Back to the Emily Henry well with “Book Lovers,” a delightful enemies-to-lovers comedy from the master of the trope!
Literary agent Nora Stephens is cajoled by her pregnant sister Libby into taking a much-needed vacation in Sunshine Falls, North Carolina, the setting of her sister’s favorite book. The town, though, hardly lives up to the book’s billing: its handful of businesses are not especially charming, the vacation home they’ve rented requires a rugged uphill hike, and lurking in the town’s bookstore is Charlie Lestra, the snobbish editor whom Nora thought she had left behind in New York City. But Nora agrees to make the best of a bad situation with the trope-heavy summer checklist Libby foists on her (which includes things like “ride horses,” “date a cowboy,” and “go skinny-dipping”).
“Book Lovers” is aware that it’s a romance, and plays to its tropes with wit and charm. Nora thinks she isn’t in a romance, which is one of the delightful things about her: she’s sure that she’s the exact opposite of the typical romance novel heroine, and so fails to see all the ways she’s being pulled into the genre’s web. (Charlie, I’m pretty sure, knows he’s supposed to be a romantic lead, and does a good job of subtly playing the role.)
Henry’s writing and characters, as always, are the big draw, as well as her rom com set pieces. “Book Lovers” is a great companion piece to “Beach Read”: savvy, sassy, and unashamedly romantic.
