhood summer memories.
emily henry also hit me right in the feels with her words: “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” (354).
and she wrote yet again, another amazingly adorable couple that are both so similar and yet different, that they fit so perfectly well together in the city of new york, where both of their hearts truly belong.
“Of course I love you, Nora. If I loved you any less, I’d be trying to convince you that you could be happy here. You have no idea how badly I wish I could be enough.”
“If anyone could be enough, I think it might be you.”
Catch me sulking on my couch for the next year or so until Emily publishes another banger of a relatable book.
lisa61's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
dani_j's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
angelsra's review against another edition
4.0
so sweet, i like that its full of romance tropes that are present in a lot of romcoms, but that it still takes a spin on it and makes it feel very deep and layered, at first i wasnt a fan of the whole sisters plot point but at the end of the book i think it was my favourite part of book lovers. very sweet and a feel good read!
sbentz16's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
jacquelynn's review against another edition
5.0
She finally nailed the ending for me! Originally going to be 4-stars, but I couldn't stop smiling during the last act. It was so good and lovely and Emily Henry's writing only seems to be getting better and better.
First of all, I LOVE the premise. Book Lovers is about the stereotypical City Person who gets left by their partner for a small town romance. She is harsh, work-obsessed, always with her phone, always in heels and deeply concerned with money and looks. She is the character in romcoms that exist only to make the other world seem quaint and down to earth. And now it's her turn for a story.
Nora is a literary agent nicknamed The Shark and she is forced to take a vacation for the first time in almost a decade in Sunshine Falls North Carolina for the sake of her sister. Her younger sister is pregnant with her third child and has been growing increasingly distant and tired. Nora takes her on a small-town adventure where Libby tries to get them to wear flannel, save a local business, and date a local hunk. Nonetheless, Nora keeps running into her enemy in publishing and getting caught up in her job-- drawn to Charlie, the epitome of another cold City Person.
So, this book made me laugh so hard I cried. It also made me cry in the normal way from the sweetness near the end.
Quibbles: I ADORE how Emily Henry books focus on the other relationships in a characters life as well as the romance. In this case, there was a focus on the sister's relationship and the question of them reconciling. I wish more books would have familial or friendship side plots like this! Although, I should say I found myself increasingly wanting to figure out what was going on with Libby and making up with her, and often disappointed we had to spend time with Charlie. I wanted to know about the sisters more than the romance at many points hahaha.
Charlie was not a bad lead, but like previous love interests in Henry's books, there was something missing. I felt like Charlie's learning disability and estrangement from his community weren't fully addressed in the sense that Nora doesn't really help him grow. She supports him and talks to his dad, but the book doesn't set aside much time for working on Charlie's issues and what has kept him from love in the past.
That being said, focusing on Nora and Libby was a treat and it might have been distracting to give space to a storyline around Charlie's loneliness or disability. (Though, as a person with dyslexia I was briefly SO excited to see something on a character like this since I had a very similar story growing up where I couldn't read until much later and then took off like a rocket when I could).
Regardless of the love interest not being fully developed, Nora herself was fully developed and her story arc was something beautiful to behold. I didn't realize how badly I wanted a character like her to be given compassion before-- to be told, wow, you must have had to grow up so fast to become so driven and competent. You must be struggling very hard on some level for people to view you as emotionless. It was refreshing, it was touching, it was exactly what I wanted when she accepted that maybe she couldn't fix everything, and that she might deserve happiness.
As always, the dialogue in this book was everything, and so was the very mature and lovely journey: they accept the limitations of their relationship and then are given a happy ending anyway.
First of all, I LOVE the premise. Book Lovers is about the stereotypical City Person who gets left by their partner for a small town romance. She is harsh, work-obsessed, always with her phone, always in heels and deeply concerned with money and looks. She is the character in romcoms that exist only to make the other world seem quaint and down to earth. And now it's her turn for a story.
Nora is a literary agent nicknamed The Shark and she is forced to take a vacation for the first time in almost a decade in Sunshine Falls North Carolina for the sake of her sister. Her younger sister is pregnant with her third child and has been growing increasingly distant and tired. Nora takes her on a small-town adventure where Libby tries to get them to wear flannel, save a local business, and date a local hunk. Nonetheless, Nora keeps running into her enemy in publishing and getting caught up in her job-- drawn to Charlie, the epitome of another cold City Person.
So, this book made me laugh so hard I cried. It also made me cry in the normal way from the sweetness near the end.
Quibbles: I ADORE how Emily Henry books focus on the other relationships in a characters life as well as the romance. In this case, there was a focus on the sister's relationship and the question of them reconciling. I wish more books would have familial or friendship side plots like this! Although, I should say I found myself increasingly wanting to figure out what was going on with Libby and making up with her, and often disappointed we had to spend time with Charlie. I wanted to know about the sisters more than the romance at many points hahaha.
Charlie was not a bad lead, but like previous love interests in Henry's books, there was something missing. I felt like Charlie's learning disability and estrangement from his community weren't fully addressed in the sense that Nora doesn't really help him grow. She supports him and talks to his dad, but the book doesn't set aside much time for working on Charlie's issues and what has kept him from love in the past.
That being said, focusing on Nora and Libby was a treat and it might have been distracting to give space to a storyline around Charlie's loneliness or disability. (Though, as a person with dyslexia I was briefly SO excited to see something on a character like this since I had a very similar story growing up where I couldn't read until much later and then took off like a rocket when I could).
Regardless of the love interest not being fully developed, Nora herself was fully developed and her story arc was something beautiful to behold. I didn't realize how badly I wanted a character like her to be given compassion before-- to be told, wow, you must have had to grow up so fast to become so driven and competent. You must be struggling very hard on some level for people to view you as emotionless. It was refreshing, it was touching, it was exactly what I wanted when she accepted that maybe she couldn't fix everything, and that she might deserve happiness.
As always, the dialogue in this book was everything, and so was the very mature and lovely journey: they accept the limitations of their relationship and then are given a happy ending anyway.