*Must Love Books* by Shauna Robinson is a delightful and engaging read that deftly explores the complexities of career, relationships, and self-discovery within the backdrop of the literary world. The novel centers on Nora Hughes, a bookish thirty-something who finds herself navigating the tumultuous waters of the publishing industry while grappling with her own aspirations and romantic entanglements.

The book's exploration of the impact of literature on personal identity and relationships is both thoughtful and insightful. While the plot can occasionally follow familiar tropes, Robinson’s engaging writing style and well-developed characters keep the story fresh and compelling. The novel's setting and references to the literary world will particularly resonate with book lovers, adding an extra layer of enjoyment.

Overall, *Must Love Books* is a feel-good, entertaining novel that combines romance, professional drama, and a love for literature in a way that is both satisfying and heartwarming.

This is a lovely, feel good novel. I'm a sucker for books with a books theme! I love the realism behind the story, how things weren't great, but turned out okay in the end. It gave 500 Days of Summer vibes, which is one of my favorite movies.

Cute book. I appreciated how real Nora felt. She was dealing with a lot, but the anxiety and angst wasn’t super overwhelming for me, the reader. The book made me laugh and smile.

Such a fun read! Loved this one!

Many thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for my ARC.

Nora always wanted to work in publishing but after five years as an editorial assistant and a pay cut, she isn’t sure it is truly for her. ARC from NetGalley.

Nora has done the same crappy job that she doesn't even like for the last five years and is too scared to move out of it until she has literally no other choice than to find something to help make money to keep living her same life. At 10% in, nothing felt like it was moving, and it's just not the book for me. However, our average library goers would easily enjoy at a solid three to four stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the ARC.

"Must Love Books" by Shauna Robinson takes on heavier subject matter than your typical rom-com. TW: the main character deals with low-level suicidal ideation pretty much constantly. And it handles a plot device that normally stresses me out so much I avoid it: high-stakes lying and deception. But it feels like a very authentic look into the world of small press publishing and navigating a predominantly White space as a person of color. Not to give too much away, but I enjoyed the ending a lot as it showed how when we catastrophize that we've burned all our bridges, that's often not true (but actions do have consequences).

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Must Love Books was such a treat — ESPECIALLY the mental health themes throughout. I’ve always loved books centered in the publishing industry, so for a book to do that AND touch on depression, job pressure and industry standards was so nice to read. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Nina Hill strives for the perfect job, but this book explores the reality of "perfect" especially with a publishing setting. Despite her efforts, she is unable to achieve what she sets to do. Enters Andrew Santos, the love interest but the romance and "sparks" set between the two is only a minor piece of the plot. I did enjoy parts of this, but will neither adopt it for my classroom nor will I seek this title out after publishing.

You might be fooled by the cover and the title, but this is definitely not a rom-com and not much com.

This book deals with very serious mental health issues and there could be some trigger warnings in her for people.

If you want to read something relatable, however, about depression and being caught in a dead end job and just being generally unhappy - you will feel uncomfortable reading this but you will also feel seen and understood.

I really love to read books about books or people who work with books. So this was a definite on my to be read list.

However, I think it fell a little short for me. It felt a bit repetitive at times, and super heavy, I love hearing/reading how people cope and deal with mental health struggles, especially since I deal with my own. However, I felt at times this got too emotionally intense at times. Which is probably more about my reading likes and dislikes than anything to do with the authors writing.

I loved seeing the main character balance her work life as well as her well being. The romance was relatable and fun and worked well with the main characters growth of finding her joy and self worth.

I look forward to reading more from this author.

Lovely, cozy book that took me away from the stressors of every day life! I especially loved the publishing work environment being covered within this one. As a total book lover, getting to peek behind the curtain was really enjoyable. I haven't read many books that have covered that topic / setting.

Nora's life isn't going quite as smoothly as she was hoping. And when her pay gets cut she has to figure out how she can survive. A book that is ultimately about a woman finding herself and figuring out what she is worth. With a smattering of romance readers will enjoy this book. Nora is relatable and many readers will connect with her. This was a good read.

A fun book about a woman who has to decide how to juggle two jobs to stay afloat in the world and where she wants her future to go. A perfect finding yourself novel.

This was a cute, bookish book about a girl working in publishing. I loved the insights into the industry and enjoyed reading about Nora!

I enjoyed the character growth as well as the exploration into the publishing industry and the mental heath rep. Thank you sourcebooks and netgalley for my copy.

Okay this one was so cute & I adored it! I was not expecting to love this as much as I did. Typically, I’m a romance-hater, but I really enjoyed this one

I always get excited when a book that's set in the publishing world enters my radar and this one was no exception! In the end though, I was frustrated with the main character, Nora, and how she handled problems and complaints in her life and how she treated people. I'd say that this book is more of watching the heroine embark on a journey to figure out what she really wants in life without much of a conclusion, along with a hint of romance. Overall, not my favorite.

“𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚑𝚘𝚠, 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚜 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚗’𝚝 𝚎𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎. 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚘𝚗 𝚊 𝚙𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚛𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚜𝚠𝚎𝚙𝚝 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚢.”

Nora, an editorial assistant at a nonfiction publisher, is at a crossroads in her life and her career. Her job seemed like the Dream Job for a book nerd like her, but after five years, when her already unlivable salary gets cut, Nora decides to moonlight for a rival publisher to make ends meet and maybe poach some authors, including the ever-optimistic and charming Andrew, a new nonfiction author that everyone is after.

Nora deals with a lot of really heavy feelings and struggles with keeping up with her life. The title and cover makes you think that it would be a regular, sweet rom-com but it is so much more, focussing more on Nora's struggle with her profession and her mental health. Robinson touches on some really heavy topics like suicide and depression with a very simple and easy writing style, which I found really well done as her writing felt personal and honest. I also liked how she didn't end up magically fixing all of Nora's problems at the end. Instead, choosing to give the story a more open ending, giving Nora an opportunity to have a chance at a better life and an opportunity to make amends.

I felt that this book had a good dose of realism. It isn't light-hearted and fluffy and I found it very honest and real. It's a story of making mistakes and learning from them. Truly a modern day story of self discovery and a good reminder to ask for help when you need it.

Overall I enjoyed this book, especially the glimpse into the publishing world. As someone who loves books, I found that part fascinating.

Note: Thank you to the publisher Sourcebooks Landmark and Netgalley for giving me a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I'm such a sucker for books about books. This one was a fun book to read, and I love Shauna Robinson's books. I liked following Nora's journey as she tries to figure out her next steps. While some of it was predictable -- working for the rival company while still being employed? -- I enjoyed seeing Nora navigate her career and her own life, figuring out what it is she wants for herself and her job.

If you like books about books, books that explore mental health and friendship, and about finding your own happiness, this one is a great choice.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks for my eArc. All opinions are my own.