by Emily Henry
Maybe love shouldn’t be built on a foundation of compromises, but maybe it can’t exist without them either.
Book Lovers, by Emily Henry
Summary
Nora Stephens always sees herself as the person who gets left in the Hallmark Christmas movies. The ones where the city guy goes to east podunk to buy out a hotel, falls in love with the beautiful daughter of the owner, and decides to leave his fiancee and everything he knows behind in order to save the hotel and marry the small-town girl. Nora knows this to be true because it hasn’t just happened to her twice, but FOUR TIMES. But that’s OK because she is a phenomenal literary agent, and represents her clients extremely well.
So when her sister, Libby, drags Nora to Sunshine Falls which is the setting of a book by Libby’s favorite author (and Nora’s client), Nora finds herself in a situation she never dreamed she’d be in. Libby and Nora create a bucket list-type agreement on the airplane that they were going to do these crazy things like throw a party in the town and save a small business just like all of the Hallmark Movies.
But now, Nora is stuck in a town that’s nothing like the book described it to be, with the one person she does not want to be anywhere near, while her sister is obviously hiding something. Nora begins trying to complete these goals without losing her mind.
My Thoughts
Plot
I find myself liking these romantic comedy-type books more and more as I read them. Are they predictable? Absolutely. But are they entertaining? Also absolutely! I found Nora and Charlie’s characters very engaging. I liked the theme that played out throughout the book of things not always being like they seemed. I liked that Nora didn’t always know everything. I liked the tension between Nora and Charlie. I liked the banter throughout.
One thing that I don’t always see in this type of book, but did here, is true character growth and development. Nora starts as a fairly unlikable character due to the fact that she is so rigid in everything she does. But throughout, she grows as a character to see how this isn’t always the most healthy of behaviors. The same with Charlie-though his character development is more along the lines of him being willing to open himself up more.
Even though the plot was predictable, I still found myself completely engaged-wondering how the author was going to get from point a to point b. I liked that the story didn’t really go back and forth to New York, and all of Nora’s interaction outside of Sunshine Falls is through phone and e-mail. It really did remind me almost of a hallmark type movie.
Format
I read a physical copy of this book in just a few hours. I definitely think that was the right decision. I think that I would have gotten frustrated with the characters in an audiobook setting, because in books with a lot of witty banter, timing is everything. That being said, I really shouldn’t compare, since I have not looked into if an audiobook even exists.
Writing
This book is extremely witty, which I absolutely loved. I thought that the writing style was engaging and creative. The descriptions were done extremely well. Even the smuttier scenes didn’t feel super crazy, which I appreciated. I thought that even though it was written in the first person, each character still had a distinct voice that was recognizable throughout the story.
One thing that I’m not so sure about is that this story is billed as a rivals to lovers type, which is always fun. But I wouldn’t call this book a rivals to lovers book. Nora and Charlie had one interaction where they didn’t get along, but I would never call them rivals. They never competed in any way professionally. You could make a better argument for the enemies to lovers trope, but I wouldn’t call them enemies either. More just people who don’t like each other who learn to like each other.
Characters
Nora
I get that Nora was the main character, so we were supposed to love her. But I’m glad that I didn’t adore her right away. It actually took a lot for me to warm up to her. I felt like for a lot of the book she was stubborn and pigheaded and refused to get out of her own way. But this is what actual people are like sometimes. Nora didn’t compromise herself or her ideals just for the sake of the plot. She was a difficult person who had trouble with her emotions, but that difficultness was important to show how her character was able to develop.
Libby
I am surprised at how much I related to Libby. Pregnant with another child, she has always been close (both physically and emotionally) to her sister, but she also needs to take that step to be independent. She’s so afraid of losing or disappointing Nora that she comes up with this elaborate plan to make that transition easier. I totally get how it feels to know that something is the right decision but still have to find a way to break that decision to loved ones.
I wish that Libby didn’t have to be quite so secretive though. Bringing up the fact that her doctor said that a vegetarian diet was not healthy for her or her baby at that point in time would not have been an end-of-the-world discussion, and could have helped avoid a bunch of unnecessary drama.
Charlie
Charlie, Charlie, Charlie…I loved Charlie so much. I know you weren’t supposed to, but I absolutely adored him. I appreciated that he was guarded about what was important to him. I appreciated his dedication to his family. I appreciated how devoted he was to what he believed in.
One of the things that I really liked about Charlie was his attempt to set boundaries in order to protect Nora. He knew that they were both totally into each other, but he didn’t want to hurt her when he knew he wasn’t going to be returning to New York City. I mean, the boundaries didn’t work, but for me, it’s the thought that counts in this situation.
Final Thoughts
You know, I’ve said multiple times that I am pleasantly surprised at how much I am loving this type of romantic fiction style book. This is no exception. I do have a number of other Emily Henry books on my TBR list, and I am more excited to read them after this. Was it a perfect book? No. But it was genuinely entertaining.
Jenn V. Reads 