This was a book that was both highly anticipated and one that I needed to get my hands on. A story about two individuals whose jobs revolved around everything and anything about books, nemesis’s in the workplace, small town, and more, YES! 

Nora Stephens was a literal agent, whose main focus in her job was to make sure she sourced good stories and help her clients (authors) with their books. Nora was great at her job and was ruthless, but along with her strong determination, little did she know that people referred to her as, “The Shark”. Honestly, the fact that Nora was referred to as the shark and seen as someone who was al about work, wasn’t a fair judgement only because, through learning about Nora’s backstory, it showed Nora had specific reasons as to why she was the way she was. Nora was also a big sister so shout out to all my big sisters in the world! Nora cared for Libby (little sister) ever since they were young, and in a way I could relate to some of Nora’s feelings and concerns when it came to Libby. Anyways, Nora was great, I found it amusing how she would point out things from her life were similar to that of the “cold hearted villainess” from novels. Nora was by no means evil at all, it was just a coincidence that people such as, Ex-boyfriends or fellow author, editors & clients saw her as someone who didn’t show emotions, or project a certain personality that would have been deemed warm. Nora had her reasons for being the way she was, and it was a journey for her to work through those issues through out the story.

While Nora was working and trying to live her life, there was also Charlie Lastra, an editor from a different publishing house, who Nora considered her nemesis. Charlie seemed reserved, blunt, but after getting to know him more showed more warmth from his little smirks, mixture of scowling and pouting, to somehow laughing which Nora was able to make him do. Charlie’s first impression wasn’t the greatest and even I was beginning to wonder if I would end up liking him… update I ended up loving him! Also while reading I couldn’t help picturing Theo James as Charlie and phew that made me swoon. 

This book was every bit amazing, and I couldn’t get enough of Nora and Charlie. While reading, I felt a connection to the story, to the characters, and the overall vibe of the book. The best way I can describe it is that, I got a similar feeling when I read, “People We Meet on Vacation”, that was another one of my favorites by Emily Henry. I was caught between not wanting to put my book down and trying to slow down so I could absorb every single line, moment of Nora and Charlie. I loved Nora and Charlie’s banter, (I mean come on, they both had a way with words and fantastic witty comebacks) it seriously made me laugh, then again there were several moments I was legitimately smiling the biggest smiles, gasping, and couldn’t contain myself while reading. In other words, if someone saw me reading this book, they would be in for quite a show with my wide range of facial expressions and squeals of joy, and excitement.

I genuinely loved everything about this book, and while I may not work in the publishing/ book world, everything that Nora described made sense to me. In particular the way Nora would talk about different book tropes, or how she envisioned a story to pan out, or how she accurately described the feeling she experienced while reading. The way Nora spoke about, “the instant floating sensation…” that whole part made absolute sense to me, it was like she truly captured a feeling I had always known, but never knew how to explain it.