Book Lovers

by Emily Henry

I write, IT’S NOT A BAD BOOK! “IT’S NOT A BAD BOOK.” —Nora Stephens, Charlie replies. I think I remember seeing that endorsement on the cover. Admit you don’t think it’s bad, I demand. Only if you admit you don’t think it’s her best either, he says.

“When I want something, Nora,” he says, “I don’t give up easily.”

Oh, Charlie! <3

“Would you like to have dinner with me, Nora?” He heads off my response with, “As colleagues. Ones who can’t fulfill each other’s checklists.” “I wasn’t aware you had a checklist,” I say. “Of course I have a checklist.” His eyes glint in the dark. “What am I, an animal?”

Dads, as a concept, have always felt as irrelevant to my daily life as astronauts. I know they’re out there, but I rarely think about them. Suddenly, though, I can almost imagine it. I can almost miss it, this thing I never had.

Emily Henry has a way of wording things that hits me just right. This is the second book of hers that I read and feel a connection to the main character in regards of "dads." Just slap me, why don't you

but you can’t eat, drink, or sleep on top of dreams. I landed the next best thing. Everyone has to give up their dreams eventually.

this is me. can't live off dreams :(

“You’re in books. Of course you don’t have a life. None of us do. There’s always something too good to read.”

Thank you, Charlie! You get it!

That’s the thing about being an adult standing beside your childhood race car bed. Time collapses, and instead of the version of you you’ve built from scratch, you’re all the hackneyed drafts that came before, all at once.

I find it so interesting to revisit places I've been in the past, comparing from old self with me new self, seeing the both of us 'merge'

“People like to remember childhood as all magic and no responsibilities, but that’s not really how it is. You have absolutely no control over your environment. It all comes down to the adults in your life, and…I don’t know.

Wish I had known more of this sooner. So many regrets that I can never go back on

Sometimes, even when you start with the last page and you think you know everything, a book finds a way to surprise you.

YES!!! That's why I don't mind spoilers, the ending might be spoiled but the journey to it is a mystery.

I’ve known I will never again have everything, and so all I’ve wanted is to believe that, someday, again, I’ll have enough. The ache won’t always be so bad. People like me aren’t broken beyond repair. No ice ever freezes too thick to thaw and no thorns ever grow too dense to be cut away.

Gee :'(

You can take the city person out of the city, but the city will always be in them.

this is me.

“Long distance never works,” I say. “You said that yourself.” “I know,” he says. “But it’s never been us, Nora.” “So we’re the exception?” I say, skeptical. “The people it just works out for.” “Yes,” he says. “Maybe. I don’t know.”

LONG DISTANCE NEVER WORKS. Stop!!! My heart </3 Too many "could have beens"

“We enjoy this week. We spend as much time together as we want, and we don’t talk about after, and then I leave, and I don’t say goodbye. Because I’m not good at them. I’ve never really said one, and I don’t want to start with you. So instead when I kiss you for the last time, neither of us draws attention to it. And then…I get on a plane and go home, incredibly grateful for the life-ruiningly hot man I once spent a month with in North Carolina.” He stares at me, his eyes focused and brow furrowed as he absorbs what I said, his lips pouting. It’s his Editing Expression, and when it clears, he shakes his head and says, “No.” I laugh, surprised. “What?” He straightens, steps in close. “I said, no.” “Charlie. What’s that even mean?” “It means,” he says, eyes glinting, “you’ll have to do better than that.”

YES CHARLIE!!! DON'T GIVE UP EASILY, FIGHT FOR WHAT YOU WANT!

because this wanting, it feels good, like a bruise you need to press on, a reminder that there are things in life so valuable that you must risk the pain of losing them for the joy of briefly having them.

I cry too easily, but no truer words have ever been said regarding risking loss to have what you can for the moment.

I invite the truth forward to replace the story. Me working twelve-hour days, trying to off-load my clients, then settle into a new job. Charlie exhausted from long days at the bookstore, weekends at physical therapy appointments with his dad, hours’ worth of googling how to fix leaky sinks and replace loose shingles. Missed calls. Unanswered texts piling up. Hurt. Grief. Missing each other. Visits canceled for work or family emergencies. Both of us stretched too thin, our hearts spanning too many states, the tension unbearable. My chest squeezes so tight it hurts. He told me someone needed to make sure I have what I need, but he deserves that too.

This is just too painful because I know exactly how this feels. </3

His long-distance relationship was the worst year of his life. Mine almost broke me. He’s right that it’s different, that it’s us and we understand each other, but that’s why I can’t do it.

</3

“A week ago,” I say, “I liked you so much I would have wanted to try to make this work.” I swallow a jagged, fist-sized lump, but still my voice has to scrape by to get out. “But now I think I might love you too much for that.”

I would have done it again

“If anyone could be enough,” I say, “I think it might be you.”

YOU

Just like I asked, there’s no goodbye. When the song ends, he presses one last kiss against the curve of my jaw. My eyes flutter closed. When I open them, he’s gone. But I still feel him everywhere. I am Heathcliff.

He is part of me.We are the same at the core.My identity is bound to his.