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Review
5 stars!
Wow, what a beautiful read! An intelligent, emotional story that is a lot of fun with a gorgeous slow burning love story, this enemies-to-lovers romance absolutely owned me. This is my first book by Emily Henry, I love her writing, and I adored this book.
This is the story of Nora Stephens. She is a book-obsessed literary agent with a crazy love of New York City whose whole life revolves around looking after her beloved little sister (and by extension her brother-in-law and nieces) and her author clients. She hasn’t had much luck with relationships, and isn’t really the romantic type, so when her sister drags her away for a girls’ vacation to a small town in North Carolina (the setting of her biggest client’s book-now-a-huge-movie), she is less than thrilled that Libby wants her to act out everything from the small-town-romance trope. But she loves her sister and will do anything to make her happy, so she goes along with it.
That’s life. You’re always making decisions, taking paths that lead you away from the rest before you can see where they end. Maybe that’s why we as a species love stories so much. All those chances for do-overs, opportunities to live the lives we’ll never have.
A spanner is thrown into the trip when she discovers that the small town of Sunshine Falls is nothing like the book suggested. And then things get worse when she discovers her nemesis, cut-throat editor, Charlie Lastra, is in town. Not just in town, but everywhere that Nora goes… he’s there. He’s reluctantly running the local bookstore where Nora has chosen to set up her remote workstation for the month that she’s in town, and in a fabulous twist, he’s also editing the newest book by one of Nora’s clients, a book that Nora is also working on, putting them in pretty much constant contact.
It’s a wonderful set-up, and the story that unfolds is funny, sweet, insightful, emotional, heartfelt, profound, and so very unexpected. There’s so much more to this book than I was expecting, and I was captivated by each and every moment of it.
Nora’s stay in Sunshine Falls is a true journey of discovery for her. She’s been shaped so thoroughly by her life experiences into a caretaker – always putting others’ needs ahead of her own. Away from her usual life, she has time to think, to relax and enjoy herself, and to connect with her sister in a way she hasn’t for so long. And she has time with Charlie, which turns out to be the biggest game changer of all.
Charlie’s reputation is as fierce as her own. They are both sharks of the industry, never showing weakness, but as they open up to each other and truly start to share who they are, they discover that they ‘get’ each other in a way that other people are not able to, and the connection that forms between them is honest, intense and life-changing.
“You showed up … And I could finally breathe.”
It’s clear there is an attraction there, but it develops slowly in the background of everything else that is happening in the story. It’s a delicious slow burn that is witty and flirtatious, and the sexual tension and emotion builds beautifully, becoming a passionate and intense, heart-clenching love story that stole my little romance-loving heart.
“I love you, Nora,” he says when we pull apart a few inches to breathe. “I think I love everything about you.”
Charlie Lastra… *dreamy sigh*… God, I love him. He’s the kind of grumpy hero that I cannot help but fall for. The moment where these kinds of guys let themselves be vulnerable and truly open up to somebody is always worth waiting for, and it absolutely was with Charlie. I loved seeing him be there for Nora, supporting her and helping her work through all that she was dealing with, while stoically handling his own mess. He’s the kind of guy that keeps his own dramas close, but when he does open up, he opens all the way, and he’s surprisingly sweet, swoony and oh-so-sexy, and I just adored him.
“If I had to pick one person to be in my corner, it’d be you. Every time.”
But this is Nora’s story, and she is a fabulous heroine. The entire book is written from her POV, and she’s a wonderful storyteller. She’s relatable and so insightful, her character development is wonderfully written, and her relationship with her sister is beautiful to watch. The two of them together are so funny, they fight like sisters do, but they banter, tease and laugh, and they are an absolute joy to watch together. Nora is dealing with a lot, but she’s smart, stubborn and funny, and I absolutely loved her.
The town of Sunshine Falls is a fantastic backdrop to the story. It’s a quirky small town with a weird and wonderful bunch of characters, and the town itself adds so much to the story. I loved the way it was brought to so much life.
I listened to this as an audiobook, narrated by Julia Whelan, and she is fabulous. She puts so much heart and humour into Nora, she narrates Charlie brilliantly, and she tells the story with just the right balance of funny and emotional. I really enjoyed listening to this one.
I loved this book. It’s a smart, funny, emotional and romantic read, and I look forward to checking out more of this author’s work.
5 stars!