Must love this book! I'm a fan of dark humor and Must Love Books nails it. I laughed throughout and lost sleep staying up just a little (ahem, hours) longer to keep reading. I quickly became invested in Nora's happiness. Your 20s is such a special mess of uncertainty, and I enjoyed how it was put underneath a magnifying glass, exposing bleak bits we keep hidden.

A book about books…whats not to love? And I did love it….the main character, Nora, was very relatable and while this was definitely more about Nora and her life moving forward (or trying) there was a little romance. I very much enjoyed the smart back and forth between Nora and Andrew and it added to the book. A fun read!

Nora is an editorial assistant at a publishing company, and she hates her job. She thought this was her dream job or a step ladder to making her dreams come true, but five years later and she’s on the same step. While trying to figure out her professional life, she also has a crush on an author, Andrew Santos, whose new contract could give her everything she dreamed of… but can she convince him to sign?

I was under the impression this book was a romance; however, it was more of a coming of age (in her twenties) story, while the romance storyline took a backseat.

I’m not sure I love this book, but the tension, banter, and palpable chemistry between Nora and Andrew is my favorite part of the book.

In the beginning, I hated Nora. I found her to be whiny and a pessimistic, self-fulfilling prophetic. She was 100% unlikable, and I couldn’t relate to her. Over time she grew on me, especially when the author mentions mental health issues. These issues seemed to have come out of nowhere, and I wish they had touched on them in the beginning. It would’ve made me understand the character on a deeper level earlier. For some, Nora’s pessimism, may be a deal breaker unless they have the full picture; it almost was for me.

Throughout Must Love Books, there was a lot of the same, and I found myself skipping monologues and soliloquies from Nora. They were uninteresting and could’ve been cut out. I wish the Nora & Andrew storyline was at the forefront because that is the storyline I mostly cared about. I want more focus on that and less about what color parachute Nora needed.

In the future, I would like to read a sequel where the main storyline was Andrew and Nora, and her professional life was the back burner storyline!

The perfect book about books! This story is all about Nora, a hardworking employee who is stuck at her job and finds a path for a happier workplace elsewhere. The only catch is she needs to work both jobs for six months. Soon Nora is faced with a dilemma, being truthful or helping her job when it comes to a competitive author.

I enjoyed this book as it takes a look into the publishing industry and the responsibilities of authors and publishing executives alike. It was a tad slow moving, but I appreciate the way it addressed mental health (depression) and talked about the toll that work takes on those who are underpaid and overworked (man, can I relate to that...been there, done that!).

All in all I thought it was an enjoyable read! I could've used a bit more romance for my taste, but I can appreciate the skill of author and the cute cover that drew me in to the story. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This was about an Editorial Assistant working for Parsons Press publishing business books set in San Francisco.
Nora has been in the same job as Editorial Assistant for five years. After recent restructures Nora struggled to come to terms with the changes in her workplace where she is expected to do more work with less pay. Nora longs to work in a different capacity with fiction books instead of business books. She has lost her zing and is too overwhelmed to be bothered reading.
Nora manages to get part time work as a remote freelance acquisitions editor. The extra income helps Nora pay her bills but makes her life more complicated as she is faced with the moral dilemma of deciding which job she should focus on. Nora juggles her responsibilities between two jobs all the while trying to keep secret about the extra job.
This was about the love of reading, publishing, workplace relationships and friendships. I loved the way the characters interacted.

If you are expecting a cute romance novel based on the title… you are wrong. Yes, there is a bit of romance and some cute moments. But mostly it is about being stuck and finding your way in life while making mistakes on the way. Overall a very enjoyable read and it was nice to get a behind the scenes look in the publishing industry.

This was definitely a fun, bookish women's fiction novel that I devoured in less than a week because I couldn't wait to find out what would happen next! The writing is chock full of compelling language that made it easy to keep reading, though it did get a bit slow at parts and lacked a real conflict for half of this book. That being said, it was definitely a fun, cute and bookish coming-of-age novel with a super ambiguous, open-ended conclusion.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed parts of this book, but there were also some characters that I really disliked.

I am not huge into romance but this sweet book really captures my heart. I would recommend it to anyone who loves books and has big dreams

This book was heavy. It was hard to read in parts because I identified pretty strongly with Nora. But it is beautifully written and if you can handle heavy content right now definitely read this.

This was an enjoyable read! I was expecting more romance but I still enjoyed the serious WF elements. The book plot part of it coupled with self discovery really carried the story. My favorite part was her realizing that she doesnt need to have everything about her life to have a happy one. :)

This had potential for me to like it and I was really hoping to but after 50% progress into the book and no advancement in the plot I just had no feelings toward the main character and didn't enjoy this novel at all. Our main character, Nora, is torn between two rival publishing companies while trying to make ends meet financially all while trying not to burn bridges at her current company. At the halfway point in the book there was just nothing happening and the book seemed to not be moving enough for me and I was just bored with our main character and her back-and-forth decisions. I did enjoy Andrew Santos as a secondary character. This one just wasn't for me.

Must Love Books is an impressive first novel. Author Shauna Robinson creates characters with depth and complexity, including some who are not likable. Robinson's protagonist, Nora, is not at all sympathetic, interesting, or even affable through most of the novel. She is depressed and dishonest and not above using people to get ahead. But although I disliked this character, and being inside Nora's head made me depressed, I realized that Robinson had done a good job of bringing Nora to life. To be so ambivalent about a character means the author was successful in creating her. Andrew was easy to like, as were most of the other characters, who Nora failed to trust. The pace of this novel was slow and there were times when I lost patience with it, but the last 15% of the book was actually so well done that it helped to make up for the middle of the book, where too little happened. The question at the end, though, was why didn't Nora ever ask anyone for help? There was no real reason provided for why she did not make any attempts to solve her problems, except through lying. The actions that Nora took at the end of the book were actions that she might have taken at any point during the previous year or more of her life.

With the exception of one comment by Andrew, who wonders if the color of his skin might account for the low-ball contract he is offered, Robinson ignores race, but this evasion was a problem for me. If discrimination is a problem that worries Andrew, why doesn't it also worry Nora, who is stuck in a dead-end job? In an ideal world, discrimination does not exist. Unfortunately, that world does not exist.

I am glad that I stuck with this novel and finished it. I thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for this ARC.

Nora loves books and for years has been working as an editorial assistant. When her company downsizes and then cuts the pay to the remaining staff while asking them to do more and more she doesn't know what to do, makes questionable decisions and is afraid to tell anyone. When Andrew, an author she has been working with, asks her where she is on the happiness scale she realizes she is a 3. Will she have the courage to tell the truth and make decisions to move up the happiness scale or will she continue to be in a haze and sink even lower on the scale?

This book is a must for anyone in their late 20s, anyone in publishing, and anyone who got their childhood dream job and realized it isn’t everything you wanted. Characters were incredibly real; full of flaws and hopes. Enjoyed the book and will look out for this author in the future.

(⭑⭑⭑⭑) Must Love Books tells the story of Nora: an underpaid and overworked book assistant. First, being a booking assistant was the first step to her dream job: Editor. But now, she is being paid even less, with no promotion and the last one of her team standing. Unable to pay her rent, she starts to moonlight for a rival company and steal some of the authors. But when the charismatic author Andrew Santos appears, her life just becomes a little bit more stressful. Should she make him sign in her terrible company to keep her lies hidden, or should she betray them entirely and steal him?

So, this book is not a romance. Do let the bright cover confuse you. This book is about being stuck. About losing your love for your dream job. About self-discovery. About mental health. There is romance in it, but just the right amount.

Nora hits too close. I have always dreamt about working in publishing, and this dream just describes my biggest fears. Nora started because of her love for books and stories but then struggled to just survive. Passion does not pay rent or groceries, and poor Nora is suffering all of this internally. I loved it, even more when I read this based on the author's actual experience because it is such a realistic situation. Overworked and underpaid? Working for boomers that literally do not know to create a pdf but get pay double?
And I enjoyed how much emphasis on mental health the author added to the novel. There is a say in Spanish, something like "If you love your work, you will not work a single day". I think it is a beautiful idea to love your job passionately, but I love how the author does not romanticise the lousy situation the protagonist was in. Good working conditions and salaries are necessary, and not having them just destroy you mentally.
Sincerely, I wish I could burn Nora's company to the ground.

Thank you #NetGallery for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts opinions are my own!

If you are interested in Must Love Books, stay tuned! It will be available on 18th January 2022!

Must Love Books is a slow, slow burn that the title aptly describes. While I did enjoy the read, the characters were a bit boring and stale. It was positioned as a romance but ending up being what you would find in women's fiction. And in my opinion should come with a trigger warning regarding suicidal thoughts. The main character has some concerning thoughts and behaviors that seem to be a bit glossed over, rather than addressed with professional help. I did enjoy getting see inside of publishing and the book world.

2.5 ⭐

This book had several things going for it.

• The writing style wasn't bad at all.
• The premise had a lot of potential.
• The moral dilemma was done so well, it really made me think a lot.
• The humor was my kind of humor.

However, the things I didn’t like took a lot of place and made me want to DNF the whole time from 50% onward.

• First, the book was so slow. So, so painfully slow. And I usually love slow burners, but this one… It took me ages to read it, even though I would normally read a book of this length in 2 – 3 days.
• I guess I also expected something completely different based on the cover. I thought it’s going to be much more a nice, fluffy romance and that the problems would be more Sophie-Kinsella-style.
• Also, the characters were fine but nothing special. I certainly won’t remember them for long.

Thank you to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Must Love Books by Shauna Robinson in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a lovely read. I enjoyed the journey of Nora and lived her transformation over the events of the book plus her relationship with Andrew was adorable. I also enjoyed how the book ended cause to me it felt like a reflection of real life and showed that life and happiness is fluid and dosent always have a definitive end to it. I also liked learning how publishing works as an industry as someone who has no clue about how it all works. Shauna should be proud of what they’ve done with this book cause I loved it so much

Die Beziehung zwischen den beiden Protagonisten hat mir gut gefallen. Das künstliche Drama war leider schnell ermüdend. Ich fand Noras Art einfach nur kindisch.