At first, I didn't want to read this, I kept seeing it on youtube, booktok, every book store I went to it was right smack in my face, pretty much. But I finally caved and borrowed it from my local library. Let me say I wasn't even 40% in when I just ordered it to have my own copy, because this is the kind of comfort, rom com I love. It's medium pace with a delightful fun sarcastic group of characters that will forever have a permanent residence in my head and heart.
It had romance but not over the top and it has just the right amount of spice at the right moments (nothing overly smutty) just how I like my romance books to be, not to say that I don't mind that occasional smut books, lol. Anyway, I'm derailing, but point is I loved this book and definitely recommend if you enjoy romance at medium pace, but that captures your heart. ( )

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. ( )

https://www.instagram.com/p/C3vfI7XPvfy/

Emily Henry - Book Lovers: It’s possible this is more delightful than Beach Read, but hey it’s about people who love books. Wait, so was that one. #cursorybookreviews #cursoryreviews ( )

this is adorable and endearing and charming to a fault and also hot as FUCK! i forgot about how much fun sarcastic passive aggressive complicated flirting can be. there were tons of favorite moments for me like Nora and Charlie playing pool. Nora and Charlie skinny dipping. and the ongoing killer savvy-smart dialogue was fresh, enjoyable and masterfully sharp witted. Emily Henry just has such a knack for writing books that feel like they were written specifically for me! and i truly have yet to be disappointed. while i'm not sure that this is my favorite of her novels, i am confident that the ending of this book is one of my favorite book endings of all time! i read the last 50 pages twice and cried just as hard at the ending both times. Charlie is an absolute dream boat!!! i loved both him and Nora so freaking much!!! Emily Henry just has such a gift and we're truly lucky to be able to read her stories again and again ( )

In this novel brilliantly plotted like a Hallmark holiday movie (without the Christmas), protagonist Nora, a shark-like NYC literary agent, has lost not one but four boyfriends to the trope of “went out of town on business, met a local girl, saved her family’s business instead of destroyed it, had a complete change of morals and heart and breaks up with her.” The most recent dumping coincides with a late lunch meeting with notoriously grumpy editor Charlie, to invite him to edit author Dusty’s latest manuscript. He passes. Their verbal sparring is foreplay, but neither knows it yet.

Fast forward two years, and Libby, Nora’s sister, pregnant with her third child, wants a babymoon with her big sister and drags Nora off the not-so-charming Sunshine Farms for a vacation, complete with an irresistible checklist that includes hiking, horse-petting, makeovers, baking and camping–elements of a grownup, multiple- week- long slumber party. Special items for Nora include dates with not one, but two, hot local men.

One of whom turns out to be a certain book editor, born and raised in Sunshine Falls, running his mom’s bookstore while his dad recovers from a second stroke… Nora can’t be completely “off” on her vacation, because her best-selling and sensitive author is working on a new novel, featuring a rather bloodthirsty and seemingly irredeemable Cruella DeVil of a film agent whose characterization is hitting a little too close to home for Nora’s taste. When Dusty’s agent goes into labor prematurely, Charlie takes over the book, forcing he and Nora to work together. Meanwhile, Libby is hatching a plot to save the ailing bookshop.

This is a gem of a book from the pacing, the plot, the characters. The voice is pitch perfect. The baggage Nora and Libby need to work through is real and not over the top: their single actress/waitress mom who adored New York and made being broke fun; their dad who abandoned them; Libby’s focus on family and Nora’s on career; their sweet and loving but high stakes sibling relationship which Nora perceives as forcing her into a rescuer role. The subplot of a mini-mystery about what’s going on between Libby and her husband Brendan is a nice little side story.

The banter between Nora and Charlie and Nora and her sister is fun, snarky and just wonderfully written. The attraction between Nora and Charlie is real, palpable and a bit gut wrenching. Motifs are just so beautifully carried through, from Nora and Charlie’s crashing into one another to the analogy of their relationship being like a great book that leaves you with a lingering heartache. NYC and Sunshine Falls are both lovingly rendered in their exquisite gory, run-down, lush and gorgeous details.

I have a stack of ARCS to read, but right now, I’m going to finish the paperback copy of People We Meet on Vacation, because I loved Beach Read, loved Book Lovers, and can’t get enough of Emily Henry right now.

I received an advance reader’s review copy of #BookLovers from #NetGalley.

https://hiplibrariansbookblog.com/2023/04/15/book-lovers-by-emily-henry/ ( )