I honestly don't have enough words to describe how I felt after reading this book. Emily Henry is a brilliant author who is able to write beautiful romances that hint at something a little deeper than what is typical for a romance book. This is my favorite of her books thus far and has cemented her as an auto buy author for the rest of my life.

This is hands down my favorite Emily Henry to date! Henry flawlessly plays with tropes in a way that is both hilarious and gives a sparkling depth to her characters. The interplay of relationships is flawless and it’s a love story that literally made me cry happy tears. Brava! I will happily recommend this novel to everyone!

Nora believes she is destined to be the frigid, career obsessed New Yorker who constantly gets dumped for the wholesome, small town girl (it has happened to her multiple times!). When she meets Charlie, a fearsome New York book editor, she has just been dumped AGAIN! She takes an immediate dislike to Charlie when he comments on her tardiness and is rude about a book her best client has just written.

2 years later Nora is thriving as a literary agent, however things are strained between her and her sister, who she has felt responsible for since their mom died 10 years earlier. When he sister suggest they take a month long vacation to the small town setting of her client's best selling book (the book Charlie disliked) she reluctantly agrees. Of course Charlie ends up being from this small town (Which is why he didn't like it as the setting for the book) and they inevitably fall in love.

Honestly, I though the hate to infatuation happened a little quickly between Nora and Charlie. I would have liked more tension or reluctantly hanging out but they have an almost instant attraction and connection. There are some vague attempts at hinting that they cannot be together, but it isn't ever really in doubt. There is more tension and mystery with what is going on with her sister, though her reveal in the end also didn't come across as overly shocking.

Overall this is an enjoyable, if predictable, read. Nora isn't really my favorite character with her constant obsession with being in control and fixing things for her sister but I guess this is the point of her character and the growth she goes through in the book.

This book has everything, I, as a romance reader look for in books. You get realness from the main character, tension, what you could call "family drama", butterflies, and a lot more.

As a reader we follow the story of Nora Stephens who works in agenting, she's devoted to her work, clients, making sure they get what's best for them. She also loves her family, and is always looking out for them. But as perfect as her life might seem there's stuff that is troubling her mind. We also get Charlie Lastra whom Nora only met one time in person, but somehow bumps into him a couple years later. Making Nora explore so many emotions she's not used to, and we get to feel them with her.

The author did a really good job giving life to this character. From the beginning i got hooked, and wanted to read more and more. The whole book was well put together. Of course there's is stuff i would've loved to see developed more but overall I can't complain.

Whatever magical touch Emily Henry has, someone needs to bottle it up -- she's knocked it out of the park again! Henry is a romance fan's dream writer, as she cleverly plays with established tropes and breathes new life into old archetypes. Nora is a New York shark: a Type A, hyper-competent, over-achieving literary agent whose every move is calculated to bring stability to her and younger sister Libby's lives after the devastating loss of their single mother a decade ago. That means keeping control, maintaining status, and not falling for guys who inevitably leave Nora for whatever doe-eyed Christmas tree farm heiress they met on vacation. When the sisters take a month-long trip to the sleepy North Carolina hamlet that served as inspiration for Nora's star author's last bestseller, Libby challenges Nora to participate in all the Hallmark movie small-town-romance tropes her ex-boyfriends have fallen prey to. But when Nora runs into work rival Charlie (the brooding, immaculately dressed male counterpart to her literary ice queen), things get complicated. I simply could not get enough of this novel and cannot wait to recommend it to every customer -- so swoony, so sweet, so heartbreakingly beautiful!

Emily Henry has done it yet again. I couldn't put this down to save my life. She breathes such life into all of her characters, and I love the literary references throughout. I will definitely be recommending this to everyone!

Emily Henry has yet to disappoint me. Character dynamics, intriguing settings, LMFAO-level banter? It's all there, it's all excellent.

This is Emily Henry's best work yet!! Such a beautiful portrayal of family, grief, what it means to fight for love. I adore books about books and book lovers -- the playfulness Henry has with existing romance tropes in this makes it such an enjoyable experience for a seasoned romance reader. The ending was perfect yet not what I expected at all. I fell in love with every single character, they felt so alive! Cannot wait to reread this when it is published and released into the world.

This was a perfect book. I honestly loved everything about it. The pacing, interactions with major characters and supporting characters, the setting(s). It was beautifully crafted and the perfect escape.

I absolutely loved this book! It is Emily Henry's best book so far. Everything that is cliched about Hallmark movies comes to life in this absolutely wonderful story! It left me wanting more!

thank you so much berkley publishing for this ARC!

5/5 stars


this book??? yea emily you’ve done it again! this story is a story i know i’ll grow with, i know i’ll go back to. the way that nora is the way that she because of everything she’s been through, you can really see how every event has affected her. and same with charlie! ugh and my man charlie! i love him fr! A MANNN and let me tell you their banter??? amazing! had me laughing along and smiling as i read! this story is amazing, i love it so so much!

I loved this book so much I wanted to read it again immediately after finishing it. Great characters, great references, great writing. I loved Nora so much because it's easy to write a "frigid" female character and have romance "change her ways" or melt the ice from her cold heart" Nora doesn't change because she doesn't need to-just because she's not gushy or overly emotional doesn't mean she doesn't care. I love all the romance trope parallels too-It's leans a little Stranger Than Fiction but it still really works. Great exploration of PTSD and grief too.

Only sad I read it so soon before it's release, because I want talk about it with all my friends AND that means a longer wait for her next book!

Emily Henry's romances always manage to be laugh out loud funny at times, while also deftly handling complicated topics like grief, adulthood, and the difficulties of deciding what to prioritize: love? career? family? Book Lovers is a love letter to the publishing industry, and a steamy, hilarious take on the Hallmark movie romance tropes.

I received Book Lovers as an ARC from Netgalley, and I’m so happy I did! This was such a sweet story! I loved reading about the relationship between Nora and her sister, Libby. If you liked Beach Read, I think you’ll love this book too!

1. This book made me ugly cry, laugh out loud, and smile like a crazy person.
2. I’m in love with Charlie Lastra (THE BANTER)
3. I’ll read anything Emily Henry writes for the rest of my life

Emily Henry blew it out of the park ... again.

Holy wow. This one had me swallowing a few tears, but in the best way possible. Nora is the best kind of heroine, in that she's opposite of the usual romance novel heroine. She's the hard, over-passionate workaholic (and a shark literary agent) who isn't ashamed of it. She loves the city, refuses to compromise her goals for anyone else, spends too much time on her cell phone, and all the while, she knows happy endings aren't for people like her. You know, it's funny because I was watching The Holiday right before I read this, and it's actually a bit comical how much like Cameron Diaz's character is like Nora. They both never cry. They're both successful and unabashed. They are proud of the commitment to their jobs. On top of all of that, Nora is a big sister, and she takes the roll seriously, in that everything, and I do mean everything, is about her little sister Libby.

Enter Charlie, a cut-throat editor who is just a little too much like Nora. Their first meeting is actually pretty awful in the best way when Charlie insults Nora's favorite client's most recent book.

Fast forward (I don't remember how long) when Nora's sister drags her to a trip to a location of said author's book (the book Charlie hated) -- only to find you-know-who at every corner -- and you can guess it. Nora is wondering what fuckery is this, that Charlie of all people is here in this very small, very remote town after hating the book. The best part? She keeps running into him. Again and again. Much banter ensues. I'll leave it at that.

While this book tackles the romance beautifully, it also tackles the "why" behind Nora and her choices in such a brilliant way, in that she doesn't change the parts of her that she loves -- the parts most romance novels (and guys) would scoff at. This quote says it perfectly:

"Maybe love shouldn’t be built on a foundation of compromises, but maybe it can’t exist without them either. Not the kind that forces two people into shapes they don’t fit in, but the kind that loosens their grips, always leaves room to grow. Compromises that say, there will be a you-shaped space in my heart, and if your shape changes, I will adapt."

Anyway, I absolutely adored this book. It kept me rooted until the very end, which many novels do not these days. I find that romance loses tension for me after a certain point (once a little too much is resolved) but ahhh I could not sit this one down. On top of that, I wanted to burrow into her prose. Beautiful in every sense of the word.

I was such an enormous fan of Beach Read that The People We Meet on Vacation was a bit of a letdown. Book Lovers is back to Beach Read form. Fun, smart, relatable characters with enough Nora Ephron-esque snappy dialogue and fun locales.
I also loved the little bit of inside baseball details on the publishing industry.

Wow. This was a SOLID romance book. From the first page, Nora and Dusty had some of the best written banter I've ever read between two love interests. It was witty, it was quick, and it was unique. The "go to a small town and find love" trope with a bit of a twist. I loved seeing representation in Nora for girls who like the city, working a lot, not wanting kids and who want expensive things. Every character was enjoyable and the ending came together so nicely while still being surprisingly unpredictable. I can't even think of anything critical to say. (Although, the part in Dusty's book where the nameless cat is out in the rain was almost exactly the scene with the nameless cat out in the rain in Breakfast at Tiffany's).

I have read Beach Read, People We Meet on Vacation, and now Book Lovers. I believe this is Emily's best work yet.

The bookish references and quotes alone are atmospheric, making the book a total bookish aesthetic. I wouldn't say I connected with characters but instead loved the book world itself—what a gem.

As a true 4w3 and a lover of suffering, a part of me wanted the book to end on 'I am Heathcliff.' I wanted that suffering. But I also understand this is a romance novel, and HEA has its charm. And charming it was!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me access to this Advanced Reader Copy :)

I was not as charmed by this Emily Henry as I was her other two! I think my biggest issues were the wild implausibility and the fact that the miscommunication trope being used for Nora and Libby was...so annoying.