Sample
  • Book Lovers

  • By: Emily Henry
  • Narrated by: Julia Whelan
  • Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (16,309 ratings)

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Book Lovers

By: Emily Henry
Narrated by: Julia Whelan
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Publisher's summary

“One of my favorite authors.”—Colleen Hoover

An insightful, delightful, instant #1 New York Times bestseller from the author of Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation.

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2022 by Oprah Daily ∙ Today ∙ ParadeMarie Claire ∙ Bustle ∙ PopSugar ∙ Katie Couric Media ∙ Book Bub ∙ SheReads ∙ Medium ∙ The Washington Post ∙ and more!

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.

©2022 Emily Henry (P)2022 Penguin Audio
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: Romance

Critic reviews

"[Book Lovers] is multilayered and the characters' familial challenges are complex. By both playing to and overtly subverting romance tropes and archetypes like the high-powered big city woman who neglects her family and the life-affirming power of small-town life, this novel delivers an insightful comedic meditation on love, family and going your own way."—NPR

“If Emily Henry makes herself laugh at the character's dialogue in her own books, it's understandable. She is a master at witty repartee….It's a safe bet that viewers would enjoy seeing Henry's characters come to life on screen."—Associated Press

“It is humanly impossible for Emily Henry to write a bad book. Her particular blend of grief and messy relationships is a heady cocktail of intoxicating yearning…Whatever Henry decides to spear, be it literary posturing or vacation rom-com, she subverts her subjects in the most delicious ways."—Entertainment Weekly

Interview: Emily Henry and Julia Whelan on Finding That Magnetic, Impossible Chemistry

'Movies and books have set up an expectation that obstacles have to be massive.'
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  • Book Lovers
  • 'Movies and books have set up an expectation that obstacles have to be massive.'

Editorial Review

My favorite listen so far this year
This book. THIS BOOK. This book is a love letter to people who love stories—the people who write them, who sell them, who edit them, who read them, who listen to them, who escape into them. But Book Lovers by Emily Henry is also a story about sisterhood and grief and belonging and, yes, true love. Julia Whelan is flawless in her performance as Nora Stephens, an uptight New York literary agent who is on vacation with her sister in Sunshine Falls, North Carolina—a city that, on its surface, seems to be her very antithesis. While there she runs into her nemesis Charlie Lastra—a book editor who is in town for his own hidden reasons. This audiobook felt like it was tailor-made for me—I loved every moment of it, and I think so many listeners will feel that same sense of warmth and joy. — Katie O.