Book Lovers

By: Emily Henry

Narrated by: Julia Whelan

Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins

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 ∙ Parade ∙ Marie 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

Critic Reviews

“One of my favorite authors.”—Colleen Hoover, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Book Lovers is a rom-com lover's dream of a book. It is razor-sharp and modern, featuring a fierce heroine who does not apologize for her ambition and heartfelt discussions of grief. Readers know that Emily Henry never fails to deliver great banter and a romance to swoon over but this may just be her best yet. A breath of fresh air.” —Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Malibu Rising 

“I would follow Emily Henry anywhere. A small town, a literary enterprise, a bookstore to rescue, and sex in moonlit streams? Yes, please! Book Lovers is sexy, funny, and smart. Another perfectly satisfying read from the unstoppable Emily Henry.” —Emma Straub, New York Times bestselling author of All Adults Here  

Wanted to love it but I just couldn’t 😭

I normally LOVE Emily Henry, but this book missed the mark for me. I had to stop at Chapter 12 because the main character just drove me insane. Or maybe I’m just over the “hate this person but then find out they are actually my soulmate” storyline.

✫✫ 5 Stars ✫✫

I wasn't planning to listen to this book but it was chosen for book club and let me tell you how glad I am that I did! I thoroughly enjoyed this book! There were a few things I didn't love in the story line but these characters really made up for that in spades. I loved how witty and smart the banter in this books is. The humor is dry in a way that you can't help but laugh out loud EVERY TIME! There is very little actual drama and mainly it's not relationship drama which is a huge plus for me. I want more characters like these two!

Julia Whelan was EXPECTIONAL in this book. Her narration for Charlie was what made me love him so much. You could here in his voice that he was not smiling when he through out his witty comments which made this all the more amusing for me.

So annoying!

I never write reviews. But I feel like I needed to save people from this awful monstrosity. The main character is so annoying! Does everything have to be about her?! I tried to have empathy and enjoy this book, but I just couldn’t. A main character that awful just ruins everything. Even the good writing style of the author. The ending was so blatantly apparent. And don’t even get me started on the narrators voice, when reading for the sister!
The most ironic part of the book, is that they make fun of rom coms and romance novels, while they are just the worst version of the two. Let’s pray that Hollywood never makes this into a movie!

Perfect

Julia Whelan does a beautiful job bringing this book to life. Emily Henry’s delicate prose weaves a witty and heart twisting story of exquisitely imperfect love in all its forms. Absolutely loved it.

Book Lovers

This book had me laughing out loud and unable to put it down! I love Emily Henry!! Can’t wait for her next one !

Finally!

This was the best book I've read in a while! I highly recommend it!

NYC BAD ATTITUDE

Although written very well, I deeply regret purchasing this title and contributing to yet another ignorant, isolated and self-important New York City personality with good grammar.

When, oh when will people from New York City realize that acting like a spoiled 5-year-old is deeply rude and most importantly deeply unattractive.

I have one tiny slice of advice for this writer/ publisher.. travel more, attempt to be kind, and start to see yourself as others see you.

Best of luck!

I didn’t want it to end

Sly, clever, wink, nod, heart tug, heart throb, heart ache, soul shake. Understated yet layers of delicious upon delicious The way Emily Henry slings words together: how? And also, how else? I’m feeling all the things. I want to read it again.

Perfectly narrated by Julia Whelan.

Read it.

I started this book, didn’t read the blurb or reviews like I usually do but knew I had a credit on my account and needed something to pass the time while I worked. About halfway through I read some reviews about how they disliked the main character, that the plot was so predictable, and so on. Well let me just say I found those reviews far off. This book is an incredible piece of fiction, although I believe this plot has likely occurred once or twice in real life. I usually yawn after the first chapter of a love story but I could not shut this book off. Henry writes her scenes with exquisite illumination that brings everything to life and makes the setting so clear. The foreshadowing throughout the entire book is on target. She really dives into the characters and unravels who they are, not just at their introductory states, but throughout the entire story. She continues to reveal pieces of characters up until the last chapter. I could read/listen to this book over and over again. I would recommend this to any romance novel enthusiast who enjoys well developed characters and plot twists.

Literally Couldn’t Stop Reading This Book!

Well, I picked up this book about 15 hours ago, and literally couldn’t stop reading. I fell asleep somewhere in the middle, but just started right back up. I love the humor of the characters. Things felt a little predictable then flipped and twisted. And I think it holds an important representation for women, who feel like the main character does about becoming a parent. I wish I could have given this book 15 stars not just 5.