Book Lovers by Emily Henry Review

I did not enjoy Book Lovers nearly as much as I had hoped when I picked it up, hoping to cure my case of FOMO from seeing everyone and their mom post about Henry on this platform. I promise I’m not a contrarian. I really wanted to like this a lot, and I’ve heard nothing but good things about Emily Henry. So, I had to know what’s up with Henry’s work because I am a self-proclaimed romance connoisseur and I have quite a few romances under my belt. But honestly, I was pretty bored by this. But I think my bar is just set pretty high.

I didn’t feel particularly attached to any of the characters, and the story was kind of forgettable. It was cute but didn’t touch me deeply or make any sort of mark on me. It dragged a bit, and the ending was a tiny bit rushed. I didn’t find the male lead swoon-worthy or the female lead very interesting. I suppose there’s some emotional back and forth in the story, so there was a bit of tension and such, but nothing really monumental.

I think that the new age of romance readers enjoy the relatability of these sorts of stories that feature feminist themes and men you’d want to be with in real life. However, I don’t really care for “realistic” romance. Give me a misogynistic, corny, horribly outdated, and probably damaging to society romance novel, and I’ll eat it up every time, to my own detriment likely.

Overall, I’m glad I partook in this, and maybe I’ll read People We Meet on Vacation one day. I already have it on my TBR shelf. But not gonna lie, I don’t really understand the hype for her or what sets her apart from other romance novels besides what I mentioned above about how the characters are a bit more real and not as problematic as most romances traditionally on the market. Perhaps it is for the greater good that we as a society (women who like to read romance), have begun to shift more towards more socially acceptable novels. It is probably doing leaps and bounds to improve our internalized misogyny. But I will admit I'm still working on my taste in literature.