While she is there, Nora receives Dusty’s latest manuscript, which features a caricature of her called Nadine. When she arrives in Sunshine Falls, Nora is stunned to find that Charlie is from the town and is there working remotely to help his family run their bookstore. Libby devises a long list of stereotypical small-town activities for their time in the country, including setting Nora up with local men. However, two years later, when Nora is 32 and her sister Libby is pregnant with her third child, Libby insists that they take a trip to Sunshine Falls. Nora’s view of the book proves to be correct, as it is another great success. Charlie disapproves of the way Dusty describes the town of Sunshine Falls, but Nora defends the book and leaves the meeting thinking that she will never see Charlie again. Nora’s first meeting with the romantic hero, editor Charlie Lastra, ends with them sparring over the quality of a book called Once in a Lifetime, which was written by one of Nora’s authors, Dusty Fielding.

Nora’s overprotective attitude continues after their mother’s unexpected death, which takes place when Libby is still in high school and Nora is a young adult trying to establish a literary career. Nora first took responsibility for her sister when their father walked out on their mother, who was a struggling actress.

However, Nora-who has not truly given her heart to anyone since a traumatic breakup with Jakob, the man who began this pattern-focuses on her career and on looking out for her adult younger sister, Libby, and Libby’s growing family. Urban, pragmatic Nora is trapped in a pattern of getting dumped by boyfriends who travel to a rural community and fall in love with local women who are Nora’s opposites. The prologue to Book Lovers, which is set two years before the novel’s main action, illustrates that ambitious New York literary agent Nora Stephens is the type of antiheroine who is typical of many romance novels. This guide uses the 2022 Penguin Kindle Edition of Book Lovers.

Book lovers emily henry review