Book Lovers by Emily Henry

 genre: contemporary romance

Nora’s life in New York is exactly how she likes it - orderly and controlled, filled with the books and authors she loves working with as a literary agent and lived on a surface level.  Letting herself get deeply invested in another person has only led to pain so instead, keeping all relationships - except with her sister Libby - at arms length.  While it is hard for her to believe, Nora has repeatedly been THAT girl, the one in the city that gets ditched when her boyfriend travels to a small town for work and ends up falling in love a la every Hallmark movie ever made.  And since Libby can convince her to do anything, when she invites Nora to spend a month with her in Sunshine Falls, the small North Carolina town where one of her favorite books is set, Nora can't say no.  But slowing down doesn't come easily for Nora - and when someone unexpected ends up in town, Sunshine Falls suddenly gets a lot more interesting.

Emily Henry has done it again for me with this book - turning the typical trope on its head and give that uptight girlfriend in New York a backstory and a life that's deeply complicated and full of its own kind of beauty.   I appreciate it as a love letter to books and the people who love talking about them, I like that her characters aren't just "flawed" but that they are processing different kinds of trauma that feel so real and that really do impact how you interact with the people you meet - and especially the people you truly care about.  The banter, snark and wittiness of the dialogue had me actually laughing out loud.  Also, it's a love story that resolved in a really organic way and even though I'd guessed how the main problem would get solved eventually, I super enjoyed the journey.  I'm a huge fan.

CW: romantic scenes - not crazy open door scenes but situations are described more than in a YA book for usre