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Book Lovers

Emily Henry

Start date: August 1, 2022

Finish date: August 31, 2022

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What Members Thought

Jun 12, 2023 Catsalive rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 2023

Pleasant but unmemorable. Very little of interest happened: Nora & Libby Stephens grew up a bit. & Charlie Lastra discovered he wasn't a disappointment to his family, nice but yawn. Some of the dialogue was amusing & it was heading for a 3 for the first third of the book but then it just became rather tedious & trite. I had myself all set for Charlie to be the real author or something, but nothing so exciting happened. ...more

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May 22, 2022 Michael rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-book, read-in-2022, spring-reading-2022

Nora Stephens reads the last chapter of a story first. As a literary agent whose life is consumed by all things literary, Nora likes knowing where the story is going before starting the first page. Her younger sister, Libby, will not only barrel into a book without any preconceptions, often not even reading the back cover so she won't ruin the surprises along the way. When Nora and Libby decide to spend a few weeks away from the hustle and bustle of New York City in the small town that served as Nora Stephens reads the last chapter of a story first. As a literary agent whose life is consumed by all things literary, Nora likes knowing where the story is going before starting the first page. Her younger sister, Libby, will not only barrel into a book without any preconceptions, often not even reading the back cover so she won't ruin the surprises along the way. When Nora and Libby decide to spend a few weeks away from the hustle and bustle of New York City in the small town that served as a literary basis for one of Libby's favorite books that Nora edited, their hope is to reconnect before the birth of Libby's third child. But what they find is something else entirely unexpected.

Emily Henry's latest novel, Book Lovers deftly deconstruction the tropes of small-town romance in a delightfully entertaining way.

If her life were a romance novel, Nora would be the heartless, big-city girlfriend who gets dumped for the small-town girl with a heart of gold. In fact, Nora has been dumped four times for that, including on her way to meet with high-profile editor Charlier Lastra. When Charlie dismisses the latest offering from her client before they place their drink orders, Nora chalks it up to being off her game due to the previous rejection and being late.

Two years later, she runs into Charlie in the small town she's visiting with her sister, and the sparks inevitably being to fly. Things are helped when a new manuscript has Charlie and Nora teaming up as editors, bringing the two into each other's orbit on a more regular basis.

Book Lovers is a slow dance of a story, slowly revealing layers about its characters and deconstructing the small-town romance story in an entertaining fashion. As with her previous two novels, Henry puts realistic, grounded obstacles to each of the relationships at the heart of Book Lovers. Whether it's the secrets Charlie is holding about his family and growing up in a small town or the secret that Nora and Lilly are keeping from each other, each revelation is earned by Henry over the course of the story.

As a stand-alone story, this one succeeds on every level, offering a satisfying story. Henry sows the seeds of the eventual resolution in the story's early goings, allowing this reader to see where things could go before some of the characters do.

An entertaining journey, Book Lovers is yet another feather in Henry's already impressive cap. Needless to say, I will be back for whatever she offers next.

The audio version of this one is well performed by Julie Whalen, who brings June's first-person perspective vibrantly to life. She also does a superb job of crafting all the other characters we meet in Nora's story to life as well. ...more

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