Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars

Genre: Romance, Romantic Comedy, Contemporary Romance, Women’s Fiction

Book Lovers is, in my opinion, Emily Henry’s most slept-on and underrated novel. It’s one of my absolute favorites, and her books have a strange personal hierarchy for me, one we’ll eventually get to. The easiest way to dive into this review is with a quick TL;DR, followed by my many thoughts.

Book Lovers follows New York City–based literary agent Nora Stephens and literary editor Charlie Lastra as they repeatedly run into each other in his hometown, a place that also happens to be the inspiration for one of Nora’s author’s most popular novels, a manuscript Charlie passed on years earlier.

It starts off with Nora obviously not liking him, and Charlie being highly amused by her, giving us tons of great banter and a strong competitive energy. Nora is tired of everyone thinking she’s cold-hearted and only cares about work, so while she’s in Sunshine Falls, she’s determined to be a more fun version of herself.

Charlie’s editing house wants him to run point on Nora’s newest book, and they quickly realize how well they work together, how well they understand each other, and how much they like each other. Charlie gets Nora, and he doesn’t want her to change, while Nora is convinced she needs to become a “more palatable” version of herself. I love that Charlie helps Nora fall back in love with herself. The parts of her she thinks she has to change are exactly what make her most magnetic to him. He helps her follow her dreams even if they bring her farther away from him.

Book Lovers might not be Emily Henry’s most flawlessly written book, but the story really resonates with me. I love that, in many ways, it feels realistic; the drama exists for a reason, not because of immaturity. The ending, in my opinion, is one of her best yet. I can’t recommend it highly enough; it’s a must-read for anyone and everyone.