Cover Image: Must Love Books

Must Love Books

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Member Reviews

This was definitely a fun, bookish women's fiction novel that I devoured in less than a week because I couldn't wait to find out what would happen next! The writing is chock full of compelling language that made it easy to keep reading, though it did get a bit slow at parts and lacked a real conflict for half of this book. That being said, it was definitely a fun, cute and bookish coming-of-age novel with a super ambiguous, open-ended conclusion.

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

I enjoyed parts of this book, but there were also some characters that I really disliked.

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I am not huge into romance but this sweet book really captures my heart. I would recommend it to anyone who loves books and has big dreams

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This book was heavy. It was hard to read in parts because I identified pretty strongly with Nora. But it is beautifully written and if you can handle heavy content right now definitely read this.

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This was an enjoyable read! I was expecting more romance but I still enjoyed the serious WF elements. The book plot part of it coupled with self discovery really carried the story. My favorite part was her realizing that she doesnt need to have everything about her life to have a happy one. :)

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This had potential for me to like it and I was really hoping to but after 50% progress into the book and no advancement in the plot I just had no feelings toward the main character and didn't enjoy this novel at all. Our main character, Nora, is torn between two rival publishing companies while trying to make ends meet financially all while trying not to burn bridges at her current company. At the halfway point in the book there was just nothing happening and the book seemed to not be moving enough for me and I was just bored with our main character and her back-and-forth decisions. I did enjoy Andrew Santos as a secondary character. This one just wasn't for me.

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Must Love Books is an impressive first novel. Author Shauna Robinson creates characters with depth and complexity, including some who are not likable. Robinson's protagonist, Nora, is not at all sympathetic, interesting, or even affable through most of the novel. She is depressed and dishonest and not above using people to get ahead. But although I disliked this character, and being inside Nora's head made me depressed, I realized that Robinson had done a good job of bringing Nora to life. To be so ambivalent about a character means the author was successful in creating her. Andrew was easy to like, as were most of the other characters, who Nora failed to trust. The pace of this novel was slow and there were times when I lost patience with it, but the last 15% of the book was actually so well done that it helped to make up for the middle of the book, where too little happened. The question at the end, though, was why didn't Nora ever ask anyone for help? There was no real reason provided for why she did not make any attempts to solve her problems, except through lying. The actions that Nora took at the end of the book were actions that she might have taken at any point during the previous year or more of her life.

With the exception of one comment by Andrew, who wonders if the color of his skin might account for the low-ball contract he is offered, Robinson ignores race, but this evasion was a problem for me. If discrimination is a problem that worries Andrew, why doesn't it also worry Nora, who is stuck in a dead-end job? In an ideal world, discrimination does not exist. Unfortunately, that world does not exist.

I am glad that I stuck with this novel and finished it. I thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for this ARC.

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Nora loves books and for years has been working as an editorial assistant. When her company downsizes and then cuts the pay to the remaining staff while asking them to do more and more she doesn't know what to do, makes questionable decisions and is afraid to tell anyone. When Andrew, an author she has been working with, asks her where she is on the happiness scale she realizes she is a 3. Will she have the courage to tell the truth and make decisions to move up the happiness scale or will she continue to be in a haze and sink even lower on the scale?

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This book is a must for anyone in their late 20s, anyone in publishing, and anyone who got their childhood dream job and realized it isn’t everything you wanted. Characters were incredibly real; full of flaws and hopes. Enjoyed the book and will look out for this author in the future.

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(⭑⭑⭑⭑) Must Love Books tells the story of Nora: an underpaid and overworked book assistant. First, being a booking assistant was the first step to her dream job: Editor. But now, she is being paid even less, with no promotion and the last one of her team standing. Unable to pay her rent, she starts to moonlight for a rival company and steal some of the authors. But when the charismatic author Andrew Santos appears, her life just becomes a little bit more stressful. Should she make him sign in her terrible company to keep her lies hidden, or should she betray them entirely and steal him?

So, this book is not a romance. Do let the bright cover confuse you. This book is about being stuck. About losing your love for your dream job. About self-discovery. About mental health. There is romance in it, but just the right amount.

Nora hits too close. I have always dreamt about working in publishing, and this dream just describes my biggest fears. Nora started because of her love for books and stories but then struggled to just survive. Passion does not pay rent or groceries, and poor Nora is suffering all of this internally. I loved it, even more when I read this based on the author's actual experience because it is such a realistic situation. Overworked and underpaid? Working for boomers that literally do not know to create a pdf but get pay double?
And I enjoyed how much emphasis on mental health the author added to the novel. There is a say in Spanish, something like "If you love your work, you will not work a single day". I think it is a beautiful idea to love your job passionately, but I love how the author does not romanticise the lousy situation the protagonist was in. Good working conditions and salaries are necessary, and not having them just destroy you mentally.
Sincerely, I wish I could burn Nora's company to the ground.

Thank you #NetGallery for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts opinions are my own!

If you are interested in Must Love Books, stay tuned! It will be available on 18th January 2022!

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Must Love Books is a slow, slow burn that the title aptly describes. While I did enjoy the read, the characters were a bit boring and stale. It was positioned as a romance but ending up being what you would find in women's fiction. And in my opinion should come with a trigger warning regarding suicidal thoughts. The main character has some concerning thoughts and behaviors that seem to be a bit glossed over, rather than addressed with professional help. I did enjoy getting see inside of publishing and the book world.

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Summary: In Shauna Robinson’s debut novel, she introduces the reader to Nora, a lonely 20-something who is unhappy with her job, her prospects, and her finances. Nora has worked at a business publishing house for the past five year - straight out of college. While she loves books and wants to work with books, this job is all administrative and not editorial at all as Nora had initially imagined. As the company begins layoffs and salary cuts, Nora’s favorite co-workers leave one-by-one. When Nora is offered a part-time position at a competing company, she jumps at the opportunity - in secret. Neatly trying to balance the burden of bills, a growing monster in her head, the secrecy of multiple jobs (none which she really enjoys), and feelings for a man who she absolutely cannot like, Nora takes us on a magical journey full of books and hope.

Plot: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The plot of the book was fantastic. I haven’t enjoyed a book this much in quite some time, and I truly felt a deep connection with this book. The author manages so many light-hearted and heavy topics in a beautiful way. The flow of the book was excellent. The ending was justified. The drama and flair were properly placed. There was enough romance without categorizing the book as romance, enough social justice without labeling it as a social justice book, and enough about mental illness without classifying the book as a book about mental illness. It was sublime in that way: the way this book intertwined all of these ideologies in a way that made sense for them all to co-exist without seeming forced.

Characters: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The characters were flawed. Nora was deeply, deeply flawed. There’s no question about that at all. She made bad judgement calls, she acted too rashly on multiple decisions, and she was too hard on herself. That’s what made the book absolutely fantastic. Reading this book and working through Nora’s character development and allowing these faults and wins to be written so beautifully: that’s what made this book top-notch. At no point did I feel frustrated with Nora’s decisions - even at their most flawed. Instead I rooted for her. I rooted for her happiness, and I rooted for her success. A reader cannot ask more than to read about characters who are worth rooting for.

Overall Score: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️
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2.5 ⭐

This book had several things going for it.

• The writing style wasn't bad at all.
• The premise had a lot of potential.
• The moral dilemma was done so well, it really made me think a lot.
• The humor was my kind of humor.

However, the things I didn’t like took a lot of place and made me want to DNF the whole time from 50% onward.

• First, the book was so slow. So, so painfully slow. And I usually love slow burners, but this one… It took me ages to read it, even though I would normally read a book of this length in 2 – 3 days.
• I guess I also expected something completely different based on the cover. I thought it’s going to be much more a nice, fluffy romance and that the problems would be more Sophie-Kinsella-style.
• Also, the characters were fine but nothing special. I certainly won’t remember them for long.

Thank you to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Must Love Books by Shauna Robinson in exchange for an honest review.

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This book was a lovely read. I enjoyed the journey of Nora and lived her transformation over the events of the book plus her relationship with Andrew was adorable. I also enjoyed how the book ended cause to me it felt like a reflection of real life and showed that life and happiness is fluid and dosent always have a definitive end to it. I also liked learning how publishing works as an industry as someone who has no clue about how it all works. Shauna should be proud of what they’ve done with this book cause I loved it so much

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Die Beziehung zwischen den beiden Protagonisten hat mir gut gefallen. Das künstliche Drama war leider schnell ermüdend. Ich fand Noras Art einfach nur kindisch.

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Completely enjoyed this lovely weekend read. I agree with other reviewers that two things caught me unawares that would have been better if I had known before diving in. First, this would not be catagorized as romance, but rather women’s fiction. Second, there are discussions of depression that I think should be mentioned in the blurb for those who might be triggered.

That said, I found this to be a satisfying weekend read!

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Nora Hughes is overworked and underpaid - but she's so close to her dream job she can almost touch it. When she applied for the editorial assistant job at Parsons Books, one line in the advert made it seem like it was made for her - must love books. But five years later, she's no closer to being an editor, and the company has slashed her already meagre salary. So when her old boss who works for a rival publisher offers her some part time work, she tries to juggle it all and maybe even steal some authors along the way.

But when she tries to convince best-selling author Andrew to come sign at her new publisher, unexpected feelings make things even more complicated and Nora doesn't know how much longer she can balance everything in her life before it all comes crashing down.



Nora is the perfect encapsulation of of twenty-something woman lost in the world, trying to find her place but never quite making anything stick. She resonated with me right away, and I felt every high and low right along with her and watched in horror as everything starting to spiral out of control right under her nose.

The relationships in this book were simply beautiful. I loved the way Robinson depicted real friendships - affectionate, loving and meaningful relationships that don't have to be romantic to be significant. I adored the fact that while there was romance, it was definitely a side-plot - the focus being Nora's journey to self-discovery and self-worth.

Starting out rather slowly, I almost didn't find myself getting into this book but it definitely picked up around the halfway mark as we moved along and I found myself locked in. The one issue I feel the need to address is this is not the book it seems on the cover. This book addresses serious issues such as suicide, depression and debt and while it actually gave one of the most realistic portrayals of mental illness I've read in a long time, this comes out of nowhere and makes for a much heavier read than anyone who picks up this book would like. However this is more a marketing issue than a reflection on the writing itself.

If you've ever been a crossroads in your life and don't know which way to turn, you should definitely come and meet Nora.

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this is such a perfect, sweet little read! i’m not usually one for the quote-unquote “inspirational women’s fiction” type book, but i am a sucker for books about writing and publishing and people who love books. this just hit the spot in exactly the right way for now—a good comforting hug. thank you!

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“The Bookish Life of Nina Hill meets Younger in a heartfelt debut following a young woman who discovers she'll have to ditch the "dream job" and write her own story to find her happy ending.”

Okay, that’s an oversell for sure. I did not get any Younger vibes while reading this book, even with the whole premise having to do with the publishing industry. Although there were moments that I felt especially *into* this book, it very quickly began to drag and I had to force myself to finish it. I didn’t think the characters were particularly well developed and I did not like the main character at all.

I would not recommend this book and would also not read anything else by this author.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks for sharing a digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.

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This is a book that just didn't take my interest, didn't draw me in and didn't keep me wanting more.

It is the book style of the moment and one that does somewhat annoy me, It is slightly whinging in tone and and not at all like I thought it would be a better read than what it was. A bit slow, a bit dull and a bit boring.

Sorry to say it just didn't do it for me.

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