A review by entiresunset
Book Lovers by Emily Henry

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I have to admit I had a much harder time connecting to his book than to Funny Story. I think it took me up until the last fourth to really connect to Nora and her story. But hearing what she went through and what she experienced and how much that changed her touched me. How tense and closed off she always was. How organized. How she always held on to Libby so closely and could not let her go. And how she could not let anyone in. How she completely lived in survival mode all the time. So mabye it was also meant to be so hard to connect to her in the beginning because she was so emotionally unavailable and controlling. 
But the moment she started opening up I was sold. I definitely felt for her a lot throughout the last fourth. 

As with Funny Story I just love to see how well Emily Henry manages to write such emotionally complex characters and how much she also focuses on all different kinds of relationships. It's always about the growth of the character itself and their relationships not just about "finding love" or "finding the one". 

I have to say though I would love to see more therapy representation in Henrys books.
Most of the characters she writes went through some form of trauma and are showing at least some PTSD-like symptoms or at least ongoing trauma reactions.
I would love for this to be adressed properly and to be shown what therapy can look like for this and how much it can help. Nora could benefit so much from starting therapy to talk through everything she experienced and to really work on her issues.
I know it's mentioned briefly in the end but only very briefly.


All in all this book might did not move me as much as Funny Story did for the most part but it still touched me and was wonderfully written and constructed. 
Again I loved to see how the heroine didnt just fall in love and this magically cured everything but that she made her own decisions in spite of love and really grew as a person. 
Still I am of course happy that after everything Nora got her happy ending with Charlie <3
Expand filter menu Content Warnings