I’ve been trying to figure out what kind of content I should create for you all this weekend, and I decided to go with Book Lovers by Emily Henry. A few weeks ago, in the Great Big Beautiful Life synopsis (and subsequently, the review), I asked you what your favorite Emily Henry book is, and it was a dead tie between Book Lovers and Funny Story.
Then we looked at our site search events, and it looks like a lot of you have been hunting for Book Lovers.
Funnily enough, Book Lovers is also my personal favorite Emily Henry book. Its main character is one I can deeply relate to. Nora is a tall, workaholic, parentified eldest sister after all. And Charlie is one of my all-time favorite book boyfriends, with his dry humor and selfless devotion to his loved ones. But mostly that practical, deadpan streak that reads just a little bit mean.
So instead of covering something new I read this weekend, let’s go back to last November, when I absolutely devoured this witty, heartfelt romcom about two ruthless New Yorkers in a small town.
Read my full summary of Book Lovers by Emily Henry and review below.
Book Lovers
Description
One summer. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn’t see coming….
Nora Stephens’ life is books—she’s read them all—and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby.
Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters’ trip away—with visions of a small-town transformation for Nora, who she’s convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute.
If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again—in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow—what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.
Trigger Warnings
- Anxiety & Panic Attacks
- Grief
- Stroke of a family member
- Death of a family member
Tropes
- Small town
- Rivals to lovers
Synopsis
Which Emily Henry book is your favorite?
Which Emily Henry book is your favorite?
Nora Stephens is a cutthroat literary agent based in New York City. She’s recently dumped by her boyfriend Grant. Nora, having become a parent to her younger sister Libby after the loss of their mother, is emotionally unavailable and distant. Nora has been broken up with a couple of times by boyfriends who meet their true love in a small town. It has happened enough times that it’s become sort of a parody for her.
Charlie Lastra is an executive editor. He’s known for his coldness and distant demeanor, despite the fact that he’s very good at his job. Charlie is from a small town named Sunshine Falls in North Carolina, but he’s left town because he’s never fit in and found his home in New York.
Nora and Charlie meet at a business meeting where Nora pitches her client Dusty’s next book, Once in a Lifetime, which takes place in Sunshine Falls, North Carolina. Charlie, having received bad news on the phone just before the meeting, arrives at the meeting and completely shuts down the book because it’s unrealistic. The meeting ends on a bad note, with Nora finding Charlie standoffish and Charlie finding Nora sharkish, and the two of them part ways.
Two years later, Once in a Lifetime is a sensation, and Dusty is working on her next book. Nora is dumped for a girl in a small town once more, but her focus is on her sister Libby, who’s a mother of two with a third one on the way. Libby and her husband Brendan live in a small apartment in New York, and they’re stretched too thin. Libby, close to a burnout, refuses financial help from Nora but wants to take a trip together.
Libby is obsessed with Sunshine Falls, and she convinces Nora to take a trip there. They leave for North Carolina for a month, where Libby comes up with a bucket list of things to do in a small town while Nora plans to work through the trip as Dusty works on her next book.
They arrive in Sunshine Falls to find it completely different than Dusty’s depiction in her book. It’s unkempt and falling apart. Nora visits the coffee shop only to run into Charlie Lastra, although she doesn’t confront him. She does, however, send him an email, and they email back and forth, which turns into banter and flirting very quickly.
Libby and Nora give each other makeovers, and then go to the local restaurant. There, Nora receives the first chapters of Dusty’s new novel. She realizes the main character is a cutthroat literary agent with no personal life. Nora takes this personally, as the book is subconsciously about her. She barrels into Charlie. She explains to him she’s here on vacation with her sister, while Charlie reveals he’s from this town.
Libby excuses herself, and Charlie and Nora end up having dinner together. Nora has Charlie read Dusty’s book and shares her personal take on it. Charlie reassures her. The two of them hang out, get drunk, and things get physical. However, they stop because it’s a bad idea to get together with a colleague.
Nora remembers her ex, Jakob, who was the first man to leave her for a small-town woman. Her mother, who she was very close with, passed away while she was away with Jakob. Nora became the sole caregiver to Libby, while Jakob remained in the small town, eventually falling in love with someone else.
The next day, Nora looks for Wi-Fi and finds it in a bookstore owned by Charlie’s family, where she finds Charlie working. Charlie reveals he wants to edit Dusty’s next book, and Nora agrees on the condition that edits need to go through her first, since Dusty is a flight risk.
Libby signs Nora up for a date as part of their bucket list, which goes poorly. Nora dips from the date, only to end up at dinner with Charlie. Charlie reveals his family is full of free spirits, and he and his father are their anchors. His sister was supposed to take care of the bookstore after his dad’s stroke. However, she fell in love with someone in Italy, leaving Charlie to return to Sunshine Falls to help with the family business.
Charlie walks Nora home, and they go skinny dipping. They get physical again and stop once more. The next morning, Nora meets a local named Shepherd, Charlie’s cousin. Libby picks another bucket list item: save a small-town business, and decides she’s going to turn Charlie’s family’s bookstore around.
Nora catches Libby on the phone with Brendan and realizes she’s worked up, wondering if something is seriously wrong with their relationship. However, Libby doesn’t tell her, and Nora, having been her sister’s safe harbor for many years, feels hurt that she doesn’t share what’s wrong.
Nora and Charlie begin editing Dusty’s book and get closer. Shepherd offers to show Nora around town. However, Nora has begun to feel close to Charlie and misses him when she’s not around him.
Libby takes Nora to a local community theatre, and they get invited to the after-party. It is revealed that Charlie’s parents, Sally and Clint, host the event.
Shepherd is at the event too, and Nora finds out he’s Charlie’s cousin and that Shepherd works with Clint. Charlie reveals that Sally was pregnant when she met Clint, and Charlie is his adoptive son. It is clear that since Shepherd works with Clint and Charlie does something that his father can’t connect to, Charlie feels great insecurity about his relationship with him. Shepherd feels more like his son than he does. Not to mention, Charlie was bullied in school for not being a biological son of Clint. Nora begins to understand why Charlie is just as distant as she is.
Libby continues to have heated conversations with Brendan on the phone, which worries Nora.
During their editing sessions, Nora begins opening up to Charlie. She first tells him how she always wanted to be an editor, but Libby needed a parent with a stable income, so she turned it down. Here, they get physical again but stop because they’re in a public library.
Sally asks Nora to pass information Libby asked for, which Nora calls and realizes is a family lawyer. She worries that Brendan and Libby are getting a divorce.
As part of their plan to save Charlie’s family bookstore, they invite Dusty to do a signing.
Libby’s next item on the bucket list is camping. Charlie sets up a tent for them, and Nora and he continue bonding, telling each other about their lives. Charlie explains that he was engaged to the local bartender, Amaya, who moved to New York with him, but she wanted to return to their hometown. When she did, she dated Shepherd, and his family hid it from him.
Nora is headhunted by Charlie’s company. Charlie has recommended her for an editor position. Libby gives her a hard time about taking a work call, and Nora, feeling the pressure of Libby’s secrets, finally breaks and tells her about the editor position she turned down years ago because Libby needed support. They argue, and Libby passes out.
At the hospital, Charlie is with Nora, and he comforts her. Libby wakes up and lets them know that she always has iron deficiency, which she had in her previous pregnancies. Nora is taken aback that she never knew about this. Libby tells Nora that she appreciates everything she did for her, but she’s a grown woman and never needed Nora to replace their mother.
Charlie and Nora edit Dusty’s book further. Charlie finally reveals that the reason why nothing can happen between them is because he has to stay in Sunshine Falls to keep his family business running, and he’s never returning to New York. They finally sleep together that night. Nora wants to spend the night, however she can’t because the night her mother died, she was with Jakob, and she feels terrible for not being there for Libby when it happened.
Brendan and the kids arrive in Sunshine Falls. Nora sees them together and realizes their marriage is completely fine. The next day, Libby takes Nora to a house and reveals that she and Brendan bought a house in Sunshine Falls. New York is too small for them, and they can’t afford it. Nora mentions she can help, but Libby doesn’t want that and wants to leave.
Libby planned this whole trip to convince Nora to move with them. However, Nora was never meant for a small town. She loves New York. Their mother loved New York, and she feels connected to her there. She tells Libby about the new editing job, which Libby encourages her to take.
Devastated about feeling like she’s losing Libby to Sunshine Falls, Nora spends the night with Charlie, who comforts her. Nora is considering offering to stay for Charlie, but Charlie tells her he could never take New York away from her. Reluctantly, they agree to try a long-distance relationship, despite the fact that it hasn’t worked for either of them.
Nora leaves for New York. She takes the editing job. She calls Libby on their mother’s birthday, where they have a tradition of buying each other books. There, she calls Libby, who tells her “her gift should be there any time.” Nora turns around and finds Charlie standing in front of her. Libby has taken over the family bookstore to help out Charlie’s family, letting Charlie return to New York.
Six months later, Charlie and Nora live together. They visit Sunshine Falls together. Charlie is going to propose, but of course, it’s something they’ve discussed, and Nora already knows about it. They’re happy, together, and in love.
Review
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Overall Impressions 😊
Book Lovers was my first Emily Henry, and it’s going to be impossible to topple it from its throne. Nearly a year later, I still feel my chest squeeze at the thought of everything that happens in this book. It honestly ruined other romcoms for me.
With its witty banter (and by that I mean WITTY), the very real depiction of the struggle of living with the realities of our parents getting older, the even more real challenge of becoming a parentified eldest daughter, and the way it absolutely sticks the landing on the ending, I literally have ZERO notes for this book. None. It is the standard I judge any and all contemporary romances against.
If you have someone you’re trying to introduce to contemporary romance, this is the book to start with. They’ll be a lifelong reader after this one.
Perfect For Fans Of… 🌟
If you love contemporary romances that are grounded in reality, like if the characters and stakes feel real with a promise of a happy ending, this one is probably for you. Think the Knockemout series by Lucy Score (especially Things We Never Got Over), or lighter romances like Ali Hazelwood’s Love, Theoretically, this one is for you.
And lastly, if you read Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry and it wasn’t quite for you, but you can’t figure out if you’ll like her other books, do not move on until you give this one a try.
Characters 👥
As I’ve said, as a fellow parentified eldest daughter, I feel everything Nora is feeling. The pressure of being a role model for your family. The desire to make sure they have everything they need financially. Their wellbeing being just as big of a concern as yours. The competing realities of what you want vs. what you think they need vs. what you actually need. The inevitable estrangement from being sisters to kind of like strangers because you’re an authoritative figure to them. Caring so, so much and so hard that you have to distance yourself to stop getting hurt so much. I find so much of myself in Nora, and that blinding fear that something will happen to those I love is something I’m still working through. I’ve never been happier that a character got her happy ending.
Charlie has so much of my husband in him. The quiet devotion. The acts of service as their love language. The witty banter and never failing to rise to the challenge Nora sets for him. The unequivocal support and fervent loyalty. Nora needs someone to finally be in her corner for once, and Charlie answers the call. And how he unapologetically supports her to live her best life and become her best self, even though it hurts him to let her go.
And then the side characters. They are not dull despite the shine of the main characters, but that’s not a bad thing. You can see how formative Clint was to Charlie’s development and Libby to Nora’s. You can even see how Nora and Libby’s late mother drove the characters forward from beyond the veil.
Plot 🗺️
The plot is the perfect contemporary romance plot. The not-so-meet-cute, into the time jump, into the second encounter is great. The canon fodder plot lines were funny, full of light moments. Every interaction between the main characters felt earned, the romance felt like it would go exactly the way it did, and even the ending had me holding my breath.
I was devastated for a brief moment thinking Nora would turn into her cliché and stay in the small town, and like I said, as a fellow career girl, it would’ve broken my heart for her to be betrayed by her own character like that. Because I know, JUST KNOW, in my soul that Nora would never stay in the small town. She belongs to the career-driven life she loves so much. And I’m so glad Emily Henry knew her too, and she did justice to her.
My Favorite Quote to Hook You 📣
Still on the fence after all the worshipping? Okay fine, if this post didn’t do it quite yet, here’s my favorite quote from Book Lovers:
“All those years spent thinking that I had superhuman self-control, and now I realize I just never put anything I wanted too badly in front of myself.”
Emily Henry, Book Lovers
Writing Style and Narration ✍️
The book is witty and funny. The banter is bantering the entire time. Nora and Charlie are very much intellectually matched, and every quip that comes from one is matched by the other. I could not stop giggling the entire time I listened to them.
I also listened to this in audiobook format, and it was a great time.
Closing Thoughts 🧃
Book Lovers from Emily Henry is what I’m looking for in every other book I pick up in the contemporary genre. If you’re a contemporary romance reader, or thinking about dipping your toe in the genre, this is a great entry point that will not disappoint you. I reread this once already and cannot wait to do so again the next time I need a reprieve into something I feel great about.
Spicy Chapters
I gave Book Lovers 🌶️🌶️🌶️. While there is some explicit content, the romance is the front center of the book. Whether you want to get to the heat or want closed-door modifications here’s the list below.
- Chapter 15
- Chapter 22
- Chapter 29
Protect Nora and Charlie at all costs.
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