A review by wilybooklover
Book Lovers by Emily Henry

emotional medium-paced

2.5

The romance trope and archetype references were really cute, and I loved the romance between Nora and Charlie. I loved how Charlie accepted Nora exactly as she is without trying to change her (unlike her sister) and how similar they were to each other. Sadly the romance was more of a subplot and I hated everything else in the book. 

I couldn’t stand Libby. Like, I cannot even accurately convey the depths of my rage whenever she was on-page; she was AWFUL. I hated the plot surrounding her sisterly relationship with Nora and that was the central plot — publishers, authors, PLEASE stop marketing books as romances when the main plot IS NOT THE ROMANCE!! It didn’t even feel like 50/50 women’s fiction/romance; it felt like a book about grief and familial relationships wrapped up in superficial romance packaging. Even when Nora is WITH Charlie on page she is mostly thinking or talking about her sister. I thought romcoms (which, again, this is marketed as!) were supposed to be fun and lighthearted yet this was so heavy, especially from the 50% mark which had a weird tonal shift into angsting about parental trauma. That’s not to say you can’t cover heavy topics in a romcom, but when all I’m thinking about as I’m reading is how much your characters desperately need therapy, the tone is all wrong for the genre. When I pick up a romcom I want something light and fluffy and most of all focused on the romance. This had even less romance in it than Beach Read (in which the central plot was focused on grief, not romance), so I'm not sure why so many reviewers are saying this is her most romance-y book yet. I felt like I barely even got to know Charlie! 

Also rivals WHERE? They’re working together, not in competition with each other?? They're not even enemies. And the heroine is not the ice queen she was promised to be; she’s actually quite warm and caring. You can tell me she’s a coldhearted bitch and that everyone refers to her as a shark all you want, but you also have to show me that for me to believe it. I feel like nothing about how this book was marketed (AKA my expectations) is related to what was between the pages. And honestly, I'm just baffled at the choice to make such a big deal over Dusty writing a character based on Nora to then never address it or confront her over it in the book. What was the point of its inclusion?

If this had been a bit lighter and there had been more focus on the romance or maybe dual POV with more of Charlie’s life for balance (and a lot less of the sister) I think I would have really liked this but as it is... meh. This is my favourite of her three ‘romances’ but that really isn’t saying much. I just don’t think Emily Henry works for me, although I’ve said this before and every time I get lured in by the hype. 

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