The day I opened my mailbox and discovered Book Lovers waiting for me was one of the best days this year. I am a huge Emily Henry fan, especially Beach Read, so Book Lovers has been a highly anticipated 2022 read.

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. 

Oh, how I love this book! This one is hands down my favorite of the 3 books Emily Henry has written. From the funny and witty banter, to the different relationships (love, family and yourself) and the traces of book tropes and Hallmark movie magic sprinkled throughout, this was a 5-star hit.

I absolutely loved the banter Nora had with Charlie, where I found myself laughing out loud and chuckling. My pages kept turning to find out what Libby was trying to hide from Nora, and why Nora struggles to sleep at night. There’s snippets of how the publishing world works. Then there are also the side characters in Sunshine Falls who are quirky and perfectly cast from my favorite small town stories.

While the story is billed as rivals, I didn’t feel as though Charlie and Nora were rivals. But definitely an enemies-to-lovers vibe was found. The relationship between Nora and Libby was just as, if not more, important as they had been drifting apart and took this trip to find their way back again. Nora was also rediscovering herself. Emily Henry did such a great job weaving all of these storylines together, along with showing us the ups and downs of Sunshine Falls!

Will you be giving this book a try? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

A huge thank you to Berkley Publishing for my early copy! All opinions are my own 🥰🥰🥰