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My Review:Title: Book Lovers
Author: Emily Henry
Published by: Penguin Audio
Release Date: May 3, 2022
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Julia Whelan
Length: 11 hours and 23 minutes
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Potential Triggers: View Spoiler »
Source: Libby
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2023 Audiobook Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ Libro.FM
My rating:
Blurb: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.
4.5 stars — So here’s the thing. A lot of this book was 4 stars, or 4.5 rounded down maybe. But when I got to the end, there were just so many things that HIT with me, that I’m rounding up and I don’t even care.
Here’s another thing: I’m not sure I would have loved this book to the same degree if I hadn’t listened to it. There is something truly remarkable about Ms. Whelan’s performance, at least for me. The emotion is fucking outstanding. I could fall into her Charlie voice and live there. The snark and humour are perfectly timed. And can I just mention the emotion again? It’s not over the top or anything, but those little voice breaks at the end fucking killed me. If Ms. Whelan is narrating an Emily Henry book, I’m going to pick that version EVERY time.
This book had me both intrigued and wary from the first chapter. I mean seriously, that introduction to Nora was fantastic, while at the same time left me wondering how I was going to connect with her, because we’re pretty spectacularly different. And it wasn’t a fast connection. I mean, yes, I fucking loved her sense of humour and fast wit. Her snark was just next level. But her ambition, her love of fancy shoes and clothes, her obsession with her pelaton, her sharkiness…it’s just…NOT me. And so I was reserved with her. But she’s a seriously complicated fucking character. Because at the end, she is still all of those things, but I see sooooo much more of her. We’re fed pieces of her heart bit by bit, both from learning things from her past as well as seeing her open up to Charlie. And while I did find myself connecting with her, and caring for her, she is a severely flawed human being…but maybe that also makes her more real?
The thing is, her relationship with her sister is…not healthy. The way she treats her, the way Nora copes with life in general, is just…well, let’s just say she really could have used therapy (or some form of outside help) earlier. And I was fully expecting to love her with a great big BUT. Except, she sort of gets shaken on that front. I mean, her sibling relationship is still weird, but aren’t all of ours in some way? In the end, I feel like she really truly GREW in that respect. It was slow. It was PAINFUL. It was two-sided. It’s not finished. But I felt like I didn’t need that BUT anymore.
Charlie was delightful. God, the two of them together were just fire. So much push and pull, so much feistiness and teasing and snark and chemistry. So much build up. So much fundamental UNDERSTANDING of one another. So much cohesion. So satisfying.
I will admit, I totally figured out the ending, but I don’t care. I was hoping it would go there, and the deliciousness is in the details and the emotions and the words.
Lots of interesting secondary characters, most prominently Libby. And if Nora is flawed, then they are a matched pair. We didn’t see Libby’s journey outright, but you could see it in the background near the end.
This book had humour that just hit for me. It had romance that kept me on the hook. It had impactful moments and sentences that hit for me. And honestly? That’s a success for me.
I guess I need to give this author another try. I haven’t read any but Beach Read.