Book Lovers
by Emily Henry
Sometimes reading a book is like being in a relationship. You commit to it, and if it's not working, sometimes you keep trying, and sometimes you cut your losses.
Why read it
A cutthroat literary agent keeps getting left by men who move to small towns and fall for the wholesome local girl, so when her sister drags her to a tiny place called Sunshine Falls, she is braced to be the cold city villain of someone else's romance, not the lead.
Nora Stephens is sharp, ambitious, and tired of being cast as the woman the hero leaves behind. On a forced sisters' vacation she keeps running into Charlie Lastra, a brooding book editor she clashed with in New York, and their prickly encounters turn into a slyly self-aware love story that flips small-town-romance cliches on their head while quietly reckoning with grief and sisterhood.
Emily Henry followed her bestsellers Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation with Book Lovers in 2022. It debuted on the New York Times bestseller list and cemented her status as one of the most popular contemporary romance authors of the decade, praised for pairing humor with emotional depth.
- 01
The other woman reframed
What awaits is the story told from the perspective of the driven city woman romance usually discards, given her own happy ending.
- 02
Editor versus agent
Nora and Charlie's professional rivalry becomes the engine of the flirtation, argued out over manuscripts and margins.
- 03
Sisters first
Nora's fierce, complicated love for her pregnant sister Libby carries as much weight as any kiss.
- 04
Grief under the wit
Behind the banter sits the loss of their mother, and the fear of being left, that Nora has armored herself against.
Nora and Charlie's disastrous first meeting in New York over a restaurant lunch discussing a manuscript, long before Sunshine Falls.
The list of small-town dares Libby makes Nora complete, which keeps throwing her back into Charlie's path.
