Well this book was a lot heavier than I anticipated! It had really good topics though regarding mental illness and racial issues and done very well.

Nora gets herself in a really difficult sticky situation, which makes life even harder for her. She was easy to relate to, and I loved how sarcastic she was. I really felt for her the whole book.

Andrew is an unexpected bright spot in the cloud that follows Nora. He was so wonderful and supportive and I instantly loved him. His banter with her was so great! Gah he was just ridiculously amazing.

It got a little repetitive at times, but it was still a very enjoyable read about someone in search of what they want in life.

TW- depression and mentions of suicide.

I should know better than to request books like this. It''s just too....cheesy for me. So slow and...vanilla.

It's cute and appeals to a group of people who want to read nice things while drinking hot chocolate, but...I need murder or something.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you Source Books for the ebook review copy.

Admittedly, the title and synopsis piqued my interest. Nora, an editorial assistant at Parsons Press, a publishing company, had very high hopes that this position would lead her to her dream job as an editor. Nora used to love books so much, but this job has sucked the life out of her. This job is nothing like she thought. With all the layoffs and the people who she enjoyed working with gone, Nora barely makes it from day to day and struggles to make ends meet.

I thought about 7 chapters in, I might not care enough to finish. But as I got to see Nora's struggles and watch her facade of "everything is fine" fade, I had to know what was going to happen to her. With Parsons cutting Nora's pay again but increasing her workload, her hopes for promotion rest solely on the signing of an up and coming author, Andrew Santos.

But Santos seems to like Nora and she enjoys the distraction of hanging out with him, not to mention she's also freelancing for another publishing company who she's told she's no longer employed by Parsons.

There were some relatable moments as I followed Nora's journey, this sort of trying to figure out how to navigate the years after college and your first real job. Accepting what people tell you instead of telling them what you want. Setting boundaries when you aren't sure how to do that when so many have been crossed.

This book was 🫖🫖🫖.5 tea cups.

Starting this book was not easy for me but at the same time made me feel understood and encourage to take the chances and keep following the dream that someday in my life I would find that job that allows me to be among books, recommend them and share the happiness they bring to my life with others. If I only could find the simplest words to let people know how many times a book has saved my life, if I only could, but I am not that strong. So if you love books and still think you have not found your place in this very twisted world, let me tell you something: Your place is there, where books are. 💚

Thank you to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of this book!
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The synopsis of this book struck me as right up my alley, but really what dragged me in was the title. Let's be honest, "must love books"? Yes, that might as well be the headline of my personal ad. That said, I felt like this book paled somewhat in what I wanted it to be. Nora and Andrew were interesting characters on their own, but together they seemed somewhat forced. Nora has so much going on and Robinson continues to pile things on in the final third of the novel. I would have loved to get a some in-depth analysis of her toward the beginning, so as to have a more complete picture of the character within the novel.
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This is a wonderful debut for the author, and certainly a cathartic read for anyone finding themselves struggling with a dead end job and searching for where they might fit in the world. While classified as a romance, and the twists eventually find a happy ending, I would classify this one as a light and fluffy read. The lightness exists, but it is surrounded by some very deep and dark clouds.

While marketed more as a romance, this is more of a novel of self-discovery. Our main character, Nora, is in a dead end job and feels generally stuck in her life. She struggles to maintain her mental health, which under constant threat from a stressful job and trying to make ends meet. When she is put on a reduced salary, she starts a second job. The only problem is that the second job is clearly a conflict of interest at a competing publishing house. What ensues is a slow discovery of who she is, who she wants to be, and learning how to bridge the gap between them. Since this wasn't quite what I was expecting, it took me longer than usual to get through it. Once I settled into it, it truly was a lovely story.

Trigger Warning: This book deals with severe depression

Must Love Books is just everything you can ask for in a book about the positives and negatives of working in the publishing industry. The novel deals with such heavy topics of depression and how it affects everything and everyone around you, as well as economic challenges and job market issues.

The characters in Must Love Books are so unique and easy to understand. Nora and Andrew are so real, as are the surrounding characters. It was easy to see why one character would a make a certain choice. The story flowed well between being driven by plot and by the characters. I could see different aspects of myself in each of the characters and they all had such distinctive journeys that were a joy to be a part of.

If you are a reader and dream of working with books in any capacity, whether or not within the publishing industry, this is the book for you. If you are someone who feels that a lot of books with depressive characters don’t quite understand what it can be like from day to day, this is a story could feel seen in.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. *

This is a poignant and engrossing story about Nora’s journey of self-discovery, as she faces early career disappointments and depression. I thought the book was written so thoughtfully, without relying on cliches. There’s a romance, but it’s not the central plot (although it definitely was the engine that kept the book moving at an enjoyable pace). The deception Nora engages in made me deeply uncomfortable, and I felt the tension and apathy of her situation so well—some effective writing! I recommend this book for any reader of contemporary fiction, or romance with substance.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

Thank you to NetGalley, Shauna Robinson and Sourcebooks for the ARC of Must Love Books in exchange for my honest review.

A book about someone who loves books? Count me in! But what I thought was going to be a lighthearted romance novel turned out to be more of a coming of age story for me.

Nora is in a rut. She's been in publishing for five years and hasn't done any of the things she'd thought she'd accomplish. She's not happy, barely making ends meet which causes her to make some questionable choices and her mental health issues come to the forefront of her life.

The writing itself was great but the story was a bit slow and it was hard to get into the book. I would still recommend adding this book to your reading list - especially for young adults. Here's why...

*Nora is resilient - even when she wants to give up, she doesn't.
*Nora has allies who support without judgement or criticism.
*Young adults need to have books written about POC by POC that deal with real-life concerns.

At the end of the day, this book was not what I expected but I'm glad I read it. I'm rating it 3.5/5 stars.

I picked up this book as it seemed to be made for me. First of all, it is about the love for books, something I relate to massively. The blurb made it sound like a lighthearted and fun read, which is definitely good for the heart once in a while. I went in with great expectations; this book did nothing but deliver on that front.

Must Love Books is the story of Nora Hughes, a passionate editorial assistant at Parsons Press. She finds herself in a bit of a pickle when her salary is cut… again. She begins to ask herself how she is going to afford rent while being assigned more and more tasks at work after fellow assistants and editors are laid off. The company she works for publishes nonfiction books. She works in the business books department, and she initially saw this as a temporary position which would have led her to her dream job of editing fiction books. She has been trying to leave Parsons without any luck, and while her bank account is looking emptier by the minute, her daily tasks increase together with the rejection emails in her personal inbox. She decides to really risk it by secretly freelancing for a competitor of Parsons, with the hope to get a much better paid and more rewarding full-time position with them after a few months. She plans to poach some Parsons authors to get in good standing with the other company. Everything seems to go somewhat okay until she meets Andrew Santos, a bestselling Parsons author that everyone would publish, and she must decide what’s more important to her.

Must Love Books hooked me in from page one. Although it starts slow, it is easy to read with a compelling plot. I loved how romance, self-development and books are tangoing and making this book interesting as well as entertaining. As I said, romance finds its way in this book, but I see it as a nice addition rather than being the centre of the plot. In fact, Nora is at the centre of the plot. She is a well-developed character, with very relatable fears, hopes and dreams. This makes her a character that a lot of readers will resonate with. She has a complex and sometimes difficult relationship with herself and her life as it stands, which makes her even more interesting. I found myself rooting for Nora and all I wanted was for her to succeed and get out of the slump she was in. Must Love Books doesn’t shy away from dealing with the lows and does it in a way that is delicate and respectful – as if admitting that all of us can find ourselves in those types of situations and there’s nothing wrong with it. As she becomes stronger and more secure within herself throughout the book, I grew proud of her and enjoyed how she continually overcomes being dealt the worst of hands. I appreciated how books never lost their spark for Nora, even if her job tried really hard to ruin books for her. Most of all, I liked how Nora becomes a heroine throughout the book, in the likes of Keiko, the protagonist of Convenience Store Woman. Both women need to calibrate their idea of personal happiness to follow their own needs rather than what’s conventionally thought of as happiness. Both books deal with complex questions and dilemmas and both women come out the other side at the end.

The only reason why I am giving Must Love Books four rather than five stars is that, at points, Nora’s anxiety and paranoia surrounding lying about her double jobs was a bit too repetitive. The book doesn’t lose much because of it but I was getting irritated so I thought I’d mention it. Apart from that, this book is inspirational and uplifting. For this reason, I urge you to read this book if you think you would enjoy a story of a woman who takes her life into her own hands. Overall, I recommend this book if you are a fan of books about books, books about women, books about love, and lastly books about a protagonist finding their own happiness.

While the cover of the book did make me think this would be a lighthearted romance, I’m glad the book was more than that as it showed Nora dealing with depression and wondering can we really find everything we want out of a job. The book was a bit slow at times which made it tough for me to get in to, but overall I always like a book about books.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review...

Must love books was a great book about self discovery and knowing your worth. Nora is in a dead end job with a publishing compay she is not happy with. This book follows her on her journey of finding herself. With the help of her friends, old coworkers, and an up and coming author in the publishing company nora learns what she wants with her life. Happiness and to be surrounded by books, and not just self-help books that are what she deals with currently.

I really enjoyed Nora as a character, even thoguh at times she seemed very pessamistic she was well rounded for the most part. watching her relationships with her friends, always keeping everyone at arms length and seeing the friendship with Author Andrew Santos blossom really showed a lot of complexity.

My only negatve about the book is it did start off slow. it wasnt until about half way through that the development becomes apparent.

All in all this was a great book.

such an enchanting and captivating read. Any book lover will have a grand time reading this story and falling into the book world.

A book about books and a girl who loves books? Yes please! Who could not love a premise like this? I loved the realistic characters and I felt for Nora, she captured my heart. I was really cheering a romance on for her but alas, it was not meant to be I guess. I appreciated that the author handled the mental health issues with sensitivity and care, who of us has not need to dig deep and make a hard decision based on what is best for us. It was very brave of the author to put working for a publishing house in a bad light and we all know this is fiction! Even though the book started off a bit slow for me it was a great way to spend a cozy Sunday afternoon and I found it very entertaining.

The idea of working in the publishing industry sounds like a book lover’s dream. However, Nora has decided that her dream job doesn’t exist after lay offs of many of her friends and a pay cut that makes it impossible to pay her rent. She decides to moonlight for another publisher and things are going well for a while. She keeps having run ins with the most successful author at her workplace and has to decide if she should try to convince him to leave for the company where she’s been moonlighting.

Sounds like this could turn into an adorable romance, right? That’s what I thought until a certain point in the book. Then I was surprised by decisions that Nora began to make and a serious shift in the book. I appreciate stories that address mental health concerns but this plot took such a sudden turn that it threw me off. Unfortunately, I had a difficult time reconnecting after that happened. I wish I could have gotten back into the story but it just didn’t happen for me and it felt almost like reading two different books..

Ah! This book was so funny and relatable. As a lifelong reader and also a writer, it was so interesting to read about the ins and outs of the publishing industry that we don't know about. This book was such an eye-opener. The author did a great job portraying real-life struggles for those working in publishing, an industry that is known not to pay well; yet, a dream workplace for many. It also covers many important topics such as overcoming life challenges that come our way. I feel that this version of the cover makes the novel look cheesy while the book is nothing but cheesy. I definitely will recommend it to my friends.

First, thanks to the author, Shauna Robinson, NetGalley, and the publisher, Sourcebooks Landmark for a free copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

I LOVED THIS BOOK!

I enjoyed this book so much that I read it in one sitting! It was frustrating at some points because I wanted to shake Nora, the main character, but i also recognize that its always easier to be level-headed when you have the vantage point of knowing what “she should do but chooses not to”. And also- without this angst, we wouldn’t have a novel, would we?

Why choose this book? Read the synopsis of the book- it drew me in because I love to read- I mean I LOVE TO READ!!! I’m constantly thinking about what my next book will be- even while I’m in the middle of reading. What avid book reader wouldn’t want to read a book about another avid book reader? However, I did think in the back of my mind that this could be a set up for a fantastic book or a set up for disaster! Very risky for sure and this first time author made herself extremely vulnerable to write on a subject like this. But it was well-played- that’s for sure!

Immediately, in the first chapter, Nora mentions one of my favorite author’s books- Jen McKinlay- and I was so glad to see it mentioned here. It made me feel that I would enjoy the book if she mentioned one of my favorite books in the first chapter- so I felt like we were off to a good start. By Chapter 6, I was realizing that I was loving these laugh out loud moments and I am flying through reading this. I love that we are inside Nora’s brain- every part of it. And her brain is quite easy to follow and her brain seems like we have met somewhere before. Hmm…

Then I started having some takeaways for my own personal life that made me pause… and pause again. If you haven’t read the book yet, then stop here. SPOILER ALERT! I want you to enjoy the book without interference from me.

Here are some examples that made me pause and think while reading this book:

Chapter 10
“I think it became clear in my first job out of college. I realized interpersonal relationships between colleagues, or managers and employees, or executives and managers, are a crucial part of the workplace. People weren’t communicating in the ways they needed to.” I started thinking- hmmm- maybe that’s something I need to apply at work.

Chapter 13
“What a bizarre, nebulous concept happiness was. Her father didn’t become an electrician because it made him happy. He didn’t wake up excited to lay cable. He did it because, as he told her once, it made sense. It was what he knew, a career path he started down at seventeen because it was a practical way to make money on limited opportunity. But now there was supposed to be more to it than that. She had the opportunities. She was told to take those opportunities and find her dream job, something that would fulfill her. It was internalized now, this idea of fulfillment. It made her feel weak to put this much stock in something her parents couldn’t even consider. They had managed just fine without tying their entire existence to their careers. She had the privilege to prioritize happiness, and she was getting it all wrong.”
This made me think that was an interesting truth to these statements and they define the difference between the generation now and our parents generation. I’ve never thought of this before…

Chapter 20
“There was a satisfaction in convincing her parents why a book was more important than their rules. It felt like she was letting them in on a secret: books were more important than anything.”
My thoughts on this? The words of a true book lover- right there! That sentence is my validation of why I chose to read this book. I just had to read this book once I read the synopsis and it was validated by the words of an author who was just like me. In a way, I felt like if I were to ever write something- it would have to be just like this. How else could I describe my love for books to someone else, when I have never written anything to publish?

Chapter 23
“”I think you should,” Nora said, meeting his stare.”
It’s at this point in the book that I’m starting to get really mad at the main character- she wants to have her cake and eat it, at all costs- that’s not true love- in my opinion!

And one more- also in Chapter 23
“But a bookstore is a bookstore is a bookstore. And there was always magic in that.” My thought about that? So very true!

Well- this book was a big win for me and I cannot wait for round two of what this author brings to the table the next time.

Enjoy!

This romantic, feel-good read is perfect for any book lover. As an avid reader, I am naturally drawn to books with any titles associated with reading, and/or writing, and this did not disappoint.

The author has created a great leading character in Nora, and I am sure a lot of people will find her extremely relatable. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know her, and although the topic of mental health is featured heavily, this is written incredibly well not to become draining for the reader.

Nora's tale of personal development and growth had me intrigued from the beginning and had life events not stood in my way, this would have easily been a one or two sitting read.

Highly recommended to anyone looking for a cozy read this winter.

TW: Suicidal thoughts

Nora’s editorial assistant job keeps getting more bleak - coworkers have been laid off in a restructuring, her best friend at the publishing company moves on to a new job, and now her pay is being cut. When an opportunity to work part time for a rival publisher becomes available, she decides to do both (she needs the money after all). But things get complicated as she grows closer to one of her authors and the web of lies gets a bit too tangled.

Can I just say how wonderfully surprised I was by this book? I mean, a book about working with books is a fun premise, and add some romance into the mix? You’ve got me hooked!

I flew through this - it flowed really nicely and even though I was exhausted, I couldn’t put this down!

The description of depression was so relatable for me. The inability to reach out, to get out of your own head, and to feel like you’re fighting with a creature that’s sitting on your chest. The most accurate part is that things are chaotic, but hopeful - until they aren’t. It sneaks up on you until you realize you’re already chest deep.

While I really enjoyed seeing the depiction of depression as a “creature”, the main character never seems professional help, despite the suicidal thoughts she’s experiencing. I want to make it clear: suicidal thoughts should be taken seriously. They are not something to brush off. There are many ways you can seek help, and I encourage anyone experiencing them to call a helpline, or seek care immediately. You are not your thoughts, and you are worth the time and energy to seek the help you need.

Keeping this in mind, I’d still recommend this book, but remind you to be mindful when reading about mental health in all capacities, not just this one. Professional help and care like therapy, and medication are great options that can have a huge impact on the rest of your life if you are struggling. I hope more books seek to show that path, even just the first steps such as making an appointment.

I really struggled with this book and it took me so long to read as I every time I put it down I would just opt to pick up something else the next time I had a chance to pick up this book. I definitely think there's an audience for this book its just not me, I really disliked reading a book where someone just repetitively makes stupid decisions that obviously are going to backfire in their face. None of the characters really stood out to me, like I finished reading it a couple weeks ago and I can't even remember their names. Oh there was Andrew the love interest. Its just not something that I am going to remember.