Reviews with content warning for Cursing - Book Lovers

Title: Book Lovers
Author: Emily Henry
Genre: Romance
Rating: 3.0
Pub Date: May 3, 2022

T H R E E • W O R D S

Modern • Funny • Heartfelt

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Nora, an unapologetically fierce and cutthroat literary agent, is the heroine in her sister Libby's life. When Libby begs Nora to go to Sunshine Falls for a girls' trip away, she begrudgingly agrees. However, Libby has ulterior motives and envisions a small-town transformation and happily-ever-after for her sister.

Nora bumps into Charlie, an equally ruthless editor she has dealt with countless times before, and who just so happens to be visiting his family in the same area. Coincidentally, when Charlie starts working on one of Nora's clients books, they will be thrown together again and again.

💭 T H O U G H T S

Of course, I was highly anticipating Book Lovers release as the premise sounded so good. Unfortunately, this one just didn't live up to my expectations nor the hype.

What I like:
- that the main characters both loved books. I am here for books about books. Every. Single. Time. There were some very satisfying quotes.
- the small town setting. There is just something about small town charm that sucks me in.
- the banter. Nobody does romantic comedy banter quite like Emily Henry.
- the sister bond. Although at times feeling very co-dependent, I still enjoyed Nora and Libby's relationship. In fact, I appreciated this relationship and the portrayal of family way more than the romance.
- the portrayal of ambition. Nora is driven, independent, and knows what she wants. She wasn't looking for a knight in shining armor. I liked this.
- the portrayal of grief. There were some powerful and genuine moments and thoughts on grief that resonated greatly with me.

What I didn't like:
- that the setting didn't play a bigger role. I wanted so much more of the small town charm. It honestly felt like this could have taken place anywhere, which was disappointing.
- the characters. I wasn't drawn to any of them. And honestly I just didn't really care what happened.
- the romance. I think this story would have been fine (or even better) without the romance. I found it hard to believe.
- the length. For a rom-com it felt overly drawn out, almost like two stories in one - the romantic aspect and the family aspect.

In a nutshell, I didn't feel strongly about this one way or the other. I was left feeling a little underwhelmed when I finished, but I did learn that enemies-to-lovers is my least favourite romance trope. Maybe I was waiting for a 'wow' moment that just never came, or it has been grossly overhyped, either way this was my least favourite of Emily Henry's adult romances.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• readers looking for a beach read
• anyone who likes the enemies-to-lovers trope
• Emily Henry fans

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"In my favourite books, it's never quite the ending I want. There's always a price to be paid.

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 speaks 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 to many things have gone wrong, there can be beauty too. That there is always hope, no matter what."

"For a decade, I've known I will never again have everything, and so all I've wanted is to believe that, someday, again, I'll have enough. The ache won't always be so bad. People like me aren't broken beyond repair. No ice ever freezes too think to thaw and no thorns ever grow too dense to be cut away."

Content Warnings

marioosa517's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-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

Content Warnings

anastashamarie's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective 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

5.0

This story and these characters stabbed me repeatedly in my type-A, big-sister heart until I was nothing but a sobbing puddle on the floor.

I loved this. I loved the banter and push-and-pull between the romantic leads. I loved the bond between the sisters. I loved the subversion of tropes. I loved the lack of a contrived Act IV miscommunication that you knew would blow over anyway. I loved how real and raw and genuinely funny this was beginning to end. The story is woven so gently at first that I didn't realize my heart was being cut out until it was too late and by then I wanted to embrace it all: the vulnerability, the understanding, the amount of emotional work I had poured in just to have it handed right back, how it feels to have a character who feels like me be seen.

I signed up for a rom-com, but got a therapy session wrapped up in pretty gingham bow (probably like a wreath on the door of Goode Books, if we're being honest). I'm not sure how I'll recover, but I also know that the way out is through.

Idk how I'm going to get over this one. A+++ for sure.

Content Warnings

kaziaroo's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective medium-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

3.0

I think this book suffers from its own marketing. The blurb calls Charlie Nora's "work nemesis" but in reality their "rivalry" consisted of him saying he didn't like her client's book which later did well, and her muttering "I told you so" at his office door for three years.

The interesting part of the book was how the author took on the admirable task of exposing the misogyny inherent in the "city-slick ex-girlfriend" trope in small-town romance stories and exploring that character trope in its fullness. Unfortunately, the actual romance in Book Lovers was dull in its inevitability. Despite their so-called rivalry, Charlie and Nora get on like a house on fire every time they talk (even at that disastrous first lunch) and there was no "will they–won't they" so much as "when will they" the whole way through. I'm not even sure why Nora's colleagues even call her "the Shark" – she seems lovely to everyone (apart from Charlie) the whole way through, which kind of breaks that trope apart.

The last hundred pages were much more interesting as the real meat of the characters' troubles came to light, and we finally escaped the endless banter and descriptions of Nora's body reacting every time Charlie opens his mouth to speak. This book isn't really a romance; the story's main focus is Nora's relationship with her sister (whom I sadly found very annoying as a character, so it was hard to care about this relationship) and Nora's grief for her mother. Overall, it was an easy and relaxing read, and if you have the patience to get through the first half the second half is quite good.

If you can understand the US-centric culture references used to describe everything and want to read about two according-to-the-cover rivals sharing banter while the author bludgeons you with the sexual tension in case you missed it, this might be the book for you. Just, don't go in expecting a rivals-to-lovers romance and be prepared for family drama and grief.

Content Warnings