
- STAR RATING: 5 stars
PAGE LENGTH: 377 pages - DATE PUBLISHED: May 3rd 2022
- PUBLISHER: Berkley
CONTENT WARNINGS: Death of parent, grief, sexual content, pregnancy
IF YOU LIKED THIS, TRY: Well Met by Jen DeLuca, The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
SYNOPSIS
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.

Book Lovers is pretty much universally adored by contemporary romance readers — that I’ve seen, anyway. (This is a partial fib — I’ve seen like…two bad reviews of this book. Two out of the many, many, many good ones.) I am firmly in the holy-shit-I-adored-this-book category, in case you were wondering. Book Lovers is full of tropes, but Henry twists them on their head and pokes fun of them in the best way possible. If you’re a romance lover, you’ll see so many familiar tropes you’ll end up grinning from ear to ear as you pick them apart.
Now, this is my first Emily Henry book, so I can’t say much about her consistency, but I can say that I loved how she writes dialogue. The characters felt like real people talking — no fake plasticine layer over everything. I loved the banter between the leads, Nora and Charlie, most of all. I frequently found myself laughing out loud at some exchange between them. Their chemistry was like fire — smoky, and extremely hot.
The general plot of the book is that Nora needs to learn how to let go and not control everything — including her sister. She doesn’t want to control her sister, as much as she desperately wants to take care of her, but still. Nora is controlling. It takes three weeks in a podunk little town — and an extremely hot rival — to get her to loosen up. The scenes with Nora and Libby truly felt like real situations between sisters. The love they had for each other was extremely evident on page, and it was a joy to read.
I also love that this book did not end with Nora and Charlie expecting a baby or moving to the little town. I love that they got their happy ending where they wanted it the whole novel — right there in NYC. It just goes to show how many romance novels end with the lead couple giving up their separate dreams to live out some generic idea of happiness. Book Lovers ended perfectly, in my eyes. Five stars. Holy crap, I loved this.

Add to your Goodreads, or preorder at at the following links:
GOODREADS | BOOKSHOP.ORG | AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE

So glad you loved this one. It’s one of my favorites of the year. I definitely recommend Beach Read since you said this was your first Henry book.
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I have her two other books on hold at the library! After loving this one so much, I have to check out her backlist!
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Enjoy!
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Great review! I loved it too!
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Thank you!
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Great review! I’m so glad you loved it so much. I’m reading it right now and have a strong feeling it’s going to be one of my favorite romance novels of all time by the time I finish it. ♥
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I can 10000% see that happening! It is such a great book — really written for people who adore romance books, I think! I hope you love it when you finish it!
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Oh I so need to read this book!! I’ve read (and loved) You and Me/People We Meet On Vacation and I have a copy of this and Beach Read. I’ve been saving them both until I get some time off somewhere warm and sunny, because they just feel like perfect summer reads. I love how she takes really familiar tropes and uses them in a self-aware way.
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YESSS that is one of the biggest reasons I loved Book Lovers!! I hope you get to relax poolside soon, so you can grab these books and enjoy them!
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[…] Birdie’s Book Nook […]
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Excellent review Jordyn. I am still on the list at the library for this book, but I am eager to get to it. Hopefully a summer poolside read for me. I also like that it wasn’t a predictable ending, so I am looking forward to seeing where it goes.
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I hope it gets to you soon! It was such a fun read! 🙂
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Awesome review, Jordyn! I love it when I can tell how much a reader loved a book through their review and I can definitely tell how much you loved this one. I keep seeing this book everywhere and everyone seems to have loved it which makes me look forward to reading this so much more. Every review I’ve seen talks about how hot and swoony and lovely Charlie is so I’m pretty freaking excited to meet the guy! 😍
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Charlie was soooo swoon-worthy, Dini. I think you’ll love this one!
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I’m so glad you loved this one too! Emily Henry is really great!
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I really need to pick up her other books!
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YAY I’m so glad you loved this book! I’m with you that the ending was probably one of my favorite parts, other than Charlie — I just swoon for dark and broody types and their banter from the beginning just hit the spot for me. You should pick up Beach Read next as it also involves Publishing, only it’s two authors who are maybe rivals who write in different genres. It’s positively delightful!
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Soooo I may have all of her books on hold at the library now, because I NEED TO READ THEM. More books involving books? Yes. Sign me up. I can’t wait to read it! Please tell me the banter is good in her other books, though. I’ll be sad if it isn’t.
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Have no fear, the banter is fab so you should be happy! Ironically, Book Lovers is my “least favorite” of the three, my fave probably being People We Meet on Vacation (I am a sucker for childhood friends to lovers) but Beach Read is also so good with similar dynamics. THEY ARE ALL GOOD AAAHHHH
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AH THIS IS MAKING ME REALLY HYPED UP FOR THEM, KAL. Thank youuuuuuu!!!!!!
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[…] Book Lovers – Contemporary rom-com – Hilarious […]
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