I received this book in exchange for an honest review from the publisher, this has not altered my opinion of this book.

What book reviewer or lover hasn't thought about working in the publishing world? Honestly, I know I have many times, and a book that centers around a book lover who works in an industry surrounding books? Couldn't say no to it! And I'm glad that I didn't. While the setting behind the story was new, the concepts were so familiar: a job one loves that just doesn't pay the bills being the main one. It was a story all about a woman attempting to figure out her way in the world and struggling to not lose herself along the way.

As a reader, I saw the mistakes that Nora made along the way and winced at them, but also couldn't help but sympathize with her as well, which made it that much easier to connect with her and her problems. I will also just mention that I appreciated the ending not being a pretty bow ending, the realism of it was not lost on me. All in all, it was a good book, nothing super special, but a high recommendation for readers who love books and love to read about people who love books. 3.5 out of 5 because I just wasn't blown away by this quick read.

This is a cut above bookish romances. Nora’s struggles with her career and internal demons are real and relatable. I really like the insights into the publishing world.

This book started out strong, but I didn’t like Nora’s attitude. I’m someone who thinks positively and I’m excited to try new things instead of thinking “what if I don’t like it” and other negative thoughts.
Nora had contemplated suicide and was extremely lonely, and I felt both sorry for her and annoyed at the same time. Many of her issues could have been resolved if she’d just told the truth at the time.

Nora has always wanted to work as a book editor. She gets a job at Parsons, a publisher, but they only offer dry business books. Unfortunately, she has to take a demotion and takes a part-time job with a competing publisher to make ends meet.
In the meantime, she’s getting to know Andrew Santos, probably the most exciting writer Parsons publishes. They grow close, Santos is trying to improve her self-professed quality of life up to the 6.5 average, higher than Nora’s self professed 3. He needs to decide to stay at Parsons and Nora is representing them. I liked this character, he was supportive and caring.

This is not a romance book. The book ends suddenly, I was hoping for a bigger HEA payoff after all the angst. Also, Nora “stole” authors and sent them to her new publishing house, actions which would have landed her in serious trouble in real life, but she faces no consequences. What romance exists is implied in the end. I did enjoy reading about the ins and outs of publishing.
I gave this book 3 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book.

Nora works at Parsons, a publishing a company, but isn't happy. She meets an author named Andrew Santos, and gets tangled in a web of lies with her job and relationships. In the first half or felt kind of cheeky, but was a bit slow. Then the second half get a bit darker, and took a hard turn with her mental health. I liked how things ended though, not all perfect and wrapped in a bow. I liked it more towards the end, but it still didn't fully engulf me into the story. It was a quick read though.

What an amazing book. Presented as a romance, this book focuses first on Nora, its protagonist, and how she has to manage her current mental health state at a very crucial moment in her own career. Full of complexities around professional life, and your own happiness, priorities in life, the struggles and insecurities of being in your twenties, the lie of the perfect job.
It feels like a very important novel to read, it carries a message of realistic optimism amongst the highs and lows of corporate jobs, of trying to define your own passions in life, that the path you believed the one isn't always a guarantee of your future enjoyment and happiness, that dreams can change and you need to be able to change with them.
the story is great, the romance is very much cute, the relationship and banter feels very sincere. I'd loved to see the character of Andrew a little bit more, explore his own complexities towards the end and how he went on processing his own role in the life of Nora.

I liked this book but I didn’t love it and it’s not one that I would necessarily run out and recommend to people. The best way to describe this is that if I’m loving a book, all I want to do is read it and if I’m not reading it I’m thinking about when I will and getting annoyed and ‘life’ getting in the way of me and the story. I didn’t have those feelings with this one.

Here’s what I did like;
Both the main characters were people of colour. Nora is biracial and Andrew is Filipino.
It’s set in the publishing world, which was fun and interesting but also eye opening.
Nora was relatable with her career struggles, mental health, friendship fears, money worries and so much more. It was just a realistic portrayal of life, that it isn’t always sunshine and roses.

What I didn’t like;
It felt a bit slow but that could be because Nora isn’t sunshine (and that’s okay) but for me it felt like a cloud was hanging over the book and the reading experience.
This one is personal to me, and contradicts one of the positives above, but it sort of hit too close to home for me. The career struggles, intrusive thoughts, aimlessness, not feeling like enough - they’re all things i had struggled with so reading about them just made me think about them more, which on the one hand was reassuring and made me feel seen but on the other hand, it was exhausting.

The book did end of a positive note, the MCs were likeable, even if you questioned some of Nora’s decisions you could understand them, and there wasn’t unnecessary conflict just for the sake of it.

I also appreciate any author that writes trigger warnings in their book blurb or at the start of their book. More of this please!

As you can see, I’m kinda conflicted but that’s okay!

Nora has been an editorial assistant at a publishing company for five years. When she first applied for the job at Parsons, it seemed like a dream job: working with books, helping authors. But the realities of the day-to-day work combined with the fact that Parsons puts out boring business books, along with the recent frequent cuts to staff, have sucked any potential “dream” out of the job. When her close friend decides to leave the company for a better option, Nora feels particularly adrift.

When her salary, already barely enough to cover her living expenses, is cut, Nora is desperate. So she takes a part-time side job at a rival publisher, an ethically questionable but financially necessary move, and her life gets pretty complicated. Nora hopes to be able to move over to the rival publisher — and potentially work in fiction — if she can prove herself. But the unnerving balancing act gets even more complicated when bestselling author Andrew Santos gets thrown into the mix. He befriends her at Parsons, and their relationship turns into more than friendship.

But she can’t tell him the truth about what she’s doing; she could lose her job(s) and their budding romance.

Nora feels overwhelmed, out of her depth, and stalked once again by the demons of depression and even suicide. She’d thought she was on the path to a dream job, but now nothing seems right, or within reach. And as much as she likes Andrew, and as good as he is to her, she feels she can’t have a healthy relationship with him because she feels in such a fog. As Nora’s unbalancing act topples, she feels lonely, scared and depressed, but she also begins to find just how many people are truly there for her and willing to help her find her way.

Must Love Books is a novel that brings readers right along on that tough journey of young adulthood where it seems everyone else has it together and knows where they’re going but you. It touches on mental health and the need to lean on kind friends and to take advantage of professional help. It’s a sweet and real story that many will be able to relate to.

Books about book lovers are always so fun to me. While this one mentioned more nonfiction business types book than ones I would read, I still enjoyed it. Nora is someone that I think all office workers can relate to, to an extent, and I really found myself rooting for her. I wanted more of aresolution, but this was a good fast read ⭐⭐⭐💫.

Must Love Books by Shauna Robinson is a debut novel about Nora, an editorial assistant at Parsons Press. She is underpaid, underappreciated, and experiencing mental health problems on top of it all. When Parsons Press cuts her salary, she takes a second job, which just puts more pressure on her. Through it all, Nora keeps going; and even though she makes many mistakes along the way, she also learns a lot about herself. This story was very touching and realistic, and I really enjoyed how truthful it was. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

This was such a cute and heartfelt read. I was expecting more romance but it was still and enjoyable story

It starts off slow and kind of dense, but once the action begins, it's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. It reads as a true epic, one that makes you feel the world really has been reshaped as you read it. Would recommend.

3.5 stars

Must Love Books is more of a contemporary novel than a romance, but I still enjoyed it. Don’t let the cute cover fool you - this book does deal with some heavier issues (tw for depression and suicidal thoughts), but at its core this novel is about self-discovery and growth.

Nora has spent the past five years at a job she thought she should love. As the company faces more and more layoffs and Nora’s workload increases (while her pay decreases), she realizes that she’s far from happy. Barely making enough to cover the bills and student loans, Nora takes on a secret second job to make ends meet. Soon the lies begin to take on a life of their own, and Nora’s jobs might not be the only things on the line.

Nora is a flawed character and most of the time I didn’t like her. Even so, the author did a great job of making you feel for her. During the catastrophic publication mixer I had to put the book down because I was cringing and so anxious about the outcome. I still wanted her to be ok.

I enjoyed Nora’s romance with Andrew. He was an interesting character and he seemed like a great love interest. He was supportive and giving to Nora, even when she kept walls up. I did find the romance a bit lacking, especially for something that was marketed to fans of romance. I also really enjoyed the view into the publishing world. I love books that take place in bookish places.

Overall this was a strong debut and I’m glad to have read it. Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for an advance copy. I look forward to checking out future works by this author.

I loved the insite given to the world of publishing in this book . There was also some very smart career path insites too.
This book was very clever in its approach to many issues and while not avoiding them it didn't make them a huge issue. Race being one of them .
I loved how the author approached mental health and the happiness scale. This was done in such a relatable fashion.
I adored the relationship and interaction between Nora and Andrew.
All in all , this was a really enjoyable read.

This book was a recommendation for romance readers, but it just isn't. Not a fan of the trend placing contemporary fiction written with women in mind being auto-categorized as romance.

Book Review: Must Love Books by Shauna Robinson

Must Love Books is the women’s fiction novel by debut author Shauna Robinson. It follows the tumultuous weeks where young editorial assistant Nora Hughes takes on a secret additional freelance job for a competitor when her salary is drastically cut at her current publisher.

Nora Hughes is one of her last team members remaining at Parsons Publishing when she gets the news that further cutbacks mean a reduction in her salary and still more responsibilities. Fearing she won’t be able to pay her rent she takes on an additional new job freelancing for a competitor. As Nora tries to juggle both jobs and keep it all secret she is also falling for one of her authors, Andrew. The lines start to get blurry as Nora has to decide which publisher she should push Andrew toward all while trying to manage depression as it begins to seep in.

I think a lot of readers will find Nora very relatable as she struggles with her career, finances, expectations and finding joy. Andrew was sweet and funny and I really rooted for them as a couple. There is also a lot of good inside information about the publishing industry and the people behind the books. Plus cute moments of humor mixed with more serious issues which is the type of read I gravitate toward. This is an excellent debut novel that I recommend to reader’s that enjoy stories about young women finding their place in the world along with a love of books.

4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’m sad to say this book wasn’t what I expected. Based on the cover, I expected a light-hearted novel about love and books. I know I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but many of us do it anyway – and I did. But even the synopsis didn’t lead me to the trigger warnings that should have been present for this title.

While the synopsis hints at her life spiraling out of control, it fails to mention that Nina Hughes, the main character, deals heavily with lying, manipulation, depression, and suicidal thoughts.

I’ll give it the fact that it was a realistic representation of someone struggling through depression, but it also sat in the depression for awhile compared to other books that deal with this topic. She works on finding a way out of her dark mindset, but she definitely sits in it for awhile first.

My heart does go out to the author. I know authors put their heart and soul into their books and I don’t take that lightly. This one just wasn’t for me. That said, I know it was largely pulled from her own life, and for that, I appreciate that she was willing to share her story with the world.

TW: depression, suicidal thoughts

‘And the final line under the desired skills and qualifications section sealed her fate, three little words that curled around Nora’s heart and told her she belonged in publishing: Must love books.’

This was not the book I was expecting but proved to be a really interesting read. It most definitely is not a romcom - yes there is romance, however, it is very much a side plot and thankfully, sensitive to the overall direction of the book. The couple have laughs, however, I far more appreciated their discussions surrounding happiness and mental health - this being the surprise package of this read.

‘… the only person left standing was Nora, alone. Working on books she didn’t understand or give a damn about, with authors who rearranged the same words on different pages year after year to make another royalty check.’

This book is very much about the lead character, Nora and her quest for a meaningful life with happiness. After several years in the same job, she is finding herself lost and literally staring at the ceiling fan. It’s not just about the meaningless job but also the issue of making ends meet on a poor wage especially given the extra tasks assigned to her. The author herself states that, ‘By unpacking the myth of the “dream job,” this story explores happiness as a fluid, ever-changing thing.’

‘Whenever Nora mentioned anything to do with publishing - manuscripts, books, working with authors - there was a faraway look in Kelly’s eyes, like she was on the verge of swooning.’

One of the reasons I selected to read this book was a chance insight into the life of a publishing company - and it provided this in bucketloads! It gave a detailed (and rather depressing) look at a career in publishing (a bibliophile’s purported dream job) and that it may not be a path for many. The surprises in this book were the themes surrounding mental health: (trigger warning) self harm and suicide thoughts. This was really quite powerful and overall well handled I felt. It also touches on racial issues (Nora mentions her ethnicity on occasions) and this, whilst minor, is still worth mentioning.

‘She could be the person she’d always imagined being, working on books - novels - that could actually help someone. Not help them leverage synergy to maximize productivity, but help them the way books had helped Nora. Help someone feel connected to something. Help someone feel less alone.’

Given the clear focus on one person’s journey to find meaning and purpose in life, I was both relieved and grateful for the ending which remained true to what I felt to be the author’s goal. My only issues are that, firstly, it was a trifle repetitive and slow on occasions. Secondly, Nora’s resolve to call a meeting to discuss her possible futures appeared somewhat out of character given her personal struggles throughout the book.

‘Nora ducked into a bookstore across the street to be among books and forget, for a minute, how they were made.’

So if an insight into life in a publishing house as a ‘dream job’ appeals to you, look no further. There are excellent Discussion questions at the conclusion along with an Author interview. Not the book I had thought to be reading, I did however, walk away much richer for my understanding of publishing career paths and, more importantly, when your dream job turns out not to be your dream job - what do you do? Nora’s journey of reevaluating and making tough decisions to alter her life path was something I very much appreciated.

‘learn(ed) how to find a new dream. And another, and another, until he found something that worked out for him.”














This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

A book about books is something I will never get tired of! It was so interesting to look into publishing and the issues found there, the challenges to overcome through the MC’s eyes! I liked that this book was not really about romance, but finding your true self, being self-conscious, overcoming your fears and loving yourself every minute of your life!

It had great depression representation!

I have very rarely not finished a book, but unfortunately this book wasn't for me. When I saw a book about a woman working at a bookstore, I think I was hopeful for something similar to Much Ado About You by Samantha Young. What I found instead was a book that highlights how downright hard it can be to stay afloat in the book marketing industry. Business is hard, especially with online markets, and this boo emphasizes this challenge for indie bookstores competing with big brands. Nora is likable and a believable character. Her moral compass plays a huge role in this story as she tries to determine what compromises she can and cannot ethically make. All in all, I was just searching for something lighter.

It is such a sweet romance. If you love books and big ideas, big dreams, and big love you'll love this sweet romance book. I would recommend it for anyone that needs a pick me up from a book slump. A great distraction of a read.