This book was fine. It wasn’t overly good and it wasn’t overly bad. It was just fine. I liked Nora, but I also found myself annoyed with her. Andrew was fine, but I wasn’t really rooting for them.

I liked this book but one issue I had with it is that Nora's mental health seemed to take a backseat to everything else. It felt like it was mentioned as an afterthought and then mentioned sporadically.

this was just not for me. I could not finish the book. I wish it would have moved a little faster. I was hoping for something different.

Thank you, Netgalley and the publisher, for the eARC!

Shauna Robinson should be an auto-buy author for anyone interested and captivated by soft narratives that explore starting over, finding yourself, and figuring out what matters. The bookish element to the novels I've read so far are also a quiet love letter to those of us who still find wonder and comfort between the pages of a book.

Shauna Robinson is a new to me author, I have to say I am looking forward to reading more by her! I loved this book!

I started and then put Must Love Books down several times, but ultimately just couldn't get into it. The premise sounded really intriguing but the beginning was so slow and it just didn't grab my attention enough to want to continue.

DNF @ 32%

A good debut novel but not the best. There was great representation regarding mental health and I liked being part of the publishing world. Loved that the author brought forth her own experiences to help make this content relatable. But there were some pacing/writing issues. I will read Robinson's next book though!

I was so happy when i got this arc, definitely one of my favorite books of the year. I love when a book is about books or book related things. I love reading about people like me finding love.

I listened to the audio and like the narrator a lot, but this was just not a book for me. The characters were all over the place and only somewhat fleshed out. I didn't have a connection to any of them and their interactions with each other weren't enough to hold it together

Books about books always have a spot on my shelf, and Must Love Books is no exception. I thoroughly enjoyed this romantic women's fiction novel about a young publishing professional at a crossroads in both her career and her love life.

Must Love Books really should not have been marketed as a romance, it didn't even end with a happily ever after! Instead this "happily for now" book felt more like a self help, women's fiction. It was intense at times, coming with some big trigger warnings,

There was a lot of self discovery, learning that a job isn't actually the right fit, and understanding what else is out there in the world. I think I would have been fine with this had the marketing matched, but I was expected a light hearted romance. To me, the book focused too much on all the sadness and depression for what I was in the mood for.

I ended up listening to this on audio and it needed additional editing, and this narrator was not my favorite. Overall, the book won't get more than 3 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ebook in exchange for my honest opinion.

I title that has “book” in it is definitely going to grab my attention. I love reading books about books. So I was super excited for this one.

Well, unfortunately this one was a let down for me. I wasn’t a fan of Nora which made it hard to read when all I wanted to do was yell at her. It did have good parts but the bad just outweighed the good.

1.5 stars because at least I finished it.

TW: depression and suicidal thoughts/ideation

Within the first 50 pages, I was ready to be done. Nora hates her job, perpetually complains and whines and does nothing about it. She needs therapy (as so many of us do). Too bad I don’t DNF.

Normally don’t mind books that take place in the publishing world, knowing it’ll get stuff wrong. But this was quite odd and not correct. Everyone saying this is good insight into the publishing industry - pick any other book. And what she does - working for two competitive publishers and stealing authors from none to the other - is extremely sketchy. She starts to feel guilt but it has to explode in her face.

I like Andrew but I feel like I barely know them together. There’s little dialogue and not much of any detail, and she’s disconnected and mostly lying to him.

Least favorite lines:
Organizing books by aesthetics was a sin as far as Nora was concerned. — I’ve color-coordinated my shelves for 6+ years and they make me happy. Stuff your superficial beliefs.

This was a fun, quick read highlighting an aspect of the publishing industry that isn't always shown on #bookstagram. I appreciated how Robinson showed Nora's struggle with disliking her job but not seeing a way out. This book is not a light and fluffy rom-com; it discusses heavy topics like depression and how shows how it can affect every aspect of your life. If you're looking for an inside look into the publishing industry, I recommend checking this one out!

3.5 stars

A title with “books” in it will always catch my eye. Make it about the publishing world and I’m definitely intrigued.

Nora is stuck in a dead-end job and her mental health is not in a great place. Can the nonfiction books her employer publishes help her? Even though she would rather be reading fiction? How about the author she is courting to sign a new contract?

This is not the lighthearted romance I was expecting from the cover, but I think that made me like more.

Thank you Sourcebooks Landmark for a digital ARC through NetGalley.

With the abundance of booked themed stories being released nowadays this one was a DNF for me. A hard to like main character and couple. There were better other options.

Who doesn’t love a good book about books? A cute read, but I wasn’t in LOVE with the Nora. I wanted to YELL at her for more than half the books to get up and CHANGE her dead-end situation.

I wanted to love this book and couldn’t. It dragged. It took me so many more days than it should have. I would get so annoyed with Nora as a main character or as an adult that I’d put it down and play games on my phone instead. The emptiness that was this character and constant struggle to just behave like a compassionate friend to anyone was exhausting for me. She would sugarcoat the concepts of love and passion and suicide, it just felt detached from reality and like there could have been so much greatness to this book. I really wanted to shake Andrew Santos and tell him to ask Beth out on a date.

I generally love, LOVE books about books; unfortunately, this book fell short for me. Maybe that was on me for expecting a rom-com, not a book about the protagonist being situationally depressed.

TW: depression and suicidal ideation.

Publishing assistant Nora Hughes is underpaid and overworked, which is not what she expected when she was hired five years ago and thought of working in publishing. Overworked may even be underselling it, she's doing the work of a million people with all the layoffs in the office, and on top of it all, there is no career progression in sight. She's unhappy, she's broke, and she's over it.

But then she meets Andrew., a successful author. The two become unlikely friends when she is tasked with convincing him to resign his contract... at a publishing company she has grown to resent.

Does she do the job she's been paid to do and sign with the publishing company, or does she freelance and take him elsewhere?

Must Love Books
Shauna Robinson

Rating 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Review

This book was so deep and ao realistic, when I first saw the cover and the blurb I expected a RomCom but this book was that and so much more! I loved how the author has brushed on so many important topics that are yet grey areas in writing.

Nora is an editorial assistant and she's good at what she does, her once dream job is now feeling boring and she feels stagnant, she comes to the conclusion that she only loved the people whom she worked with and not the job itself! When a freelancing opportunity knows on her door she grabs it with both hands while forgetting that it's kinda illegal, to make things even messier she falls in love! With whom you may ask and to that I say GRAB YOUR COPY and READ IT YOURSELF!! 😜

A well written book that has all of the fun elements but with realism sprinkled for good measure! The way the characters evolve is beautiful, the plot is steady and developing till the climax, the themes are relevant and addresses the current age and the written style is just impeccable!!