This is a spoiler-free review!
Emily Henry... I am sorry I doubted you without knowing anything about you. I am sorry I bought Happy Place a year and a half ago and still have not cracked it open. Please, forgive me. I honestly did not know what to expect when going into this book, but I was in the mood for a little romcom, and with the added bonus of what sounded like a very loose enemies-to-lovers, this caught my eye. They definitely are not conventional "enemies" but rather the multiple not-meet-cutes and first impression in the city sets them up for a grumpy beginning.
I truly believe Emily Henry has been following me around for my entire life simply because Nora feels like a carbon copy of myself, with the only difference being that our careers are different. In the very beginning of this book, every single time Nora began to describe her thought processes or how she approached life, I felt like she was staring into my soul and my brain. I will say, Nora's obsession with goat cheese salads was something I could not relate to, but the dirty martinis were certainly something that called to me.
Charlie is definitely up there as a solid book boyfriend - even after his and Nora's first encounter, I could tell this man was going to turn out for the best. After a fateful turn of events, they end up in each other's lives and somehow manage to become integral parts as they navigate their own obstacles while slowly becoming weaved into each other's days. It was low-key hot that he would come back to his town and help his mother run the store - he has already made a name for himself, and yet he is willing to drop things for his family.
If I was Nora... I would have strangled Dusty... for reasons I will not mention due to spoilers, that girl has some NERVE. Nora is a much better person than I am, and truly has the gift of patience when it comes to dealing with people doing the absolute most. She does nothing but sacrifice things for her sister or for others, and yet people constantly speak to her as if she is the selfish one for knowing what she wants and putting her career or routine first when the time comes.
No WiFi in these small town cafés... I would have gone absolutely insane. Especially in Nora's situation, where she constantly needs to be in contact with certain people, even when publishing somewhat dies down during the month of August. Dusty's presence as the needy writer was actually getting on my nerves so much, I felt as though I was her editor. I cannot fathom someone throwing fits if their editor does not immediately answer their calls, and considering what she was turning into Nora, she had no room for the dramatics.
"What are colleagues for?" What if I died. Nora and Charlie's unique relationship and dynamic was such an interesting thing to see in a romance novel, and given that Nora has been haunted my the small town trope, I rooting for her to find someone that matched her lifestyle and energy. Charlie matched Nora's energy so well, you could tell that he would be the one to appreciate the way she did things and be understanding when she would put work first at times.
By the end of this book, I was firmly standing on the belief that Nora should be allowed to kill someone. My word, the things that this girl has gone through, and on top of it all, being the eldest daughter? My girl needs a vacation immediately. The side characters were high-key putting Nora through the ringer, and as sweet as her sister, Libby, is, she seemed to be oblivious to some of the things she asked of Nora or situations she put her in.
If you are looking for a quick, fun read to get you out of a slump or something to cleanse a genre-binge, Book Lovers will do just that. I am glad that I finally gave this writer a chance, and was pleased to see how much I did enjoy this book. Since I tend to be a mood reader, a romcom was finally calling to me and I had to pick up the phone before the feeling passed.
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