Nora Stephen's life is books—she's read them all—and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laid-back 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 for her a sisters' strip away—with visions of a small-town transformation for Nora, who she's convinces 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.
Emily Henry is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of People We Meet on Vacation and Beach Read. She studied creative writing at Hope College, and now spends most of her time in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the part of Kentucky just beneath it. You can find her online at EmilyHenryBooks.com, or on Instagram @EmilyHenryWrites. You can find more of my reviews of her works here.
Not only is this a book about book lovers, but also a book for book lovers. One of my favorite things was how subtly (okay, maybe sometimes not-so-subtly) Henry hits at other literary tropes and authors. Maybe it's just because I recently reread Sense and Sensibility, but this story very much felt like a retelling of that novel in a sense—this novel could easily be described as a story about two sisters, which Sense and Sensibility is. Regardless, there are a dozen other wonderful references—Henry does something especially interesting in referencing Wuthering Heights and the (in my opinion) very controversial quote: "he is more myself than I am." If Henry can make me even think about another interpretation to that quote, I know that means she has incredible writing and persuasion power through her prose. So, bravo! I absolutely adored all the literary references and tropes and "coincidences" the blurb mentions!
Like I said above, this book can definitely be described as a novel about two sisters, as well as being a contemporary romance novel. I am very interested in stories about women and their relationships with the other women in their lives—such as sisters and mothers and best friends. And Nora's and Libby's relationship can be described as a conglomerate of all of those identities and relationships. The intensity of their bond was very easily felt through Henry's prose, and through the use of Nora's first-person point of view. In fact, I believed that really helped develop some of Nora's concerns about her sister, and really showed us how deeply Nora had internalized a bunch of her different actions. The portrayal of these two sisters was incredibly strong, and made the novel overall that much more compelling.
But, of course, I don't want to dismiss the absolutely lovely romantic relationship between Nora and Charlie, which doesn't exactly start very romantically at all. The contrast between the prologue and the epilogue is so rewarding, because Henry really takes us on a believable journey for these two people. Sometimes, it's hard to see the (usual male) counterpart of the pair in a contemporary romance novel, especially if we're so close to the female's point of view, like we are in Book Lovers. However, Henry does a lot of good work to characterize Charlie without us ever being able to get as close to him as we are to Nora. That's what makes the portrayal of this relationship and romance so powerful. We can truly believe and know that Charlie is and can be his own character off of the page, even though we're not in his head the whole time.
While definitely a story about book lovers, and about sisterly affection, and about falling in love with someone, this book can really best, best be described as someone falling in love with herself. Nora is a self-prescribed "not that kind of heroine" and the woman in the Hallmark movie who gets left by her partner when he falls in love with the small town life. Once she discovers she has the power to be someone she's always wanted to be, and letting go of her old definitions of herself, she's able to take hold of her new power and do what she's always wanted to do. But this journey isn't linear or easy, and there's always a bunch of other things getting in the way (or helping you?) get to that spot. This is absolutely a story about self-discovery as much as it as about family or romance, and the way that Henry balances all of those plots is reflective of real life—yet another way Henry remains a powerful storyteller.
Anything and everything Emily Henry touches must just turn to gold, because it feels like that's what her books are—pure gold. And I absolutely can't wait for more. I'll definitely be finding her online at EmilyHenryBooks.com, or on Instagram @EmilyHenryWrites, and you should too.
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
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