Book Lovers by Emily Henry

Nora is a shark of a literary agent in New York City. Charlie is a vicious editor with little-to-no bedside manner with his authors. After a disastrous meeting, they mutually decide that working together would be a massive mistake.

As the publishing industry is rolling into its sleepy summer season, Nora's younger sister Libby begs her for a girls' getaway. They visit the town that inspired Nora's latest bestselling author. Libby is adamant that Nora will get her very own Hallmark Movie love story out of this vacation. But enjoying all the quintessential small-town-romance vibes is proving difficult when she keeps crossing paths with work-place rival, Charlie. The town just doesn't seem big enough for the both of them. Or maybe, he is the plot twist she never saw coming.

I love a book about books! That premise alone had me hooked. I also love the sickly sweet, sometimes cringey, plot of every Hallmark movie ever made reflected in book form. I ALSO still hold that Emily Henry writes the best romantic banter I've read in a long time. I would give this book 3.5 stars because I really did enjoy it more than other 3-star reads I've encountered. What threw it off for me was the characters. I didn't love the characters, and I was largely uninterested in their back stories. And considering the sheer volume of back story in this novel, I found myself skimming pages literally saying "blah blah blah" as I flipped through. I have never done that with an Emily Henry book before and it makes me sad because I really do love her work so, so much. This was just a miss for me. There was truly so much to enjoy about the small town, unlucky-in-love, book about books trope and I am fully here for it! I just wasn't in love with the characters and that's kind of a big deal.

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