By Emily Henry
Berkley, 2022. Fiction. 384 pgs
We all know the Hallmark movie formula: man leaves the big city to go back home to try to save his family's struggling bookstore/bed and breakfast/Christmas tree farm. While he's there he meets the down-to-earth laid-back lady of his dreams, while back in the city his frigid fiance scoffs at his humble roots and asks when he's coming back. Little does the fiance know that she's about to be dumped so he can spend the rest of his life blissfully sipping beers on the back porch, watching fireflies with the love of his life in his arms. But... what about that fiance back in the city? Nora is that woman. She's lost more than one boyfriend to the small-town life, and while she won't apologize for being driven and successful in her career, she's starting to wonder if she's cursed. When her younger sister asks her to go to a small town in North Carolina to fulfill a checklist of their own Hallmark movie tropes, Nora reluctantly agrees. But while new experiences and potential romance are possible in Sunshine Falls, Nora has never been the woman who longs to settle down into small town life.
This book delightfully turns the Hallmark romance tropes on their heads, and both the characters and the plot of this book have surprising depth and complexity. I found myself enjoying the progression of Nora and her sister's relationship as much as the romance, and I related to far more of this book than I have to any other chick-lit/romance/Hallmark work of fiction. Readers should know that a few adult situations take place. Somehow in this post-pandemic world, this book feels like the romance novel that we need right now.
If you like Book Lovers, you might also like:
I Owe You One
By Sophie Kinsella
Dial Press, 2019. 488 pages. Fiction
Fixie Farr spends most of her time working in her family's housewares store to carry on the legacy of her late father and help her mother with the workload. When a stranger in a coffee shop asks her to watch his laptop for a moment, she saves it from certain disaster. To thank her, he scribbles a quick "IOU" on a coffee sleeve, though Fixie would never think of taking him up on it. But when an old flame walks back into Fixie's life and needs a favor, she can't help but think of the kind stranger and wonder if he might be able to help her out after all.
by Abbi Waxman
Berkley, 2019. 332 pages, General Fiction
Nina Hill has a very simple and lovely life. She works in a bookstore, is an asset on her competitive trivia team, enjoys a carefully regimented schedule of exercise and socializing, and even sets aside specific time to read and do nothing with her cat. When the father she never knew she had dies, his lawyer contacts her about the reading of his will in which she is included. When he informs her that the brother and sisters who didn’t know she existed either are not happy about her encroaching on their inheritance, her simple life quickly becomes a lot more complicated.
BHG
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