As a romance reader, Book Lovers by Emily Henry has to be one of the best books I read over the Christmas break. At first, I was slightly wary that there would be too many book references, as there are many mentions of different plots and tropes throughout the first few pages, but as I read on, the tiny references became something I adored. I hadn’t yet come across a book where the two main characters are avid bookworms, until Book Lovers. Even the daily vocabulary was quite different to characters who clearly didn’t read as much, which I found quite interesting.

Within romance books, one key element is pacing. If the main characters met in chapter one they can’t get married in chapter two, because that’s too soon. Emily Henry paces the character development and relationships perfectly. Even the humour was perfectly timed and never overused. For example, Charlie Lastra, a book editor, occasionally comes out with these witty and dark one liners which compliments his serious demeanour, this more importantly melts his barricaded outer-shell like butter being pressed against a hot knife.

I would recommend these 373 pages to any teen-plus reader looking for a perfectly paced ‘work enemies’ to lovers novel.