Book Lovers | By Emily Henry

My thoughts

I went into this book cautiously optimistic. There was a lot of hype and praise around it. Frankly, the last two Emily Henry books had it too, but they didn’t turn out to be overwhelming 5 star reads for me. Sure, they were too good, but still made me wonder whether it was worth all that hype? This one, however, is unarguably my favourite romance read of 2022. I know it’s only the first half of the year, but a book like this doesn’t come too often in your life. In this review, I will get into the details of why I enjoyed the book so much.

Narrative and Plot

When it comes to the narrative, there was no doubt in my mind that it is going to be witty and insightful from my previous experiences with the author. Moreover, I was expecting it to be emotionally loaded. And boy, it did not disappoint!!

The book had my attention right from the prologue and it had me suspend all my disbelief and move through all the ebbs and flows of the characters.

If you have been following my reviews, you know I am a sucker for books featuring sibling relationships. The plot of Book Lovers is going to be my benchmark from hereon, for how sibling relationships should be featured in novels. It is not about ego or one big fallout or jealousy. Sisters for life go so much deeper than that. They are best friends who have known each other through their best and worst for decades. It is neither linear nor exponential but a severely twisted knot that cannot be broken in a lifetime. All that intensity and angst were perfectly depicted in the relationship between Libby and Nora.

Characters and Conflicts

This book includes all my favourite tropes. Sibling relationships, rivals to lovers and the moving from the big city to village. I am not kidding here. I love that last trope so much; it is part of my WIP. Naturally, this book has the trope reversed and I cannot help but grin at the irony of all the situations that it presents.

The chemistry between Charlie Lasta and Nora just brightens up these scenes with the reader rooting for them right from that ill-fated lunch. There is nothing slow burn about the romance and yet it simmers so much that you cannot wait to find out the way they get to their happy ending.

For a book to resonate with its readers, it must have a strong internal conflict. This book aces that department. Either you are that person who wants to know the ending before giving your time and energy to a book like me or you’re that person who loves to get lost in the bewildering crowd of a big city. Or you are the quiet, observant lover or the sister who wishes she could be more or the control freak who wants to make sense of things. So much to draw from. And while juggling all this and more, it is never all over the place. Each character and conflict are addressed “perfectly”.

Conclusion

A book that quotes Wuthering Heights twice was bound to be my favourite. Book Lovers is a book for all the book lovers out there. It is a book for people who enjoy the inner workings of a book as well as a person. It is a book I am sure I will revisit again and again.

About the Author

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